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Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 5:51 pm
by Nz17
Today is 14 October 2019, making it twenty years since the Dreamcast's launch in Europe and the United Kingdom during 14 October 1999. There was much rejoicing as the 128-bit console finally made its official debut across the Atlantic. But for those intrepid souls that couldn't wait, a Dreamcast was often imported from America or Japan.

Europe had its fair share of Dreamcast quirkiness. Remember Dreamarena and how the launch of that went? How about how the Dreamcasts in the UK & Europe used 33.6 kbit/s modems instead of 56 kbit/s? And of course all of those regional differences among Germany, Britain, Spain, France, etc.?

Europe saw its fair share of exclusive Dreamcast magazines and demo discs with their own unique personalities and styles. A wealth of European-exclusive Dreamcast games as well as those which were only in English in Europe were released. There were certain games that only had online editions released in Europe such as Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation 2 Online. The final days of the Dreamcast were filled with many a foreigner importing the likes of European Dreamcast games such as Headhunter or Shenmue II or Evil Twin to play on their NTSC consoles!

What are your memories of the Dreamcast, its launch, and/or its first year in Europe?

See you all on 30 November 2019 for the 20th anniversary of the Dreamcast in Australia / Oceania!

Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 6:52 pm
by mistamontiel
I think I get it now! I mean DreamPi only using 33.6 because the new DNS is global and the official networking before was restricted by territories

How did Dreamarena come to be? Sorry I don't know jack!!!

Long live the king Dreamcast!!!! n to another twenty more

Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:23 pm
by beanboy
Aye!
Someone made a european dreamcast anniversary post. Cool! :D

F1 World Grand Prix 2 and Aqua GT all the way!! :D 8-)

Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:33 am
by Krootox1986
After the failure of the saturn it finally felt like Sega was going to win. I remember how gutted I was when it had stopped production (mainly because I'd just saved up enough to get one) I was grateful that my friends had one so I could still play it if I was over theirs after school.

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Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 4:33 am
by schmidtee
ahhhhhhhhh finishing school at 310pm and going straight to dixons to collect this bad boy. still have the receipt attached to the box. But the pain to not being able to open it until Christmas day still hurts! however, this all seems like yesterday, not twenty years ago. Madness.

Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 4:35 am
by Krootox1986
schmidtee wrote:ahhhhhhhhh finishing school at 310pm and going straight to dixons to collect this bad boy. still have the receipt attached to the box. But the pain to not being able to open it until Christmas day still hurts! however, this all seems like yesterday, not twenty years ago. Madness.
It felt like yesterday until you mentioned dixons and I aged even more

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Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:04 am
by schmidtee
Krootox1986 wrote:
schmidtee wrote:ahhhhhhhhh finishing school at 310pm and going straight to dixons to collect this bad boy. still have the receipt attached to the box. But the pain to not being able to open it until Christmas day still hurts! however, this all seems like yesterday, not twenty years ago. Madness.
It felt like yesterday until you mentioned dixons and I aged even more

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ahhhhh I do miss dixons :( carphone warehouse just isn't the same is it!

Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:12 am
by VS2 Junkie
I was thinking about this last night and boy does 20 years go quick. :o

I remember pre-ordering the DC around august from Toys 'R' Us in Preston and couldn't wait for release day :D Before the DC i had a Saturn and loved it so i was looking forward to Sega's next console.
Looking at the early articles about the new console it looked like Sega had ticked all the boxes. 8-) Also seeing the graphics on par with the model 3 arcade board it was the moment the home console games had finally caught up with their arcade equivalent.
just before release day Dixons had a demo machine inside St Helens shopping center(i was doing some work there for a couple of weeks) and we used to skive off work and play the demo version of ready 2 rumble for most of the afternoon. :D

I booked off the 14th and 15th of October that year so i could pick up my new DC nice and early.I also remember on launch day we(me and the missus) drove to toys 'R' us and i pick up the console and while i was there i purchased the full version of 'ready 2 rumble' and also 'incoming' along with an extra joy-pad + VMU i was now all set. :lol:

I spoke to the wife about this last night and she couldn't believe that it was 20 years ago. ;)


Happy days.

Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:23 am
by Krootox1986
I was 13 lol. I remember the first thing we did when my friend got the keyboard was look for porn typical group of boys, those were the days lol

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Re: Happy European & UK 20th Anniversary, SEGA Dreamcast!

Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 11:28 am
by VS2 Junkie
I also recall(from a newspaper)some chap got mugged outside a retailer on launch day.