Dreamcast Only Challenge

[Csolo]

Hello world!

Thanks for having me here on the forum! As for an introduction, my name is Csolo! I'm gaming on my original childhood system that I got as a birthday gift back in 2000. I was the ripe old age of 9 when I received it and can VIVIDLY remember powering on that console on the living room TV. That feeling of opening my very first Sega Console after going out to dinner at the mall is a memory that I hold very dear to me. With the cracking open a jewel case of Sonic Adventure (with no VMU), I felt like I was in the future.

Anyways, enough with the nostalgia, I'm here for a very important task. To play nothing but the Dreamcast for 30 days and document my experience along the way. Back in September, I made it a goal to play only one console for that month. I had my friends vote on it and they decided I play nothing but Atari 2600/8bit games to try and troll me. One thing is for certain, I don't back down from a challenge regardless and I have to say that September was an AWESOME month of gaming for me. I gained a great appreciation for the console and I'm glad I stuck with it. But, along with this challenge, I'm also going to try and limit my online exposure as well. No discord, Minimal Youtube and I'm going to try and stick to nothing but forums to really immerse myself in the era.

So why make a forum post about this? I want your help. I want to experience the full brunt of Dreamcast. I don't want to just play the top 10 list of the console, I want your suggestions. I also want to play these things online (when supported). I want quirky games, popular, niche, experimental, anything you recommend. As I now have a GDEMU in this machine, it's very easy for me to "remember, that I have these games in my parents attic somewhere" and play the backups. The ultimate goal for this challenge is to play some new stuff that I've either heard of and never got a chance to play, or find some seriously hidden gems. I plan to upload some sort of short form content to update my journey as well as posting here on the Forum. At the end of the journey, I'll be making some sort of video documenting my experience in a sort of "love letter" to the Dreamcast. Anyways, that's enough rambling. I look forward to what you guys suggest and I'll update with what I decide to play first.
[edit]
In my excitement for my very first topic, I forgot to mention that I'll start this challenge at the beginning of February. As February is only 28 days, I'll push this till March 2nd for the 30 days.

Thanks everyone!!
-Csolo

[redjeff76]

How about trying an obscure title that rarely seems to get mentiond called Maken X?

Maken X is a first-person hack and slash video game developed by Atlus for the Dreamcast. It was published by Atlus in Japan in 1999, while Sega localized and released the game overseas in 2000. Gameplay has the Maken—a sentient sword-like being—"brainjacking" or taking control of multiple characters across a variety of levels; combat is primarily based around short-ranged melee attacks, with some characters sporting additional abilities such as ranged attacks.

The story is set on near-future Earth during a time when the world is descending into chaos due to natural disasters and political upheaval in Europe and rising political tension between the United States and China. When the facility where the Maken was developed is attacked, the sword bonds to main heroine Kay Sagami and is sent on missions against the group responsible for the attack. Depending on dialogue choices and brainjacked characters, seven possible endings can be achieved

https://mega.nz/file/xj4i0DzK#gQJKdJNAJ ... dVTFYNjQLk

[Spleet]

Toy Commander, to scratch that Army Men/unreal tournament rat map itch.

And try Napple Tale. It's really good, too, for the music at the very least.

[Csolo]

Great suggestions, guys. I'll go ahead and add them to my list. I was completely obsessed with Rats style maps in UT and CS back in the day, so toy commander definitely piques my interest. I've also added Fur Fighters to the mix as well. I had the game back in the day as a kid and remember liking it, but rarely played it outside of splitscreen deathmatch with friends. Also, I had NO idea Maken X existed. I am SURE to give this a go.

[deluxux]

I like the idea of this but it’s a super easy challenge! The Dreamcast has so many great games 30 days is nothing!

[Csolo]

I like the idea of this but it’s a super easy challenge! The Dreamcast has so many great games 30 days is nothing!

Hahaha, I know. I'm not going to miss out on much. But I feel the added bit of era appropriate internet consumption will make it that much better. I just have to decide whether I allow myself to use Discord for coms on game nights or if I should go full keyboard chat. Even the Atari challenge was pretty easy. I had no issue immersing myself in an Era and just having a blast playing some fun arcade ports and chatting with other boomers on BBS sites.

-Csolo

[DigitalJack]

Even if you stuck with some of the top listed games your still gonna hit stuff that is still unheard of to most or so niche and unique it feels like a whole different world lol
Shenmue i feel is a good example of this I didn't even hear of this game til I was an adult and playing it now I found it rough around the edges mostly because im probablyusrd to modern, dual analog stick games, but it's so good I had to play thru the whole thing lol.
Lots of stuff to try here tho so I'm interested in seeing your take on things.

[Csolo]

True that. The Dreamcast seems like it's THE experimental title machine. I definitely need to give shenmue a go. I'm almost done with SA1 (for the 2nd time in 25 years) and I'll be looking to pick up something story rich after it. Everyone who I know that doesn't have a Dreamcast and played it either on PC or Xbox tells me to skip it. But everyone who has a Dreamcast tells me not to. I just need to man up and actually form my own opinion on it. I love the Yakuza games, so I have a feeling I'm going to dig this.

-Csolo

[redjeff76]

Scope out Elemental Gimmick Gear (EGG) too ---> https://mega.nz/file/JiggEBhI#ce8hVqKZI ... OrTcp6aZtk

[Jako]

2 nice Dreamcast experiences:

-Play the 24 hours mode in Le Mans Racing Game.
-Play Rez a Saturday Night.