I've been crazily busy lately (pushing 60 work hours / week) so i haven't been able to throw in my own two cents to this topic. Excluding fighting games, superior ports and old sports games there are still a tone of REALLY GREAT GAMES that are on the Dreamcast. The big draw to why the Dreamcast was so impressive is that at the time many of the great titles and franchises that were on the Dreamcast were exclusive until the Dreamcast bowed down in defeat. My list could go on forever but i'll do my best to limit this list to 15 titles (excluding what you aren't interested in). These are not in order of importance or a ranking system.
1.
Phantasy Star Online - You may not be able to connect online through Sega's servers anymore but the offline campaign is still a blast especially with 4 people together. Also if you really want to connect online there are unofficial servers up you can connect to. PSO was ported to the Xbox & Gamecube but the Dreamcast still has the most dedicated following and the newer console versions don't really include anything the Dreamcast versions didn't offer.
2.
Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 - I'm going to bundle these ones together on the list because they both got ports to the Gamecube. I can't really put my finger on it but playing these two games on the Gaamecube just didn't feel right. The games wewre obvious ports and handled much better on the Dreamcast. The Chao Garden: While connecting your GBA and copy of Sonic Advance was cool and all for training your Chao ... it was much more fun to raise your Chao on the VMU (memory card). Also you can only raise one Chao per VMU or copy of Sonic Advance. Since the VMUs are so abundant and cheap its a better solution to go the VMU route, not to mention you can hook 2 VMUs together
3.
Sonic Shuffle - this was the Dreamcast's version of Mario Party. It did not have the same commercial success as the Nintendo version of basically the same game but its a still a great Party Game
4.
MDK 2 - was a very creative 3rd person shooter and a blast to play
5.
Legacy of Kain - it made the PS1 version look like garbage)
6.
Shenmue - You can do pretty much whatever you want in this game. Very new for the time it was not extremely linear and allows you to walk around towns at your own desire and talk to EVERYONE! The story and visuals were unmatched at the time and introduced a lot of great ideas into games that were never thought of before (like being forced to pay attention during cut-scenes by pressing buttons in as they appear on screen, if you don't the cut-scene slightly changes).
7.
Ultimate Fighting Championship - all other version of UFC fighting games really sucked compared to this game. Only recently has the UFC games started to get good with the UFC Undisputed frachise
8.
The House of the Dead - arcade rail shooters are so much fun to play and this one is just about being arcade perfect. Using lightguns that actually shoot where you are pointing the gun is so addicting and so much fun. If you have ever played this or this type of game in the arcade then bringing it home is indescribable. The Wii port (which i have by the way) is total garbage in comparison to the Dreamcast port. Sure you get both house of the Dead 2 & 3 but since the Wiimote isn't as accurate as a lightgun it gets really annoying having your cross-haires 3" away from where you are pointing.
9.
The Typing of the Dead - this is the exact same game as The House of the Dead 2 except you use the Dreamcast Keyboard. The word or letter combinations appears above the zombie's head and when you type it in it the equivalent of shooting them in the head. It is by far the most rewarding way to boost up your WPM with the keyboard.
10.
Samba De Amigo - one of the first games to use rhythm based music peripherals. It sounds pretty dumb to shake maracas to the music but its actually really fun. The Wii port was kind of weird playing with the Wiimotes and the soundtrack wasn't the same due to expired song contracts
11.
NFL Blitz 2000 - ok this is a sports franchise that is still going today and it is on every other console but it is the best port of the game. The new blitz games just suck and fail to capture the experience of Blitz at its best. The Dreamcast port was the closest thing to the Arcade and had the best visual out of all the ports.
12.
Jet Grind Radio - Jet Set Radio Future is on the Xbox but if you want to enjoy the original title outside of XBLA (rumored) then this is a must buy. I mean who doesn't love jumping 15 feet in the air on Rollerblades while spray-painting walls?
13.
Chu Chu Rocket - super addicting puzzle game that progressively gets harder as you go on. Sure this happen in all puzzle games but its a fun experience and requires some critical thinking
14.
Crazy Taxi 2 - i'll go ahead and exclude the first Crazy Taxi since the ported version were pretty much the same but the second version stayed with Sega. If you liked the first Crazy Taxi then this a great title to pick up
15.
EGG - Elemental Gimmick Gear - If you are into RPGs then ... well lets be honest there was only a handful on the Dreamcast. There may not be a lot of RPGs on the console but this is arguably the best one.
!!! BONUS !!!16.
Hydro Thunder - one of the best racers i have ever played and this version is arcade perfect!
17.
Gauntlet Legends - everyone loved this game! While its not arcade perfect (damnit Pojo the Chicken EGG 911) its the best version that was ported from the arcade. It looks the best and plays the best, plus it has bonus characters that were exclusive to the Dreamcast version. To be fair the characters were later used in Gauntlet Dark Legacy.
For good fun i'll include some games you may want to look into that we never got in America.
1.
Cosmic Smash - futuristic looking and very imaginative type of gameplay. Imagine the visuals of REZ and the gameplay of Breakout and Squash (or tennis) all mashed into one.
2.
Karous - there are dozens of top down shooters on the Dreamcast in Japan but this one stands out and can be pretty difficult at some points of the game
3.
Shenmue II - see Shenume, same type of stuff
4.
Panzer Front - great japanese tank game that still holds strong today
5.
Bomber Hehhe!! - basically you are in the driver seat of blowing up huge buildings. Think demolishing building in Vegas only you get to control it.
Lets be honest about the Dreamcast's strong following today. Its the emulation and unofficial ports of games. Call it piracy or whatever you want but doesn't necessarily have to be piracy.
We at TCP are completely against piracy and the illegal distribution of games. What i like about the freedom of the Dreamcast is playing games that were never released to the public that were leaked and PC Games that are abandon-ware. I own a copy of Half-Life on the PC and don't think twice about playing the unreleased version on the Dreamcast. I've payed for my copy legitimately and I prefer to play games on consoles so I choose to play it on the Dreamcast out of preference.
I also download indie developer's games all the time since they distribute it freely as well as openBOR mods to my Dreamcast. There are also bootdisc that allow you to use the actual game media from other consoles and play them on the Dreamcast. The NeoGeoCD boot disc actually improves the gameplay of quite a few games but cutting down the load times. I know there are a lot of people that misuse and do illegal "stuff" with there Dreamcast but you can get a lot out of the Dreamcast's ability to play burnt media without ripping off developers.
So Doom, please reconsider giving the Dreamcast a try, you won't regret it!
