Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

In a new monthly feature, join me as we re-live the months of yesteryear - Dreamcast-style.

It’s July 2000. We’re over halfway through the first year of the new millenium and summer has kicked off (for us Europeans, at least) with the Euro 2000 football tournament in Holland and Belgium. July 2000 was the month Eminem scored another worldwide hit with his single The Real Slim Shady; and elsewhere, the newly disbanded Spice Girls were still tearing it up with their own brand of horror pop. July 2000 also saw the very first Big Brother reality TV show launch in the UK. But for those of us who were too busy playing Dreamcast to bother watching a dozen strangers locked in a house and forced to interact with total strangers, this is what we had to look forward to...
[Image] Spoiler: it never 'came home' July’s PAL Dreamcast chart featured a few new titles:
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater* Resident Evil: Code Veronica Wacky Races* Ecco The Dolphin* Crazy Taxi A whopping three new entries made it into the top of the Dreamcast chart in July; Tony Hawk's Pro Skater knocked the absolutely sublime Resident Evil: Code Veronica off the top spot, the hugely underrated (in my opinion) Mario Kart clone Wacky Races debuted solidly in the top 3, whilst Sega’s own Ecco The Dolphin also started strongly.
[Image] Wacky Races is a standout kart racer for Dreamcast Looking at July 2000’s gaming magazines, Dreamcast owners were spoiled for choice. Hidden & Dangerous received a massive 92% from Dreamcast Magazine, with the reviewer claiming that it could “take over your life”. In the same magazine, “the definitive F1 racer for Dreamcast”, F1 World Grand Prix 2, scored 90% and was a personal favourite of mine. Elsewhere in the most random magazine from July 2000 that I could find, Brazilian publication Super Game Power gave Sega’s answer to the popular Gran Turismo, Sega GT, a solid 8.3/10.
[Image] Super Game Power in Brazil seemed keen on Sega GT The US Official Dreamcast Magazine were not impressed with Lara’s Dreamcast debut, scoring Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation a 5/10 and, probably fairly, suggesting that the game “did little to take advantage of the Dreamcast’s hardware”. Just a few pages later though, they gave 6/10 to the diabolical Nightmare Creatures II, whilst Dreamcast Magazine could only give it a woeful 39% and cited that “the only good thing is that you can kick doors down”. Many years later, our very own Tom Charnock would find himself agreeing with the latter review.

If you hadn't yet picked up your Dreamcast, now was as good a time as ever, with some great deals around. Popular UK-based mail order company, Gameplay, were offering a Dreamcast console and a copy of Chu Chu Rocket! for just £149.99. An absolute bargain and some £50 cheaper than the console's launch price less than a year ago.
[Image] Not picked up a Dreamcast yet? Plenty of bargains around in July 2000! For those lucky gamers who did already own a Dreamcast, July's PAL-region releases saw a real variety of options to spend their hard earned cash on:
NHL 2K Roadsters South Park Rally Tech Romancer Dead or Alive 2 Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Gauntlet Legends Midway's Greatest Hits Volume 1 Personally, I remember picking up the outstanding Dead or Alive 2 and taunting my PlayStation-owning friends with just how beautiful it looked. The rather attractive female cast had absolutely nothing to do with my teenage opinion, honestly.  [Image][Image]
There you have it. In short, July 2000 was a bloody good time to be a Dreamcast owner. It was in the height of summer, there were a load of great games coming out and online gaming was right around the corner.
[Image] Big Brother is always watching. Always. Yes, even when
you do that thing in your bedroom on your own. How about you? Were you a Dreamcast owner in July 2000? Did you pick up any of the games released this month? Were you salivating at the reviews in gaming magazines of the games coming out soon? Tell us all about it in the comments below. Join us next month as we take a look at what was happening in the Dreamcast bubble during the month of August in 2000.