I recently read the review by this site for the xbla port of a sonic game that appeared originally on the dreamcast. It was given , as many may know, a poor score. This made me think about the dreamcast and what games it had. Me, never owning a dreamcast, has always been intriguied by it and wonder what made it worthy of the praise it receives so often in forum boards. What was so great about the dreamcast and do you think its other games aged gracefully unlike that sonic game?

It was the first system to include online play with a built in 56k modem.  At the time, it used new technology on a special 1gb cd-rom disc.  As far as games go, i liked Phantasy Star Online, Skies of Arcadia, SoulCaliber, Grandia II, Bass Fishing, Marine Fishing, and Crazy Taxi.  There were others but that is all i can recall right now.

Like many things in life. You had to of been there or experienced it to truely understand. (Halo 1 LAN parties anyone?)

IMO, the console was completely ahead of its time. It did have online play before the other consoles, memory cards that were absolutely unlike anything that had ever come before it. You could use these memory cards like little tamagochis or something, play games on them, and they displayed information while you were playing a game. Like in Resident Evil it showed the heart beat sensor :)

Sonic Adventure was my fav sonic game, and still is imo... I remember playing it to death for days straight when it came out and actually threw up twice due to motion sickness, and still I loved it.

And of course, Power Stone 1 and 2 both hold a special place in my heart.

These Games plus the fact that it had SEGA-NET, Quake 3 ARENA still played Online on Dreamcast to this day and meany more.  

In direct response to the thread title: Obviously not much.

OMG!!! how could I forget one of the best games ever!  IKARUGA!  and the remotes had 2 slots for cards unlike the n64 or ps1/ps2.

I'm not going to lie, I have little interest in the DC. :/ The games were pretty cool and it was definitely ahead of it's time, but honestly, I HATED the controller. And I preferred SA2:B verus SA2.

Hikaruchan, you are awesome for posting CGR videos!

I have no idea

I loved the controller but it was the games. 2K Sports was so damn good. Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star and Grandia 2 it had epic RPGS. Then we got Soul Calibur , Power Stone and Virtua Fighter  so it had great fighters. Through in Crazy Taxi, UFC, Jet Grind Radio, and more awesome games. 

Take all that and then add the awesome VMU and Shenume and we are talking about a hell of a console.