SEGA hints the Dreamcast Mini could be its next console project!

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SEGA are the company, second only to Nintendo where they have a massive back-catalogue that’s primarily owned by them.

Coupled with the fact that they have a 25-year history of being in the console market, there’s a crater of nostalgia there to take advantage of, and to make it easily accessible to most.

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We’ve already seen the Mega Drive Mini, and soon the Game Gear Micro in the variety of colours, but I think that it can be so much more, especially with a seeming reluctance to port any Dreamcast, Saturn or SEGA Arcade game to modern systems.

With that, here are all the latest SEGA comments on the concept, as well as why I think a SEGA Dreamcast Mini should be released, but with ‘bonus’ games from other eras as well.

SEGA comments on the Dreamcast Mini

Speaking to Famitsu, SEGA's Yosuke Okunari discussed the company's plan for its next mini console project.

In the interview, translated by Siliconera, Okunari admitted SEGA was "considering everything that has been imagined by everyone."

"I think for the next one, we may go with a concept close to the Mega Drive Mini," he continued. "If I have to say some names, it could be an SG-1000 Mini or a Dreamcast Mini."

If the Dreamcast Mini is to be SEGA's next project, however, Okunari cautioned that fans could be waiting a while for its release.

"The Game Gear Micro is only sold domestically in Japan. When we do the next one, I feel like the project scope will be much bigger as we gaze upon the world. So we won’t be able to release it at this time the next year or two years after the Mega Drive Mini. We can’t make it that quickly."

So now that SEGA has confirmed it is at least open to the possibility of a Dreamcast Mini, here's why I think the world NEEDS a Dreamcast Mini.

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The Games

The Dreamcast is a favourite of mine from SEGA. I remember buying it a year after it came out, enjoying the demo disks that ‘Official Dreamcast Magazine’ offered, and I remember buying Sonic Adventure 2 on its launch day at a ‘Toys R Us’ store.

But when it comes down to it, you could probably count on one hand, the games that have yet to be ported to any system other than PC, that you’d like to play again.

Games such as PowerStone, Virtua Fighter, Crazy Taxi 2, Jedi Power Battles, Toy Commander. There’s a small few that’s yet to be re-released.

Granted, there is an audience who would not mind paying for a ‘Mini’ system just for those games, but I think it could be so much more.

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A Greatest Hits Console

Think of a mini-Dreamcast design, but one that borrows the ‘SEGA Channel’ method. It comes pre-loaded with some of the Dreamcast games mentioned above.

You could log on, and either rent the games for a specific amount of time, or have a ‘SEGA Channel’ monthly subscription which would let you access all the games.

SEGA Saturn, SEGA 32X, the sky could be the limit. Here’s just a few games that I would love to see if this came to be:

  • Burning Rangers
  • Dynamite Cop
  • Soul Calibur
  • NIGHTS
  • Toy Commander
  • Panzer Dragoon
  • Sonic R
  • Knuckles Chaotix
  • Daytona USA
  • House of the Dead 1 and 2
  • PowerStone 1 and 2
  • Sega Rally
  • Shinobi
  • Golden Axe
  • Guardian Heroes

Each one of these games is different from another, either from genre or console. Having these games either ported or emulated onto this ‘Greatest Hits’ console could be incredibly tempting to most out there, even more if it implements modern features, such as online-multiplayer, achievements and streaming-capabilities.

Right now, SEGA is in a unique position. Its M2 team has been responsible for emulating games from their history, to an incredible standard, and they also were responsible for making sure the Mega Drive Mini games ran well too. To have them work on something like this could be the holy grail for some, and it still could open up opportunities for this ‘service’ to be available on a Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 5 through a deal that could be worked out.

But realistically, it may just be a matter of waiting, to see if SEGA do bring out games from the Saturn and Dreamcast days individually. But PowerStone on the Nintendo Switch is an alluring thought.

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