It’s officially 9.9.9, and you know what that means? Aside from the long-awaited release of The Beatles: Rock Band of course. Why, it’s time to remember an old friend…
… As already mentioned at least once or twice before, a significant part of my love for gaming died with the Dreamcast’s demise in ’01. Despite growing up in Nintendo Country (Washing State, where NOA is headquartered), I’ve been a Sega devotee ever since I first passed on Super Mario World for Sonic The Hedgehog during Christmas of ’91. I’d eventually get a SNES two years later, and became a fan of it as well, but my preference was always for the Genesis. The summer of ’94, in which all I did was play Sonic 3, Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, Thunder Force 4, Castlevania Bloodlines, Street Fighter 2: Special Championship Edition, and Virtua Racing, all day and night long still holds many fond memories for me. Without question, Sega’s 16-bitter is my favorite video game system of all time.
When I first arrived in NYC to pursue an education in the arts circa 1996, I came only with a desire to hone my robot and hot dog drawing skills and $200 in my pockets, courtesy of my parents, mostly intended for food. Which was instead blown on a Nomad (remember the portable Genesis?) and a copy of Mega Man: The Wily Wars from whatever the hell Gamefan’s mail order operation was called at the time. But because the money used was seriously intended for food, I found myself having to sell it in order to eat. Though shortly afterward, my dad mailed me my Saturn from back home (which was purchased back on May 11, 1995, on day one, btw) and Sega once again provided many happy memories, this time during my college years. It didn’t matter that I had zero luck with women (mostly due to the fact that I was a cartooning major at SVA, and none of us were getting laid at that point) since I was too busy with Virtua Fighter 2, NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Radiant Silvergun, and all those awesome 2D fighters from Capcom and Japan, the ones that used the 4 meg cart.
In the fall of ’99, I had graduated from college months prior and begun taking the first real steps towards adulthood. I was now living in my first apartment, with Jason as my first roommate, and had just gotten my first job. So to reward myself, I got, what else? A brand new video game system! The Sega Dreamcast, which again was acquired on day one. By this point, my faith in Sega had been severely strained, so the Dreamcast was like a reward for those who had been keeping the faith, even during those darkest of days. There truly was nothing else like it, and I still remember when Dave Roman came over the very next day and checked it out; his interested in where games were heading towards had also waned and also mostly preferred playing stuff from the past. And so impressed he was by Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur that Dave immediately went out and got his own system the day after.
Here we have an old episode of Icon from G4 that covers the rise and fall of the Dreamcast. BTW, since I don’t have cable, do they even do shows like this anymore? Last I checked, all they played was Cops, Star Trek: TNG, and Ninja Warrior (not that there’s anything wrong with those shows). Anyway, as far as Icons go, it’s one of the better ones that I’ve seen, without any glaring inaccuracies and the like. But it doesn’t really scratch the surface as to why the Dreamcast period was Sega’s very best, that being how all the internal teams were made autonomous and all the crazy amount of creativity that came as a result. Though it does feature Jake Kazdal, wearing a Rez shirt no less! But thanks to titles like Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Shenmue, Chu Chu Rocket, Crazy Taxi, Typing of the Dead, to name just a few, I honestly can’t remember a time when gaming was so exciting.
So when the Dreamcast’s plug got pulled, Sega as a whole perished in mind as well. I did have faith in the beginning that the move away from hardware would allow them to concentrate on what they did best, which was making games, and finally allow for a true re-invention of themselves that they?ve tried time and time again, but without success. Some early games even illustrated this hope, specifically Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta for the first Xbox. But that was pretty much it; the games that have followed ever since have not been of much note, other than the subsequent installments of the Virtua Fighter series and a few other lone stand-outs. A vast majority of the company?s output can best summed as awkward at best, with some being flat-out horrible; what’s happened to the Sonic series immediately comes to mind. I’m still an avid gamer, obviously, but it hasn’t been the same ever since.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be revealing such information publicly, but as everyone already know by now, I’ll be running a few panels at the upcoming New York Anime Fest later this month. One will explore the differences between the American and Japanese video game scenes, both culturally speaking and business-wise, and all areas between. Because Sega will be exhibiting, to show off their upcoming their holiday releases, I extended an invitation; it goes without saying that there?s much they could talk about, not just in regards to the Dreamcast ten years later but the company’s legacy as a whole as it pertains to the subject at hand, which attendees at the show, many of them former and still card carrying Sega devotees would love to hear, or so I?d imagine. But alas, despite repeated inquires (to the point where I was practically begging), they have made it clear that they’re not at all interested. Which is a real shame.
Yet once again, the Sega of today is not the same as yesterday’s. And on that note, I guess it’s worth mentioning “Project Needlemouse”, which will finally give what Sonic fans have been also begging for many years now, a brand new 2D Sonic, period. I?m fairly certain when I speak for quite a few by stating that it’s too little, too late. Sega has repeatedly promised to re-create Sonic from the ground-up and take it back to the good old days, and the end result couldn’t be any different. Beside, the truth is, like so many others, we have all moved on, so it almost doesn’t matter anymore.
Though tonight I’ll be going back in time by having another spin of Sega Rally 2, just for old time’s sake.
