Since The dreamcast was one of the most underrated consoles of the sixth gen, how many still own the dreamcast and still play games well.

[Santana2011]

I have to tell you, this is one of the most unique consoles of its sixth gen, and garnered such a cult following as well as having such as great homebrew community, But i just want to know if yall still own a fully working dreamcast to this day, that still playing physical games including burned games? Mines work great, I did replaced the old GD-Rom drive with a recapped ones i got on ebay back in late 2024 for $60 and it plays everything beautifully as well as backups and there was no issue since then.

 

[Zerpina]

You could say I am still a fan and i do Play it almost every other day at least.
(OG Dreamcast from '99)

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I still have it, play it & look back fondly on all those times I tried to convince friends to get them instead of PS2s.

 

[Zerpina]

I still have it, play it & look back fondly on all those times I tried to convince friends to get them instead of PS2s.

As much as I hate to say it, your friends were right, console wise anyhow.
It's still a snappy, awesome little system

 

[Deleted member 712873]

I wish I still got mine working. I've sold it malfunctioning back in like 2014 and nowadays is just too expensive. Well...emulation then!

 

[OPT1MUS]

Still own it, still using it.
It couldn't be otherwise:
- DAYTONA
- SHENMUE
- CRAZY TAXI
just to say some reasons...

 

[Zerpina]

The only gripe I ever had toward the Dreamcast is the controller....
To me, it just isn't comfortable, it doesn't sit right in the hands, ya know?
The Saturn and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive have excellent controllers.

 

[Eduardo2010]

lasers fail pretty regularly in them these days.

 

[Iraito]

I still use it, the ODE pretty much made it using it very comfortable.

 

[Zerpina]

lasers fail pretty regularly in them these days.

Yeah, because they constantly run. Again, mine is on this third laser since 1999. I do play it every couple of days for a bit, but when the laser eventually dies again, I'm just going to go with an ODE and be done with it.

 

[Blueskunky Blueskunky]

I've never owned one

To broke to afford a working console with one game, a cheap third and broken third party controller, or a vmu, all so expensive.
But I have always respected it because of its experimental features, like online connectivity, DLC, and more! And that's without mentioning the games, Puyo Puyo~n, Sonic Adventure 1+2, Gunbrid, Space Channel Five, Jet Zet Radio, Crazy Taxi, and more have always interested me, and if I do find one in the wild with a decent price, I'll definitely pick it up... If it ever happens, but I'll definitely do it if it ever happens.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

As much as I hate to say it, your friends were right, console wise anyhow.
It's still a snappy, awesome little system

What makes you say so? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Zerpina]

I've never owned one
View attachment 173078
To broke to afford a working console with one game, a cheap third and broken third party controller, or a vmu, all so expensive.
But I have always respected it because of its experimental features, like online connectivity, DLC, and more! And that's without mentioning the games, Puyo Puyo~n, Sonic Adventure 1+2, Gunbrid, Space Channel Five, Jet Zet Radio, Crazy Taxi, and more have always interested me, and if I do find one in the wild with a decent price, I'll definitely pick it up... If it ever happens, but I'll definitely do it if it ever happens.

Well kid-o, that's good and well to want the system, but they are finicky as well. You’ve got to remember they’re getting old now. What? 26 or 27 years old.
For electronic devices, especially game consoles, that’s getting up there like the NES.

As I said, my Dreamcast is on laser 3 now. They aren’t hard to replace, but original Dreamcast lasers are pretty rare. Reproduction ones can damage the game discs... James from James Channel found that out the hard way with a replacement PS1 laser.

The VMU and controllers are suffering the same fate.
Now, you can get reproductions, but you could always just emulate the Dreamcast.

By all means, as you said, if you find a good used one and it’s cheap, snag it. You can either fix it or find someone who knows how to.

 

[Santana2011]

Yeah, because they constantly run. Again, mine is on this third laser since 1999. I do play it every couple of days for a bit, but when the laser eventually dies again, I'm just going to go with an ODE and be done with it.

In recent years tho, it seems the laser for the dreamcast isn't always the issue. Its the fact the capacitors on the GD-ROM board need to be replaced, once its been replaced with new quality ones. It will make it one of the reliable disc based console of the sixth gen, along with gamecube that is.

 

[Blueskunky Blueskunky]

Well kid-o, that's good and well to want the system, but they are finicky as well. You’ve got to remember they’re getting old now. What? 26 or 27 years old.
For electronic devices, especially game consoles, that’s getting up there like the NES.

As I said, my Dreamcast is on laser 3 now. They aren’t hard to replace, but original Dreamcast lasers are pretty rare. Reproduction ones can damage the game discs... James from James Channel found that out the hard way with a replacement PS1 laser.

The VMU and controllers are suffering the same fate.
Now, you can get reproductions, but you could always just emulate the Dreamcast.

By all means, as you said, if you find a good used one and it’s cheap, snag it. You can either fix it or find someone who knows how to.

Yeah, I'm aware of the problems, this YouTube video made me aware of them

Keeping this beauty alive is definitely NOT cheap by any means at all

 

[Zerpina]

In recent years tho, it seems the laser for the dreamcast isn't always the issue. Its the fact the capacitors on the GD-ROM board need to be replaced, once its been replaced with new quality ones. It will make it one of the reliable disc based console of the sixth gen, along with gamecube that is.

Capacitors generally have a lifespan of between 10 to 20 years, sometimes up to 30 years if they are really well cared for. However, every capacitor eventually succumbs to time. It happens, much like the dreaded clock capacitor in the original Xbox. If anyone reading this has an original Xbox and it still has that in it, remove it now. It's literally a ticking time bomb with a random number generator as the countdown timer.

 

[Santana2011]

Capacitors generally have a lifespan of between 10 to 20 years, sometimes up to 30 years if they are really well cared for. However, every capacitor eventually succumbs to time. It happens, much like the dreaded clock capacitor in the original Xbox. If anyone reading this has an original Xbox and it still has that in it, remove it now. It's literally a ticking time bomb with a random number generator as the countdown timer.

True, I know people saying gamecube is the most reliable of the sixth gen console. But the fact is in recent years, gamecube disc drives are dying because of those capactiors on the disc drive board need replacing too . It might sound biased, as much as PS2 is known for laser issues, at least the capactior issue on the PS2 isnt as widespread compared to other consoles that period the only capacitor that might need replacing is one on the PSU but thats just my opinion. I think Sony actually put good quality capactiors on their consoles(except maybe PS3)

 

[Vardalis]

I haven't tried it in a while, but it seemed to do a good job with the games I got around when I bought the thing a few years ago. The only one it struggled with a bit (at least from the noises it made) was Disc 2 of Code Veronica, but that might've just been that particular one.

Never tried burned games on mine though. I likely would if I got it back out since a physical copy of Maken X would be out of my price range, but still.

 

[Zerpina]

True, I know people saying gamecube is the most reliable of the sixth gen console. But the fact is in recent years, gamecube disc drives are dying because of those capactiors on the disc drive board need replacing too . It might sound biased, as much as PS2 is known for laser issues, at least the capactior issue on the PS2 isnt as widespread compared to other consoles that period the only capacitor that might need replacing is one on the PSU but thats just my opinion. I think Sony actually put good quality capactiors on their consoles(except maybe PS3)

Oddly, I had nearly the same discussion in another thread....
I have an original PS1 - PS4. PS1, two Phat PS2s, a Phat PS3, and a Phat PS4... and I've never had a problem with the lasers. I'm sure that someday in the future I will, as it happens to every laser device, but as of now, I have no issues.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

I do! still have my original 9/9/99 system I bought at Toys "R" Us back in the day. Unfortunately I don't have the XXL white T-shirt it came with. Mine is still working although it's had its share of running back-ups that slowed it down some but I can say it still plays legal games well today.

I also still kept my original Dreamcast Magazine issues with demo discs. I have issues 2, 4, 5, 6. Held on to a few original games that mean a lot to me like Psychic Force 2012 the first game I purchased for example. I went through exploring games I missed out on when it comes to imports, but have bypassed the homebrew scene to focus on other system like 3DO Interactive Multiplayer for the time being. But I did play a few Atomiswave games that have made it's way over in recent years.

SEGA Dreamcast remains my Top 5 All-time Favorite VG System today for it's solid library, albeit small, multiplayer games, arcade ports, console exclusives, and recent fan-translated games that are incredible.

 

[Zerpina]

 

[Heidegger of Shinra]

I've never even seen a Dreamcast with my naked eyes!
But I emulate one quite often, great party console. I grew up in rural Australia and only knew one kid with a Gamecube, everyone else was PS2 or Xbox.

 

[MDGeistsfavMC5song]

I have to tell you, this is one of the most unique consoles of its sixth gen, and garnered such a cult following as well as having such as great homebrew community, But i just want to know if yall still own a fully working dreamcast to this day, that still playing physical games including burned games? Mines work great, I did replaced the old GD-Rom drive with a recapped ones i got on ebay back in late 2024 for $60 and it plays everything beautifully as well as backups and there was no issue since then.

My brother still has one and it still works (as of last year when I visited him), but his DC games library is no where near as good as Zerpina there's library, DAMN, that library is fantastic! Gunbird 2, Cannon Spike, Last Blade 2 etc love those games.. Ive had to rely on emulation unless Im visiting him...

Post automatically merged: Apr 11, 2026

Oh yeah, I remember those.. I was pretty done with video games for a while before and after DC release due to life etc, so I personally never got one.. My only real complaint with the DC is the controller, but its waaaay better than a lot claim... I like it more than the N64 controller... and library...

Post automatically merged: Apr 11, 2026

oh man, I have an og Xbox and ps2 I got years after they released... they both still work fine but Ive never opened them up... now Im paranoid..

 

[NotReallyHere]

I was actually thinking of making my own Dreamcast-related thread last night! Something along the lines of, "Why didn't you buy a Sega Dreamcast?" Meant mostly for people that were old enough to have owned one back when it launched.

Then I remembered that I've yet to make a thread of my own on here, and would rather just lurk and comment as I have been. So that you for giving me the chance to do just that, OP

I bought a Dreamcast right around launch in 1999. While I no longer have that exact console (or any of the games) I do have a different DC console, and about 50 games all on CD-R. Mine works perfectly, and has never given me any disc read issues aside from some mis-burnt discs.

( ProTip: If you don't have any games that use the VMU's portable features or speaker function - and don't plan to pick any up - then don't be afraid to open up your VMU and slice out the speaker wires. And take out the batteries while you're at it. This way, you can just use the damn thing as a memory card without worrying about battery leakage or it waking up the neighbors every time you turn the console on )

I took so much heat at the time. None of my friends, classmates, or co-workers bought a Dreamcast. They were either perfectly happy with their consoles and PCs, or patiently waiting for the PS2. I was told I'd wasted my money, that I was only kidding myself by saying I liked it, that I must be stupid for enjoying any of the Japanese-styled games on it, etc. Not a time I look back on fondly...

Worst part was, I gave into the hype / peer pressure and sold off my entire Dreamcast collection to get a PS2 when it launched. And it was a decision I instantly regretted. Like, massively. But it taught me a major lesson about what happens when you believe the hype, and when you don't "tune out the haters."

It all worked out in the long run, though! Couldn't be happier with my current Dreamcast collection or setup. Even have the fishing controller, which had eluded me back in the day. As bumpy as my experience may have been in the past, at least we're in a good place now

 

[GundamJehutyKai]

I have 2. My OG Japanese DC I got back in the day and a more recent purchase with the laser replaced with an ODE. but I don't tend to play that much on them any more as it's a bit of a pain to set up so I more frequently play on my emulation handheld and get retroachievements while I'm at it