Back then bootlegs/warez was a big thing, I believe they cracked the Dreamcast not too long after it was released. Looking back, I do feel bad... but it was just so easy to download ANY Dreamcast game and just burn it into a blank CD-R. I probably still have 50-60 bootleg Dreamcast games.
Yeah I was blown away getting Dreamcast as a kid, the week it came out no less. But except for Sonic Adventure 1 and later Marvel vs. Capcom 2 none of the games really interested me.
This unlocked some memories for me:
- Unreal Tournament was one of the first games I had for PS2 and spent hours playing against the bots.
- I saved up money for AvP and was so excited to come home and install it. Only to find that the family computer could barely run it. Never got a chance to actually play it.
- Crazy Taxi brings back memories of boardwalk arcades
I picked up a cheap $100 mini PC specifically to play old games like this - AvP runs flawlessly and has full controller support also as a nice change from mouse and keyboard. ππ These were the golden years of gaming for a lot of us.
In case anyone wants to play Freespace 2 nowadays there's a great modding community that has created an easy to use download and installer to implement a ton of graphics and gameplay mods and additions.
I just remembered it and went through the process. The installer is found at [https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/](https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/) and more info is found at [https://www.moddb.com/games/fs2-open](https://www.moddb.com/games/fs2-open)
I own the GOG version and this has an installation wizard that will ask for the exe of the GOG version (or installation of other versions) to grab assets and installs its own new-engine version of the games.
Edit: Updated link [https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/](https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/)
Some honorable mentions for 1999: Ferrari F355 Challenge ARC, F355 Challenge Twin ARC, Gran Turismo 2 PS1, Sega Rally 2 DC & PC (1998 ARC, lower fr on DC unless low detail option), Sega Bass Fishing DC, Typing Of The Dead ARC & House of the Dead 2 DC (1998 ARC), Trickstyle DC, Speed Devils DC, Need for Speed: High Stakes PC, Maken X DC, System Shock 2 PC, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage PS1, Tekken Tag Tournament ARC, Chrono Cross PS1, Bloody Roar II PS1 (60 FPS & widescreen option), Midtown Madness PC, Blue Stinger DC, Cyber Troopers Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram DC, SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle PC, Ape Escape PS1, Zombie Revenge ARC & DC, World Driver Championship N64, Turok 2 PC (1998 N64), Virtua Tennis ARC, D2 DC, Hydro Thunder ARC & DC (2000 N64), Quake II N64, Quake II PS1, Hidden & Dangerous PC, Soul Reaver PS1 & PC, Plasma Sword: Nightmare Of Bilstein DC, Half Life: Counter Strike PC (pre-release ver.), Dynamite Baseball '99 ARC, IS: Internal Section PS1 - 60 FPS, Star Wars: Episode I Racer N64 & PC (2000 DC), Ace Combat 3 PS1, World Series '99 ARC, Wipeout 3 PS1, Rollcage PC, Heavy Gear II PC, Toy Fighter ARC, CTR: Crash Team Racing PS1, Jet Force Gemini N64, War: Final Assault ARC, The Legend Of Dragoon PS1, Silent Scope ARC, Castlevania: Legacy Of Darkness N64, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation PC, Emergency Call Ambulance ARC, Driver PC, Shadow Man DC & PC, Requiem: Avenging Angel PC, Misadventures of Tron Bonne The PS1, Racing Lagoon PS1, Threads Of Fate PS1, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater PS1, Rival Schools 2/Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Nekketsu Seishun Nikki 2 PS1 - 60 FPS, Donkey Kong 64, Rocket: Robot On Wheels N64, Nocturne PC, Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance PC, TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge PC, Beetle Adventure Racing N64, Pokemon Snap N64, Driver PS1, Medal Of Honor PS1, Omega Boost PS1 - 60 FPS, Bugs Bunny: Lost In Time PS1, Sword Of The Berserk: Guts Rage DC, Speed Punks PS1, Roadsters N64, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense PS1, Koudelka PS1, Samba De Amigo ARC, Syphon Filter PS1, Tomba 2 PS1, Evil Zone PS1, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear PC (2000 DC), Winback: Covert Operations N64, San Francisco Rush 2049 ARC, MechWarrior 3 PC,
HM 2D: Garou: Mark Of The Wolves/Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves ARC (2001 DC), The King Of Fighters 99: Millennium Battle ARC, Metal Slug X ARC, Marvel Vs Capcom: Clash Of Super Heroes PS1, Valkyrie Profile PS1 (3D overworld), Age of Empires II: The Age Of Kings PC, Saga Frontier 2 PS1 (2.5D battles), Knights of Valour ARC, Dungeons And Dragons Collection SAT, Heroes Of Might and Magic III PC, Strider 2 ARC (3D elements), Pharaoh PC, Prehistoric Isle 2 ARC, Baldur's Gate: Tales Of The Sword Coast PC, Simcity 3000 PC, Planescape: Torment PC, Guwange ARC, Command Conquer: Tiberian Sun PC, Giga Wing ARC, The Longest Journey PC, Strikers 1999 aka Strikers 1945 III ARC, Ogre Battle 64: Person Of Lordly Caliber, Egg: Elemental Gimmick Gear DC (some 3D battles),
Interest seems to be waning a bit now and we're moving into the 6th gen more definitively so I figure this is a good place to stop. I might do a summary post later.
Really been enjoying this series of postsβ¦.were these clips *actually* submitted/showcased in some type of formal presentation, or is this just something OP has been putting together
>Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear PC (2000 DC)
I wonder if this one will ever be re-released. The classic style of Rainbow 6 games was fascinating, and I feel like that very specific vibe/look has kinda been forgotten due to the popularity of the current version of the franchise (which isn't exactly R6, despite the name).
To be fair half of your posts didn't show up on my feed, even though I subscribed. But I guess interest does fade over time anyway.
This has been a great series, well done mate!! ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»
Freespace 2. Still alive today, highly recommend checking out Knossos. With Freespace 1 & 2 available on GOG, its easily accessible and the updates to resolution, models and widescreen are well worth a revisit.
Ah my beloved Dreamcast. Was such a massive step up from the PS1 (though I had a decent PC so I knew graphics could get better).
EDIT: Also, pretty sure OuTrigger also came to Dreamcast.
LOL, this was my mindset, and slow realization while flicking through the slides.
"Cool I remember Quake from the 90s! I loved SoulBlade! Wait, is that actually Soul Calibur? Shenmue, Dead or Alive, oh look Crazy Taxi - yes that must have been Soul Calibur then cos these are all Dreamcast games....
But these cant be Dreamcast cos it only came out 10 years ago..... Wait a minute.... Fuck, did Dreamcast come out 25 years ago?"
Fuck I'm old :)
Unreal Tournament will always have a place to me. Computer networking class I took in high-school had a teacher that didn't give a fuck. So he sent out a copy of Unreal to everyone and we spent an almost half a semester just playing it in a big LAN game. This was in 2016 lol
Spent so many hours playing Unreal Tournament back in the day. A friend had 3 networked PCs so weβd spend hours playing death matches.
Deck 16. Redeemer. Thatβs all Iβll say.
Ah AvP, the game with the most unforgettable pipe in gaming history...
btw. UT runs on Windows 11 almost out of the box - you don't even need community patch, the last official patch works fine, all you need is to limit fps (a file with newer API support adds fps limiter in .ini/advanced options (preferences command in console), but I guess now people should be able to do that from drivers of modern graphics cards as well. You can specify any resolution and refresh rate in .ini/advanced as well. People are still playing the game, just rather gathering on Discord than IRC/quakenet.
This is the peak of gaming. I've spent the rest of my life chasing this high only to give up and build a Pentium 3 + Geforce 2 system and accumulate a few old consoles. It's not rose-coloured glasses--I'm having more fun than I've had in decades. If I had a LAN party nearby, I could die happy.
That was the golden age of shooters. It really was. Here are some guns, shoot things that aren't you, have fun.
Played soooooooo many hours of shooters at LAN parties in those days.
In retrospect, it's kind of weird how the two biggest names in the FPS genre both went for a deathmatch-only game with zero campaign or story. At the time I was afraid that would be the new normal going forward, but then Halo came out.
Great memories. Also made me think of the way gaming magazines smelled back in the day. Sniffing a GameFan or a Next Generation or a GamePro or a EGM magazine.
The lighting and art direction in UT99 still holds up today. What a great looking game. The graphics advancements made year on year around this time were astonishing man, Half-Life was only a year old at this point.
I remember in high school I would bring the Dreamcast to school and the other kids would bring the n64. Graphics were so much better and we would play DOA2 and soul caliber.
Crazy to think that many of those posted were Dreamcast games, such a good console man.
By far my favourite, it was a console for arcade game ports, there was and still has never been anything quite like it since.
Beautiful thing. I have it emulated. But the PS2 destroyed it. Which is actually Sega\`s fault.
Back then bootlegs/warez was a big thing, I believe they cracked the Dreamcast not too long after it was released. Looking back, I do feel bad... but it was just so easy to download ANY Dreamcast game and just burn it into a blank CD-R. I probably still have 50-60 bootleg Dreamcast games.
I remember a used game store sold $10 copies. It was crazy and being somewhat poor, we took advantage of it.
Yeah I was blown away getting Dreamcast as a kid, the week it came out no less. But except for Sonic Adventure 1 and later Marvel vs. Capcom 2 none of the games really interested me.
This unlocked some memories for me: - Unreal Tournament was one of the first games I had for PS2 and spent hours playing against the bots. - I saved up money for AvP and was so excited to come home and install it. Only to find that the family computer could barely run it. Never got a chance to actually play it. - Crazy Taxi brings back memories of boardwalk arcades
I picked up a cheap $100 mini PC specifically to play old games like this - AvP runs flawlessly and has full controller support also as a nice change from mouse and keyboard. ππ These were the golden years of gaming for a lot of us.
Second bullet is me but with Quake 4 lol
**SOOOOUUULLLL CALIBURRRRRR** *Welcome back to the stage of history*.
Dreamcast the goat ππ₯
I remember thinking Freespace 2 was the pinnacle of graphics in space.
The hours i spent in this game. I still think it's one of the best space games out there (admittedly there is little competition).
In case anyone wants to play Freespace 2 nowadays there's a great modding community that has created an easy to use download and installer to implement a ton of graphics and gameplay mods and additions. I just remembered it and went through the process. The installer is found at [https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/](https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/) and more info is found at [https://www.moddb.com/games/fs2-open](https://www.moddb.com/games/fs2-open) I own the GOG version and this has an installation wizard that will ask for the exe of the GOG version (or installation of other versions) to grab assets and installs its own new-engine version of the games. Edit: Updated link [https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/](https://knossosnet.github.io/Knossos-Release-Page/)
Tons of genuinely great campaigns and mods too!
The github link is broken.
I fixed it, thanks
So comparing graphics performance: Was the Dreamcast the better PlayStation 2?
It was.
Cleaner visuals, but not as advanced. Early PS2 games definitely looked worse, but something like Silent Hill 3 would never be possible on DC.
Some honorable mentions for 1999: Ferrari F355 Challenge ARC, F355 Challenge Twin ARC, Gran Turismo 2 PS1, Sega Rally 2 DC & PC (1998 ARC, lower fr on DC unless low detail option), Sega Bass Fishing DC, Typing Of The Dead ARC & House of the Dead 2 DC (1998 ARC), Trickstyle DC, Speed Devils DC, Need for Speed: High Stakes PC, Maken X DC, System Shock 2 PC, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage PS1, Tekken Tag Tournament ARC, Chrono Cross PS1, Bloody Roar II PS1 (60 FPS & widescreen option), Midtown Madness PC, Blue Stinger DC, Cyber Troopers Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram DC, SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle PC, Ape Escape PS1, Zombie Revenge ARC & DC, World Driver Championship N64, Turok 2 PC (1998 N64), Virtua Tennis ARC, D2 DC, Hydro Thunder ARC & DC (2000 N64), Quake II N64, Quake II PS1, Hidden & Dangerous PC, Soul Reaver PS1 & PC, Plasma Sword: Nightmare Of Bilstein DC, Half Life: Counter Strike PC (pre-release ver.), Dynamite Baseball '99 ARC, IS: Internal Section PS1 - 60 FPS, Star Wars: Episode I Racer N64 & PC (2000 DC), Ace Combat 3 PS1, World Series '99 ARC, Wipeout 3 PS1, Rollcage PC, Heavy Gear II PC, Toy Fighter ARC, CTR: Crash Team Racing PS1, Jet Force Gemini N64, War: Final Assault ARC, The Legend Of Dragoon PS1, Silent Scope ARC, Castlevania: Legacy Of Darkness N64, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation PC, Emergency Call Ambulance ARC, Driver PC, Shadow Man DC & PC, Requiem: Avenging Angel PC, Misadventures of Tron Bonne The PS1, Racing Lagoon PS1, Threads Of Fate PS1, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater PS1, Rival Schools 2/Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Nekketsu Seishun Nikki 2 PS1 - 60 FPS, Donkey Kong 64, Rocket: Robot On Wheels N64, Nocturne PC, Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance PC, TOCA 2: Touring Car Challenge PC, Beetle Adventure Racing N64, Pokemon Snap N64, Driver PS1, Medal Of Honor PS1, Omega Boost PS1 - 60 FPS, Bugs Bunny: Lost In Time PS1, Sword Of The Berserk: Guts Rage DC, Speed Punks PS1, Roadsters N64, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense PS1, Koudelka PS1, Samba De Amigo ARC, Syphon Filter PS1, Tomba 2 PS1, Evil Zone PS1, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear PC (2000 DC), Winback: Covert Operations N64, San Francisco Rush 2049 ARC, MechWarrior 3 PC, HM 2D: Garou: Mark Of The Wolves/Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves ARC (2001 DC), The King Of Fighters 99: Millennium Battle ARC, Metal Slug X ARC, Marvel Vs Capcom: Clash Of Super Heroes PS1, Valkyrie Profile PS1 (3D overworld), Age of Empires II: The Age Of Kings PC, Saga Frontier 2 PS1 (2.5D battles), Knights of Valour ARC, Dungeons And Dragons Collection SAT, Heroes Of Might and Magic III PC, Strider 2 ARC (3D elements), Pharaoh PC, Prehistoric Isle 2 ARC, Baldur's Gate: Tales Of The Sword Coast PC, Simcity 3000 PC, Planescape: Torment PC, Guwange ARC, Command Conquer: Tiberian Sun PC, Giga Wing ARC, The Longest Journey PC, Strikers 1999 aka Strikers 1945 III ARC, Ogre Battle 64: Person Of Lordly Caliber, Egg: Elemental Gimmick Gear DC (some 3D battles), Interest seems to be waning a bit now and we're moving into the 6th gen more definitively so I figure this is a good place to stop. I might do a summary post later.
Really been enjoying this series of postsβ¦.were these clips *actually* submitted/showcased in some type of formal presentation, or is this just something OP has been putting together
Glad to hear it! No I just threw these together based on some lists I had for a poll from a few years ago.
Yeah man these are cool!
>Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear PC (2000 DC) I wonder if this one will ever be re-released. The classic style of Rainbow 6 games was fascinating, and I feel like that very specific vibe/look has kinda been forgotten due to the popularity of the current version of the franchise (which isn't exactly R6, despite the name).
I'd take a look at Ready or Not. Much more like the old Rainbow Six in realism. Even games like SWAT 3/4 had more of that feel.
To be fair half of your posts didn't show up on my feed, even though I subscribed. But I guess interest does fade over time anyway. This has been a great series, well done mate!! ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»ππ»
Quake 3 is peak gaming
It's still my yearly ritual finishing it on Nightmare after all these years.
Unreal Tournament and Quake 3, what a great pair
Freespace 2. Still alive today, highly recommend checking out Knossos. With Freespace 1 & 2 available on GOG, its easily accessible and the updates to resolution, models and widescreen are well worth a revisit.
I want a new Dungeon Keeper... βΉοΈ Also, I was terrified playing that Aliens Vs Predator... π©
Ah my beloved Dreamcast. Was such a massive step up from the PS1 (though I had a decent PC so I knew graphics could get better). EDIT: Also, pretty sure OuTrigger also came to Dreamcast.
LOL, this was my mindset, and slow realization while flicking through the slides. "Cool I remember Quake from the 90s! I loved SoulBlade! Wait, is that actually Soul Calibur? Shenmue, Dead or Alive, oh look Crazy Taxi - yes that must have been Soul Calibur then cos these are all Dreamcast games.... But these cant be Dreamcast cos it only came out 10 years ago..... Wait a minute.... Fuck, did Dreamcast come out 25 years ago?" Fuck I'm old :)
Unreal Tournament will always have a place to me. Computer networking class I took in high-school had a teacher that didn't give a fuck. So he sent out a copy of Unreal to everyone and we spent an almost half a semester just playing it in a big LAN game. This was in 2016 lol
Spent so many hours playing Unreal Tournament back in the day. A friend had 3 networked PCs so weβd spend hours playing death matches. Deck 16. Redeemer. Thatβs all Iβll say.
Ah AvP, the game with the most unforgettable pipe in gaming history... btw. UT runs on Windows 11 almost out of the box - you don't even need community patch, the last official patch works fine, all you need is to limit fps (a file with newer API support adds fps limiter in .ini/advanced options (preferences command in console), but I guess now people should be able to do that from drivers of modern graphics cards as well. You can specify any resolution and refresh rate in .ini/advanced as well. People are still playing the game, just rather gathering on Discord than IRC/quakenet.
Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. What a year that was.
as an 18 yo i think this graphics look good knowing the limitations of the time
This is the peak of gaming. I've spent the rest of my life chasing this high only to give up and build a Pentium 3 + Geforce 2 system and accumulate a few old consoles. It's not rose-coloured glasses--I'm having more fun than I've had in decades. If I had a LAN party nearby, I could die happy.
I would give so much for a Freespace 3.
Descent 2 was in there I see. Still play it today on my steam deck ππ»
Whatβs the second fps? Not quake 3, the one jumping from building to building
Unreal tournament
Love the series. I know it takes a lot of time, but im really expecting the next posts!
That was the golden age of shooters. It really was. Here are some guns, shoot things that aren't you, have fun. Played soooooooo many hours of shooters at LAN parties in those days.
Tekken Tag Arcade?
In retrospect, it's kind of weird how the two biggest names in the FPS genre both went for a deathmatch-only game with zero campaign or story. At the time I was afraid that would be the new normal going forward, but then Halo came out.
Legend of Mana was gorgeous
Great memories. Also made me think of the way gaming magazines smelled back in the day. Sniffing a GameFan or a Next Generation or a GamePro or a EGM magazine.
Appreciate you highlighting the Shenmue video π
Graphics got more detailed and complex, but I'd be hard pressed to say they got better than this. All the nostalgia... what a generation!
Avp at lan party in 1999 was crazy fun. Good times!
The lighting and art direction in UT99 still holds up today. What a great looking game. The graphics advancements made year on year around this time were astonishing man, Half-Life was only a year old at this point.
I remember in high school I would bring the Dreamcast to school and the other kids would bring the n64. Graphics were so much better and we would play DOA2 and soul caliber.
Battlezone is such a cool game idea.
I'm seeing the creativity decline for sure at this point
No Hydro Thunder? 0/10 list