From a design perspective.
It's a fucking stupid console.
And I'm talking controller wise and everything.
The fucking cable was on the bottom of the controller, as if the console is going to be behind you or something :S.

Not to mention it had a dumbass memory card that you stuck on the top of the controller.

Like really, dumb ideas were utilized just for the sake of being 'original' or 'different'.

While the Dreamcast isn't my favorite system, almost everyone here that owns it pretty much agrees - the system was a flare of pure awesomeness that lasted until its abrupt end. The variety of games it delivered in its first 18 months is unrivaled - seriously, it had a freggin amazing library, no other console to date had such a strong start. It was also the only next-gen system delivering great games in its time, as the PS2 took a while to get started - this meant its graphics, online, even controllers (VMUs) were far ahead of the competition.

Damn. Just thinking about it makes me want another Sega console, or something... Really, it makes me wonder how you can hate on the thing. Like everyone said, you had to be there.

It's not that Dreamcast was the best.

It was that when they both came out.... Dreamcast was better... and more innovative... and cheaper.

Had it won out.. it would of been better then the PS2.

It was better then the PS2 in basically everything...

except it was made by Sega who had ruined their name consoles wise with the Saturn, 32X and CD.

Lots of ideas that are used today were stripped from the corpse.

Online gaming standard, Dream Eye...

it deserved to win last generation but Sega cocked it up by their bad decisions the last two generations.

Fail thread is utter fail.

Not sure how not even playing a console warrants a thread bashing it.. But now I've seen everything.

I got an N64 while my brother got a Dreamcast. I loved my N64 to bits, but I am so so glad my brother got that Dreamcast.

Man i was poor at the time....was to young for a job. I wanted one so bad and when i finally did, it went kaplooey. I did go to play me some sonic, and it introduced me to my second fighting game Dead or Alive 2 which got me addicted them. First one was Soul Calibur, but not the DC version, played that one at the arcade at Lazer Quest. I got a ps2 like a month after the dreamcast cause my Mom won it at a Valentines Day drawing at the BX. (Air Force mini-mall type thing) Because of this I only have DOA and sonic though :P

The VMU had to be in the controller so it's added benefit could be utilized, the screen. Unfortunately it wasn't used as much as Sega wanted it to be, but there were games out there that benefitted greatly from having it. The cord was on the bottom because the VMU needed to be in the controller. Just remember that Sega being "original" and "different" is what lead to an internet browser and online play in the Dreamcast, and software like Jet Set Radio, Seaman, Segaga and Typing of the Dead.

Sega was just in rare form during the Dreamcast days. I doubt whether any developer has ever released such a quantity of high quality software over a two year period. It was as though everything they released was inspired, original and exceptional. Looking back it is a shame what Sega has become because for a period they were practically unrivalled.

So, anyone going to give a brief summary on why it died?

Partly it died because people were fooled by Sony's marketing hype for PS2 which was completely BS. "Toy Story-like graphics"

Partly it died because Sega ran out of money.

The Dreamcast for it's short lifespan gave us some outstanding gaming moments. Remember we are talking about a system that was discontinued after 2-3 years in Europe and N.A.

So it's unfair to compare it's gaming library to consoles with 7-10 year lifespans.