October 9th, 2002

Well the year is coming to an end and after being bitched at what to order by the Tim Horton's cash register lady, I relived that great feeling of purchasing the Dreamcast on launch day. The DC turned 3 years old on September 9th, 2002 and since the birthday celebration I've been replaying some of the console's greatest hits.

Launch day for the DC was special. I arrived at Toy's R Us with a sack full of change with a gigantic dollar sign scribbled on it to pay for my dream machine. Ahhh.... The memories. Driving home with a DC, VMU and Sonic Adventure (abbreviated as SA for future mention - Super Awsome also works just as well)... The tears... Having to stop to put fuckin' gas in my car before slammin' home (fuckin' car... shit I had to do the same thing when I got my N64 on launch day). Finaly arriving home with my new toys, hooking the system up and organizing the Indiana Jones snake pit of video game cords and other electronic equipment around the television. The DC also had an extra cord I had to attach to it that was the first for a video game console, I'll get to that mysterious wire in just a moment (wink...wink...).

Firing up SA was special. I was in bloody tears, crying like a goddamn baby playing/watching Sonic over come magnificent obstacles at high-res and 30-fps (freakin' powerful shits). Tails, Knuckles and Amy were also there for the ride along with a couple of new hommies' to help big blue chill out and keep it real for his peeps, totally! Man, Robot, Vampire... whatever the hell you are, this game rocked and hell it still does!

The DC launch was FAB (Fuckin' Awsome Bro) with over a dozen titles at launch. Soul Calibur... Shit, don't get me started on that title... Damn! The X-Box, Gamecube, neither the PS2 had a fuckin' awesome launch like one. Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, House of The Dead 2, NFL 2K, Hydro Thunder... Damn! Them was good times!

Oh yeah back to that additional cord you slapped into the back of your ass... whoops wrong article... The DC had a built in 56k modem which allowed the user (scribble out user and insert pusher if you like) to surf the web, play games online, head to Sega's chat rooms, look for porn, listen to MP3s, download save games, voyage to SA's home page to chat with homies about the game, do a little Chao trading online, download some extra goodies for the game or check out the FAQ pages. The funny thing was that I didn't tap into the DC's internet capabilities until Christmas time. I e-mailed my homies about this cool console and they flipped... Not just flipped totally flipped... No... Totally-super-awsoma-power flipped out that I didn't just aquire a cool game console, it was also a communication tool. Fuck ya!

Online with the DC, I cracked into the Pentagon's computers and tried to alert them about a certain Russian Sub head towards North America, helmed by some friggin' scottsman disquised as a Russian Sub Commander. It was literally my only internet online access for 6 months. Shit it was faster than my dad's computer with his 33.6k modem. Ha! Ha! Daddy, I gots a 56k modem... Isss suppa fasta daddy...drool...blah...I pooped myself.

Online gaming was sweet. Chu Chu Rocket was just the best whacked out first online title. I battled crazy bastards across Canada, U.S.A. and Japan. This super cool title from the mighty Gods known as Sonic Team, had you guide a bunch of mice into a friggin' rocket to escape the evil mice chewin/spittin' cats. Sweet!

I could go on and on with this article. This is only a taste of the cool DC moments I remember and I'm sure all of you out there have fond memories yourself. Keep'em. The DC was a milestone and the last great console. It broke new ground in graphics, sound and gameplay. It's first steps into online gaming are unforgettable and to all you suckas who missed out... Fuck you cause without your support the console died. Too all of you with memories... keep the dream alive. Head over to the Phantasy Star Online servers now and play a few rounds before they're gone...

- Kelley