5 Dreamcast titles that need to go next gen

Dreamcast feature by James Frazer on 21st June 2008

I’m sure that I’m not the only gamer who grew up on a Dreamcast that thinks SEGA’s latest software offerings are nothing short than a bunch of arse. Yet more Sonic games with a slight twist or arcade games without any depth - forget this crap and go back to your roots, guys!

The following is a list this user would quite happily take a hit for the team to get re-released;

5. Crazy Taxi

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Fast, frantic and fun. That’s C-C-C-CRAZY TAXI! summed up. Forget the needless addition of the crazy hop and the lacklustre cities introduced in sequels, just give us a spruced up next-gen version of the favourable Arcade title. This game would benefit enormously from online play - imagine 8 or so players starting at random points in the city with a 15 minute time limit, trying to beat eachother for fares. Gameplay centred around narrowly squeezing through gaps in traffic and avoiding collisions by the skin of your teeth - perfect fodder for the online community.

4.ChuChu Rocket

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A game centred around quick navigating of the board - so what could be better than the Nintendo DS or Wii? Chu Chu Rocket is a title suited more than most to a stylus or pointer. There’s not much to change here, the puzzle and challenge modes are still as baffling as ever and the Dreamcast version sorely lacks its now defunct online mode.

Each battle had players assigning three arrows on the board to try and direct mice into their rockets - but watch out for cats! Eating one of these suckers cost you a third of your haul, and much of the fun was swapping from mice collecting to cat baiting, trying to direct the munching fur-balls into your opponents rocket. Random mice with question marks above their heads changed the rules of the game; MouseMania meant three times as many mice coming onto the board, CatMania was devilish fun and fast or slow varieties changed game plans enourmously.

3. Sonic Adventure

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The Dreamcast’s 3D Sonic title sold many consoles off its own back as players navigated the world with the entire cast of the crew. Within each world were enemies that, once broken, revealed their animal occupants. Collecting these and giving them to the curiously addictive Chao mini game let it take on their traits as you trained your little Chao to be the best in the business. Utterly bizarre on paper and in writing, but seeing them take their first steps had many a Dreamcaster shedding the odd tear.

2. Power Stone

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Another frantic title, Powerstone pitted 4 characters together in battle against an ever changing backdrop. Half the time was spent trying to keep in the screen as locations moved on, whilst you dodged enemy attacks and ripped up the level in search of more powerful weapons. 4 players, and no online mode makes this the ideal candidate for a next-gen spruce up.

1. Shenmue

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Please, God, wrap this series up! I’d love to see the first two games lovingly re-released in full next-gen splendour, and then tie the developers to their desks until they conclude the series with a third instalment. To have owned a Dreamcast and never played Shenmue would be like owning a Ferrari and never going above 30mph; an epic tale of a young martial arts student avenging his father’s death, with a fully interactive town and side quests with which to explore and uncover. The sequel took a while to settle into, but the original was just magical in its day. There are times in videogames when something comes along that you just didn’t think were possible, a little like when GTAIII burst onto the scene.

So there you have it - 5 titles SEGA need to bog down on and re-release instead of giving us this tripe that we’ve had to endure over the last 18 or so months.

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About the author

James Frazer is a Senior Staff Writer at Thunderbolt, having joined in June 2002.

Comments

Maxx Doubt
21st June 2008

Worst Dreamcast list ever. Sonic has been done to death. Chu Chu Rocket sucked out loud on it's best day. No self respecting gamer over 10 years old would ever play Powerstone 2. Shenmue was very ambitious, but extremely boring to play. The only thing that kept anybody I know going back to Shenmue was the mini-game of Darts…which is surprisingly awesome. I'll give you crazy taxi, but it was already done to poor critical view on xbox etc…it's a dead license. I still own a dreamcast with about 200 games (after trading in the bulk of them) and none of those games that you just listed get any play in my house. Games that do get play:

Soul Calibur - One of the best fighters ever made…that's why we ARE getting a remake for current gen

Wetrix Remix - Best puzzle game ever. This is also one of those games that has fairly simple graphics and extremely engaging gameplay. This would be one of the top downloaded titles if it were to hit XBLA with a graphical update (ie realistic water, more adjustable camera etc)

Tekken 3 (for playstation…playable through Bleemcast) A very solid fighter still being made every year or two solely for Sony

Rival Schools 2 - If you like the twisted world of games such as Guilty Gear and other Japanese 2d wacky fighters, this is the game for you. Bizarre moves with a ton of creativity and over the top gameplay keeps this game from getting dusty.

Tokyo Extreme Racer 2 - One of the very best games ever made in the street racing genre. There's no set races,…just you and your very customizable cars patrolling the tokyo highway system looking to battle. This game has been remade for current gen under the name "Import Tuner Challenge" and is definitely worth a look although other games have ripped this game off to death. At the time, you would have been hardpressed to find any game on any system that had better graphics and ambience.

Virtua Rally 2: Expert Edition - IMO the first rally game that really got it right. Until Rallisport Challenge 2 came out on xbox, this was the worlds best rally game.

Sorry to have to trump the hell out of your list, but it was laughable.
Ben
21st June 2008

I really hope the new Jet Set Radio turns out to be true =D Shenmue boring to play? bah nonsense, one of the best games ever. Brilliant article James!
Spraypaint King Lemmy
21st June 2008

*finishes reading the above list*

…Anyway, the list is great, but it's missing Jet Set/Grind Radio, which would definantly be a fresh kick in the ass to all the FPS madness of today.
C
22nd June 2008

Hmmm… Brought to next-gen, heh?
Let's see…
Jet Set Radio Future on Xbox? Major fiasco.
Chu Chu Rocket on GBA? Nope, doesn't ring a bell…
Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were ported to the GameCube. That was exactly when the whole "Sonic sucks" Internet fad started.

Shenmue 2 was released on the Xbox with terrible sales numbers.

Power Stone is a Capcom title…

Crazy Taxi 3 on Xbox was burned alive by Xbox gamers and the PSP Crazy Taxi spin-off wasn't all that well-received.

5 remakes, all of them major fiascos.
Znd Opp
22nd June 2008

Sweet list man :) We are working hard over at the Shenmue Campaign to get Sega to remember to get this game to us…

http://www.myspace.com/legendofshenmue
Ben
22nd June 2008

FAO: C

Jet Set Radio Future a fiasco? Most enjoyable non FPS game on the system in my opinion, then theres the absolutely awesome soundtrack for it which pretty much made JSR what it is. Pure joy that game was.
Mike
22nd June 2008

I am a HUGE Dreamcast and Wii fan, but I have to say with all respect this list sucks. Where is, Makken X, Sword Of The Berseker, Blue Stinger, Record Of Lodoss war, Charge and Blast? All of these would work great with the Wii's motion sensing ability's especially Makken.
Bart Robson
22nd June 2008

While those were great games, they were hardly popular or mainstream. Maybe the author had never heard of them or something?
James Frazer
22nd June 2008

Full marks for C for missing the point entirely. The point of this article is to highlight how and why each game should be remade. The games you've mentioned, with the exception of Jet Set Radio Future, were ported, and Shenmue 2 didn't wrap up the series, did it? I want these games re-done to take advantage of modern day technology. Did ChuChu Rocket on the GBA have online play? Did Shenmue 2 take any advantage of what the Xbox offered? Yes, the Sonic games on the Gamecube were crap - that's why I'm saying they need to be done PROPERLY.
James Frazer
22nd June 2008

Hahahaha - Tokyo Highway Challenge? You've got to be kidding me! The premise sold me as well (cost me £15 back in the day) but the racing itself was laughable. Burnout Paradise is a great idea but the racing mechanics in that suck too. As for Blue Stinger, Sword of the Beserker et al, I felt they were games that appealed to die hard fans, you know, those that love mediocre games through blind love rather than facing up to the fact they they weren't very good at all. A bit like me and the PES series, to tell the truth. And as for the Powerstone 2 comment, get out. Get out now.
Anthony Karge
23rd June 2008

I still haven't opened my copy of Maken X. I should get on that. I've played my 99 cent copy of Blue Stinger for an hour or so but it hasn't aged so well. Record of Lodoss War, while exceedingly rare, was a fun little Diablo clone that definitely needed multiplayer support. I'd give it a low 8 out of 10.
ShinChuck
23rd June 2008

About the only redeeming quality to Maxx Doubt's comment is the Rival Schools 2/Project Justice mention.
Mike
23rd June 2008

Don't give up on Blue Stinger too quickly, it gets better pretty fast.
Spencer
23rd June 2008

James Guts was a good 3D beat em up, you should give it a chance. It's by no means the best game on the 'cast, but it's a solid bet for any retro or core gamers.
attack of the show
23rd June 2008

Dont forget sword of the berserker or record of lodoss war
Ben
24th June 2008

Blue Stinger is only good because of that Dogs Bowser character, his script is hysterical.
Boo Radley
29th June 2008

Surprised not to see "Jet Grind Radio" on that list ;)
Michael
4th July 2008

Sonic Adventure - one of my favourite games of all time. The longest time I have ever played on a game was on that game. I must have at least played on it for 10 hours straight - I didnt have a memory card at the time. Also, you missed Toy Commander - that was also an awesome game - I'd buy that for my 360.
Naims
6th July 2008

You forgot the one where you get to spraypaint stuff. Jet set radio or something. Fun game.
Adam
6th July 2008

Thank god you put Chu Chu Rocket, Power Stone and Shenmue in there, otherwise I've have to go on a rampage.
Thomas
8th July 2008

I could actually see Chu Chu Rocket done as a WiiWare title with some online gaming. Awesome list. :)
James Frazer
16th July 2008

Jet Grind/Set Radio is in development, which is why it isn't on the list. I can assure you it would be there should SEGA not have announced it a while back.
Calvin Kemph
25th April 2010

To the best of my knowledge Jet Grind Radio wasn’t in development when this was published, although Sega renewed the trademark around that time. Don’t they keep the trademarks up-to-date for all of of the games you’ve listed, though? Not that JGR should be included, but by that reasoning, neither should the other 5. The only games making the list are ones already receiving ports and sequels you haven’t liked. So why would you want more? Plenty of deserving games still stuck on the Dreamcast could’ve made the list. ChuChu Rocket!’s placement over JGR or Soul Calibur is sad.