Two of my favorite consoles.
The Xbox and Dreamcast
I haven't really contributed to the community in a while, so I thought I would decide to talk about two of my favorite consoles to collect for. I really got serious into gaming around the time of the 6th generation of consoles. Firstly, I had a gamecube. The gamecube just blew me away. It was my go to system for the longest time, and I played it nearly everyday. My favorites were all of the Resident Evils, Zelda, and Super Smash Bros. If I knew exactly how much time I put into Smash, I'd probably be embarrased. Of course now I am horrible at the game, but back then all I had to worry about was school and games and I became a master at it. But as time comes and goes, so do new consoles.
Around Christmas of 2004, my Dad got me an Xbox. My mind was blown all over again. Halo, Ninja Gaiden, Cocker, and the list goes on. Having both a Gamecube and an Xbox seemed to be the best of both worlds; the Xbox covered adult-themed games while the Gamecube covered everything else. Around 2005, My dad bought a ps2. I have no idea why, but I hated it. The games all seemed dull and I never found any games that really stuck out for me. Still though, I found some titles that were fun such as Socom and Sly Cooper. I never heard of the Dreamcast until much later when I began to revisit the 6th generation. Although I have no nostalgic connection to it, the Dreamcast has become one of my favorite systems to collect for over the years.
In 2012, I had a very sizeable gamecube collection that I started from scratch while tracking my progress through a thread on this website. Due to personal issues that arose, I felt it best to sell the entire collection off as well as all other gaming related items. This was partly due to outside factors and my own arrogance. The only collections that survived this purge were my Xbox and Dreamcast. Over the years, I have gathered a ton of games for each system. Below, I wanted to go over some of the more expensive or "harder to find" titles as well as share some of my favourites. I hope you enjoy this, and maybe you'll learn something you did not know along the way.
My dreamcast favorites/"htf":
-Shenmue: One of my all time greates games. The immersion, structure, and story are simply perfect. If you have not played this game, then I greatly encourage you to.
-Shenmue 2: I have not started this yet, as I have no boot disk and just recently received it from another member. The price sky-rocketed due to the announcement of the 3rd. I've skipped looking at reviews, but from how much I like the original, I bet I will like this one too. Was also released in the US on the original Xbox, but I haven't gotten it yet.
-Jet Grind Radio: Mix Tony Hawk with Marc Ecko's Getting Up and give it a bright colorful vibe thats style still holds up to this day.
-Giga Wing: My favorite genre on the Dreamcast without a doubt: 2-d shooters. This one is a classic that has unfortunately gone up in price recently. The basic dodge endless waves of bullets still applies, but the twist here is that you have a reflective barrier that can soak the bullets up and dish them right back at the enemies. Very fun and very hard.
-Mars Matrix: Oh my god. This game is shooter perfection. Unlockables, nice graphics, perfect level of difficulty, and one of the best shooter soundtracks I have ever heard.
-Typing of the Dead: The only reason to own the Dreamcast keyboard. Imagine House of the Dead, but instead of a light gun, you use a keyboard. Very inventive for its time.
-Sonic Adventure: The Dreamcast hit the ball running with this one. Has been ported to the Gamecube, but this game still stands out as one of the better 3D sonic games.
-Gunbird 2: Only playable with the arcade stick, if you want to get anywhere. Very nice Shooter that doesn't bring anything to terribly new to the genre.
-Half Life: Half life on the Dreamcast. Load times are slow, but this was a real technical achievment at its time.
-Project Justice: Anime style fighting game that is one of the more pricier Dreamcast titles. Fun but definitely not for everyone.
-Giga Wing 2: Unlike alot of people, I enjoy this game more than the first. The bullet dodging reaches extreme levels and you have to absolutely master the reflective barrier ability.
-Marvel VS Capcom 2: Fighter perfection. I really enjoy the artwork in this. One of my favorite 2D fighters.
-Propellar Arena: Unreleased game that can only be described as Quake in the air. Easily downloadable from online. Give this one a shot.
-Geist Force: The unholy grail of Dreamcast collecting. Apparently a demo of the game that was used in a game show from around 1998 was discovered and the rom was leaked soon after. The reason for it being unholy is the fact that the game was never finished, and only the first level is completely playable and even it can get glitchy at times. Still nice to own. Look this one up as the history behind it is pretty interesting.
-Border Down: A very interesting shooter that was brought to the Dreamcast in 2003, a full 2 years after its discontinuation in the US (the Dreamcast continued to receive licensed games until 2007 with the Japanese game, Karous). One of the hardest titles to aquire for the Dreamcast.
-Skies of Arcadia: apparently this is one of the best Rpg's for the system, which isn't saying too much. The gamecube received an upgraded port, which kinda dampens the appeak of this one. Can't wait to try this out as I just recently got it.
And that is that. I would take a picture of the entire collection, but it is all in boxes to save space.
Up next is the Xbox.
My Xbox Favorites:
-Halo: Classic FPS for the system. Without this game, the Xbox quite possibly would have fallen behind the Gamecube in terms of sales. The game caught on like a wild fire.
-Morrowind: Game of the Year: The only console release of Morrowind to contain all the expansions released on Pc. You could spend hundreds of hours playing this game.
-Conker: My favorite platformer for the system. A greatly enhanced port of the N64 classic with stunning graphics for the Xbox. First game to actually make me laugh. Unfortunately, the game was censored and contains far more bleeps than the N64 version.
-Ninja Gaiden: Imagine the original Ninja Gaiden for the nes, but make it 10x better and eliminate almost all the frustration. Don't get me wrong, it is hard. But in this game if you die, It is almost always because YOU died.
-Voodoo Vince: Close Runner-up for my favorite Xbox platformer. Nothing to special in the platforming department, but it does ooze with Southern Louisiana scenery and style, as well as some genuinely funny moments.
-Panzer Dragoon Orta: I'm not a big fan of the Panzer Dragoon series, but this game is a nearly perfect example of an on-rails shooter done right. After completing the game, a port of the first game is unlocked as well.
-Stubbs the Xombie: One of if not my favorite game on the xbox. Funny, stylistic, simple but satisfying gameplay. If you have ever wanted to "be the zombie" then you should get this.
-Otogi: Very fun but can be frustrating due to the camera. Check reviews to see if you would like it. It got a sequel on the xbox that I have heard is better, but I haven't tried it yet.
Valuable or "htf" Xbox games:
-Futurama: for some reason, this game is very pricey for an Xbox game and is quite uncommon. Same goes for the ps2 version, but this one is believed to have the lowest production run.
-Morrowind: Due to the fact that this was the only console version of Morrowind to contain the expansions, it has retained value.
-Conker: Due to the value of the original, this port retains some value as well.
-Buffy the vampire slayer: The first Buffy game is an Xbox exclusive, and is also very good.
-Panzer Dragoon Orta: Due to being part of the Panzer Dragoon series and being very good, this game has held some value.
-Stubbs: I would place this on the lower end of uncommon as it is not hard to find for the most part. The value comes from it being a great exclusive to the original Xbox, although it did receive a Pc release later. Has 2 different cover arts: One with the "ONLY FOR XBOX" and one without it.
-Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green: A mediocre first person shooter beased on George Romero's films. The game is uncommon and eclusive to the original Xbox, but I believe it did receive a Pc release as well.
And that finishes it. Maybe some day I'll get everything together and take a few pictures. These really are two great consoles to collect for. The Xbox and Dreamcast for the most part are still fairly cheap when compared to other vintage consoles. I hope maybe this little write-up encourages some of you to dive into the systems libraries.
As for the Gamecube, I have alot of personal connections to the system and would like to get back into it, but the prices that the games I had back in 2012 are going for now is astronomical in comparison to what I paid for them. That just isn't fun to me. And the whole point of this is to enjoy it. Thanks for reading!
Comments
I always love hearing about people who just focus on two consoles.
Makes me want to make sure my collecting isn't as sporadic as it is.
If you have time lb1993 you should try Enclave it is IMO the precursor to the Dark Souls series tough as nails hack and slash but challenging enough to play through and also has two campaigns the good (light) side and Bad (evil) side to play as more than enough bang for your buck gaming
If you have time lb1993 you should try Enclave it is IMO the precursor to the Dark Souls series tough as nails hack and slash but challenging enough to play through and also has two campaigns the good (light) side and Bad (evil) side to play as more than enough bang for your buck gaming
If you have time lb1993 you should try Enclave it is IMO the precursor to the Dark Souls series tough as nails hack and slash but challenging enough to play through and also has two campaigns the good (light) side and Bad (evil) side to play as more than enough bang for your buck gaming
I have a small collection for both systems. Nothing super valuable but I do have IllBleed which I really need to play
Really been wanting to check out that one.