ChuChu Rocket!

The Dreamcast Era, was the era of invention, it was akin to the industrial revolution here in the real world, apart from the gamersphere. However, out of all of these oddities, there was one puzzle game that really caught my eye. This game built on the basic concept sega developed in the previous flicky game, released for the Sega Genesis. This game's concept is a simple game of cat and mouse. Or in the previous flicky title cat and bird.

However, we are not here to talk about flicky. We are here to talk about why Chuchu Rocket! and what set's it apart, as a puzzle game, and a complete gem. The main game takes place on a game board, you need to get the mice or ChuChu's into the goals, while avoiding, the Cat's the KapuKapus, while this gameplay idea seems simplistic and none too revolutionary, you must direct the mice and cats by placing directional blocks placed all around the screen. You can only place three arrows on screen at a time, and they cannot overlap with, your other arrows, or on top of any other players. Once the mice have been collected at your goal, a rocket will "blast-off" thus, ChuChu Rocket!

Gameplay: The single player gameplay is a simple puzzle game, you have a number of directional blocks to place to get all the ChuChus to the goal, but the true magic of ChuChu Rocket! comes from the intense multi-player mode. The players must work in tandem. However, this does not mean that all the players must work cooperatively, actually part of the amusement to the multi-player mode is directing the Cats to the other player's goals. It's fast paced gameplay, is due, in part to the roulette style, gameplay shifts that are caused by gaining a pink colored mystery mouse. Actually, this is part of what makes the gameplay so intense. You never know what to expect. There are several modes of play.

Speed Up-This is just as it say's it speeds up the rate of action, meaning that it speeds up the mice as well as the cat's. When I played this is had caused me to panic the most. It meant that I had to think fast, at least three moves ahead.

Slow Down- This usually follows a speed up. The Slow down option allows the player to return to a normal pace, or slows the gameplay down, to slow motion. This allows for a more placid pace of gameplay, however; I found myself making more mistakes in "Slow Down." then I did in "Speed Up".

Cat Attack- If you obtain a mystery mouse, this mode sends a Cat into the other three holes. This is really fun but also one of the most frustrating when other player's get it, which was a lot more than I did back then.

Mouse Monopoly- Sends a flock of mice into the hole that captured the mystery mouse. It really is fun to watch these little mice scurry into your goal, it gives you an awkward sense of accomplishment. Like, the Cat Attack I rarely got this, when someone else would get this, you felt, something close to complete and utter humiliation.

Cat/Mouse Mania- In this mode only Cats or Mice appear, in rapid succession. Mouse Mania, is like a feeding frenzy while Cat Mania is about diverting cats. These tend to be when players become most competitive.

Place Again- All directional pads on the game board are erased, and the screen pauses. Then you have to replace all of your arrows. I really don't think there's much of a point to this, and I find it extremely frustrating.

Everybody Move- This mode is about piloting the rockets as your mouse pilots. This is a really fun part of the game. The four pilots that are introduced are Chuih for blue, ChuBei for yellow, ChuPea for red and ChuBach for green. This mode was the one I found to be the most fun.

Phantasy Star Online

Phantasy Star online was a first in many ways, it was definitely one of the first console based MMORPGs, probably one of the first online RPGs. It made full use of the internet capabilities of the Sega Dreamcast and in many ways resembles our contemporaries MMOs. Many people remember when this game first came out in 2000, bundled with a demo/beta version of Sonic Adventure 2. Phantasy Star online took the RPG genre out of the simple turn based strategy introduced by the Final Fantasy series. This game introduced an innovative Action-RPG style gameplay, that blended seamlessly into the backstory and cutscenes. Many aspects of this game would later become the norm for the Massive Multiplayer online.

Gameplay: The gameplay is split between an online and an offline mode. The online mode was a mode to explore and interact with other players. The offline includes great Action-RPG gameplay, humongous boss fights, along the lines of the Legend of Zelda, or Sword of Mana Series. It also has massive character design screen which is reminiscent of World of Warcraft. There are three main jobs/classes as well as three races.

Classes

Hunter- Hunters are the "warrior"-type characters. Their attacks are mostly short to medium range and can use many types of close-ranged weapons such as sabers, great swords, dual-dagger's, halberd's etc. They are deadly close up

Ranger- Rangers are the typical "archer"-type characters. Their attacks are mostly ranged and they use pistols, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns. These characters excel in ranged combat, and can be extremely deadly if used well.

Force- Force, are the typical "Mage"/"Magic"-type characters. They are also the all encompassing class for this game. They have close combat capabilities, though physical and magic attacks, and also act as the support.

Me personally, I had the most fun playing with my Force type character.

Races

Human-You do know what a human is don't you?



Newman-These are comparable to elves, or the elven race.


CASTS- This is probably the most creative race in Phantasy Star online. These are basically humanoid robot's, androids, however, the degree of which CASTS and the degree to which they resemble machines vary greatly.

One of the greatest aspect of the game is that the offline character is transferable to online which is rare even today. The game has well epic gameplay, which is almost like a really early version of Vindictus, there were varying attacks based on which buttons you pressed, however, these had to be timed down in a sequence, not just random button mashing.   However, for all the good things that can be said about Phantasy Star Online, there was one glaring flaw. You are not allowed to choose the gender of your character.


Note: Another thing that ticks me off about this otherwise great game. You need to use 1 VMU per character. Sorry.

Storyline: Whether, the story line is good or bad is actually up for debate, some people like it some people flat out hate it. I found it to be okay, and somewhat engaging. The synopsis is that Pioneer 1, a spaceship containing the refugees of innumerable worlds have landed on a planet that they have found "suitable for living." As the Pioneer 2 completes it's voyage and lands on this world, there is all of a sudden a massive explosion and contact with the Pioneer 1 was lost. The heroes of this game must explore through the four sections of this world, which are the forest, the caves, the mines and the ruins. The hero must find clues, while leveling up there character. After, all of the difficulties are completed, The final level is unlocked and the final boss is unveiled. What really drew my attention was the fast leveling of the characters. It's actually easier to level by completing quests than by simple grinding, and the world's, I felt were unique, if a little campy.

Music: There is a special note to be made about the music in Phantasy Star Online episodes I and II, were phenomenal, they engrossed you completely in the world of Phantasy Star and The experience, would probably not have been as good without it. I honestly think that in music, this game alone can beat out the final fantasy series. 

Graphics: The Graphics of Phantasy Star online, I feel were actually pretty remarkable. The graphics are almost on the same level as those of the popular Blizzard. I felt that were worlds were also rendered whether well. And while, we can definitely see that this was a Dreamcast era game. The graphics with all things considered were pretty good.

 Left Image from gamespot, right image from james seng's blog

As an additional note, the world of Phantasy Star online was a major inspiration for "The World" in .//hack
That series would then go on to become some of the best J-RPGs I've ever played.

Whether, you love it or hate it, Phantasy Star online has had much lasting influence on the gaming world. Whether, it's the world, the mechanics or maybe even the sheer innovativeness of the game, the gaming world owes much of what it has to this game, and while it is lacking in some areas it is still one of the greatest and most influencial games ever created.

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure is where the Dreamcast officially started for me having first purchased mine in October 1999, This game along with it's successor, Sonic Adventure 2 are considered to be one of the best Sonic games ever created. This game was one of the first games to appear on the Sega Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure was the first Sonic game ever to depart from it's traditional formula. It also introduced two new characters, who were big the cat, and E-102 Gamma. It had also introduced Amy Rose as a playable character in canon, along with her Piko-Piko hammer, which depending on your opinion of Amy Rose may be good or bad.

It was also the first of the Sonic Games to introduce 5 different types of stages consisting of action stages, running stages, escaping the hunter, catch the power ring and adventure fields which would be used for many of the Sonic Games to come. This game was considered a classic ever since it was made. Since the time it was made it has already seen many remakes, one of the earliest was a Gamecube port of the game entitled Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, created in 2004.

There are even recently updated versions of the game for the PS3 and Xbox 360, via their gaming networks. These will be covered later and in more detail. Sonic Adventure is one of the most prized gems in the gamer-sphere, not unlock the chaos emeralds in the Sonic-verse, but, why is it so popular, what sets it apart from the Sonic games that came before it, and sadly those that came after. Why is the Sonic Adventure considered, the pinnacle, the ideal Sonic Game?

Storyline: The Storyline of Sonic Adventure was the first to deviate from the formula, in introducing a bigger bad then even the eggman himself, this monstrosity would become known to the Sonic-verse as Chaos, a former chao mutated by the power of the Chaos Emeralds to become it's guardian, sealed by Tikal, after it was corrupted by it's hatred of the Echidna tribe. Below this all encompassing master plot, each character also has a storyline. Amy who along with a Flicky named Birdie has to escape from Dr. Eggman and his creation named ZERO, Big who chases after his friend "froggie" whom had become corrupted by the tail of chaos, and E-102, an E series machine who developed a conscience fights against his fellow bethren to free the woodland creatures trapped inside them. There's no doubt that Sonic Adventure, contributed many things to the Sonic canon, including one of the greatest antagonist's in the series history. However, this is also where the Sonic storylines became more complex, and had a darker edgier tone. Despite, this during that time, the more involved storyline was welcomed, and it was marvelously done.

Gameplay: The Game play combined the best of the action adventure platformer with the speed and feel that the Sonic the hedgehog series was known for, it pushed the genre in previously unexplored directions. I laughed (to myself) when I saw Mario Sunshine attempting to copy this some of game's smooth mechanics. It was a great leap forward in how open the world was. Even today, more then ten years later this is what sets it apart. It's fast pace mixed with the expansive universe, made Sonic Adventure's mechanics the standard against which future action adventures (Mario, Sonic, etc.) would be measured.


Graphics: For it's time the graphics of the first Sonic Adventure game was considered revolutionary. It ran extremely smoothly, too me they looked just as good as some of the early PS2 graphics, and in my memory was the first one that could do 3d this smoothly, why? simply because the developers wanted to clock the Dreamcast for all it was worth, and gave us this beautiful game.

Overall it was a cherished part of my childhood memories, the game was way ahead of it's time and is still used today as an industry standard.

My thoughts on the Sega Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast was a very memorable system for many if not most of us. It great graphics and a great gaming library. The system itself was revolutionary and light-years ahead of it's time. Some of my fondest memories on the Dreamcast, for example, were either playing the Power Stone games developed by Capcom, or playing Sonic Adventure 2, still considered one of the dearest gems in the Sega community. It's failure was due to poor executive decisions concerning it's time of release. It was a system that was released between era's, and this one glaring flaw in Sega's business plan foretold the Dreamcast's doom. However, this my friends is old news below we will look at what made the Dreamcast great, and why it is considered a system for the ages.

Graphics: No matter who you asked, they could probably say one or two things about the graphics on the Sega Dreamcast versus those on the original playstation or the nintendo 64, they could probably also say a thing or two on how the Dreamcast beat down the PSOne and how it stood on its own against the other sixth generation gaming systems. No matter who you asked, they would probably say that in terms of visuals the dreamcast beat all other systems hands down.

 Innovation: Another area that set the Dreamcast apart from it's competitors and in my opinion the reason it still has such a fond place in our memories was the sheer power of innovation. Of course, I could elaborate on this for one thing, it was the first console to offer internet connectivity, it's name was SEGANET (Dreamarena), for another there's a nifty little device called the VMU. Finally,  it's great library of games made it a watering hole for some of the gaming industries finest gems, Marvel versus Capcom, Shenmue, Seaman, Skies of Arcadia and of course Sonic Adventure 2. Many of these grew up to become the industry standards for what a great video game should be.

 SegaNet logo borrowed from the Sega Addicts

Games: Sonic Adventure 2, ChuChu Rocket, Shemue, Dead or Alive 2, Project Justice, Soul Calibur, Resident Evil, Space Channel 5 need I go on. Most the games on this system had endless replay value, for some these were the golden days of gaming. Some wish to return to these days. When we were just stepping out of the 2d era and into the 3d, where everything was new innovative and imaginative. These games while they may have been more simplistic, had endless replay value. If anyone ever had any doubts they only need to remember one game to realize what an impact the Sega Dreamcast has made.

These are my reasons, why I found the Dreamcast to be so memorable, and why I still stay a devout Sega fan boy today.