Top Ten Dreamcast games of my youth

I was perusing Loot-Ninja earlier today and they had an interesting review up there about Jet Grind Radio for Sega Dreamcast. This got my brain stems firing and I started reaching back to the good old Dreamcast days. Before Xbox, better than N64, and an acceptable alternative to Playstation, the Sega Dreamcast was the system that time forgot about. I personally didn’t get my hands on one of these suckers until a friend of mine let me borrow it when he bought an Xbox. And let me tell you, I was happy enough with the Dreamcast that for two years, I didn’t need to join the next generation (then we went off to college and I bought an xbox immediately.)

The Dreamcast was unfortunately ahead of its time, and ultimately doomed to failure. Part of this was the ease of pirating games for it, and I am ashamed to admit I had my friend’s binder filled with hundreds of burned Dreamcast games. While any physical evidence has been since destroyed, it did leave me with 18+ months of any game I could imagine. And trust me, I tried to play them all.

So, with that in mind, culled from a giant binder full of burned discs, thebirdnest is proud to present a veritable top 10 list of dreamcast masterpieces:

1. Shenmue



Ahh, Shenmue. A classic Japanese adventure game centered around the life of Ryo,who looks remarkably like Akira, from Virtua Fighter. This game was monumental for several reasons: earth shattering graphics for its time, a innovative weather system, and addictive gameplay. If you have never experienced this game or franchise, I would check it out as soon as possible.

To see the rest of the top ten, with some favorites as well as some sleeper picks, you are going to have to hit the jump…

2. Crazy Taxi



Whoa, that’s one crazy cabbie. Crazy Taxi, a suprisingly addicting Arcade port, creates an objective based racing game full of quirks and intangibles that make it extremely hard to put down. Gameplay is simple enough: pick up passenger by driving to their colored arrow, drop off passenger at different colored arrow. But the game was just plain fun and had a great soundtrack, and I would gladly park myself in front of fake San Fransisco and drive crazy groups of nuns around. But that’s just me.

3. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX



Who would have thought that in the days of Tony Hawk, a copycat BMX game would have been any fun? Well, jerk, Dave Mirra BMX was a lot of fun. The controls were simple to learn, the levels were interesting, and pulling off a sick 720 superman barspin was worthy of universal acclaim.

4. Jet Set Radio



While this is covered in much more depth in the review linked at the top of the post, Jet Set/Grind Radio is still one of most innovative and addicting games, ever. It has all the elements: rollerblades? Check. Graffiti? Check. Anti-Orwellian counterculture undertones? Check. Bring down the man one tag at time. Great game.

5. NFL 2K series



Whoa, a football game without Madden’s face plastered all over it? It may seem like blasphemy, but NFL 2k (and subsequent titles) are head and shoulders above the Madden games of the same year. Better gameplay, easier controls, deeper franchise mode, and the ability to pick your plays using the VMU. Pound for pound, NFL2k1 remains one of my favorite sports games of all time, for any system.

6. NHL 2K series



The NHL series is not as good as the NFL one. I said it. And EA’s NHL 09 is as good as advertised, winner of all major sports games awards. But that’s not the point. The true point is, NHL 2k2 (2k was weak, and I don’t think I ever played 2k1, if it even exists) is one of the stronger sports games from the generation. With a party mode and a valient attempt at recreating the strategy and patience required from actual hockey, NHL 2k2 serves a premium example of what 2K Sports is capable of.

7. Sonic Adventure



Sonic: Adventure is exactly what it sounds. Think of how much fun the original Sonic The Hedgehog was, now upgrade the graphics by two generations, place the camera behind the blue rodent for the first time, and introduce rockets and rollerblades. BAM, you have one of the most fun platformers for the Dreamcast. I only wish the Wii Sonic was this good. It’s not.

8. Soul Calibur



You may have seen Soul Calibur IV recently; well this is the monster that started the beast. Another arcade port, Soul Calibur introduced us to awesome weapons, a story-line based single player, and a quirky sense of humor that was equaled only to its playability. A traditional button-masher in the truest sense of the phrase, Soul Calibur can eat hours of your life away, be it with Maxi’s nunchucks or Kilik’s giant stick.

9. Virtua Tennis



Another franchise started on Dreamcast, Virtua Tennis combines excellent controls with real world tennis figures and a deep and engrossing single player mode. Plus, challenging your buddy to 5 sets gives you an afternoon of screaming, fist pumps, and general sporty goodness. Top it all off with a devastatingly fun arcade/training mode (for example, set up bowling pins to be knocked down with a killer serve from Tommy Haas) and you have an amazing sports game.

10. Dead or Alive 2



Dead or Alive 2 is another game with a current generation title to its name; not to mention such greats as DoA: Volleyball which is more softcore porn then volleyball but thats not really the point. Nothing wrong with that. More importantly, DoA 2 is anything but a button masher. If you tried that, well, I’m going to be forced to counter you into an electric wall. Instead, it forced gamers to fight slower and more methodical, with an emphasis on blocking and counter attacks. It was an easy game to learn but almost impossible to master. Plus, the chicks were really hot.

Man, those were some tasty Dreamcast games. Here’s hoping those of you who never got your hands on one of these suckers will get a chance to visit the beginning of the century and experience gaming at its finest. On that note, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and I’m hoping you got that copy of Left4Dead you’ve been asking for!

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