I still have my DC from way back when and I still have massively fond memories of that console. There was something about the DC that was special, and I think a lot of it had to do with the massive leap in technology it represented. It had amazing overall graphics and functionality for the time and, of course, internet access (though limited). For the first time in a long time, gamers were getting honest-to-god arcade perfect ports (Soul Calibur and House of the Dead 2 spring to mind) and so many of the titles were so solid. Yes, there was plenty of crap, but hey..you're going to get that.

For me personally, though, the DC holds a special place in my gaming heart if for no other game than Phantasy Star Online. I wrote about this briefly in another blog post, but basically PSO really changed so many things about my gaming life as well as altering things about my life in general. The game itself was very good as a nice, sci-fi themed dungeon crawler, but getting online with it was exhilarating. For a lot of people, this was their first massively multiplayer online title. At the time, my PC couldn't run any of the few online RPGs starting to come out for computers and being able to log-in and game with hundreds and thousands of people, even from other parts of the world was a pretty damn radical concept for a lot of people at the time, especially on a 56k connection and on a console. I have so many fond memories of the online gaming world of the Dreamcast, mainly from PSO and then Sega's last, great online multiplayer title, Alien Front. But PSO sticks with me because of the dynamic community and those great people I would game with until the wee hours of the morning. Times where we would just stop playing and chat for awhile and share items and just "hang out", finding a weird common ground with one another. All of these things are fleeting, forgettable things for most people today in our world of instant communication and massively online games, but back then there was still this "holy shit, you're doing something fresh and new" feeling to so many things about the DC and the balls that Sega had to do so many odd, niche things with the console.

I don't want this to go on too long, but I will say that I had some supremely fond gaming memories on the DC. It brought me a tremendous amount of joy for years and I am always grateful to have lived through that era of games. In fact, just talking about it gives me the hankering to hook up my DC and maybe just take a brief spin with PSO. Just a few levels. No wait...lemme get to level 10....20...30!!!