Numerology fans take note; what was once purported to be the biggest day in entertainment history took place exactly 9 years ago. Plagiarism fans also take note: I got this idea from the latest episode of Retronauts.
Yes, we're nearly a decade from the launch of Sega's little-console-that-could-but-didn't, and aside from making me feel incredibly old, this anniversary of sorts had me thinking about just where I was on 9/9/1999. My most distinct memory of that time period--which is mostly fuzzy and inexplicably filled with Pokemon--is being madly in love with a high school girl. Luckily for her, I was also in high school; but even with us having that much in common, it was never meant to be. So did I console myself by splurging and then weeping on Sega's newest system? Fittingly, Final Fantasy VIII absorbed most of my pain in telling the story of an emotional cripple that made me look much more stable by comparison.
I eventually got a Dreamcast a whole year later, but my relationship with it was just as sordid and artificial as my high school fling. I used it.
For me, a Nintendo fanboy who had recently switched brands to Sony due to a troubling JRPG addiction, there was no way I was getting a Dreamcast. No friggin' way. My tone soon changed after the launch of the PS2, when I had spent $300 on a system that could play DVDs, or a snowboarding game. In that first year of the PS2, there was a 10-month stretch between launch and the next game worth playing, Klonoa 2. So, having quite a bit of disposable income at the time, and not thinking to send this money 8 years into the future when I actually need it, I got a Dreamcast just as it was on its first of many price cuts.
Getting the system on the threshold of 2000/2001 meant I had access to nearly all of the best games; and I played the hell out of them while my PS2 collected dust in the background--it later broke down on what I assumed to be dust-related issues. Up until the fall of 2001 I was all about the Dreamcast--even with the announcement of the system's death happening so early in the year--but when games like Ico and Grand Theft Auto 3 started coming out on the PS2, I quickly ditched my new friend and later sold it on eBay like the monster I am.
I should feel bad--and I kind of do--but to this day I don't have any fond memories for the Dreamcast. To me, it was just a diversion until the PS2/XBox/GameCube era could really start taking off; and I assume this was the same situation for many others. The only thing that really gets to me is that Sega now has about an electron of the creativity it was known for during the Dreamcast days--oh, and that Sonic the Hedgehog still exists.
Now would be a good time to share your Dreamcast memories, because I just made myself feel bad.
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