The year was 1999, and Sega was hurting from the devastating beat-down delivered by Sony, whose Playstation trounced Sega’s Saturn around the world.
This time Sega was ready to take the lead. Their Dreamcast system was small, powerful, and came with a built-in modem for online play.
Sega hit the ground running before the Playstation 2 launched. TV ads, big name games, Sega had it all.
But then Sony said the Playstation 2 would play DVDs. Sony said it was so powerful they had to get government clearance to sell it to some countries, lest it be used for weapons. It could be a computer too. And it played your old Playstation 1 games.
Playstation 2 sold more than 150 million systems, the Dreamcast shifted fewer than 10 before Sega pulled the plug.
Launched 25 years ago, the Dreamcast was Sega’s last, best console.
It is missed.
