Top 5 Fighting Games on the Sega Dreamcast...
Oct 05 '09
The Bottom Line Go out and find a Sega Dreamcast!
The Sega Dreamcast is my favorite video game console, as most of you already know. Last month (September 2009) was the 10th Anniversary of the console and even though it only lasted for a couple years, the legend lives on. Up until a few years ago, as close as 2006, games continued to be published for the console in Japan as well as being the console of choice for "homebrew" gamers. In honor of the recent anniversary, I decided to create a list of my favorite games for the console, starting with the Top 5 Fighting Games for the Sega Dreamcast. I decided to do a follow up to my 2008 editorial, Top 10 Sega Dreamcast Import Games from Japan.
The console had a number of fighting games released, but there are only a few that really seem to stand out from the rest. This happens to be a list of my personal favorites, so feel free to comment (agree and/or disagree) on your feelings of the Sega Dreamcast.
[GAME #5]
The King of Fighters: Dream Match ‘98
SNK
1999
The King of Fighters series has been a favorite of mine for a lot of years now. One of the best home versions of the game appeared on the Sega Dreamcast console which was pretty much a direct port of King of Fighters ‘99 seen in the arcade and on the NeoGeo console in Japan. The game was renamed King of Fighters: Dream Match ‘98.
The game is on the surface, a typical 2D side-scrolling fighting game but when you dig deeper you'll see that the game has some of the most balanced characters to appear in a fighting game. It was also one of the few games, aside from the "Capcom Vs" series, to have tag matches allowing you to compose a team of fighters you could switch on the fly. The game also was one of the first to be compatible with a game on a totally different console too. This game was compatible with King of Fighers: R-2 for the handheld system, NeoGeo Pocket Color. You could transfer data from both games by using a link-cable between the two systems.
[GAME #4]
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Capcom
2000
I first played Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the Sony PlayStation after it was hyped up in all the gaming magazines. I am a huge fan of the SF series dating back to when Street Fighter II appeared on the SNES. I was not impressed with SF Alpha 3 very much because the game was riddled with glitches and extremely long load times while playing the "World Tour" mode. So when the game was released months later on the Sega Dreamcast, I bought it only to add to my collection of games out of habit. I almost fell over at how much better this translation of the game was when compared to the PS version. This game played exactly how it did in the arcade. The animations were much smoother, the load times bearable, and the World Tour mode was a lot of more fun. It was as if Capcom rushed the game to the Sony PlayStation only because they had a contract to do so and with the delayed release of the Dreamcast version only helped to enhance my thoughts on this subject.
SF Alpha 3 was probably the best installment in the "Alpha" series of SF games because of the addition of the World Tour Mode which allowed you to customize your character's fighting style as well as earn bonus skills that allowed you to have the ability to block projectiles while in the air, regenerate health during a fight, etc. Capcom added RPG elements to the game which increased the replay value.
[GAME #3]
Powerstone 2
Capcom
2000
The original game, Powerstone, was released at the launch of the Sega Dreamcast in September 1999. It was one of the best games I had played to date. I debated which game to add to the list here, but ultimately decided to add the sequel released about a year later. Powerstone 2 is a 3D "free roaming" fighting game that has interactive environments that aid and/or hinder the player. Both games featured environments you could demolish and use to help you. Like tables and chairs that could be picked up and thrown, poles and beams you could swing on and even rip out of the roof to hit your opponent with, etc. Also the environments were littered with all sorts of weapons like Molotov cocktails, swords, giant hammers, etc.
The sequel had some improvement over the original with several hundred more weapons and items to choose from as well as 4 players battling at the same time. In single player mode, you collected items that you later would take to the shop to combine with other items to make new weapons, etc. The game was a lot of fun and I spent a lot of weekends hanging out with friends having all-night matches.
[GAME #2]
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Capcom
2000
Capcom was criticized for rehashing the Street Fighter series to the point of making even the most hardcore SF fan sick. The answer to that was the release of X-Men vs Capcom in the arcades as well as the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation a few years before. It was pretty much the first game of its kind with the blending of two opposite franchise by two different companies. A popular comic book company (Marvel) and a video game company (Capcom) would go on to collaborate with more "versus" games.
Marvel vs Capcom 2 in my opinion is the best arcade to home console translation I have seen to date. In fact the home console version is probably better in many aspects. The game is faster on the Sega Dreamcast and features crisper animations. It's also the best 3 on 3 tag team fighter to date. Just like King of Fighters: Dream Match '98, you choose a team of characters you can switch between during the fight. The fight ends when all three of your characters are knocked out or when the time runs out. This game has a huge roster of characters from various Marvel and Capcom franchises. Mega Man even makes an appearance as well as Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil games for the Capcom side, and Wolverine, Spiderman, and a whole bunch more are included on the Marvel side.
The game has a fairly repetitious and monotonous soundtrack, but is ignorable when you have a bunch of friends over. The game really shines in the two-player mode.
[GAME #1]
Soul Calibur
Namco
1999
All Dreamcast owners pretty much have Soul Calibur on their "Top 10" lists. It is an amazing game that featured a nice roster of characters, a deep combo system, full 3D environments, and pretty close to photo realistic characters and animations. For being a "launch title", Soul Calibur had the quality of a game that was being released on an established home console. Namco did have some experience already with the Tekken series on the Sony PlayStation, but this game took 3D fighting to a whole new level.
I really can't say that the game has any real glitches worth mentioning or any other problems for that matter. The game was also the first weapons based one-on-one fighter I had played up to that point. It has also gone on to spawn a number of sequels on a variety of systems. All of them have been decent, but none of them have ever lived up to the quality that this particular game had about it.
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© Copyright 2009 Chris_Billings
*Please free to comment on the Sega Dreamcast. I originally planned a Write-Off for the 10th Anniversary, but this is going to have to be close enough to one.
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Member: Chris Billings
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