Ah, the poor Dreamcast, the little console that could but couldn’t. It was the swan song to Sega’s console development department, a home game console that couldn’t quite snatch the market share from the Nintendo 64 or the burgeoning PlayStation.
Despite the Dreamcast’s ill-fated journey, it wasn’t undertaken unarmed.The Dreamcast libraryhad some excellent and unique entries, the likes of which we still haven’t seen reborn in the modern age.
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Perhaps, if Sega and its associates were ever feeling gutsy, these games could be successfully revived today with the ol’ reboot treatment.
Some of these games have had ports, remasters, and collections, but we’re specifically talking about full ground-up reboots.
Sense-Centric Horror
The best kind of horror attacks you in every available sense: horrifying sights, unpleasant smells, sudden sounds, vile tastes, gross textures, and that mysterious sixth-sense chill up your spine. The only horror game that utilizes this framework in full isIllbleed.
This game has you exploring massive,lethal haunted houses laden with traps. The only way to survive is to monitor your six senses for anything out of the ordinary and spot the trap triggers before they can go off.
If you’re not careful, you’re able to bleed to death from your injuries or get shocked so badly you suffer a heart attack.
While it’s gross and startling,Illbleedhas a very campy vibe that a reboot would absolutely need to carry over, at least to an extent. It’s that distinctly off-kilter flavor that helps the jump scares really catch you off guard.
8Blue Stinger
Dreamcast’s Own Resident Evil
Blue Stinger
Surprisingly, the originalResident Evilwas never on the Dreamcast, though bothResident Evil 2and3did make it over. While it was technically released afterResident Evil 2,Blue Stingercould be considered the console’s patronaction-horror game.
Brought to us by the same developers asIllbleed,Blue Stingergives us two protagonists to take on a monster-filled island with.
UnlikeResident Evil’s Chris and Jill, you’re able to swap between Eliot and Dogs on the fly, with both characters having unique abilities for handling different situations. It’s also got much more dynamic combat, as you can pick up and use pretty much any weapon that’s not nailed down in both ranged and melee combat.
Given the success of the modernResident Evilreboots, it stands to reason thatBlue Stingercould benefit from similar treatment, especially to streamline certain elements like swapping characters. Perhaps it’d make a good co-op game.
7Dynamite Cop
Lean Into The Action Cheese
Dynamite Cop
They don’t really make action movies like they used to anymore. We’re talkingDie Hard-style, one barefoot dude taking on an entire legion of criminal thugs. If we want more of that kind of action, why not get it from the series that tookDie Hard’s name,Dynamite Cop?
Dynamite Copis the sequel toDynamite Deka, which was released as “Die Hard Arcade” outside of Japan, but you don’t need to play one to play the other.
Dynamite Copis a bombastic, in-your-face action brawler in which beefy cops brawl their way through punks on a massive cruise ship and an abandoned island to rescue the President’s kidnapped daughter.
It’s absolutely bonkers, with your pirate foes occasionally replaced by robots and bipedal turtles and weapons including baguettes and pepper shakers.
Wacky setpieces aren’t just fun in their own right, they make for great reaction material. With some graphical and quality-of-life improvements, this game would absolutely kill it in the streaming scene.
6Outtrigger
Fast-Paced Deathmatching
Outtrigger
Thanks to the release of the originalDoomin ‘93, deathmatch culture was in full swing by the early 2000s. Sit a few folks down on a couch, give them characters with guns in a big arena, and fun will be had.
This remains true to this day, and that’s whyOuttriggercan always make a comeback.
Outtriggeris a fast-paced shooter which you can play alone in arcade mode or with up to three friends in deathmatch multiplayer. Either way, the conceit is the same: shoot the other dudes before they shoot you.
A small but important element here is that when you kill an enemy, they drop a coin, which gives you an extra frag point. Of course, that means you have to run out into the open to pick it up, which adds a little risk/reward flavor.
Outtriggeralso had a nifty customization element where you could combine properties of the four characters’ guns to make something new. Imagine how many combinations you could make with just a few more characters to choose from.
5Power Stone
Everyone Loves Transformations
Power Stone
It’s basically a fact that a transformation mechanic can make any video game at least 15-20% cooler. Prove us wrong. This is whyPower Stone, a fairly good 3D fighter on its own, becomes excellent with the addition of transformations.
Power Stoneis a what if a beat ‘em up game was a one-on-one fighter. You have a massive arena to run around freely in, full of stage interactables and items to pick up.
The big prizes are the titular Power Stones, three of which will temporarily transform your character into a superpowered state with awesome special attacks. It wasn’t the most strategic combat, but boy was it fun with friends.
Power Stonehasn’t gotten much love over the years beyond inclusion in some collections, though it did have a pretty good tie-in anime. A reboot could go for either competitive viability or stick to the couch shenanigans; anything’s fine at this point, really.
4Super Magnetic Neo
Attract And Repel
Super Magnetic Neo
The mid-90s and early 2000s were the hot era for 3D platformers, with devs finally having cracked the code on true 3D and physics.
Speaking of physics, though, one game from that era that got rather ambitious with it wasSuper Magnetic Neo.
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Forget double jumps and dashes, we have something new for you to try.
In this game, magnetic polarity rules over all. With a quick tap, you can instantly flip your magnetic alignment, pulling yourself to handholds, repelling or capturing enemies, or sticking to metallic walls.
It takes a bit of skill, but once you understand the polarities, you can zip through levels at remarkable speed like a metal ball firing out of a railgun.
In addition to the fact that mascot platformers have had a resurgence thanks togames likeAstro Bot, this game’s speed and skill-focused gameplay would make it a treat for the speedrunning crowd.
3Zombie Revenge
Punch That Zombie
Zombie Revenge
Everyone loves shooting zombies in action games, but have you ever considered cold-clocking a zombie upside the head? Or better yet, roundhouse-kicking one? It’s a similar, yet distinct flavor of fun, one you may get from the arcade stylings ofZombie Revenge.
An oft-forgotten spin-off fromThe House of the Dead,Zombie Revengeis a 3D beat ‘em up game where you’re just as likely to plug a walker with a pistol as you are to punch their grody teeth out.
You can switch on the fly between melee and ranged combat, ammo permitting, though taking direct attacks from zombies does increase your infection meter and steadily drain your health.
The game had a bit of a notorious difficulty curve reminiscent of arcade quarter munchers, with beefy bosses and a strict stage timer. If those elements could perhaps be toned down a bit,Zombie Revengewould be a lot of fun with a higher budget. Hey, theotherHouse of the Deadgames are making comebacks.
2Tech Romancer
Not A Dating Sim
Tech Romancer
There areplenty of mech gamescoming and going these days, but most of them are in the real robot genre rather than super robot. That is to say, tanks with legs rather than giant dudes with giant attitudes.
Frankly, we need more of the latter, and that’s why Tech Romancershould make a comeback.
Despite what the name may imply, this isn’t a dating sim, but rather an old-school one-on-one fighting game on a gigantic scale. We’ve got mechs from every category you can think of, from wacky combiners to heroic super robots to lanky,Evangelion-like monsters.
Every mech has its own unique weapons and abilities, ranging from traditional cannons to ridiculous slapstick antics, with finishing moves punctuated by a big blast-wave explosion.
The game was pretty big in the arcade scenes of the 90s, but the Dreamcast port was a little divisive. What a reboot really needs is to provide good character balance while still maintaining that flashy, mildly silly vibe.
1Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device
A Game With More To Give
Evolution: The World of Sacred Device
While roguelikes have proliferated extensively in the past decade, they’ve been cropping up here and there since well before. One such example is the originalEvolutionJRPG. If the name sounds familiar, this game was merged with its sequel and released asEvolution Worldson the Gamecube.
WhileEvolution Worldsis a bit more of a traditional JRPG,Evolutionleans more into roguelike territory with randomly-generated, level-scaling dungeons. They’re full of gradually-revealing maps, traps, and turn-based battles against monsters.
There’s some good depth to character building, as your party members’ weapons can be upgraded with composite parts to unlock new abilities and attacks.
In the merge for the Gamecube port,Evolutionwas abridged to make room for the second game’s story and mechanics. That’s a shame, because it had an interesting story and gameplay that’s worth exploring on its own merits.
10 Best Sega Dreamcast Games, Ranked
Sega Dreamcast had several amazing titles that contributed to its success, but these are surely some of the best games to arrive on the console.
