Dreamcast

"It's thinking..."

The Dreamcast was the last video game console to date manufactured by Sega. It was released before its contemporary consoles (the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox), but competition with these platforms meant that it failed to generate sufficient revenue and Sega eventually withdrew from the console market altogether. It had a short life, being released in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in the West (North America, Europe and Australia) and then discontinued (in North America) in 2001, Europe and Australia in 2002 and Japan in 2007. It is now available only on the Internet and independent small stores.

Several Sonic the Hedgehog series games were released for the platform.

Sonic games made for the Dreamcast

 * Sonic Adventure
 * Sonic Shuffle
 * Sonic Adventure 2
 * Sega Smash Pack

Characters Introduced

 * Chao
 * Big the Cat
 * E-100 Alpha
 * E-101 Beta
 * E-102 Gamma
 * E-103 Delta
 * E-104 Epsilon
 * E-105 Zeta
 * Froggy
 * Chaos
 * Tikal
 * Pachacamac
 * Zero
 * Void
 * Lumina Flowlight
 * Illumina
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Gerald Robotnik
 * Maria Robotnik
 * Omochao

PC compatibilities
Using a Dreamcast emulator and a ROM, one can play Dreamcast games on a computer. The Dreamcast GD-ROM is also close to the size of a compact disc and can be inserted into the computer to access bonus content (e.g. special pictures in Sonic Adventure).

Sonic Generations Dreamcast Era
Stages from Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were in Sonic Generations. Despite Sonic Heroes not being a Dreamcast game it was added as the "third Dreamcast game" so that each era has three games represented. Also, it was part of the 6th-generation console era along with the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube.

Trivia

 * The Dreamcast is the first entry in the sixth generation of consoles.
 * The Dreamcast appears as an easter egg in the cutscenes on Sonic Unleashed.
 * One is seen when Dr. Eggman presses the button to fire the laser in the opening movie.
 * One is also seen when Sonic defeats the Egg Dragoon, to the right of Eggman.
 * When Sonic loses his Werehog form, another is seen to the left of Eggman.
 * Sonic Shuffle and Sonic Adventure, along with a playable demo of Sonic Adventure 2 were packaged with the Dreamcast in 2000.
 * In Sonic Adventure 2, there is a poster in City Escape that says "Playing SA2 is habit forming! Don't turn off your Dreamcasts!"
 * Some Dreamcast games were compiled into Dreamcast Collection for the Xbox 360 and the PC.
 * The swirl was orange in Japan and red in North America. However, the swirl had to be changed to blue in Europe and Australia because of copyright reasons as a German company, Tivola used a similar red swirl and Sega would have gotten into litigation for copyright infringement.
 * In the Eggmanland hub in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic will meet a robot named EF-DC1998 making reference to the Dreamcast and it says he has a model mainstay just like the Dreamcast.
 * This console (and the Sega Saturn) has the fewest Sonic games for a Sega console.
 * The Dreamcast appears as a controller in boat mode driven by AGES in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.
 * The Dreamcast makes cameo appearances in Disney's Sonny with a Chance.
 * A deleted scene for the animated short Sonic: Night of the Werehog features Sonic and Chip playing on a Dreamcast inside the haunted house.
 * If you look closely at the two games beside the Dreamcast in the intro cutscene in Sonic Unleashed, one says "Eggman Adventure", while the other says, Nights into Dreams.
 * Sega Dreamcast GD-ROM discs were region-locked, but this could be circumvented with the use of boot discs.