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One of the things that I've been noticing as I've cleared out some redundancies from my collection is how many Dreamcast games are now available - often in a better form - elsewhere.

For example, if we look at this site's own DC article on "defining games" there are only 3-4 titles that can't be found elsewhere (other consoles or PCs), often with enhanced features and upscaled resolutions.

Almost all of its arcade ports can be found elsewhere or now run perfectly in MAME. Almost all of its Sega-produced titles have been re-released on compilations or as downloadable versions. Aside from a few things with specialty controllers, there isn't much on the system that can't be found elsewhere.

On the one hand this speaks to the system's legacy and its strengths - but on the other it gives me fewer and fewer reasons to pull out my DC. Has any other system suffered quite the same degree of imposed obsolescence?

EDIT: clarified a bit what I mean here: viewtopic.php?p=1070844#p1070844

Hrm... probably the XBOX, I figure. There are a few exclusives that you can only play there, but almost everything that was there worth playing is playable elsewhere. Fitting, given that Microsoft used the Dreamcast as a springboard into the console space in the first place.

There are still a few reasonable exclusives on the system, but you're right. Most of them are playable elsewhere, in improved form. The ones that aren't are pretty niche titles. Guess that's on Sega, since they ported a ton of their stuff elsewhere, and re-released a lot of it on PC as well.

dsheinem wrote:Has any other system suffered quite the same degree of imposed obselence?

I'm getting real tired of seeing Vita exclusives get ported to PC.

Exhuminator wrote:

dsheinem wrote:Has any other system suffered quite the same degree of imposed obselence?

I'm getting real tired of seeing Vita exclusives get ported to PC.

I guess the maximum of 5 sales from the Unofficial Racketboy Forums Vita Fan Club™ we have here just aren't cutting it on making the money back on most of them


Honestly, I've always found it hard to justify buying games for the Dreamcast. For a system that's so definitively Sega-y (and I love me some Sega) I....just can't find much I want to buy for the thing, especially compared to Sega's previous hardware.

I guess one thing the Dreamcast might still have going for it is that it has a lot of the best ports of late era Playstation and N64 games you can find?

The Atari 2600? There are so many excellent, and extensive, compilations out there that you only really need a system to play licensed games.

The best games in the Neo-Geo's catalogue have also been repackaged repeatedly, and I can't really think of a good reason to own that system either (aside from collecting, of course).

alienjesus wrote:

Exhuminator wrote:

dsheinem wrote:Has any other system suffered quite the same degree of imposed obselence?

I'm getting real tired of seeing Vita exclusives get ported to PC.

I guess the maximum of 5 sales from the Unofficial Racketboy Forums Vita Fan Club™ we have here just aren't cutting it on making the money back on most of them /quote]

I think you forget me, even though yeah I haven't been buying a lot but i'm going to soon. Vita is a awesome system but it's suffering a similar fate to psp. I remember it being massively popular but it's hype and the knowledge of games coming to it seemed far and few between. At least I don't remember seeing as much on it. The GBA just seemed more popular at least that's the way it seemed over here where i live. I can count on my hand the amount of psp owners I encountered growing up.

I haven't bought much other than PS1 Classics in quite a while for my Vita. Sad.

Sarge wrote:I haven't bought much other than PS1 Classics in quite a while for my Vita. Sad.

That is sad! I figured you'd at least buy Exist Archive.

Exhuminator wrote:

dsheinem wrote:Has any other system suffered quite the same degree of imposed obselence?

I'm getting real tired of seeing Vita exclusives get ported to PC.

The Wii and Wii U have both gotten shafted with this. The Wii has had a lot of its great used-to-be exclusives ported to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and PC. The Wii U is getting most of its good exclusives ported to the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

The Dreamcast still has some interesting stuff going for it if you are a fan of survival horror games of the era:

Blue Stinger, Illbleed, D2, Carrier, and admittedly the awful The Ring: Terror's Realm all remain exclusive.

The ports of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 and Dino Crisis are generally considered superior to other releases. In RE2's case, the Dreamcast version looks the best(particularly if played via VGA box), the FMVs run at 60fps, the VMU is implemented to offer vital information, and all additions for the PC version were also implemented for the DC release. The Gamecube version and PSN release are effectively just straight ports of the PS1 release without any of the later features. For Dino Crisis, again the VMU is used to showcase status info, the best visuals are found via the VGA box(though FMVs apparently won't run when using it), and it offers several unique control and menu touches due to the DC controller. Costumes must still be unlocked the old fashioned way as opposed to the PC version, which comes with everything already unlocked.

Which version of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is superior is up for debate, since apparently all of the ports were pretty much the same. While there are clipping issues removed, apparently the background resolutions weren't always updated, so the game's visuals vary.

As for Resident Evil: Code Veronica, yes, superior ports have come out since.

Next up, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is generally best on the Dreamcast in the US. It featured improved graphics over the PS1 release. While the PC release is a straight port of the DC version, it suffers from problems with the audio conversion and has poorer music as a result. Now if you live in the EU, the best version of AitD:TNN is actually the PS2 version, which is a port of the DC version with a few minor improvements such as proper lip syncing in cutscenes.

Evil Dead: Hail to the King's Dreamcast port is middle-of-the-road, with the PC version being the best...though none of them are what I'd consider "good."

Nightmare Creatures II I can't say. I've never seen anyone compare the DC and PS1 versions, though I have read at least one quote about it being one of the worst games on the DC.

As for Shadow Man, the Dreamcast version is probably closest to the PC version but apparently has some audio issues. PC is probably the best way to go, unless you want the slight changes that come with the N64 version(which make it much easier in the end).