Sega Nerds

The best Dreamcast games you never played

by Chris on April 12th, 2007

During the Dreamcast’s brief lifespan, gamers were witness to some of the very best and most original games ever created. Games like Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Phantasy Star Online, Grandia 2 and of course Shenmue are usually the names that come to mind when a gamer’s mind wanders off to better days.

But for every great and popular Dreamcast title, there is probably a near equally fun game many gamers never got the chance to play. Well, your friendly Sega Nerds editors are here to let you know what those games are, and why you should pick them up. This list is by no means the end all, be all of great Dreamcast games you should buy, these are just two of our favorite games that we feel never received the full attention they deserved.

Chris’ picks
Wacky Races

Do you remember those hilarious Hanna Barbara cartoons starring Dastardly and Muttley where all the characters would race each other in really silly vehicles that could do all sorts of cool things? No? Well, most younger gamers probably don’t, but I do, and I absolutely loved them.

Thankfully, Infogrames teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring Wacky Races to the Dreamcast. Gameplay borrowed quite a bit from the Mario Kart formula of racing, but it also featured four-player racing and a fun single-player mode where players collected stars throughout the race. It also featured the newly-used cel shading technology to give the game the look and feel of its cartoon big brother. It worked really well, too. The graphics were crisp and the colors vibrant - back then, it was really amazing.

While Wacky Races certainly doesn’t set itself apart from many of the racing games of today, it was one of the most pure fun racers available on the Dreamcast.

Sword of the Berserk: Gut’s Rage

Today, I’m a huge fan of the Berserk manga and anime series, but years ago, I had no knowledge of the series until I played Sword of the Berserk: Gut’s Rage. What followed was three non-stop days of fun, frustration and all-around bloody ass kicking.

If you’re not familiar with Guts (or Gatsu), he has an arm cannon and wields the Dragon Slayer, a sword that would make Cloud piss his pants and was originally created to be big enough to do what its names implies. Carrying that huge sword into battle creates some of the bloodiest and most gruesome games you could ever imagine back then. A horizontal swing of Guts’ hunk of iron would slice several enemies completely in half. Very satisfying.

What makes the game great is it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not - a purely hellacious hack ‘n’ slash bloodfest. Developer Yukes did an amazing job at the cut scenes, as they do a great job at setting the tone and telling the story.

If you’re tired of the GTAs and the like, I highly suggest you check out Sword of the Berserk to fill your violence quota for the week.

Graham’s picks
Sega Extreme Sports

Totally overshadowed by bigger titles on other consoles like SSX and other extreme sports games, Sega Extreme Sports was missed by many.

This gem of a game received bugger all recognition by critics and gamers alike. However, it became one of my top sports games of all time in a matter of minutes after I first started playing.

For those who don’t know, the game is not just about snowboarding. It is an EXTREME SPORTS game. You don’t just race on snowboards, you also race on quadbikes (four wheelers or ATVs for us sane Americans), bicycles, speed gliders (like hang gliders, but being pulled along by a plane) bungee jumping and more. And it’s not that you race on a snowboard, win or lose the heat, then select another race or start again. No, sir.

You race on a snowboard, finish the snowboard race and then jump off the board and run along to a speed glider race between balloons, let go of the glider, parachute to a landing point, then run and jump onto a quadbike and ride like a bat out of heck until you reach the finish line.

You have three or more small races within one big race. The game has all the elements of a typical snowboarding game, speed, tricks, high jumps and knocking other players about, but with lots more action.

The game also features some wonderful locals – huge levels on which you race with some great graphics (although also some dodgy “land morphing” when you get close to objects). The soundtrack is brilliant and works so well with the game. Plus, the challenge of finding hidden tokens to unlock bonus tracks keeps the play going that little bit longer.

Fed up with your crappytypical EA type sports games? Then try this. There’s nothing like it around on any other console. It’s just such a damn shame it didn’t sell very well, otherwise we could have seen a sequel or two by now.

Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles

This one slipped totally under the radar, except for the radars of the hardcore Dreamcast owners. But there is no surprise that it’s not widely known. This is one of the only games on the Dreamcast (or possibly any console) that was only released in Europe. That’s right, no US or even Japanese release.

Well, I say that but the game was ported across to the PS2, but even then, it wasn’t well received. Both versions had some bugs in them, but apparently the PS2 version contained more and bigger bugs than the DC game, which explains why the PS2 version wasn’t played much.

Don’t know about the game? Well it is a 3D platformer. Imagine, say, a Mario 64 for the Dreamcast, but change the cute colourful world of Mario Bros. and turn it into the dark, twisted mind of a depressed orphan named Cyprien.

The game features some amazing graphics and visuals. All of which is enhanced by the weird and twisted world of Undabed (”under-bed” - where his discarded toys live). Along with the graphics and beautifully created lands of Undabed, you have an equally brilliant musical score. It’s nothing (again) like I have heard in a platform game – very eerie, but works perfectly for the game.

While the game has a questionable script – Cyprien being an annoying, grumpy, little sod most of the time – you can’t fault the game for having full audio dialogue; rather than having to read through hours of text, you can sit back and listen. Something that alot of Dreamcast titles never really featured.

The game is hard to come by, but not impossible. Get it. It’s a shame it was only released in Europe, because the game is something very different.

Nathan’s picks
Fur Fighters

A very underrated third-person shooter from Bizarre Creations. Lots of fun with some challenging levels, good character design, and fun weapons. Unloading the shotgun into an enemy and watching the fluff fly everywhere was just awesome. The multi-player was also pretty good; I remember wasting a lot of time in this game with friends.

Looney Tunes Space Race

I know what you’re thinking: Oh boy, a licensed kart racer clone. How on Earth can this be good? Amazingly, it was. The cel-shaded graphics were pretty impressive at the time, and the game provided a good sense of speed. The weapons were fun, the characters spouted usually funny one-liners, and again, the multi-player was great.

I remember buying Looney Tunes Space Race online from Sam Goody using a gift card I got as a special bonus from my job at Chick-fil-A as a young teenager. An utterly pointless personal anecdote, but it makes the memories attached to that jewel CD case sitting on my shelf that much more special.

Ryan’s picks
Toy Commander

Do you remember when you where a kid playing with your toy cars, planes, army men and My Little Pony? Well, If you wanted to relive your childhood all over again, Toy Commander is for you. The opening cutscene sets the tone of the game – a little kid, about 8 or 9, running around his house holding a toy plane, slowly he fades away and all that’s left is a toy plane seemingly flying on its own.

In the game, your basically seeing the kid’s imagination – blowing up other toys with pencil missiles and eraser bombs as you would do when you were a kid. Any old object can become a bomb, gun or samurai sword. However, you won’t just be flying planes, but all the kinds of toys you can imagine are at your disposal. And to top it off, each level is capped with an awesome boss fight.

The level design is brilliant, each room of the house is converted into a different level, and are vastly different from each other. You get innovative, fun tasks such as making a cup of coco with a helicopter. In all, there are about five missions or so per room.

The graphics in the game are very nice, too, which helps to immerse you into the world of toys. The rooms are full of detail; take for example the kitchen, it’s filled with cereal boxes on the table, eggs and wine glasses and many other detailed foodery (is that even a word?) that you may find in a real kitchen.

While the game focuses on toys, it’s by no means strictly a child’s game, and the game’s difficulty is a testament to that. But the good thing is it’s difficult in a good way, and you shouldn’t feel cheated if you don’t complete any given task. If you missed this great game shame on you! Do yourself a favour, and buy it.

Cannon Spike

Cannon Spike, originally an arcade game, is one hell of a fun shooter. If you’re familiar with Smash TV, then you’ll be right at home here, but, in my opinion, it’s better than the old-school classic. Developed byCapcom, one of the coolest parts of this shooter is it features many popular Capcom characters, such as Mega Man and Cammy.

Each character has special boots for fast movement and awesome special attacks, which is good, because waves of enemies are constantly attack. The levels ramp up in difficulty quite quickly – just the way i like it! This is twitch gameplay at its best.

The story? Robots have attacked and are terrorizing different cities, and you’re the only line of defense. Good job someone thought ahead and formed the Anti-Robot Special Forces, eh?

If you look up perfect arcade port in the dictionary, I better damn well see a picture of Cannon Spike smiling back up at me, because this is arcade perfectory (I think I’m making up words again.) at its finest.

It’s even so arcade perfect that Capcom never bothered to throw in any extras. I guess there’s something to say about purity. It is a shame, but it doesn’t take away from the game being totally fun and very addictive. So think of it this way – you’d have to buy the entire arcade game if you wanted to play it, or you could just buy this tiny ol’ disc and save yourself a lot of money to spend on booze and pizza!

Warren’s fashionably late picks

Outtrigger

Outtrigger is what would happen if AM2 designed Quake 3 Arena. Stages are very small, which I love, because it makes for very fast, hectic battles. This title was great fun when it came out thanks to the online play and remains so to this day with the inclusion of Split-Screen. If you can track down a Mouse and Keyboard for Dreamcast, it supports them, but plays just as well with the controller, something I feel the Dreamcast versions of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament didn’t do very well. Highly recommended and one of Dreamcast’s best shooters.

Elemental Gimmick Gear 

EGG is a bit like a Zelda game mixed with an RPG, except it’s set in a future where humans pilot giant Egg-shaped mechs. You’ll find new abilities, weapons and gear along your journey that allow you to access areas you couldn’t before. The graphics are beautiful hand painted 2D, something rare these days and even back when it was released. It may seem a bit simple at first, but if you stick with it, you’ll find it’s one of Dreamcast’s best games.

All The Rest

So many of my favorite Dreamcast games are overlooked classics. For action fan’s you’ve got titles like Dynamite Cop!, Heavy Metal: Geomatrix and Spawn: In the Demons Hand. Blue Stinger, Industral Spy: Operation Espionage, D2 and Illbleed for Adventure gamers. Seriously, I dare you to find a console with a better line-up of Fighting games. Then theirs Record of Lodoss War, Super Runabout, Typing of the Dead and Seaman, just to name a few…I had a really hard time picking just a few titles for this list because Dreamcast has such a unique and high quality game library, even outside of popular games like Shenmue and Jet Set Radio. Which is why, to this day, I feel Dreamcast has the best line-up of games on any system.

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POSTED IN: Chris, G, Nathan, News, Ryan