Why did Dreamcast fail?

[Paragon]

It was the first console to have online play, it had graphics just as good as the PS2, and it had many firsts in gaming. So why did the Dreamcast fail?

[feldinaut]

I, personally, have owned a Dreamcast since they came out. Really, it was my naive little brother's idea. I was not thrilled about the Dreamcast, thinking it was destined to be a flop. Well, I was right, but I really fell in love with it before it died, and it's a shame that had to happen.

Really, it was destiny considering Sega's HORRIBLE, HORRBLE past with regards to their consoles. I've only read the horror stories, but they make me really glad that I lived in a Nintendo-favoring household, else my parents would have stopped buying us consoles LONG ago. Most of Nintendo's flops never made it out of Japan. Sega, however, brought most of theirs to the States, making enemies and a bad reputation along the way.

I really can't give you details other than those I've read in articles. I kinda-sorta owned a Sega Genesis (at my grandma's house), but we didn't have many games for it. In fact, I think we had two. And I still have that sucker. But that was the only Sega system we had before Dreamcast.

It involves a long string of bad business decisions, some very big debacle regarding some CD add-on for the Saturn, I think, that cost a bloomin' fortune and was barely supported, consoles being released on top of consoles, VERY expensive game and hardware prices, etc. So once the Dreamcast came out, the population of Sega fans had VASTLY decreased. Unfortunately, at the core, the Dreamcast is a really freaking nice console (aside from having the least comfortable controller I've ever held). But really, I wonder why Sega couldn't see how inevitable its failure was? Just optimistic, I guess. But look where they are now. It's a shame, for sure, though I can't say they didn't deserve it. Treat gamers badly, and gamers will treat YOU badly.

However, this flop is almost good news for people of taste, because a Dreamcast is now about $30 on ebay, and that price sometimes even includes a few games thrown in. I didn't get a chance to acquire too many, but you may want to look into Soul Calibur (ONLY console to have this, by the way), Marvel Vs. Capcom (ditto, I think), Phantasy Star Online (no wait, no more online support, HAHA!), the Power Stone fighting games, Rez (OMG! REALLY COOL!), and I MIGHT have suggested Skies of Arcadia if the revamped Gamecube version Skies of Arcadia: Legends wasn't so vastly improved and added upon. One of the greatest port jobs ever, in my opinion. Honestly, the quality of EVERYTHING was stepped up, several hours more of gameplay was added through, like, two dozen extra missions, and it was a great game to begin with. It's an RPG about air pirates, so all you Tron Bonnabees know you want it. I also hear good things about... I think it's called Cannon Spike, a game featuring this freaky-arse cast of original Capcom characters, Charlie and Cammy from Street Fighter, and that teeny, tiny classic series Mega Man. Oh, and Crazy Taxi rocks too, but that's been released on other consoles. And most, if not all, of the Sonic games released for Dreamcast have had a Gamecube port. So if you want to experience the Dreamcast without buying a Dreamcast, uh... Get a Gamecube?

Oh, but then there's my favorite Dreamcast game which also happens to be one of my favorites EVER. If you've never played Shenmue and aren't making plans to do so sometime before you expire, go kill yourself. Honestly. If there was some kind of Revolutionary Concepts in Video Gaming 101 class, Shenmue would be number one, baby. I can't even explain Shenmue because it's so atypical of video games in general. I actually own one single Xbox game, and that is Shenmue II, because the creator decided he would release it on the Dreamcast in Europe, but on the Xbox in America. Not the best move on Yu Suzuki's part...because I din't have an Xbox, and neither did any Shenmue fan on the face of this earth. I'm just waiting for someone to let me borrow their system so I can play. Waiting.... EVER SO PATIENTLY.

I really do love Dreamcast, and every time I write about it, it just reminds me even more. *weeps for Dreamcast*

[bluerobotgirl]

House of the Dead was a riot. Never really played anything else, though.

[feldinaut]

Typing of the Dead was even better.

I had it for PC, but the original was for the Dreamcast. Came with a keyboard and everything. And the House of the Dead characters were armed not with guns but... Keyboard backpacky things.

It cracks me up.

[PharaohManXe54]

I do have fond memories of the Dreamcast without ever owning it. If you really want to know the REAL reasons why it fails, watch the show Icons of G4/Tech TV (the video game channel) and there is an episode about Sega's history. But the main reason that I got from the show was that they released WAY too many consoles at once. I had one of the failed consoles: the Sega 32X. IT SO TOTALLY RULED. I had a genesis (HORRIBLE move on my part, seeing as all the great nostalgia games were on the SNES) and it was OK, I guess. It did have some really awesome characters like Sparkster form Rocket Night Adventures and Ristar from, well Ristar. If Sega would've gone back and revived these game series, then I totally think that it would've lasted. Oh wait, no it wouldn't have cause SEGA WENT ENTIRELY BROKE. I kind of got mad when they decided to unilaterally release games on all systems. I wished that they would've made a deal with Nintendo. But oh well. A sign of Sega's returning success now though is that they just bought up the game company Sammy. So THUMBS UP TO SEGA!!!!

[feldinaut]

Uh, I thought it was the other way around and that SAMMY bought SEGA. But the whole thing with EA Games being general buttholes and BUYING EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO THE NFL was just horrible. Even Sega didn't deserve that. What a cruel move. So Sega starts making more money on sports games and... *has nightmares about EA*

AND STFU, N00B! G4TECHTV KNOWS NOTHING!!

[Santa Melty]

I've always been a fan of Sega myself. As you said, most people have their earliest memories of videogames locked away in the Super Nintendo. I, however, was busy with my Genesis. Not to say that I had many games, not at all. It was just one series that gave me so much joy. The Sonic the Hedgehog games. Some people may not like them, but I amassed hours and hours of play time trying to beat those games. They got gradually easier over time, the original Sonic the Hedgehog being by far the hardest. Yes, those were the days...

As far as the Dreamcast, I agree; it was Sega’s popularity that doomed it to failure. However many good games they may have grinded out, it simply couldn’t compete with Nintendo and Sony. Dear poor Sega bit the dust, and good.

G4TECH isn’t that bad. They rated both Paper Mario 2 and Kingdom Hearts as two of the top 10 RPGs of all time, which I can agree to entirely.

... But then, they did name FF to be the best. Aw well, you have to expect some inaccuracy in these things.

[TronBonne]

I remember Dreamcast...my brother bought it when it wasn't doing so good, because it was a little cheaper and came with a few games. We didn't have many games for it, but that was alright. I liked the games we did have like Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi...and a few other games I loved to play. I think we rented Sonic Adventure 2 but I never had a chance to play it. =( Anyway, I really have no idea why it failed...I just thought their was too much competition?

[amandpunk]

I've never had a dreamcast, but I bet it failed because Sega didn't have the time/effor or money to make a dreamscast 2. During that time all the other game systems came out, making dreamcast forgotten and stuff.

I don't know 0.o :\ Probably different. I actually bet I'm wrong

[feldinaut]

...Yeah. You are wrong. Very.

The Dreamcast came out slightly before the Playstation 2 with the general hardware capabilities of that era (i.e. Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox are all in the same league, generally speaking). The Dreamcast being on the cutting edge of technology (meaning better hardware hadn't been invented yet) and on their budget (NONE), Sega couldn't POSSIBLY have been working on a Dreamcast 2 yet. And that's beside the fact that a Dreamcast 2 would have launched directly on the heels of its predecessor, the very kind of behavior that drove fans away from Sega in the first place!

So, no, that's not why the Dreamcast failed, though I assure you if that type of plan was in the works, it would have failed even faster.

Still trying to figure out why you even bothered posting if you "actually bet you're wrong."

[Rabid Yuna fan]

on side note the dreamcast is runing a version of windows called windows CE,
hacking it to be a computer and dreamcast any one?

EDIT: does any one know how the online thing works and if there are any server progs that you can get so I could create my own server so me and my friend could play?

[amandpunk]

I posted that for all of you to see what I thought... Not just to say I was wrong >_<

Edit: That and I started thinking I was wrong right before I was about to post when I read over my post again...

[UserShadow7989]

For starters, sega's sega saturn was so big of a flop that the dreamcast wasn't really trusted.
second, The ps2 came out only 1 or 2 year(s) later with better tech and great games.
So mostly yeah, sony's ps2 killed dreamcast, I bought mine when it was dying.
Finally, who thinks sega should make a dreamcast two?

[ZFGokuSSJ1]

In my opinion, Sega isn't gonna make a console for at least the next five years. They MAY release a new console if they get more successful with their games, but... that might not happen.

[aarond]

The Dreamcast failed in part because Sega of Japan and Sega of America were NOT communicating. Apparently, they were working on two different consoles at one point, according to an interview with Bernie Stolar that I read somewhere. In fact, SOA had already made five games for a different console before the hammer fell down and they found out the Dreamcast was it. I think one of those five actually got translated over, the rest were just flushed down the toilet.

I had a Genesis and liked it. I thought about getting a Saturn, but got a PSX instead because it had more RPGs on it. Nowadays, the only PSX-era games that still do it for me, aside from the MegaMan Legends series, natch, are Final Fantasy VIII, Symphony of the Night, Xenogears, and maybe Chrono Cross, and maybe a couple of Namco arcade collections and that FF collection. Looking back, I kind of wish I'd gotten a Saturn and maybe a DC and played some of the games that were on those, but since Sega/Sammy is re-releasing all of the damn things on the GameCube and PS2 now, I guess I don't have to worry too much about it, do I?