Twenty-five years ago today, the Sega Dreamcast hit North American shelves.
I remember this launch like it was yesterday. I saved all Summer for the system, a VMU, and copies of *Sonic Adventure* and *Soulcalibur*. I remember grabbing the tickets from Toys R Us’s video game department, paying my pre-order deposits, and holding onto those tickets and their stapled receipts like they were the nuclear football.
What I didn’t expect, however, was how this system would become my favorite video game system of all time. As a console, it had a short lifespan, being discontinued in March 2001 — but the legacy it left reverberates even today.
So many hours spent with the *Sonic Adventure* games, taking the SEGA mascot into 3D for the first time. So many hours playing the amazing *Soulcalibur*, the first time I can remember a home console version looking better than the arcade. So many hours playing the *Marvel vs. Capcom* games, the perfect party game fighter, showing the comic heroes in a light we’d never seen before. So many hours playing SEGA classics-in-the-making, like the arcade perfect *Crazy Taxi*, or the stylish *Jet Set Radio*.
It was even easy to play import games, where the 1-2 punch of my first real disposable income met the ease of access via the Internet of ordering Japanese titles. I spent far too much time creating, tweaking, and then playing characters in *Fire Pro D*.
And this doesn’t even include the quirky titles like *Seaman* or underrated games like the *Power Stone* series.
Developers were making their art. Trying new things. Each game felt so different from what Sony was producing. It was truly a special time.
In many ways, you can see a shared DNA with what the Nintendo Switch has become, but there truly is, was, and likely never will be anything like the Dreamcast.
25 years on, I salute you. Even if your “It’s Thinking” tagline would be considered a threat in 2024.
