Now that it’s come out into the open and Sega has revealed to the gaming masses that Dreamcast games will in fact be available on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 via their respective download networks within the next several months, many gamers who remember how awesome a system the Dreamcast have begun collectively rejoicing. Personally speaking, I can’t truly convey my illiberality – the console was ahead of it’s time so much that the technology didn’t exist to fully realize it. Nevertheless, the games originally designed for the system have remained beloved; receiving numerous ports, and continues to enjoy have a quietly tenacious cult following amongst the Dreamcast allegiant. Thus, when the time comes for titles to begin making their way to consoles, here’s hoping that these ten are not left behind.
10. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: For a game that tried to capture the absurdity of Punch-Out!! while still creating an atmosphere that allowed for fluid, cohesive multiplayer Ready 2 Rumble wasn’t half bad. Released in 1999 by the now defunct Midway, the game saw a significant amount of success and was rated as one of Sega’s All-Star titles, equivalent to a Greatest or Platinum Hits on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 respectively. Notwithstanding the esoteric personalities similar to Punch-Out!! present in the game, such as the lauded cover-boy Afro Thunder, the 3D boxing allowed for a degree of character control that many gamers hadn’t yet experienced in their video games. Additionally, the ability to build up the “RUMBLE” meter slipped in the surreptitious mechanic that caused many a controller to be hurled into a wall when their fighter was knocked out cold with a swift haymaker to the face. While not superbly revolutionary, a small but intriguing quality of the game revolved around boxers garnering bruises as fights went on, depending how badly a beating they were taking. Adding the component enabling this title to be played across Xbox Live and no doubt would this be able to give Fight Night a run for it’s money – if for no other reason than the sheer amount of silliness.
9. Alien Front Online: Creeping out of the gate and releasing towards the end of 2001 certainly didn’t set Alien Front back at all. On the contrary, by waiting until a significant base of consoles had been established allowed Sega to release such a multiplayer-centric game to the waiting masses and raving critical reception. Sure, you could play it alone – but that would be like playing Lost Planet 2 alone – frustrating the point of suicide by junk-punching – except Alien Front Online is actually significantly better. Choosing to fight on the side of the humans or the vile aliens opened up the option of picking one of three different vehicles on either side of the conflict - each possessing predictably obvious pros and cons. But for a game that was so well-received online, it would be an asinine move for any current generation console to ignore the obvious multiplayer potential. Here’s hoping it’s in the first wave of DC games coming soon as downloadable content near you.
8. Typing of the Dead: Lightguns are all well and good, but when a zombie is bearing down on you – it’s good to know that you can type your ass off if the situation calls for it. And why wouldn’t Sega, Microsoft or Sony go to the trouble of bringing this game to the consoles? After all, there are already more usb ports on any of the goddamn consoles than many gamers know what to do with. How difficult would it be to toss some keyboard support in there and actually nurture some typing skills? I’m not condoning settling for a job that allows you to type, but the ability is pretty important in this day and age. Sure, when Z-Day eventually comes the only thing that keyboard will be good for is buying you a few precious seconds before the undead get their hands on you and your soft, pinky flesh, but in the meantime, if you can churn out a novel that would make Dickens proud in a tenth the time it would take to read any of his work – you’re probably too slow.
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This feature top 10 list continues on the next page, please click below to see some more Dreamcast games we want on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
