RetroView: SEGA Dreamcast Part Two

Welcome back to our second foray into the world of the Dreamcast. After last weeks look at the console itself and the launch titles, let's now take a more detailed look at what made Sega's White beauty special, the games.

Shenmue is a game which is synomonus with the system, both for it's ground breaking production at the time and how it's cost was one of the many major factors of Sega's demise. While the early reports were putting the game at $70 million, game creator Yu Suzuki recently clarified it was only a mere $46 million. A huge risk for Sega and one that in the long run didn't pay off.

But let's not get down in the dumps, for me and many others Shenmue was the pinnacle of the last generation with graphics that weren't surpassed by anything on PS2, Xbox or Gamecube. A story that to this day still enriches people's imagination, admittedly this is partly fuelled by the fact the story isn't finished, as the main character Ryo is currently stuck in a cave at the end of the sequel which also appeared on the Dreamcast and later on Xbox.

This is still my highlight of playing games

Shenmue is the first and only game to create it's own genre. The F.R.E.E (full reactive eyes entertainment) is in it's simplest form a mix between a TV series, RPG and Virtua Fighter. Shenmue was the first game where you could truly go wherever you wanted and do what you wanted. While the overall goal of the game was to find the man who killed your father you could've wasted all of Ryo's days playing Space Harrier in the arcade by morning, rummaging through strangers draws and cupboards in the afternoon and playing pool with drunk sailor's at night. You could even look after your own cat as well, if that was your thing. A game that merely started out as a Virtua Fighter RPG turned out to be the high point of the system and to this day deserves either a sequel or re-make to let those that missed it fully appreciate a true classic.


Did the high cost of Shenmue and massive gamble by Sega to have put all their money shaped eggs into one basket backfire? Sort of. There is no doubting the failure of Shenmue to make a profit added a nail to the Dreamcast's coffin, but for Shenmue to break even it is reported every Dreamcast owner would have had to buy the game twice, something that was never going to happen. I find it's best to look at Shenmue as a labour of love from Sega. They knew profit was impossible but wanted to leave us with a fantastic and engrossing experience that nothing has matched since.

Going to another type of true classic now I'll move onto possibly the strangest, quirkiest game ever made on God's green Earth called Seaman. Unfortunately the game is not about trying to become a failed England goalkeeper with a ponytail and is more to do with talking fish. Say wha....???

"I used to play for Arsenal and England, who am I"

Seaman was the first game where you talk to fish! Well fish with a human head, it was the sort of game that could only have come from Japan. They started off life as an egg and grew and by talking into the Dreamcast microphone you could communicate with them and help them develop their talkative nature by teaching them new words and phrases. Amazingly Seaman was a ripple of success and even earned itself a sequel, unlike the massive petition demanding a Shenmue III there is no plans by Sega at this moment in time to produce a fishy sequel, sad face.


For the Dreamcast to fail so early was an absolute crime, all those great games that came out in it's short life span was truly remarkable. From Shenmue to Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur to Soul Reaver and even to ones I haven't mentioned yet, Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star Online, Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi. The real depressing thing is that Sega pulled out of the hardware race, they had almost got it spot on with the Dreamcast but the Playstation brand name was just too strong to overcome at a time in the nineties and noughties where video gaming was Playstation. Will we ever see Sega back in the race? I highly doubt it. Will they continue to produce high quality titles such as Yakuza, Sonic Colours, Bayonetta and Vanquish? Of course, because to be this good takes ageS.