Words by Alex Bracetti
Welcome to Evolve ENT’s Sega Dreamcast Week—five days of nothing but awesome coverage based around the iconic game console. Whether it was waiting on line to pick up a machine at Electronics Boutique or repurchasing it on eBay after its discontinuation for the sake of playing pirated games, the memories forever live on. But as giddy as you get thinking about the days of playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with the crew right after school, what you don’t know is the profound history behind the console. From abandoned partnerships to its origins to the unreleased hardware, here are 25 Things You Never Knew About the Sega Dreamcast.
Related: The 50 Best Sega Dreamcast Games…Ever!
Related: 25 Things You Never Knew About the Sega Dreamcast
Related: Gallery: The Coolest Sega Dreamcast Special Edition Consoles
The original developer kit went under the codename Katana.
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Sega made the Dreamcast logo in two different colors—Red (NTSC) and Blue (PAL)—to avoid a trademark infringement with German video publisher Tivola.
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Ushering in its next-gen console, Sega decided to kill off the Sega Saturn mascot, a fictional martial artists superhero named Segata Sanshiro, by shooting him into space riding a missile.
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Taito actually released a train controller that worked with its long-running train simulator series: Densha de Go!
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As a last resort, Sega was in negotiations with Microsoft to have Dreamcast games run on the Xbox, but the deal never came to fruition.
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It was the first gaming machine to make online support a standard on a console and provide DLC.
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As well as a motion-enabled controller.
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Due to its indecision to choose a chipmaker, along with licensing issues, EA passed on making games for the Dreamcast—making it the only major console over the past two decades to not feature EA Games.
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This led to the company acquiring Visual Concepts, which would spearhead Sega’s first-party sports games with the NFL 2K and NBA 2K franchises.
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It earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for “most revenue generated in the entertainment industry in 24 hours,” generating over $132 million in sales.
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The VMU memory card could also load mini-games, which could be played on the unit and reflect game saves.
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A former employee issued instructions on how to pirate Dreamcast games and how to get Genesis Games running on the console as well. There was a .txt file programmed in the Sega Smash Pack: Volume 1 release that offered instructions.
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Within the same life spans, the Dreamcast has outsold the Nintendo WIi U.
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A series of popular Genesis games were supposed to receive Dreamcast treatments: including Chakan, Streets of Rage, and ToeJam & Earl.
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A camera peripheral named the Dreameye was released in Japan and stored 31 pictures in JPEG format.
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Two of the most expensive games ever were produced for the Dreamcast: Shenmue and Shenmue 2 at an estimated $70 million.
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The logo means “origin of power.”
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A Nights sequel was supposedly in the works for the Saturn, but had been pushed to the Dreamcast and was set to launch with a tilt-sensor controller.
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There was a number of unreleased hardware for the console that consisted of a DVD player, Radius Racing Pad, Swatch Access, VMU MP3 player, and Zip Drive.
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SNK released a link cable that connected the Neo Geo Color to the Dreamcast for data transfer between a number of titles: including Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 and The King of Fighters Dream Match ’99.
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A special edition console with a built-in TV dubbed the Divers 2000 CX-1 was only released in Japan.
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Players could actually use the Sega Fishing Rod controller to play Soul Calibur, as the peripheral is capable of simulating weapon attacks. See for yourself.
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A huge amount of unused data coded in Sonic Adventure 2 was actually used in later remakes.
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The sound made at the start-up screen was made by Yellow Magic Orchestra composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
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Despite the company discontinuing the console, indie developers are still creating games for the machine.
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