On this day in 1999, the world became a little brighter. Then Sega released its last game console, the Dreamcast, in North America. A massive media campaign, cryptically teasing “9.9.99” and seeding that the little white box was not only powerful but also sensitive, set the tone for what was briefly considered “the greatest 24 hours in entertainment retail history.” “. At least, until the hype train derailed in mid-2000.
Still, despite its short lifespan, the Dreamcast praised an impressive library of racing games, and today they are worth remembering.
One-third of Dreamcast’s 18 launch titles in North America were racing games. On store shelves on September 9, you would find: SHOPPING CART: Flag to Flag, Hydro Thunder, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat and Monaco Grand Prixlike TrickStyle – a hoverboard game that wasn’t just about racing although you could race in it. It was developed by a small British outfit known as Criterion Games; wonder what they would do?
I remember walking through the garage door of the house I grew up in at age six, excited to play Hydro Thunder after I got home from school on September 9, my brother picked up a Dreamcast at midnight and in anticipation I tripped and fell flat on my face as I ran through the washroom. However, as a kid I was rubber and nothing would stop me from getting my motorboat repaired.
SHOPPING CART: Flag to Flag is a title that would be of particular interest to the Jalopnik audience, as it is one of the few licensed CART games ever released. It wasn’t the only one, and it was far from perfect, but you could make it the best. The Dreamcast’s then major power advantage over the PlayStation made full grids, dynamic weather, and the inclusion of every team, driver, and track that was part of the 1998 CART season feasible. It also peaked for the American open-wheel series — and less than two months before we lost Canadian phenom Greg Moore.
Of course, the Dreamcast’s best racers were yet to come. Sega rally 2 arrived Nov. It was a messy port, without the shine that the Model 3 arcade original deserved, but I still loved it. crazy taxiin all its addictive brilliance, came to us in January.
In the second half of 2000, things really kicked into high gear, giving us the best version of San Francisco Rush 2049; Yu Suzuki is delicious Ferrari F355 Challenge; Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2, which was a huge improvement over the original; and the frankly perfect one Test drive Le Mans from Infogrames Melbourne House, the greatest game ever made about the world’s greatest endurance race. Sega GT also hung out somewhere in the mix, cursed though it was.
Here’s someone you might recognize in the three-screen arcade version of the Ferrari F355 Challenge. (Photo: Clive Mason, Getty Images)
In 2001, it quickly came to an end. The system was discontinued at the end of March — but not before the release of Metropolis Street Racera thoughtful new approach to racing games from the crew of Bizarre Creations. MSR aimed at rewarding technique over speed; it would attract more eyeballs if Project Gotham Racing on Xbox.
A phenomenally weird look at Daytona USA completed Sega’s first batch of contributions. With development outsourced to Genki, it was not home to Daytona USA 2: Battle On The Edge everyone wanted to, but it was an early example of online multiplayer in a console racer. That must count for something, right?
Still the best console packaging ever. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers, Getty Images)
Was the Dreamcast the best system for racing games? Probably not; the PlayStation 2 and Xbox beat it simply by hanging out longer and claiming more all-time greats like Gran Turismo 3 and 4, Ridge Racer V, Project Gotham Racing 2, RalliSport Challenge 2 and Burnout 3: Takedown. Sega didn’t even give us his best work on the Dreamcast – that Sega rally 2 port still leaves a bitter taste, and we never have the Scud Race conversion we deserved.
But I would argue that the Dreamcast has more different catalog of racers than most platforms, spanning the arcade and sim spectrum well to provide choices for everyone – some of which, such as crazy taxi and MSR, were very progressive. In just 18 months we got a lot of heavy hitters and I even skipped some in my summary. The Dreamcast wasn’t just a swan song for Sega; it was a swan song for innovative, old-fashioned racing games.
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