The Sega Dreamcast is one of the most memorable consoles of all time. While its life was cut short thanks to some poor dealings and decisions on Sega’s part, the last system made by the house of Sonic left us with some of the best games of its generation.
Since that time, most of those titles have been ported to other platforms, but Sega — along with other publishers — have been a little shy when it comes to remastering these beloved video games. Now, two decades later, we think its time to see some of them on modern consoles with a bit of a facelift. Which games in particular? Well, let’s take a look!
10 Virtua Tennis 2
One thing Sega did really well in the Dreamcast era is make fantastic sports titles — Virtua Tennis 2, known as Tennis 2K2 in North America, is a perfect example of that. With its fun arcade-centric gameplay and real-life roster, this sports title is the only game that brought the stars of tennis to your living room in an interactive way.
Developed by Hitmaker, this game features a plethora of game modes offering some of the most satisfying gameplay in the genre. With all that said, if we had to nitpick, we would say Virtua Tennis 2 is a little harsh on the eyes, even for its time. As such, a full-on remake would be fantastic. Plus, it would be pretty fun to play as the best players in the sport as things stood almost two decades ago.
9 Jet Grind Radio
Jet Grind Radio was one of the most unique titles of its time. Taking control of a rebellious rollerblader, it’s up to the player to spray-paint the city, all while grinding around any guardrail possible. Of all the games on this list, however, Jet Grind Radio probably holds up the best visually. That’s because developer Smilebelt decided on a timeless cell-shaded aesthetic to compliment its hip-hop-based soundtrack. The game was so beloved, in fact, that it spawned two sequels — one of which released on the Xbox after the Dreamcast was discontinued.
We’ve also received an HD port, and it still plays really well. Still, there’s something special about this game, and a complete overhaul would be amazing.
8 Seaman
Seaman is weird. As a strange answer to Hey You! Pikachu, players are given a microphone and are meant to interact with a strange human-faced fish voiced by Leonard Nemoy. With modern technology, it wouldn’t be out of the question to rer-elease this title without the need for an attachment like the one Sega had to offer in 1999, and it might be strange enough to work.
While an HD Remake may seem like a lot for a title with such a cult following, the basics for the game are relatively simple, so there might not be that much work involved. Maybe we could get a VR re-release?
7 Power Stone
One thing we love about the Dreamcast is its plethora of arcade ports. With that said, there are few titles that were as good on Sega’s home console as Capcom’s arcade classic Power Stone. Playing like Super Smash Bros. without having multiple fighters in the same battle, the game was actually built from the ground up with Sega’s NAOMI arcade cabinet in mind. As a result, it was no surprise that the game made its way to the console maker’s final system.
With a huge roster of characters, this game features some of the most chaotic gameplay imaginable, as players rip up the environment only to beat their enemies with it. This is one of the best third-party games on the console, and it’s strange that the only port of this title outside of the Dreamcast version was released on the PlayStation Portable.
6 ChuChu Rocket!
ChuChu Rocket! could be one of the most popular arcade games around, if it released on modern consoles or Steam and was left alone. However, if Sega took some time to touch up the game’s rough edges, it could really be a smash hit.
In this multiplayer title, players try to guide little mice — ChuChus — into a rocket, but it’s not as simple as it seems. Players can sabotage their opponents, leading ChuChus away from their rockets, while cats can also come by and ruin your point total. It’s frantic and fun, but also super stressful and a true test of friendship (as all the best couch co-op games are).
5 Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure was the first truly 3D game in the franchise, so Sonic Team made sure the title had all the pomp and circumstance a game of such importance deserves, with an epic intertwining story spanning multiple characters. While some storylines were better than others, there was a sense of scale to this game that was never felt before in a Sonic title, and fans loved it.
With iconic scenes and a pretty large hub world connecting multiple locations together, this game deserves a remaster from the ground-up. This is especially true because, two decades later, this unforgettable childhood gem does not hold up as well as it should. It’s about time we got a remake, not an HD port.
4 Crazy Taxi
Crazy Taxi is one of the simplest yet effective video games ever made. Developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega for arcades, this fast-paced driver features frantic gameplay mixed with one of our favorite soundtracks in gaming history, thanks to The Offspring and Bad Religion.
The concept is simple enough: players pick up passengers and drive them to known locations like Jean Machine, KFC, and Tower Records— each of which varies in terms of distance. While this game has been ported to HD consoles since its time on the Dreamcast (and its eventual port to the GameCube), a full-on remake could be amazing if Sega could line up the rights for the music and locations.
3 Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur may be known for bringing in some incredibly popular crossover characters, but there was a time when Bandai Namco’s weapon-based fighter was simply known as the perfect arcade port. At the time, the best games were in arcades, but by 1999, modern consoles were finally catching up. Soul Calibur came at the perfect time, on the perfect console designed for this specific reason — becoming a real proof of concept for everything Sega hoped to do with their powerful console.
Underneath all those fancy specs is a fantastic game. There’s a massive roster of iconic characters with some timeless gameplay to boot. Inevitably, though, some aspects of Soul Calibur feel dated and a nice remake could be something special.
2 Skies Of Arcadia
Developed by Overworks, Skies of Arcadia puts players in the shoes of some goodly sky pirates who are trying to stop an evil empire from destroying the world. That familiar story in an unfamiliar setting lent itself to some interesting game design choices. Flying through the sky in an airship, players are introduced to an unforgettable party while being given a sense of freedom in an RPG we wouldn’t feel again for another generation at least.
It was later ported to the Nintendo GameCube and given a few quality of life updates, but it’s about time this gem gets a full-on remake. Imagine what could be done with the visuals alone! The combat system is simple enough but could use an update too, while the setting could be incredibly freeing if made for modern devices.
1 Shenmue
For its time, Shenmue was a massive experience, unlike anything we’d ever seen before. With an overarching story seeing our protagonist hunt down his father’s killer, players were treated to a very real overworld. Featuring timed events around the city and a heavy emphasis on social interaction, Shenmue was so far ahead of anything else available at the time. Unfortunately, by today’s standards, it doesn’t hold up very well. With unintentionally comical voice acting and some pretty stiff controls, this game needs a new coat of paint.
We recently got an HD re-release on modern consoles ahead of Shenmue III’s release, but that just proves how much needs to be reworked when it comes to this classic adventure. Sega could use the Yakuza franchise and assets to make it happen.
NEXT: 10 Valuable Lessons Shenmue Can Still Teach To Open-World Games