Dreamcast was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors… and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and… up to… Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Dreamcast. Dreamcast, who loved bowling.

Sega’s Dreamcast still enjoys a pretty strong cult following to this day – surprising, considering the console was discontinued in 2001.  Some of my fondest video gamin’ memories were the result of the fine peoples at Sega, be it Sega Genesis games like Streets of Rage 2 and Comix Zone, or Dreamcast games like Soul Calibur or Crazy Taxi.

The console was released on September 9th, 1999, and boasted a number of features – internet connectivity, native VGA output, high storage capacity (at the time) GD-Rom discs, and exception graphics power on par with the Playstation 2.  I also have to mention the Dreamcast’s unique memory card, the Visual Memory Unit, which functioned as both an in-controller display and a mobile gaming unit (although the bastard would eat through batteries like it was it’s job.)

The Dreamcast also boasted a number of high quality games, notably Sega Bass Fishing, Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, and the aforementioned Soul Calibur and Crazy Taxi games.  The Dreamcast also helped pioneer online connectivity for consoles with Phantasy Star Online, which took advantage of the console’s all-mighty integrated modem.  You can also find a number of awesome shoot-em-up games on the Dreamcast, as well as a large library of high quality arcade ports, like the Marvel vs Capcom series.  Even today, the Dreamcast enjoys a strong homebrew scene, and is powerful enough to emulate Playstation games like Metal Gear Solid.

If you’ve never owned a Dreamcast, or feel like replacing your aged one, don’t worry – they’re actually pretty cheap, and well worth the addition to any console collection.

And so, Sega Dreamcast, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince.