How can the Dreamcast be considered underrated when so many people are talking about it?
@YTFoidLover1488
>It was an alright homebrew / emu station though.
Except that the homebrew scene can never come close to the official software due to the fact that the homebrew games are running off of MIL-CDs instead of GD-ROMs and most of the games are 2D and could easily run on a Genesis.
Atari, on the other hand, open-sourced the Jaguar and give away the documentation to the system after going 3rd party, which allowed independent developers to unlock it's full potential. The Dreamcast only has a homebrew scene because of Sega's mostly unused karaoke CDs.
@YTFoidLover1488 It would've been better if Sega released GD-ROM burners and gave away the documentation to the Dreamcast after going third-party, but that is something that almost never happens in a Japanese company.
You can do low-level 3d with KallistiOS, and it has a PVR API as well. Other than like a few hundred megs less, you can do a shitload with KOS.
https://github.com/KallistiOS/KallistiOS
https://github.com/ianmicheal/DREAMCAST-KOS-PVR-3D-EXAMPLES
b e a r d
@xianc78 it was underrated while it was actually being sold
@beardalaxy It was actually doing pretty well in the US, until the PS2 was announced.
@xianc78 so for what, like half a year? xD
@beardalaxy Pretty much. The PS2 having DVD support was what made so many people wait for it. Sega couldn't make a deal with the DVD Forum and went with their own proprietary CD-based format known as GD-ROM (Gigabyte Disc ROM) instead. GD-ROMs were just basically CDs but with the microscopic pits more tightly compact so they can store a gigabyte of data. DVDs on the other hand, can store 8GBs. Sega talked about having a DVD player add-on but that never came into fruition.
Sega also had another CD-based format for the Dreamcast called MIL-CDs. They were basically music CDs that also included software (things like karaoke or music videos) that could run on a Sega Dreamcast. MIL-CDs never had copy protection. Because of that, people realize that they can burn Dreamcast games as MIL-CDs and run them on a Dreamcast without any modifications. Sega did correct this with a hardware revision, but it was already too late. Though the MIL-CD exploit was what allowed the Dreamcast to have a vibrant homebrew community.
Though honestly, the Saturn pretty much killed Sega as a hardware manufacturer more than the Dreamcast. If Sega still had a little bit more money, the Dreamcast could be on par with the GameCube in terms of sales.
Also, Sega never had a console that was a worldwide success. The Master System did well in Europe and South America, but failed in the US and Japan. The Genesis/Mega Drive did well in North America, South America, and Europe, but failed in Japan. The Saturn did well in Japan, but failed everywhere else. It made sense for them to go third-party.
