If there’s one thing the anti-Sega, Nintendo & Sony fanboys like to gloat about these days, it’s that the Dreamcast “is dead”. I hate to burst any bubbles (well, actually I don’t), but the Dreamcast is hardly in such dire straits.
While it’s true that Sega ceased production on the Dreamcast console a few months back, games for the highly under-appreciated little white box are still in production and slated for release. And let’s not forget the plethora of titles that were released over the last 2 months.
The following is a list of the Dreamcast’s final releases. (Some release dates are tentative.):
- Alien Front Online (4th Quarter 2001): Either be a good alien or an evil alien, and go to war over control of the planet. In addition to 1-Player & 2-Player modes, an online mode is included for even more exciting gameplay. Includes a miniature microphone (ala, Seaman) so that you can converse with your teammates or trash-talk the enemy during play. Oh yeah.
- PBA Tour Bowling 2001 (4th Quarter 2001): Featuring a ton of realistic graphics, sounds, physics and effects (such as the actual wear-down of the lanes over time), the one and only bowling game for the Dreamcast is very promising.
- Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (4th Quarter 2001): Developed by Sega’s “AM2” team, Propeller Arena features arcade-style air combat in historical planes.
- Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (4th Quarter 2001): Ported from the PlayStation and PC, the 4th installment of the Alone in the Dark series features highly improved visuals.
- Conflict Zone (11-01-2001): Real-time, strategy war game featuring a 4-player online option. Very similar to the type of games PC gamers have enjoyed for years (StarCraft; WarCraft; etc.)
- Bomberman Online (10-16-2001): Good ol Bomberman… One of the longest running game titles in gaming history. The Dreamcast version brings online multiplayer to the table as well as a ton of different game modes.
- NBA 2K2 (10-23-2001): Each updated Dreamcast sports game is better than the one before it, so why would this update of the NBA2K series be any different?
- Virtua Tennis 2K2 (10-23-2001): Even though missing female players, the original Virtua Tennis kicked much ass. This update will remedy the former issues by adding female players, most notably the world-famous Williams sisters.
- Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles (11-16-2001): Showing the darker side of the usually bright and shiny UBI Soft, Cyprien’s Chronicles is a platformer that resides on the dark side.
- Shenmue II (12-04-2001): Oh yeah baby, this is the one. Picking up where the original Shenmue left off, Shenmue II finds Ryo in Hong Kong in his continuing search for the villainous Lan Di. Improved graphics and over 1,000 interactive characters will surely make this yet another groundbreaking trek into how real a videogame can be. (Of important note is the fact that Sega will forego translating Shenmue II into English, and will instead add English subtitles.)
- NHL 2K2 (Winter 2002): Most likely the last Dreamcast title (at this point anyways), the development switch from Black Box (who developed the first game) to Visual Concepts will hopefully address the issues of the first game and remedy that “something’s not quite right” feeling many of us had.
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