The beginning of the 21st century turned into a big shock for fans Sega : January 31, 2001, the company announced the departure from the market of game consoles, deciding to focus on the production of games for other platforms. It would seem that the day before yesterday Dreamcast She felt quite well and even instilled faith in a bright future, and then she suddenly buried her alive – almost like Saturn At one time. True, unlike its predecessor, Dreamcast was provided with games until the very end of the unfortunate 2001, and most of them were hits. Nevertheless, the official date of the console’s death is considered March 31: it was on this day that production was stopped, and the remaining SEGA parties actually sold for nothing.
Despite the tragic fate, which lived a little over two years, the console had a significant impact on the game industry – this is perhaps the most beloved after Mega Drive ( Genesis ) Model for SEGA fans. Dreamcast also occupies a special place in the hearts of Russian players: once it became a bridge between the outdated PS1 And insanely expensive PS2 , not to mention the competitors who arrived later. Therefore, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the “funeral” of the presenting hope of the platform, we decided to recall its history.
With sticks in wheels
If you recall a series of errors that the company made during the time of Saturn, you involuntarily begin to believe that there were no intrigues of any universal forces. Having achieved success with Mega Drive, SEGA for some reason gave the brakes and refused to continue in the same spirit. The first large faill was the addon 32x : who needed a plain “suction cup” by 16-bit, when a full-fledged console of a new generation was already shining on the horizon, it is strongly incomprehensible. However, Saturn did not debut in the best way: due to the forced start, most potential hits simply did not ripen to release. The remaining problems were opened later – the architecture difficult to develop and the absence of sequels loved by Mega Drive Hits greatly disappointed the company's fans.
“Be better, my son. Do not repeat past mistakes!"
The best evidence that Sega is not studying in its mistakes was the fact that DreamCast was planned as a 64-bit addition to Saturn, developed jointly with 3DO. It was enough to recall the sad fate of the console from this company to feel the smell of fried. Fortunately, judicious people did not transfer to Sega, so the full development of a new platform started after Saturn showed its financial failure. True, the problems were just starting on this. American and Japanese SEGA offices for a long time could not come to a consensus regarding components. In the West in the future DreamCast they wanted to use the processor from Motorola (at one time released the CPU for 16-bit from the Sega) and a graphic accelerator from 3DFX. Japanese colleagues drowned for a bunch of Hitachi SH-4 and PowerVR from Videologic And they became furious after the American unit secretly signed a contract with 3DFX. Preliminary tests showed that the advantage of performance was on the Powervr side, as well as the low cost. As a result, cooperation with one of the leading manufacturers of graphic chips was cut off at a glance, and the final choice fell on the tandem proposed by the Japanese.
The controller evolved from the 3D ANALOG PAD for Sega Saturn was convenient for everything except the absence of the second stick. And the idea with a memory card equipped with a screen and autonomous functionality subsequently picked up Sony And released PocketStation
By this decision, the Sega ruined the relationship with her longtime partner – Electronic Arts. The company knew 3DFX architecture well, so the development of games under PowerVR raised a number of questions. And finally all the bridges were burned later, when it became known that the Sega bought a studio Visual Concepts. According to the contract, the latter was supposed to create an exclusive series of sports simulators for Dreamcast – and EA wanted to be a monopolist in this niche, so she slapped the door loudly. The new partner coped with the task very well: excess evidence of this is the fact that the series 2K There is still. However, at that time Visual Concepts was a little -known office, so the lack of games from EA on the new SEGA console predictably scared many players.
Sharp take -off and loud fall
Despite all these incidents and multimillion -dollar losses that Saturn brought, Sega was enthusiastic and actively invested huge amounts in advertising. Unfortunately, the company's ambitions were contrary to Videologic production facilities, which did not have time to produce the required volume of graphic chips, so at the start of sales there was a strong deficit of the consoles. The fact that the main exclusive in the person was added to the fire Sonic Adventure did not ripen to release. In this sense, DreamCast completely repeated the fate of Saturn, causing the indignation of customers, although in general, things were going well. Especially in North America: more than 225 thousand were sold there in the first day, and in two weeks – more than half a million consoles, which brought the Baryshi entertainment record for the entertainment industry.
DreamCast had many https://sister-site.org/slots-charm/ limited publications. One of the rarest is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the series Sonic the Hedgehog : consoles intended for SEGA employees as a commemorative gift was signed by Yuji Naka himself, co -author of Sonic
But this turned out to be only a short -term success. Apart from the already mentioned three -dimensional Sonic, the Sega was in no hurry to release the sequels of her iconic titles, and instead again made a bet on new and largely completely incomprehensible IPs, which we will talk about a little below. This very disappointed many fans who answered the companies the same: they were in no hurry to buy her new platform. The main blow under the breath, as it is easy to guess, the Sega received from Sony, which at that time and kept most of the market. Brilliant presentation PlayStation 2 In fact, Dreamcast sent to the corner to outsiders: the hardware filling of the SEGA console was comparable to a good PC of the late 90s, but at the same time was very inferior to the characteristics that Sony voiced. The company already realized that all means were good in the war, so they began to give out linden promises of the level of “PS2-a supercomputer that can generate CGI level graphics in real time Pixar ".
Sony claimed that such a quality of persons is achievable on PS2. And, oddly enough, I did not lie: compare with models from published in 2003 Silent Hill 3
But on the side of Sony there were not only the technical capabilities of the console – PS1 gave the world so many first -class hits that people were much more attracted by future sequels of these games than the entire Dreamcast library at once. True, at the start of the PS2 buyers, a temporary disappointment was waiting: the cunning architecture of the console took time that the developers of the first echelon got used to the new platform and began to “squeeze all the juices from it”. The DreamCast was still low, and the library of excellent games has already grown to a decent scale by 2000, when PS2 finally released. True, as practice has shown, it was only a temporary handicap: the sales of the console were still insufficient in order to pull the sega binded at the losses from the swamp. And closer to the end of the 2000, the announcements of those very Killer Tailers began to be pulled up, which, looking back, can be called control shots to the head of a competitor. One of these became Metal Gear Solid 2 – After her, DreamCast days were numbered.
And the last nail in the lid of her coffin was scored by pirates. Sega was very proud of her new carriers: GD-disposal volume 1.2 GB versus 700 MB in ordinary CDs. They were not on free sale, not to mention GD-RW drives, which immediately cut off the possibility of the appearance of pirate stamping, wasn't it so? Unfortunately, no: the company left in DreamCast the possibility of reading CD for the sake of music and disks of the Mil-CD format-in fact the same Audio CD, but with multimedia content (for example, interactive menus or video shows). Pirates quickly copied the code that was used to check the authenticity of the console itself, and created on its basis the bootloader of illegal copies. A little later, images with the built -in code arrived.
The very Mil-CD wheels, on the basis of which the pirates and blinded the famous Utopia Boot CD
Due to the smaller volume of the carrier, I had to go to the tricks-however, not everywhere, since not all games for DreamCast involved the entire disk. In the case of “heavy” samples under the knife, the quality of videos and music fell. There were examples and harder: for example, in the first releases Shenmue 2 The speech of secondary characters was cut. And it also happened that the pirates crookedly reconfigured the images for the needs of the CD, which is why the games could slow down or load too long-they serve as the brightest examples Skies of Arcadia And the Japanese limit Dead or Alive 2. But is it worth saying that the gamers greedy to the free of gamers, especially in Russia, did not bother?
Six zero adventure
For the development of the legendary Shenmue Sega, who already experienced financial problems, allocated the amount astronomical at that time: according to various estimates, it amounted to 47 to 70 million dollars. The creation of Yu Suzuki contributed to the growth of the popularity of games with QTE and the open world, as well as the notorious cinematography. The effect of immersion was intensified thanks to the rollers made on the advanced engine: because of this, the transition from gameplay to katsen and back was perceived more naturally.
The end of 1999, Katszena on the engine
True, if we speak out of clean, then Shenmue was not really so innovative game as it is believed. The QTE concept originates in arcade games that used as a carrier of Laserdis, for example, Dragon’s Lair. And in the form in which interactive cattsmen appeared in Shenmue, they could be seen in Die Hard Arcade – Bitamap 1995, also developed by Sega. The implementation of the open world in many ways refers to little -known Adventure Mizzurna Falls, released on PS1 only in Japan: a change of day and night, a notebook for important notes and constant communication with the NPC in order to find out the information necessary for promotion in the plot. But Mizzurna Falls was not another story about a naive teenager who decided to avenge the murdered father, but with a gloomy detective in the spirit "Twin Pix". But to the honor of Suzuki it is worth noting that all of the above elements were implemented at a high level. The problem was different: behind the canvas from the phenomenal graphics, a set of hymimics was hidden that could not captivate for a long time.
Shenmue 2, published in 2001, did a lot of correct things: increased the scale of the game world, added colorful characters and greatly diluted trivial triggerhanting with action. But it was too late
Shenmue played the rule “in the right place at the right time”: in those years, the industry standards were incomparable even with those that they replaced them literally five years, not to mention today's requests of the audience. Therefore, impressed by an unusual concept and breakthrough graphics, gamers for the mass of their play forgave the game not only an empty gameplay, but also a primitive plot with ridiculous dialogs. But only sales of 1.2 million copies were completely insufficient to repel record production costs.
King Mordoboy
Thanks to DreamCast, a strong impetus in development received 3D fitings. If a belated port Virtua Fighter 3 And a supplemented version Mortal Kombat 4 They did not cause much delight among the players, then Soulcalibur became a real revelation. First of all, due to graphics: the console version became almost a remake in which the models and elements of the background were redone from scratch. If the picture in the arcade original was approximately at the level Tekken 3, then the option for DreamCast was already a real non -unit without bills. Plus an incredibly driving gameplay with the ability to fully walk in the arena, and not take short steps to the side.
For almost ten years, the first Soulcalibur remained an exclusive for DreamCast, until the HD-Remaster was released in 2008 Xbox 360. Later, on its basis, ports for Android and iOS were released
However, the real revolution was still ahead: it was brought by Dead or Alive 2. If the first part was perceived as another solid clone Virtua Fighter, then the second was made at a completely incomprehensible level for 1999. Here you should make a reservation and clarify that first fighting was released on the arcade system Naomi , Almost identical DreamCast for filling. For gamers and developers, this has become one of the most attractive sides of the SEGA console, as it greatly simplified and accelerated the porting process. Team Ninja She blocked DOA2 with all the chips that could only come up with or steal with competitors: the possibility of changing the character right during the battle, completely three -dimensional and multi -level arenas, as well as famous interceptions that allow you to kill the opponent’s attack and cause him a damage. Well, the quality of the graphics was phenomenal.
Dead or Alive 2
Like Saturn, Dreamcast also was in great demand among 2D-darars' fans. If special cartridges that increase the volume of RAM, then DreamCast itself was a very powerful platform, so sending something under the knife was not required to send something under the knife. Moreover: Capcom So I liked to develop games for NAOMI, and then in a short time to port them to the home system, that many iconic fights of that time were created specifically for the Arcadian machine from the Sega. Among them are two parts of the once popular crossover Capcom vs SNK , And also Marvel vs Capcom.
Making new horizons
One of the main merits of DreamCAST can be considered a popularization of online gaming on consoles: compared with miserable attempts, to make friends with the consoles of past generations 128-bit from the Sega can be considered a real revolutionary. It is clear that in Russia the question of a full-fledged game through a telephone modem in those years was unlikely to stand, but users actively used it for web surfing and communication with each other by e-mail. The lack of Russian was a small problem, so writing letters and angry posts on the forums was a broadcast. But quite quickly, the pirates that released the Russified version of the browser filled this gap.
Using VGA Box (or Chinese cable), DreamCast keyboard and mice turned into a PC. Sony picked up this idea later by releasing a special set with Linux for PS2.
In the West, the SEGA service.Net was in good demand. Those who had broadband access to the network could change the full-time modem to a LAN adapter and enjoy stable online sessions. And although the list of games supporting multiplayer over the Internet was small, for those years the presence of such an opportunity was already a real phenomenon. In addition on the console side there were such top -footed shooters as Quake 3: Arena And Unreal Tournament. In order to simplify life to gamers, Sega even released a keyboard and a mouse, which could also be used to control in a number of games and surfing on the Internet. The apotheosis of all this has become Phantasy Star Online -The first in the history of MMO for the console, moreover, supporting the game in offline mode.
Other merits
As for the first main exclusive console, then everything came out ambiguously with him. The long-awaited three-dimensional “Sonic” sternly coped with the camera and management-the main problems of the 3D platformers of that time-and retained the speed and entertainment inherent in the series … But only in places in the campaign of Sonic himself: playing for the rest of the heroes was noticeably less interesting. The second trouble was already in the title – Sonic Adventure received the same adventure elements that she was completely useless: dull triggerhanting, accompanied by wandering by locations and communication with NPC, as well as a plot full of incredible Kitszen. In the sequel from adventure elements, fortunately, they refused, but the role of the plot in it expanded – and scenario Sonic Adventure 2, Alas, it was at the level of the worst soup anime.
Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2
Last but not least, DreamCast is remembered for the first three -dimensional in the history of the series Resident Evil – Code Veronica (wretched rail spin-off Gun Survivor do not count). The dynamic camera following the character introduced a share of novelty in the perception of the passage, but did not change the overall picture: it was well acquainted since the time of PS1 gamedes, seasoned with a more technological picture. And Veronica can be praised for leaving aside from the usual setting: the action of the series finally escaped from Rakkun City and its environs.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Were at the disposal of DreamCast and innovative projects like Jet Set Radio And Crazy Taxi. The first one immediately fell in love with stylish graphics made using Cel-SHADING technology: thanks to it, a completely three-dimensional environment was perceived as a revived comic. In the role of one of the members of the street gang, Gamer had to cut off the rollers along the streets of Tokyo and draw graffiti in the right places, simultaneously taking his legs from the raging police: it was necessary to meet the timer and not to glue the flippers from the injuries received.
And Crazy Taxi developed the ideas of classic arcade races, where it was necessary to cross the checkpoint before the expiration of the allotted time – only locations acted in the role of control points where passengers had to be delivered. Crazy arcade physics and bright visual style were perfectly complemented by incendiary punk rock from The Offspring And Bad Religion.
Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi
Annoying gaps
Unfortunately, DreamCast was also enough in the Dreamcast game. There was a lack of steep races: as a competitor Gran Turismo A car symbulator was created Sega GT, which, of course, became a joy for the owners of the console, but against the background of the brainchild Polyphony Digital perceived only as a budget clone. The niche of arcade races took Metropolis Street Racer, Offering the advanced picture, three detailed cities (Tokyo, London and San Francisco) and the innovative Kudos system – points with which gamers rewarded for neat driving. Later, based on MSR will create a series Project Gotham Racing, counting four games.
Sega GT and Metropolis Street Racer
Dreamcast and expensive RPG were catastrophically lacking. The main scrolls on the platform, Grandia 2 And Skies of Arcadia , predictably plowed even against the background Final Fantasy for PS1: a solid schedule was not within the power to disguise a smaller scope of history and a flagrant sense of budget. And against the background later announced Final Fantasy X A couple was completely perceived somehow something completely miserable. The lack of horror Resident Evil 2, 3 And Dino crisis, But I wanted something new. Alas, almost all the representatives of the genre, who came out exclusively for DreamCast, turned out to be mediocre, and some of them were frankly terrible. Mention is worthy of only Illbleed, console's life cycle. In it, the main character, who was in the amusement fleet in the fleet of the park, with the help of a special camera scanned the area in search of traps. This chip was subsequently adopted by many eminent developers, including authors Fatal Frame And Metroid Prime.
Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia and Illbleed
Despite its sudden death, DreamCast is still one of the most revered platforms among retro-heimers. At one time, enthusiasts actively created emulators of third-party consoles, and then produced Homebrew ports. This is in many ways a merit Windows CE – Contrary to the current opinion, BIOS in DreamCast was not a modified version of this OS; It was only about tools that simplified the process of transferring games from PC. And so that the owners of the console do not have to scour the flea markets in search of laser heads, devices were developed that ensured the launch of images from SD cards and hard drives.
After leaving the market, the Canticus Heritage was picked up by competitors: over the next years, SEGA transferred almost all exclusives to third -party platforms. The Xbox was especially lucky, which got the most sequels, and not just modified versions of already released games-because of this, fans like to joke that the console from Microsoft She became the same DreamCast 2 , which they once dreamed about. The popularity of Sega.NET also inspired the Mikes to bet on the online gaming and equip the console with a built-in network card. In addition, these two companies are connected by another important circumstance: it was Peter Moore, who first worked at Sega of America, and later at Microsoft, who persuaded the Japanese to leave the market of game consoles and focus on the production and publication of the game. If the Sega did not listen to his advice, then bankruptcy would most likely be inevitable.
And what memories did you leave the last system from Sega? You would like to see on the site other materials on the stories of retro consoles? Tell in the comments!
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