Has it really been eight years since Crazy Taxi was ported from arcades to the last Sega console. Crazy Taxi was one of the Dreamcast’s biggest hits, selling over 1 million copies. It was the first game in the arcades to use Sega’s (then) powerful NAOMi board and was the first video game capable of maintaining a frame rate of 60 fps per second, highlighting just how powerful the Dreamcast was compared to other systems at the time.

Crazy Taxi was one of those few pre-2001 games that really managed to hit mainstream popularity. The game was highly addictive, sported a soundtrack featuring The Offspring and Bad Religion, and managed to appeal to a wide variety of appeal including non racing game fans. I myself would be counted amongst those non racing gamers.

I admit it. I had a lot of fun with Crazy Taxi on my Dreamcast. I owned the system mainly for SHMUP’s and a lot of Japanese imports like Sakura Taisen 3/4, but I was always shocked how often I would plop that GD-Rom into my loud little white system.

When I moved to the Washington D.C. area, I unpacked all my systems that had been dormant for a few years, and when I hooked up my Saturn and Dreamcast, I was pleasantly surprised to see that after all these years, Crazy taxi was in the console. I thought I had gotten rid of it during one of my many purges.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve picked up Crazy Taxi here and there when I had a free moment between reviewing other games or when I had nothing else to do. The intent was of course to review the game for the DHGF launch, as we don’t really have Dreamcast reviews (as of this writing. It would also give me a chance to see how the game has aged after eight years of technological and graphical advancements.

Does Crazy Taxi still cut the mustard? Or has time passed it by?

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A Retrospectus of The Final Days of Sega As A Hardware Producer.

Imagine if you released the first videogame console with a built-in modem. Imagine if you released a game console that put no restriction on online play, not forcing the purchase of any add-ons, services, or subscriptions. Imagine if you created a gaming machine that took memory cards that doubled as GameBoy-like mini-PDAs. Imagine if you had the strongest quality-wise launch line-up for a gaming console debatably of all-time, including staggering support from Capcom, two of the greatest fighters ever made, the first football series to give Madden a run for its money in years, and the true debut of a Sonic the Hedgehog full 3-D platformer.

Now imagine if you screwed all that up.
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SEAMAN
“F-ing Amazing.”

If words were scarce, or we lived in a quasi-perfect world in which a simple two-word recommendation would trigger the neurons in such a way that you ABSOLUTELY MUST PICK UP THIS GAME, then my job would now be over. How those cats at SEGA dreamed up this eclectic souffle of gaming madness, I’ll not know. But heed these words, intelligent and blue-caller-classy reader: if you do not spend good time with Seaman, you are going to hell. It really is a simple algebraic life equation: No Seaman in mortal existence… Then no blissful afterlife- because you sucked ass.

Anyways, if you haven’t picked up the scent in the air, some call it ‘love.’ There’s a small section of my heart that lies dormant if and only for Seaman, one of the most bizarre yet damned compelling titles ever to grace ANY game system to this day. The premise of this one, you’re asking for? Oh, and you thought Eternal Champions was a lot to swallow…

The game starts you off in a dark laboratory with a single Seaman egg, and audio cues to recreate the experiments and legendary tales of Dr. Jean Paul Gasse. Dr. Gasse, so the story says, was a cat that found a living Seaman specimen in Old Alexandria in Egypt sometime in 1997. Apparently, this ‘Seaman’ had some kind of influence on the progression of ancient Egyptian civilization, and the historiographies of the day were orally passed from one Seaman to the next over generations. Fast forward to 1997, where one last remaining Seaman was found and rushed to a French laboratory, only to die. However, it did not die before letting out a series of Seaman eggs’ and that’s where you come into the picture: you are now responsible for the development of one of these Seaman eggs.

With the apparent incoherency aside, you raise a wise-talking tadpole with the voice of a toddler into a fish-like thing with the face of Gilbert Godfried and the attitude of your favorite Kliq members. What’s more, you actually talk to the thing via the Dreamcast Mic which came packaged with it, and it gets to know you based on your responses- it’s kind of like the witty social worker you’ve never met. Not only that, but you raise the thing too- from tadpole, to fish, to frog, to a… oh- and it’s all narrated by the immortal Leonard Nimoy?! Yeah!

Prior to it’s release, and quite frankly unprecedented aside from Hey You, Pikachu!, the experience of breeding Seaman from innocent tadpole to smart-ass frog ‘thing’ and beyond is unmatched. Sure, you’ve gotta manage your food pellets and not overfeed him. Sure, you’ve got to keep the oxygen level nice and high. And yes, you can feed him the spider, but he’ll feel bad in the short term. After a while, you develop a certain kind of rapport with the thing. Actually, it’s almost scary typing about it, because… oh, come on! It’s a synthetic ‘thing!’

But that’s the ultimate kicker about Seaman. For all the effort you put into the relationship, Seaman will reciprocate, as he is designed to churn out as much dynamic banter as possible, and will throw out anything he sees fit to suit what he perceives. He rewards honesty. He exhibits tough love. He will be your friend. And yes, he will even insult you. The back of the jewel case has his take on ‘being weird’: ‘Sorry I’m a little bit different, Valley Girl.’ I swear- I know people with less personality than this fish/frog/random-thing.

It’s evident that the basic premise of the ‘game’ really supercedes every aspect of it’s being- to the brink of nullifying any reasonable discussion or remark about things like graphics, sound, or gameplay. However, when you jump into the game and experience it firsthand, you begin to appreciate all of the little subtleties those crazy cats at Sega tossed in. For instance- you’ll fall in love with the presentation by Nimoy every time you turn on the system to ‘check up’ on Seaman, as he’ll clue you in on what to do next. The noises that surround the aquarium come across really well, as every little toss and turn will be sent to the proper speaker and every little bubble will be popped in that same audio brilliance. The graphics itself are simplistic as far as the environments are concerned, but Seaman’s facial animations are indeed up to the task. Gameplay is as simple as raising Seaman himself, which means you’ll actually have to think about what you’re gonna do next.

Anyways, just listen. Rather, bring your face closer to the screen and read this sentence more attentively: YOU NEED TO EXPERIENCE THE GREATNESS THAT IS SEAMAN. You can snag one on eBay for around 5-15 dollars, find the mic for even less, and have a Sega VMU ready (not a memory card)- because the game will use the screen to help you communicate with Seaman, as well as save your progress. It’s a whole mess of hardware to put together, but the reward is immense- I assure you.

No matter how hard I try to squeeze out an adequate summary or a parallel experience to Seaman, I would just belittle the project to the point of embarrassment. However, just do what the bold text says. Find it. Enjoy it. Live it. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more fulfilling and unique experience on any other system.

^{Frederick Badlissi}

VIRTUAL ON: ORATORIO TANGRAM
God bless Activision. God bless every one of them. God bless their children. God bless their dogs, cats, ostriches… God bless any Chia Pets they may own. God bless any nose goblins they’re breeding underneath their desks. God bless them all from sea to shining sea, by the power invested in me from the Chaos Emeralds, with liberty and justice for all.

Bless them because they brought me my Virtual On.

In 1995 there was only one 3-D fighting game that mattered to young Bebito other than Virtua Fighter 2… Cybertroopers Virtual On: Operation Moongate. Affectionately known as VOOM by fans in the gaming community, it was the first in Sega’s Virtual On series, and wow… just wow, it was amazing. VOOM, for the uninitiated, is essentially a one-on-one fighting game featuring anime-style giant robots. Its smooth 3D movement and unique gameplay highlighted it; especially unique for the time it was released. I remember sitting in the arcade cabinet for the first time, grasping those twin sticks, marveling over the graphics, selecting Temjin, and instinctively beating the bloody pulp out of Cypher, watching the combat go into slow motion as my Virtuaroid sliced through him like the butter that he was for the final blow. That’s all it took. I fell in love. As did thousands other Virtual On players. When the Saturn version dropped courtesy of Sega I picked it up immediately. And to amazement it was faithful to AM3’s arcade monster, helped even further by the fact Sega had it playable online for its ill-fated netlink service (I’m not even going to get started on how sweet playing Virtual On and Saturn Bomberman across a Saturn netlink are.).

Wondering what the big deal was? It was just a mech fighting game right? WRONG. What separated this game from others of its era was its third-person-from-behind perspective and movement in all THREE dimensions. Yes, kids. This is the original. As with most things, Sega did it first. Virtual On is the precursor to the Armored Cores and Zone of Enders of our day.

And it wasn’t for button mashers either. Virtual On made you THINK. You had to perfect strafing, hiding, mid-air dashing, deciding whether to you use your ranged arsenal or to go in with your melee weapons for the kill. This was true tactical real-time 3D fighting. Which also explained why it only obtained cult popularity in the US, because it took actual planning and strategy to win.

But VOOM was just the appetizer. Merely the blueprint for the REAL deal. 1998, Sega dropped the bomb that was Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (VOOT) in Japanese arcades blowing everything away and giving the harder core of the hardcore among us heart attacks. I was awed by the original, but using Yu Suzuki’s powerful and ludicrously expensive Model 3 hardware VOOT took the series to a new level graphically that remains impressive even today, years after its original release. Truly a thing of beauty. But my fellow US gamers and I marveled over this beauty in screenshot printed page form only. You see, finding a VOOT cabinet in an American arcade was nearly IMPOSSIBLE. The arcade scene was just beginning to die. And Sega didn’t bring it over. Importing + Model 3 games costing two kidneys and your first-born son to purchase = No North American arcade VOOT. Feh.

But there was still hope. Two more versions of the game were released, the first being Version 5.45 that tweaked a few balance issues in gameplay. Still no arcade US release, but it was this more polished version that was brought home to the Sega Dreamcast! HOORAY! Not only that, but Sega sweetened the deal by adding online play over the DC’s built in modem! DOUBLE HOORAY! Not only that, but Sega decided to not bring it over from Japan to Region 1. TRIPLE HOO.. wha? That’s right. Sega outright refused to bring it over. Originally they did have plans to publish the game in the US, mulling over making it playable for their upcoming North American SegaNet online service. But alas, that wouldn’t be ready for another year into late 2000. So in typical Sega of America fashion, rather than deal with the decision of releasing it early without online play, or extremely late with online play, they said ’screw it’ and didn’t bring it over at all. DIDN’T BRING IT OVER AT ALL! How could you market the Dreamcast at hardcore gamers, and LEAVE Virtual On in Japan, Sega?! HOW?! WHY?! What the bloody hell were you thinking??

Ahh. But that’s when the heavens opened up, the doves flew forth, and Activision descended down riding upon the holy publishing cloud of happiness, blessing us all. That’s when they saw a good thing and jumped on it faster than Michael Jackson jumped on Macaulay Culkin. That’s when Activision published VOOT for the North American Dreamcast and pleased every single hardcore Virtual On player in the United States. And representing them all, I would personally just like to thank them. Sure I would have imported if they didn’t bring it over, but there’s nothing like owning a game in your native language. There’s nothing like simply plopping the game in your system and enjoying instead of dealing with expensive pricing and import boot discs. So, thank you Activision. Thank you from the bottom of my V-Crystal loving heart.

Ok. So, I finally had it. After a roller coaster ride of emotion, I finally had it. How was it? Magnificent. Absolutely mind-blowing. Mind-blowing as in the first time you saw Soul Calibur running on your Dreamcast mind-blowing. The screenshots didn’t do it justice. The screens you see on this page now, don’t do it justice. How they got what was essentially a Naomi board in a little white box to pull off those Model 3 graphics is beyond me, but dear god if they didn’t do it! It was the best Model 3 conversion ever done. Better than Virtua Fighter 3, better than Sega Rally 2. When they say ‘pixel-perfect’ conversion, they’re talking about VOOT. The game never suffers from any sort of slowdown and cruises along at a glistening 60 frames per second at all times. Every background is rendered in full 3D. Special effects from explosions, to light-sourcing, to crystal-clear transparencies and shadows surround at every turn. And an impressive opening CG sequence gets you amped up for some Virtuaroid melee in ways I can’t convey with words. This is the graphical crown jewel of the system right next to Shenmue, folks.

And it wasn’t just a big butt and a smile. Gameplay was faster and more complex than it’s predecessor, with weapon and movement combinations now having turbo variants. Aerial movement and close combat were greatly expanded. New virtuaroids were introduced, like the sorceress guising Angelan, while the original 11 older versions were tweaked or redesigned. And the strategy element was just as strong as ever. Arrangement of the environments gave the player tons of fighting options. If you didn’t know how to use your surroundings, you were a dead man. Some were pretty open so you’d have to rely mainly on direct combat skills to survive. But many stages added elevating slopes and large structures to hide behind for cover or to use for height advantage. One of the locales even takes place underwater! YES! And even though we got the shaft with online play, the muli-player aspects certainly weren’t on the light side with horizontal split screen, a vertical split screen, a picture-in-picture split screen, and link-cable capabilities.

Alas, one of the few gripes leveled at VOOT was having to play the game without the tailor made arcade based Dual Stick controller. The standard DC pad didn’t cut the mustard, especially in the Japanese version where the 4 preset button configurations Sega created were pretty useless. But Activision, God bless them again, added two new configurations, which while not perfect, are good enough to clear up the need to shell out all of that cash to get import Dual Sticks for most non-anal VO players. Personally, I’ve never had any problems playing with the pad OR the sticks, as Fei-Yen is unstoppable in my hands either way. Prove me wrong. ;)

Now I’m not going to go off on a cap locks tirade of insanity here. I’m just going to be honest. This is what sold me the Sega Dreamcast.

“Wait, wait, wait.. THIS is what sold you the Dreamcast? But you’re a Sonic The Hedgehog fanboy. What about Sonic Adventure, Bebito?”

Nope. By the time the North American system came out, I had beaten the Japanese version of SA backways and frontways on an import DC. Yes, I absolutely loved it. Yes I picked Sonic up at launch. Yes I loved Soul Calibur and Powestone and all the rest. But it was the prospect of getting what is the greatest, most pure mech fighting game of all-time on a home console months before it was even announced in my region that sold me. Graphics that put some PS2 titles to shame. Gameplay that puts nearly every other game of it’s kind up till then to shame. Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram was AM3’s labor of love. Hitmaker released the competent Virtual On Marz for the PS2, and while it contains the same basic formula, the response and speed still pale in comparison to the simplicity of this Dreamcast classic. So I’m telling you now. You need this game. You need it like a man needs to not drop his soap on his first day in the penitentiary showers. You need it like Kid Rock needs to put on six condoms every time he walks within 10ft of Pam Anderson. This is among the preeminent of its class, boys and girls. Buy the system. Then buy Virtual On. If you have one ounce of giant anime robot fighting love in you, then I’m pleading, BUY VIRTUAL ON. You owe it to yourself.

^{Bebito Jackson}

SEGAGAGA
This is it people. This is Sega’s swan song. The finale. The finale hurrah. The last great truly incredible game they ever had. And fitting it was a way to say ‘f*ck you’ to Sony and ‘Thank you’ to the true Sega fanatics that stood by them through everything. Not a game since has equaled the originality, beauty, and outright psychotic nature of this game. Super Monkey Ball? Meh. Sonic Heroes? Bleah. Billy Hatcher? Snicker. Panzer Dragoon Orta? Sorry people. All great games, but this. THIS. This game truly is the defining moment of Sega as a company, corporation, and provider of entertainment and happiness to countless gamers. It never was to be translated into English. It even had to be edited after it first debuted in Japan because it was that screwed up. Yes, that’s right. JAPAN CENSORED THIS GAME.

And Sega had every right to make this game. It wasn’t for the average gamer. It wasn’t for the people who think 3D gaming is superior to 2D gaming. Or that near naked women in a game should be a major selling factor. Or any of the other crap we have had to put up with since casual gaming came up. It’s for people that loved Sega games and systems. People who own Burning Rangers or all three scenarios of Shining Force 3. People who own the 32X and still USE it. People who still whip out the master system for a game of Space Harrier or Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. People who hug the Saturn after a good game of Dragon Force or Guardian Heroes or hook up the Sega CD for just ONE MORE game of Dracula Unleashed before bed. This is for those that truly loved Sega. Believed in Sega. Stood by them through the 16 and 32 bit wars and trusted them enough for the 128 bit Dreamcast. This was Sega’s way of saying good-bye, thank you and we’re sorry. It was the ultimate middle finger and apology all at the same time. And it was beautiful beyond words.

The year is 2025. Sega is near bankrupt. It has only 5% of the market share. The rest of the video game industry is controlled by the DOGMA Corporation who has ruined the purity of video gaming by deciding graphics are more important than gameplay, that 2D gaming isn’t as profitable, and that selling to the lowest common denominator works. That’s right. Dogma is a thinly veiled attack on Sony Corp. God bless you Hitmaker for being as evil as you could to Sony.

Sega needs helps. They have an estimated three years before bankruptcy. And so they initiate the SGGG program. You and another person (a girl) are hired by Sega to turn the company around and save video gaming from the idiocy that are casual gamers and DOGMA. Notice the all caps there people. It means HEEEEEEEEEL.

What begins is an amazing Business Simulation crossed with an RPG. Remember Wall Street Kid for the NES? Or EWR for the PC? Imagine those crossed with Dragon Quest or Valkyrie Profile. BA-BAM! You’ve got SGGG.

The interface is hilarious and addicting beyond words. The idea is you must develop games. Typical video game company stuff, right? But first you’ve got to get developERS. And in order to do that you’ve got to go to the R&D Lab and recruit them. It’s amusing because the R&D lab is a Dungeon and the developers are monsters by RPG standards. Negotiating is done via a Quiz/Dating Sim style segment and is a lot of fun. Unless you don’t know Japanese. Then it’s guess and pray.

There are so many wacky things that occur. Dealing with the VG press, salary negotiations, retarded executives, pissed off fans when you have to delay the game release thanks to unexpected errors. You are living what it is like to be a video game developer here people. And you will learn to despise video game fans after playing this game a few times. Oh yes. You will. But more importantly, you will learn to appreciate companies for making games and all that they do. Including the fighting ‘monsters’ part. Who ever knew that the industry was that violent? I assumed it was just the Kliq and their randomly inserting things into Widro’s anus after drugging him with massive amounts of codine and PCP that was the exception to the norm. But Segagaga teaches you that in fact, all people in the video game industry are violent perverts.

This game is Sega’s death rattle people. The end of the Sega we all knew and loved. But in typical Sega fashion they don’t go down in a blaze of glory or morbidly lamenting their demise. They go out having fun, making fun of themselves and their situation. They give fans the one last true Sega hurrah. And then start making games for consoles and companies that don’t deserve to have that Blue and white logo flash on a screen connected to their hardware.

This is hands down the greatest thing Hitmaker ever put out. No video game will ever come close to the emotion, passion and madness inherent to this one game. It’s also the rarest of the rare in terms of getting the original uncut first collector’s release. 4 versions of this game exist, and of course, the first is the best.

I know when most people think of the DC they think of 9.9.99. But not me. I think of 3.29.01: The release date of SGGG. The purest moment in all of Sega’s storied history. And the day a game was released where a company proved it had a soul.

If you know Japanese and own a Dreamcast you owe it to yourself and Sega to get this. To devour it. To savour every moment and line and joke and tribute and memory put into this game. Segagaga is an experience. A revelation. A annul in video gaming that should be revered as much for its obscurity as for its honesty.

SEGA!

^{Alex Lucard}

SONIC ADVENTURE
Ahh, Sonic. Tails. Knuckles. Amy. And the rest, launched upon the Dreamcast into what would sadly become a poor-yet-workable analogy for Gilligan’s Island. However, the trip of the Dreamcast wasn’t yet a tale, and never turned out to be a fateful trip, but it did carry out upon its maiden voyage one hell of a launch title. Because pound for pound, Sonic Adventure preserved everything that was so great about its 2D predecessors, and fit the bill of new features as Sonic and friends entered the 3D realm.

Jumping out of the gate on 9.9.99, Sonic Adventure was the Hedgehog’s first real foray into a 3D game (no, the Sonic 2 and 3 bonus stages don’t count!) that found him in the midst of what might be able to be called a world akin to our own- if have places like Mystic Ruins and a floating shrine for the Master Emerald are indeed just a small jog or train ride away. Through the course of the game, you’ll play out the story from the perspectives of all the characters involved, from the older cats like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, as well as some new faces, including a fishing redneck cat named Big, E-102′y’ (read ‘Gamma, methinks) with the face only Dr. Robotnik could love, and the reintroduction of Sonic’s un-love interest, Amy. The gripe against ‘Dr. Eggman’ (which has to be one of the poorest name imports since ‘Princess Peach” yeesh), as it is unfolded Jackie Brown-styles from each of the character’s point of view. This time out it seems as if Eggman, discontent to be resigned to his Mean Bean Machine or jettisoning his Russian-sounding last name, is out to capture all of the Chaos Emeralds to create and feed a monster with the most original name ever, ‘Chaos!’ The point of the game then, is to keep the emeralds away from ‘Eggman,’ as to keep Chaos in check. Fun times indeed.

Despite being a launch title, Sonic Adventure exhibited many quality elements that put it into a class by itself- that is, given the remarkable amount of time spent by Sega setting the bar as high as it could go. Sporting immense environments and a colorful dynamic backdrop, the visuals on Sonic Adventure were as breathtaking- if not more so- than other platformers of it’s day. The animation stays at a solid frame rate across the board, and is complimented by the great recreation of everything ‘Sonic’ in a manner that the Dreamcast delivered so well. Some cats initially complained about the camera acting up in some places, but these are the arguments of the impatient and spoiled- it has no detraction whatsoever. Immense bosses, colorful enemies and worlds; the magic elements of the old had been made anew against a whole new axis for developers to play with and for gamers to drool over.

You want gameplay? Sonic Adventure brought it like none other. Spanning across the aforementioned character roster, each one has his/her own quest and own techniques needed to complete the level. So while you’ll be sending Sonic and Tails against the clock like yuppies in the business world and making like a thugged out cat burglar with Knuckles (who gets some of his history clarified through the progression of the game), your task with Big the Cat involves fishing for the largest catch you can find, in stereotypical redneck fashion. Hell- even if you begin to grow bored whacking mechanical ostriches with Amy or shooting up any given place with E-102, there’s even a Chao minigame you can play on your VMU. Add to the fact that there’s a special amended surprise when you beat the game with every character, and you’ve got a damned fine platforming adventure right in front of ya!

The score of the Sonic games have always been held at some sort of gaming vanguard, I’m sure, and Sonic Adventure doesn’t disappoint. The game makes good use of the Dreamcast’s sound hardware, as well as putting forth the most delightfully annoying orchestrations of J-Pop tunes (you’ll know exactly how I feel whenever Tails comes out to play) heard this side of the Pacific. Each piece composed for the game compliments its assigned level like a pair of fuzzy dice in the windshield of a Pinto. The voice work, albeit somewhat comical at times, lends the characters a personality that we all knew existed, but because of new hardware, could now audibly appreciate.

All of this aside, Sonic Adventure’s position in the Sonic Pantheon is a high one; in my opinion, ranking right up there with the Sonic 3 + Sonic and Knuckles Combo and Sonic CD. And for the cheap price of admission, you owe it to yourself to spend some time with this game- your Russian doctor and pet echidna will thank you.

^{Frederick Badlissi}

SHENMUE
Yu Suzuki is a god. What… you don’t know who he is? (Bebito’s Note: Seriously though, if you don’t know who Yu Suzuki is, you have no business reading this site. Go away.) He’s the brainchild of Shenmue, one of the most unique and original titles to ever be created. He had a vision multi-episodic story, and a game experience unlike any before it. A story of nothing other than good versus evil.

The game is played from the eyes of Ryo Hazuki. He runs home one day to find a man beating the tar out of his father. This man, Lan Di, wants to know something about a mirror. Ryo’s father, Iwao, will not divulge the information Lan Di wants, and is killed for it. Lan Di mistakenly lets Ryo live, and he vows to get revenge for his father’s death, which sets him on an adventure to find out more about this mirror and try to catch a boat to Hong Kong.

The game is very unique because it plays like REAL LIFE. You have a clock on the screen, and time passes during the game. Every day, you get an allowance, and go about your business. Every house has a name by it, and chances are, there are as many people as houses. The town feels like a real Japanese town. The weather will even change.

There are several different modes of play. Usually, you’re just walking around talking to people like normal. You will occasionally get clues and you use those clues to progress in the game. When you fight, it’s typically done much like a fighting game. And rather than gain ‘experience’ as in a standard RPG, you practice and improve your skills in certain combos to increase their strength. The final mode of play is called QTE, and it plays much like a rhythm game, where you have to press a certain button at a certain time using lightning fast reflexes. Besides those, there also is a really cool Forklift minigame.

But the coolest part are the vending machines and stores! There are vending machines all over the place, and if you put in 100 yen you’ll get a little toy figure, usually from the Sonic or Virtua Fighter games. Plus, you can go into stores and buy certain items (like tapes which contain background music from the game), which will earn you a draw in a bucket, where you can win even more cool stuff, like limited edition figurines and Saturn games. Though they’re actually old arcade games, you can actually take them to your house and play them on your Saturn. That’s what really makes this game special: all the little shit that they throw in, including the figurines, the tapes, the arcade games and the Saturn games. It’s those types of things that REALLY get me loving a game.

The original Shenmue sold relatively well on the Dreamcast, which prompted them to make Shenmue II. Unfortunately, Sega got handed a wad of cash by Microsoft, and America got f*cked over. In Japan and Europe, Shenmue II was developed for the Dreamcast, but with Microsoft’s wad of bills sticking out of their pockets, Sega decided to release it only on the Xbox. That version was released much later than the other versions, and since people didn’t really want to buy a new system or wait, the European version of Shenmue II became one of the biggest import titles. And because of that, the sales of the Xbox version suffered. The future isn’t completely clear on the series. There have been vague announcements made, but nothing is concrete. There were rumors of a Shenmue collection, containing Shenmue I, II and the forthcoming III, and there were even rumors of Shenmue III being a movie only, but no one is really sure for now, except for maybe Yu Suzuki.

^{Lee Baxley}

CAPCOM VS SNK: MILLENIUM FIGHT 2000

Wow. Was this a fighting game fan’s wet dream or what?

Back in the days before the Dreamcast and the death of the first SNK there were two distinct fighting camp groups. On one hand you had Capcom fans and Street Fighter. Classic characters such as Ryu and Ken. The Revenge hungry Guile. The evil M. Bison. And the all too kick ass Sagat. In the other camp? SNK’s King of Fighters series. Characters such as Terry Bogard, Geese Howard, Iori, and Kyo. Both games had their merits. Street Fighter was much faster, prettier to look at, and more popular. Every arcade had an SF console. KoF on the other hand had far more intricate gameplay and back-story so deep they could fill an entire book. Street Fighter had constant upgrades with SF2, SF2 Turbo, SSF2, and SSF2T. Each game was slightly different and introduced new playable characters. Each KoF game however, was completely different from the one before it, drawing characters from other SNK games such as Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting.

And my god were fans loyal. You think the current fanboy insanity is bad with Sony fans ragging on the Nintendo for being ‘Kiddee’? Or Xbox fans using profanity on anyone who dares disagree with them? Then you never saw SNK fans go at it against Capcom ones. The rivalry was so intense even the companies got into it with characters making fun of each other’s games. Dan from Street Fighter Alpha? Outright jab at SNK characters. SNK fans accused Capcom of taking classic SNK characters and remaking them slightly, slapping on a new name and adding them to the Capcom stable of characters. Ryu was just Ryo. Ken was just Terry Bogard without a hat and ponytail. Capcom fans called KoF games graphically beastly and horribly unbalanced. Some characters just were not playable while others were so overly powerful it was scary.

Me? I was in the middle. My favorite characters are Sagat from Street Fighter and my wonderful wonderful Yuri from AoF/KoF. That little minx cracks me up every time. Yeah, I was more a Capcom fan, but that was because of Darkstalkers. Donovan Bane, Demitri, Morrigan. Those characters kicked ass!

But the debate raged. Who was better? Ken or Terry? Athena or Chun Li? Iori or Akuma? Vega or Joe? Any possible combination, people would fight over it. But it was all in the minds of very obsessed gamers. And badly written fanfics.

But then it happened. SNK needed cash to stay afloat. And Capcom needed something new after exploiting their partnership with Marvel to the point of exhaustion.

So enter two games. The first was SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket Colour. The greatest fighting game ever made and one that you must go out and play. The second was for Arcades and the Dreamcast and was called Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000.

CVS: MF2K was made by Capcom but followed more the SNK KoF style of gameplay where you used teams of characters instead of one on one battles like in Street Fighter. Characters were worth a point value ranging from 1 to 4 and your team had to equal 4 points. It was an interesting concept although it made some teams like Balrog (3 points) and Ryu (2 points) or Geese (4 points) and Terry (2 points) impossible. But it let me have my dream team of Sagat and Yuri, so I was more than happy.

This game also helped to introduce the concept of Grooves. There were three different ones. A Capcom Groove set in the style of SFA and SSFT2, An SNK groove set in the style of KoF where you charge for special moves. Both grooves have their own merit and flaws.

I bought this game on Launch Day. I already had spent massive amounts of free time in the arcade pissing off people with the sound of ‘Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!’ Trust me people, a great Sagat player is to be feared. Same with Yuri. Now if only Shingo was in the game. Between him and Sagat I’d have a team of the most annoying vocals in all fighting gamedom! ‘TIGER! SHINGO KIIIIICK! TIGER! SHINGO KIIIIIICK!’

I fell in love with this game. I ignored the stupid fanboy rantings from both sides and enjoyed the game for what it was. Some kick ass tag team fighter action. I loved seeing characters interact before battles. SNK and Capcom counterparts make snide moves towards each other as their respective fan bases would do in chat rooms or on forums. Even characters from their respective worlds had special intros when meeting rivals. Sagat’s scar would glow whenever he encountered Ryu. Ryo would just shake his head at Yuri. Ken and Terry would compliment each other on being babe magnets. And Geese and Bison would just trade evildoer cliches’.

Is it as good as the NGPC game? No. Nothing is. But you know what? This game still allowed you to have your dream matches between SNK and Capcom characters. It allowed a lot of heavy trash talking in arcades as Kyo beat Guile, Cammy beat Iori and other bizarre and amusing battles occurred. It was a little slice of heaven to be able to play these characters in an arcade and against random people.

To unlock Morrigan and use her against Mai. Sheer Bliss. To watch a Geese Master take out a team of 4 other characters, perfecting them all. Amazing. Capcom vs SNK was a dream come true, even if some overly retarded fanboys had to bitch about minor little things proving that the worst people are the hardcore fans, because they WILL find something to complain about even when given their dream game.

I still play this game on my Dreamcast more than any other. I love to see how high of a Groove Point Score I can get. I still have things to unlock because I never traded points from my NGPC to my DC. If I see it in an arcade, I will go out of my way to play it.

This game rekindled my love of arcades in the same way that Street Fighter 2 did when it first came out. And in the same way SNK vs Capcom Chaos has. Although in that case, I just sit around at home and play it on my Neo Geo because I was insane enough to pay a few hundred dollars for it (and SS0! JOY!!!!!)

A true fighting fan needs to play this game. To try out different teams. To truly savour what it is like when the two greatest fighting games ever made came together for the first time. This game is a page of history. Like Sonic appearing on the Game Cube. Like Camelot leaving Sega. Like Zelda appearing on the CD-I. Capcom VS SNK is a game you have to be thankful exists. And it only could have been playable on the Dreamcast. Marvel vs Capcom 2 on the PS2 or Xbox? Laughable. Capcom vs. SNK on anything but the Dreamcast or Arcade? Humorous. This game was designed for NAOMI people. This game was designed for the Dreamcast. Imbibe this ambrosia of the fighting game gods in its nature arena. Don’t settle for second best. Get your groove on here and now. Maybe you’ll even be able to take on Sagat and Yuri with some practice. ;-)

^{Alex Lucard}

Click Here For The Final Installment

GRANDIA II

If you are a gamer, or a RPGer in particular, you should know who Game Arts is. If you don’t, you should be taken outside and bludgeoned with a large, smelly carp. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. You should at least get kicked in the nuts no less than twice, or if you’re of the female persuasion, you should be spanked or something naughty like that. Ahem… Game Arts are only the makers of one of the greatest game series of all time: LUNAR!

Oh, and yea, they make the Grandia series too.

In all seriousness, Game Arts makes good games. In addition to the Lunar and Grandia series, they’ve also made fan favorites like Gungriffon Blaze and Silpheed. But the best game they’ve made for post-PS1 consoles is easily Grandia II.

As always, here’s the story. You play as Ryudo, a happy-go-lucky Geohound (kind of like a Bounty Hunter/Mercenary), who is hired to be the bodyguard to Elena, a songstress for the religious order of Granas. Soon, they are embroiled in a battle for the fate of the planet and learn about the deadly war between the good Granas and the evil Valmar, whose body parts were scattered and are now being sought out by a strange woman named Millenia, who oddly enough, is never around when Elena is.

This is the first game I got for my Dreamcast. Like I’ve said in the past, I was one of the assholes who was too critical of Sega to see a good thing, and I only became open minded on the subject when the Dreamcast dropped to $50, which was when it was in its dying throes. So this was my first experience with the great things that the system could accomplish. The story was excellent, the graphics were great, and the gameplay was unbelievable. The Grandia battle system, which has been tweaked to near perfection, still holds up as arguably the best turn based RPG battle system on the planet. And the magic system, which used a series of equipable Mana Eggs was very unique too.

Grandia II was very popular, and even was ported to the PS2 and PC, but the best version is easily the Dreamcast’s. The ports just don’t play as well for some reason. And sadly, the successor to this title, Grandia Xtreme, was vastly inferior. The graphics were about the same, if not better, but the story was almost nonexistent, and it ended up being a boring dungeon crawl game. Sure the gameplay was incredible as always, but don’t even get me started on the voice acting. They got big names like Dean Cain and Mark Hammill, but they didn’t fit the roles well at all. Grandia II had Cam Clarke though. Cam f*cking Clarke! You know, Leonardo from the original TMNT cartoon’ And Jodi Benson, aka Ariel, the Little Mermaid. All the roles were cast brilliantly here. So Grandia II is an excellent game all around, and a must have in any Dreamcast collection.

^{Lee Baxley}

IKARUGA

Man. Who’s having Deja’ vu? Haven’t I talked about this game twice before? It’s like I’m stuck on either telling you to go buy Shining Force CD or Ikaruga on constant basis.

People, what more do you need me to say? It’s a 2D Treasure shooter. It’s a game involving blowing lots of shit up while switching polarities at just the right time to ensure buttloads of points and not getting blown up.

I’ve begged you to buy the Game Cube version twice now. Explained to you that you can now get an English version. A version that doesn’t involve boot discs or modding your system. I’ve told you to go buy it. I’ve demanded you buy it. I’ve crapped in a box and mailed it to your parents in an attempt to get you to buy it. I’ve even pleaded with you to buy it. And if you haven’t… well, that’s why we talk about the Dreamcast version.

Be a supercool hardcore import gamer and buy a DC-X boot disc and the original Japanese version of Ikaruga! It’s the exact same as the US GameCube version but far more expensive and harder to find! But you can impress all your Internet friends by lying and say you owned the original version and that everyone is an asswipe for not owning this incredible seizure inducing shooter! Won’t that be cool?

Just go buy Ikaruga people. Buy it for the Cube. Buy it for the Dreamcast. See why Treasure has a reputation for putting out incredible shooters. Look at the pretty screenshots Bebito has provided.

I know Americans generally aren’t shooter fans. I see the sales. I see sports games and FPS games and Stupid Beavis and Butthead stuff like GTA controlling the charts and it makes me sad. Shooters have a grand tradition people. Asteroids! Gradius! Gunbird! Mars Matrix! Parodius! These are all games that require skill! Games that require eyes and fingers to be as fast as your mind. Games where the blinking of an eye at the wrong second can spell doom for your ship. And you owe it to yourself to experience real gaming. Tough as nails gaming. Not watered down so easy a 7 year old can play it and win crap. Games that make you EARN that extra life or levels that make you sweat with anticipation. Games that require lightning reflexes. Games that truly must be mastered instead of beaten.

And you won’t find that outside the shooter genre. So you wanna talk about your massive video game collection? You wanna brag about what you own and what you’ve beaten and how hardcore you are? You wanna believe video gaming measures your manhood and impresses people? Then go try and beat Ikaruga without a continue. Try and see how large of a combo you can get. Then you might have something that raises an eyebrow or gets people on whatever forum you visit to give a rat’s ass. Me? I’ll just be glad you finally grew the hell up and tried a game instead of the latest attempt by a third rate developer to convince you that 3D jiggling pixilated boobs really are a game and not a downright obvious sign that you are one sad and lonely individual.

^{Alex Lucard}

POWER STONE & POWER STONE 2

Rather than cranking out another 2D fighter, Capcom decided to go the 3D route, but make the game more of a hybrid between a 3D fighter and an arcade beat-em-up. The result? Power Stone, one of the most enjoyable multiplayer titles available on the Dreamcast. Originally an arcade title, the game is perfectly ported (as usual with the Dreamcast), with incredibly fluid graphics and animation.

The concept’s simple enough; pick a character, and beat the living piss out of your opponent. However, you’ve got a rather short life meter, and no piles of fancy combos that inundate fighting games nowadays. If you want to do more damage, use your environment. Almost anything can be a weapon: chairs, crates, barrels, etc. And if you’re using a beefy character, you can rip down poles and supports and baseball-swing them into your opponent! Not bad at all, and it doesn’t stop there. Barrels and crates can be broken open to reveal powerups and weapons, ranging from swords to machine-guns to rocket launchers to ray guns. Or, if you’re lucky, a Power Stone will pop out. Collect three of these, and your fighter will “evolve” into a super powered version of themselves, which often looks radically different. You only stay in this evolved mode for a short time, so make use of it by hitting either the L or R trigger; these unleashed devastating attacks that’ll f*ck up everything on the screen.

Character design in the game is great. You’ve got a genie, a samurai, a Native American, a British fighter pilot, a mummy, and more. A random assortment, to be sure, but a good one nonetheless. Each character has a few special moves and combos, but they’re extremely simple to pull off, unlike many 2D fighters. You can even smash your opponents through various parts of the environments; is that pesky glass window in your way? Get rid of it using your opponent’s face! The “evolved” versions of the characters look badass, and a few are reminiscent of Marvel Comics characters. I’m not kidding! Ryoma looks like the Silver Samurai, and Gunrock looks like the Thing when they’ve collected three Power Stones.

Power Stone 2 added a few more characters, like a chef and a useless schoolboy. Also, the second game added a much-appreciated four-player option, so you can whomp on up to three of your friends. Let the swearing begin! The story was a tad more cohesive in this installment, but who plays a fighter for the story? (Bebito’s Note: I guess me and Lucard are alone on that one, eh?)

Like many games these days, repeated plays of Power Stone will unlock various extras, like items you can assign to specific stages. There’s also three mini-games you can download to the Dreamcast VMU: slots, an airplane game, and a ninja throwing star game. Hey, the more the merrier!

To sum it up, the first Power Stone is a better “fighter,” while Power Stone 2 obviously takes the cake for ridiculous powerups and multiplayer madness. Both games are an absolutely necessary addition to any Dreamcast fan’s library. Trust me, you can’t live without them.

^Liquidcross

(NEXT PAGE CLICK HERE) — Dreamcast: Sega’s Last Scream Part Three