Nostalgic Dreams of Dreamcast

3/1/2012
My first memory of gaming was at my aunts house, in my cousin Lauras
room, playing Super Mario Brothers on the NES with my mother. I remember the
first time I saw the SNES graphics of Super Mario World. I remember this guy my
family knew, named Rich, bringing over a SEGA Genesis for the first time, and
experiencing the competition. All of these systems were my first glimpses of
gaming, yet for some reason, my most nostalgic memories were of the Sega
Dreamcast.
I find my memories of the Dreamcast rather sad in a way. While the NES,
SNES, Genesis, etc. have all ended their life cycles, they got the respect they
deserved, and lived healthy lives. The Dreamcast was an amazing system that
lived a short, misunderstood life. The games that it had, despite its short time,
were quite good, and many of them were unique and quirky; the Dreamcast games
seemed to have their own style, something you dont see on modern consoles.
Now, you may be able to find the games on emulators these days, but what about
the incredible VMU idea? Why has that not lived on? Sure, you dont need memory
cards these days, at least its not a necessity like the before times, but it would be
cool if they put little screens on your controllers that your opponents couldnt see.
However, I think for me, it wasnt just the system or the games, it was that it was
there along with the good ole days of my childhood.
New Years 2000, that was about the time I had finally gotten my Sega
Dreamcast, after seeing the Sonic Adventure demos playing at the local best buy in
Knoxville, Tennessee. Im not sure if I got it for Xmas or for my birthday, on January
15th, but I received a Dreamcast as a gift from my parents. My brother Cody was
living there with us at the time, and I remember us playing Crazy Taxi, Sonic, and
we once rented Space Channel 5 and played that together. I believe there was also
this game where you were fighting in a space cube, and you fly around, and then
slam your opponent through the glass as sort of a fatality or something. Then
again, I sometimes mix games I have played on other systems in my memories, so
who knows if that wasnt an N64 game or even PS2.
My memory of Dreamcast is split into three different chronological categories:
Before the San Diego summer vacation of 2000, summer in San Diego 2000, postsummer in San Diego 2000. I think the summer of 2000 was not only the greatest
summer vacation that I had gone on, but possibly a contender for the best year of
my childhood, and thus, my life. You see, my father would move around quite a bit,
going place to place for various reasons hes a very religious man, and I believe
he would move around to different states because God had him on a mission or
something, fuck if I really know I tend not to ask too many questions for whatever
reason. Anyway, he would visit places such Wyoming, New Mexico, Washington,

and on this particular year California. The other contender for best year was
2001, but 2001 was great for totally different reasons. 2000, it felt to me, may have
been the last year of my innocence, well I hate to use some faggy word like
innocence, but in 2001, shit got more complicated for me and I already wrote a
story about that, so I shant go into it in great detail within this one.

I tend to mix the days of my enjoyment of Dreamcast when it comes to presummer and post-summer, because I was living in the same house, and dealing
with the same friends, so the facts regarding these stories could be slightly mingled,
not that I am such an important person that anyone will give a shit, but I tend to be
Obsessive Compulsive about these things. So, lets begin for some reason I try to
picture the beginning, I remember a Power Stone demo was it a bonus disc that
came with the DC? I dont remember, but I soon owned the full version, and to this
day I have not played a better fighting game (even though that downward diving
kick was the cheapest move ever). The demo blew me away with its level of
interactivity, big characters could snap off poles that were connected to the level,
and the smaller characters could swing around it and do a diving kick and you
could climb on the ceiling and throw tables, MAN that game was amazing, hope one
day we see a Power Stone 3! I do remember my friend Doug, saying that he
thought the graphics werent any better than N64 graphics, or something, but fuck
him. Ironically, I think he was the same friend that said he was blown away by the
graphics of Speed Devils not that much later.
Crazy Taxi, a lot of people like it, but to be honest, I only got it because Grand
Theft Auto in 3d did not yet exist, and it was the closest thing to being able to
explore a city on the Caster of Dreams (haha, Im so funny with my word play). I
also remember I hated the 10 minute time limit they gave you to explore the city,
seriously, what a bunch of bullshit it reminds me of when I rented the first Burnout
and they timed all the races I seriously hate games with time limits, BUT Burnout
was for PS2, so no more talks about that. Crazy Taxi also had those challenges,
where you had to do stuff, ehh I really dont even remember what you had to do,
but it was fucking timed, I can tell you that. I dont really have a solid internet
connection here, so even if I felt like looking this info up, it would be difficult to do
so, so verify this shit for yourself if thou doest care. Point is, I really dont even
know why people liked the game so much, and I was disappointed it was on the
Dreamcast collection they recently released.
Zombie Revenge now that was a fun game that I rented. It was a beat em
up, and man I love beat em ups. More on liking beat em ups later. If I remember
to talk about that, that is. I tend to just type stream of conscious, so I could very
well forget to talk about shit that I say I might talk about, because Im an asshole
like that. Zombie Revenge was also cool because your partner could die and
become a zombie, and I thought that was really innovative. Hmm, HEY one thing I

forgot to mention about Crazy Taxi is that my step-brother Cody accidentally broke
the game by pulling on my Cast controller and breaking the game not sure exactly
how that worked, but he ended up buying me a different game. Not sure which one
he bought me though.
SWORD OF THE BERZERK! Guts Rage just thought about that game as I
went to pour myself a glass of this fruit juice mix. I remember renting that game,
and how awesome it was to play it though your sword always clanging off of walls
was fucking annoying. The locations I thought were interesting, and I remember
there was this super tough gargoyle boss you had to battle. Fuck, this would be
boring to read if you were just dude I linked to this story on the internet, you would
say the fuck is up with all these paragraphs of him just mentioning a certain game
and giving vague details about it, I might as well read the god damn REVIEWS for
them online. I thought I would have more life stories to relate to these games, but
ehh I might as well just jump to the summer of San Diego. WAIT, wait before I
do, I just remembered Code Veronica.
Code Veronica! A++ game, would play again. I remember renting that
game, going into my room which would be on the right of the door but I picture it
on the left side of the trailer on my head. Yes, it was in a trailer (AGAIN, though this
time not a trailer park [reference from other story I wrote]), fuck your face.
Anyway, its my favorite Resident Evil game, and I remember liking how they made
the camera scroll this time instead of being static. When I had Resident Evil 64, my
friend Joe Williams (RIP) would play it, and I would watch. Coincidentally, I once
read a review where they said sometimes Resident Evil was much more fun as a
backseat gamer and I can confirm this to be true. Its so much fun watching your
friends play spooky games. Anyway, one time Cody, Joe, and I were playing the
game I believe Joe was playing while we watched and early in the game you
pick up these ammunitions and as soon as you do, a zombie jumps through a
window. The reaction was epic! On another note, I remember something similar
happened when Joe was playing Resident Evil 2 (aka 64) because a licker (or was it
a hunter?) jumped through a 2-way mirror.

SUMMER OF 2000! I remember the trip I took ok the airplane. Well, to be

honest, I dont really remember the airplane so much itself, as the airport and I
dont remember if it was to San Diego, or away from San Diego, coming back home
at the end of my vacation. The reason for this being, because they put me in this
play room, and I read this magazine about upcoming Dreamcast games, and one of
them was Power Stone 2, and it had a picture of that giant Sphinx boss. It feels like
I didnt see the preview for Power Stone 2 until after my trip in Diego, but ehh I
cant recall properly. Anyway, they put me in this play room while these kids kept
playing Superman 64. I remember the multiplayer they were playing having these
lame flying machines well, I shant go into too much detail about Superman 64,

because everyone already knows its a horrible game. I also remember reading
about some RPGs in the magazine, maybe Grandia or Skies of Arcadia? Or both?
Wait, am I saying those wrong? Surely they dont both end in dia do they? Ohh,
fuck it internet etc. Anyway, I was in that room for a few hours until my flight, I
remember farting once while reading my magazine, and feeling embarrassed I
dont remember how loud it was though, but I dont think it stunk.
I arrive in San Diego, California. I believe this was the same summer that
Diablo II came out. The original Diablo was actually the first online game I ever
played. In fact, this summer was when I first played a console online but more
about that later (maybe dicks). When I got there, I soon met these kids Wesley
and Chris. I dont recall how I met them exactly, but it may have been because my
father, Wayne Wastier, introduced them to me. Both of them were black. Wesley
was a bit bigger than I was, and I think the same age as me, but he got easily
angered by things. Chris was a bit smaller than me, but a bit more joking and
relaxed than Wesley. Wesley and I would often engage in fights, for whatever
reason might have been something as stupid as who won in a videogame etc.
Chris and I never fought, but would time had did sweep my legs from under me like
a wrestling takedown, and I dont recall why he did that I may have asked him to
grapple me or something, dont recall.
Despite the fact that Chris stayed calmer, I tended to spend more time with
Wesley. Its funny how when you are around someone with a unique
characteristic/trait these awkward moments pop-up that seem to be planned out as
a prank by god himself if he existed. This particular trait being that Wesley was
black now Chris didnt make a big deal about racial shit, but Wesley was one of
those black guys that always cries racism. He would often accuse me of not liking
black folks for whatever reason, and it probably led to more fights. One night I was
staying over at his house, and it might not have been on the same day, but I saw a
scene from a movie involving the KKK chasing a black guy, then I saw a commercial
for SNIGGERS on SNL (or was it MAD?). Not to mention how much white guilt my
father has. While they were over, he told me I should tell them when my birthday
was, and make a big happy look at me, Im not racist moment out of it. If you
dont get it, scroll back up to the beginning of this paper when I mentioned my
birthday, and figure it out. Hell, in 2004 I think it was, we had this black guy over,
and he kept telling him how colorblind I was. I seriously hate people full of white
guilt, its very awkward, and drives me full of rage sometimes. Of course my father
drops N-bombs the second a black guy does something he doesnt like that
NIGGER just wants to blame the white man for all his problems! I remember when
I was a small child I even cried because he kept talking about this black lady that
worked in the bank, calling her a nigger. You may find this ironic if you have seen
my youtube channel dratsabREVIEWS. Ohh, and he kept trying to convince Wesley
that evolution was fake, by saying that evolution was racist, because it means the

black man is closer to being a monkey. I believe he talked about it when we went
on a walk at some hiking trails.
So, this story was about about Dreamcast right? I remember we all had some
epic battles on Power Stone, and Virtua Fighter 3tb. Virtua Fighter 3, now there is
an underrated game. I miss the uneven level design, where one fighter could be on
a higher plain than the other. We had some great battles and moments in VF. I
remember a cool moment when a person went for a sweep just as the other guy
jumped, it looked like a subtle moment out of a clich action martial arts movie. I
also remember when we battled once, I was leaning back and accidentally slammed
my chair leg on his foot when I came forward, he let out a loud yell. I think my
father bought Virtua Fighter for me when I was in Tennessee.
Its a long story, and it involves lots of applesauce. When I was staying
over at Wesleys house I saw a clown suit in his closet, and that was his explanation.
One time he had this dude over, he looked about 20-something, and he had this
black belt dangling, and I thought he had whipped his dick out or something, hell I
dunno, black folks are crazy. Speaking of, I remember flipping through soft-core
porn channels at Wesleys house, but he didnt like that. I remember I used to enjoy
watching Hot Springs Hotel and Beverly Hills Bordello, before I even knew that
hardcore porn existed and that was before I had even had an orgasm. In fact, my
first orgasm experience was around my 13th birthday, but I shant go into detail on
that. Though, I do remember Wesley and Chris talking about not wanting to
masturbate, because they were afraid their hands would smell like balls.
Chris had a PS1, and I remember we would play WWF Smackdown on it. He
told me that Jeff Hardys finishing move was called the Swanton Bomb, but I told
him it was a senton bomb, and proved this by showing him the move name
indicator. I later found out he was indeed correct, when I actually watched wrestling
again for a while. Coincidentally, Jeff Hardy became my favorite wrestler, but
anyways. Chris had at least 1 sister, maybe 2 I vaguely remember them. Wesley
had a little brother (a toddler) named Elijah, which I remember, because Wayne
mentioned it being a bible name. We also played the PS1 over at Wesleys house,
and come to think of it, Im not sure if they both owned a PS1, or if someone
brought theres over to the others house ohh well. While one of them was
playing Metal Gear Solid, they broke one of the guards necks. They said it didnt
kill them, so then the meme catchphrase we shared due to this was you broke my
neck THAT PISSES ME OFF!
I also enjoyed playing some games alone during this time. I remember
enjoying the chao raising on Sonic Adventure, and this was also used along with the
VMUs. So you could carry your creature on your memory card, and upgrade it from
there and stuff dont remember the details though. I remember back in TN, Doug
was watching me race my chao, and we had to race against this black one that
slept most of the race. We were like No matter how fast that thing is, no way it can

still beat us this far into the race but surely thats exactly what it did blew our
minds man! I think you had to collect elements or something in the level, and you
could evolve it and make it change colors in stuff, to be honest I dont remember,
but I found it quite enjoyable.
One time my father and I went to some electronics store, maybe it was
Babbages (or Electronics Boutique)? We bought Omikron: the Nomad Soul there
though I saw Dynamite Cop there too as we were checking out, and was like fuck, I
wish we could get this game too because I had read about it online, and despite
the horrible reviews it had gotten, I loved beat em ups. We could only get one,
however, so I stuck with Omikron, because it seemed so unique (and indeed, it
was). I went home, and I remember Wesley and Chris being there, and we went in
the house (really an apartment, we lived in an apartment complex, forgot to
mention that) and I showed them the Omikron game. It was really great, kind of like
Shenmue, before Shenmue existed. You could go into a fighting game mode, an
explore mode, and an FPS mode and you could switch souls with people or
something. While we were exploring the game, Wayne and Bill went back out to get
some stuff. When they returned they brought Dynamite Cop back with them! I was
such a spoiled child. I had about 10 games for the Dreamcast at this time, and I
had it for about 6 months.
The awesome thing about Dynamite Cop was that you could do these
awesome wrestling move combos. Its hard to explain how awesome they were,
you just have to look that shit up. The weapons were pretty cool too, you could hit
peeps with giant tunas or anti-tank (or was it aircraft?) guns. It was a bit short to
call it my favorite beat em up, because it only had one fucking level! Ugg. You
could choose where you entered this ship, three different choices, but that was the
only level imagine if the game just had at least 5 levels total, then it would have
truly been the best beat em up game EVER! But alas I would say that fighting
force 64 may be my favorite Beat em up, because it was super interactive too, and
had more levels. Sure, you have the classics that everyone loved like Dragon
Double and Battle Frogs and Raging Streets etc, but those were pretty simple and
repetitive.
Back to Omikron. Game was pretty swell, it even had sex shops, and yet it
was rated T. They need to make more games like this and Shenmue. I remember
there was this dramatic scene where your girlfriend was dying or something, I dont
remember, but she is all like HOLD ON ME, HOLD ME, COME CLOSER or something.
So, because I thought it was an interesting scene, I tried to re-enact it to Wesley,
with me playing the part of the girlfriend, and him as the player character, there
were people around and he (jokingly?) freaked out about it, and I felt a little
embarrassed. He also called me girl shy for some reason, and I dont remember
why, since I dont remember any women my age there, but ohh well. There were
some mean kids there that were abusing this poor cat, it was like a gray cat, but
maybe it was just dirty. And they would try to corner it, and poke at it.

Bill was a horrible driver, but he wont admit it. I admit Im a horrible driver,
but hes worse than I am. He would constantly go the wrong way down a one-way
street (in Spokane), and then yell FUCK FUCK! as he was doing it. He was very
paranoid too, one time we were working a temp job pulling up carpet together, and
he saw a security camera, so he jumped up and smacked at it. Anyway, back to Bill
being a horrible driver. As Bill drove, we were sitting on make-shift seats made of
spare tires and beer coolers, and possibly other we slid all around the back of the
truck (it had a camper on it) slamming into the sides, as this happened we would
make jokes about how shitty Bill was as a driver.
When we all went out like this, I think it was always usually because we were
going to the beach. It was the first (and currently, only) time I had seen the ocean,
and if I were a proper writer, this would be a good time to use purple prose, but
alas Im but a poor beige simpleton. It was a unique experience, because usually
when I got in water it was just boring, and I would just paddle about, and that would
be that. Here, however, I enjoyed being hit by the waves, but sometimes it would
get in your mouth, and the saltiness in the ocean water is fucking gross. One of
them told me to turn around, and just as I did, I got smacked by an 8 foot wave
maybe Im exaggerating the size, but the thing was huge. I always remember
seeing this very pretty girl at the beach, in the water, one day it was dark, and
she was blonde. I sometimes wonder where random people I once glanced at are in
life right now.
Chu Chu Rocket was the first console game I played online. It really wasnt
that thrilling of an experience, and I seemed to suck at the game. I was so bad, that
just to get a win once, we all three played under my account against one guy, and
triple teamed him he disconnected (in rage?). This was before there were
microphones though, and I dont even think you could communicate during games
back then. This was the only online DC game I ever played, despite wanting to
eventually play Phantasy Star online.
The way my memory works, it is hard to write like a professional writer,
giving intricate details of situations, because my brain picks up scraps of memories,
kind of like a three minute song, instead of a movie, or even a 30-minute TV
program. I remember tidbits like Chris always using the word tight to describe
something he liked, but no context to put it in. I remember Bill slamming on the
breaks when I was in the front seat, as we were entering the apartment complex,
and I nearly slammed into the windshield. I remember the road being blocked off
with cones, and a cop being at the end of the road collecting the plate numbers of
cars that passed by illegally. Wayne even warned someone about it, and they said
mind your own business. I also remember hanging out with Wesley in an upstairs
apartment, as he baby-sitted some kid.
We watched a lot of movies together, Wayne and I in cinemas at least. We
went to watch X-men, and I especially remember watching this movie called

Chicken Run. When we went to watch Chicken Run we brought Wesley, and maybe
Chris I dont remember, but Wesley definitely came, because we kept making
jokes about how weird it was to watch chickens kiss each other. The movie really
wasnt that remarkable, and I dont even know why we went to see the movie in the
first place. It seems like there was more to say about this movie, and the effect it
had on the jokes we made later, but aside from us mocking a few of the concepts
from the movie, I really cant say.
My dad took me to the video game store again, to choose another game. I
remember mulling over getting GTA 2, but somehow I ended up on Virtual On:
Ontario Tanagram. Not sure how that happened, but I took it home and played it.
VOOT was an interesting experience I had not experienced before. Not necessarily
because of the gameplay, but just because when I first played it I FUCKING HATED
THE GAME! Dont remember why, but it was the first game I remember buying that
I hated so quickly and got easily bored with. It was just fucking bad. However, what
the interesting part was was this I grew to love the game. Especially 2-player,
despite the lame split screen, it was really fun. We would play it constantly.
A terrible thing happened to me on this summer vacation not something
physical, but I had a sort of mental breakdown. My parents really never explained
to me how things worked as an adult, and I was always fairly sheltered. I had a fear
of finding work as an adult, or having job interviews, and I kind of made this into a
self-fulfilling prophecy. At this time, my social anxiety was just starting to build up,
until it hit its peak in 2004, but thats another story for another time. I dont even
remember what triggered it, but I always had these crazy anxieties even when I was
younger than five years of age. I have heard that kids before the age of five do not
remember their experiences, but I do remember two events. The first memory I
have of my life was being robbed at gun point (I was in a stroller). My mother had
just bought a pizza, and some robbers came down an uphill road, and robbed her of
her purse but were nice enough to let us keep our pizza. I remember the road it
happened on, and when my mother questioned me about the authenticity of my
memory, I told her about the dark van that came by us as the robbers were leaving,
and she told them what happened, and maybe even told them to follow them? I
dont remember that much detail, but I also remember her being at the police
station filing a report. The other memory was asking my mother if we were going to
die eventually, while she took a bath it was at my grandpas house. Not sure how
old I was, but Im pretty sure it was before I turned five, though Im not sure what
put the idea in my head about fear of death. I also have my memories before I went
to kindergarten, but I was five then I remember trying on shoes, and dropping my
ice cream and crying because I couldnt find my mother. We were over at my Aunts
house, and this was around the time we got started playing videogames.
On the night before I was to leave, I got together with Chris & Wesley for a
final sleep over. While playing Virtua Fighter me and Wesley ended up fighting. It
was just play fighting at first I would roll around laughing and making jokes while

he tried to hold me down. He farted in my direction, and I made a joke about it

being his native language. He made it into a racial thing, and tried to get Chris to
side with him, as I rolled around giggling. Chris didnt give a shit and continued
playing Virtua Fighter. Wesley eventually got very angry, and threw a chair or
something, and then Wayne kicked him out of the house then Chris and I
continued playing games together for the rest of the night. Usually Wesley and I,
after fighting, would make up the next day, and get on with our gaming, but the
next night I was leaving for Knoxville. My father gave me his number, so that we
could make up, but I never called him back. Kind of makes me sad to think about
even now, that I didnt call him back hell I dont remember the last names of
either of them, so I cant look them up on facebook or anything of that nature. And
that that ends the memory of possibly the best vacation I had ever had as a child.
Back in Knoxville well, to be honest, just ending the part about San Diego
brings an ugh! to my head. Knoxville gives me horrible memories in general. The
people that I have met in Tennessee are just not that great of people; the landscape
is beautiful, but the people are the polar opposite. Before heading back to
Knoxville, where I got no internet connection, or at least a horrible 56k dial-up AOL
interweb, I was looking forward to a few DC games coming out. Power Stone 2, for
sure Ecco the Dolphin in 3D, Sonic Adventure 2, Illbleed (which I recently just got
to watch a Lets Play of, and was kind of disappointed with how it seems to have
turned out), and Seaman looked pretty swell as well. None of these games I got to
play, except Seaman. Seaman was a pretty swell game where you talk to a fish and
it becomes a frog. Normally you are supposed to let time play out in real time, but I
would just go in and set the clock ahead so I didnt have to waste time waiting for it
to grow. The voice recognition kind of sucked though, because when I told it my
birthday, it kept giving me the wrong feedback finally I settled on Jan 8. I
remember Wayne bought me Seaman, at least I think he did because he came
down to TN to live for a bit at this other house we were preparing to move into, and
we had a trampoline over there, until I tried to pick Joes fat ass up and slam him on
it, and it broke (RIP Joe).
Jet Set Radio, now that was another game I played when I got back in TN. At
first I hated the cel-shaded graphics, but it was fun etc. I think my brother played it
a bit with me, because he liked extreme sports games, especially skateboarding
of course this isnt skateboarding, so I dunno how often we played it together. Plus,
we just rented this game. I remember the game kind of annoying me towards the
end, I think you had to do timed shit, or catch these guys that were hard to catch, or
something? I dunno, maybe both.
Also remember playing NBA 2k, and NFL 2K, but I much preferred NBA 2K. I
remember creating a guy in NBA2K with a giant afro, and named him after my
friend Brandale, because when I first met Brandale he seemed really tall and had
afro-esque hair. Speaking of Brandale, we were hanging out a lot again, and we

used to hang out at this little tree hollow place in the woods on a street just below
my house. We were hanging out at a stream down there, and he turned his head,
so I stuck a rock up to the side of his face and called his name he slapped his face
into the side of it and laughed. This dude Adam lived down there too, his phone
number was 922-SUCK at least that is what Cody told me it was, I never called the
fellow. We used to grapple down there, and he was really good, he was able to
outwrestle me despite being smaller than me, and I found it impressive, and I think
it was the catalyst for me to become more technical at my grappling ability, even
before I started playing around with Jiu Jitsu in June of 2008. One time Brandale
jumped on his back, and he told Brandale to give up, or he would fall backwards,
Brandale obliged.
I owned Marvel VS Capcom 2 by this time also, but aside from enjoying
constantly unlocking new characters and outfits etc. it wasnt really my style. I
have never been a fan of tag fighting I prefer one-on-one showdowns. I rented
Dead or Alive 2, for example, and thought it was a good deal more fun than MvC2.
I mean the TB in Virtua Fighter 3tb stands for Tag Battle, but really you dont do any
tagging, you dont switch characters unless one of them loses, so it isnt the same
chaos that MvC2 was. Speaking of tag battles Dreamcast sure lacked good
wrestling games.
WWF Royal Rumble was the best wrestling game the DC had, and it sucked.
WWF Raw, I played that a bit in San Diego, but it sucked really, very clunky game
and I remember the Oddities theme music would keep dipping in and out in
volume weird game bug. WWF Rumble did have 9 people in the ring at the same
time for Royal Rumbles though, which has still never been tried since. I snuck
Brandale in to play it, when I rented it, and we also played MvC2. Why did I sneak
him in? Well, my mother had some problems with him, which is a coincidence if you
read the other story I wrote where I mention Brandale (and his sister). I dont recall
exactly why she disliked him, but he did have a habit of stealing things. Plus, one
time in the middle of the night we snuck in my house to get some videogames to
take to his house, and woke everyone up they called his parents, and they were
pissed. Any olds ways, it turns out Cody ratted me out, and told my mother he was
sneaking in. It was funny, because myself, Brandale, and my mother were on the
porch, and he was defending her and Cody, saying it was right for Cody to tell the
truth or something. Brandale has always been a kind of funny fellow.
For example, POWER STONE 2!, Brandale was over with Adam, and we were
all playing Power Stone 2 together, which I had rented. There was this cool level
with these floating blocks in the air or something, well I dunno, but PS2 had some
awesome level designs, so just imagine a cool level etc. So, Adam defeats
Brandale, so Brandale jokingly slaps him across the face with a good bit of force.
Hell, I remember he did this to me once down at the tree hollow. I told him to fuck

off with that shit, but Brandale is just always crazy, and Adam actually didnt make
a big deal about it.
Eventually, the death of the Dreamcast was nigh. The Dreamcast started
having troubles playing my games on it, it wouldnt read my discs anymore. Well,
sometimes it would, but it was very frustrating sitting around for 30 minutes,
opening and closing the top. One time Mick was over, and I was closing the
Dreamcast by sitting my butt on the top, because eventually you just start doing
stupid shit to get games to work. I let out a fart once while trying this, and we both
had a good laugh. Didnt Red Faction come out on DC? I also played that a bit,
loved the Geo-Mod technology think that was in San Diego though. Wait, never
mind, that was on the PS2 and that means it must have been in Albuquerque where
I played it.
Shenmue! Shenmue, was a game I was really looking forward to play on the
DC, and Im glad I was able to rent it and play it before my Dreamcast was caput.
Quite a fitting end to my DC really, if it had to go out, it was best it went out playing
such a wonderful game. When I rented it, I remember we had recently moved into
that proper house Wayne was staying at, and I guess he was moved out by then. I
loved how interactive Shenmue was, and all the things you could do, but I didnt get
to beat it. I got all the way to before you fight the boss with claws and a crazy
looking face at the arcade (all from memory, I could be wrong), then either my
Dreamcast broke, or it was time to take the game back to Blockbuster. I dont
remember what became of my old broken-down Dreamcast console, but I miss the
hell out of those times I had with it. I often consider just buying another one off
Amazon or eBay or something, but it probably wouldnt have the same charm, and
would only soil the memory of the old memories of my childhood I have. However,
if I can find a good emulator for a Sega Dreamcast, you can bet your sweet ass I will
be playing some of the quirky games I missed out on.
-Greg dratsab Huffman
(3/30/2012) NOTE: I forgot to mention Worms Armageddon. I had played Worms
before that, and after that (the 3D one for Xbox) but perhaps the most fun Ive had
with the Worms series was in San Diego. I also remember there was another tank
game with destroyable environments that I played a long time ago, and I remember
really enjoying those types of games.
(7/30/2015) NOTE: I noticed I forgot to mention where I first heard about the
Dreamcast. I was at my home on Loyston road, playing my N64, and Nathan
Armstrong came over (perhaps this was when Nate tried to trade me Castlevania 64
for my South Park 64 game, which I wouldnt agree to. Instead I tried to trade him
two of my other games for it, but he refused that deal), and told me he was looking

forward to the system or something like that. So Nate deserves credit for being the
person to first introduce me to the consoles existence.
Ohh, and Im watching a Lets Play of D2 right now. I never owned it or rented it
myself, and didnt have a whole lot of interest in it at the time of its release, but I
have a craving to go back and watch DC LPs to see what I missed out on and
maybe relive the old experiences in a way.