The Best-Selling Games on the Sega Dreamcast

This past week marked the 30th anniversary of the North American debut of the Sega Dreamcast, and it’s amazing to see how fondly the console is remembered. The first 6th-generation console to make it to market, the Dreamcast would also end up being Sega’s final foray into the hardware market before shifting to focus on software publishing, marking the end of an era for both the company and the gaming industry as a whole. Like the Sega Saturn, the launch of the Dreamcast was hampered by some confusing decisions on Sega’s part regarding the system’s Western marketing, but its arrival a year after its initial Japanese debut meant that it had an incredible launch library, many of which would go on to become the system’s best-selling games.

• Release Date — March 21, 2002
• Developer — Red Entertainment
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — TRPG, Simulation, Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 90% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 0.283 million units

Despite never officially releasing in the West, both of the Dreamcast-era Sakura Wars games would end up being two of the console’s best-selling games — a testament to how popular the series was among Japanese players. During the 5th console generation, players had a choice between Sega or Sony; the Saturn or PlayStation, and Sakura Wars or Final Fantasy VII. So while the PS1 got three incredible Final Fantasy games, Japanese Saturn players were able to experience the TRPG/dating sim hybrid that is Sakura Wars, and its popularity never truly waned. Notably, Sakura Wars 4 is the last game in the series to be exclusive to Sega hardware and the last to be Japan-exclusive.

• Release Date — September 19, 2000
• Developer — Neversoft
• Publisher — Activision
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 97% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 0.286 million units

The original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on PS1 was a massive hit that only got better on the Sega Dreamcast. The Dreamcast version arrived roughly two months after the PlayStation original and received an astounding response from critics, commonly understood as the best or most definitive version of this quintessential sports game. While it didn’t sell nearly as many units as some of the games with licensing from professional sports leagues, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 would still end up being one of the best-selling games on Sega’s final console, moving an impressive 286,000 units and staking a claim as one of the system’s highest-rated games.

• Release Date — November 11, 1999
• Developer — Visual Concepts
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 88% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 0.311 million units

The partnership between Visual Concepts and Sega on licensed professional sports games for the Dreamcast gave players some of the best sports video games since Sega’s previous partnership with Electronic Arts for the Genesis. But while NFL 2K, World Series Baseball 2K, and NHL 2K have all gone by the wayside, NBA 2K is the sole franchise that remains (as well as the sole officially licensed professional basketball game), and its original entry on Dreamcast laid the foundation for one of gaming’s most successful sports franchises. It would eventually be outsold and outdone by its better NBA 2K1 follow-up, NBA 2K was nevertheless a hugely important game in establishing the console’s foothold over the sports genre in the West.

• Release Date — December 2, 1999
• Developer — Sega Software R&D Dept. 4
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 53% (Mixed or Average)
• Total Sales — 0.319 million units

Sports games were definitely a huge part of the Dreamcast’s success in the West, but they were just as prominent in the East. Licensed football, basketball, baseball, and hockey games were at the top of the pile for American players, while Japanese players helped make a handful of the Dreamcast’s soccer games some of the best-selling titles on the platform. One of them is Virtua Striker 2 Ver. 2000.1, a remaster/remix of Virtua Striker 2 that adapts Sega’s popular soccer arcade cabinet for home consoles.

• Release Date — March 22, 2001
• Developer — Red Entertainment
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — TRPG, Simulation, Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 0.342 million units

The first two Sakura Wars games on the Sega Saturn were two of that platform’s most beloved RPGs, so of course, Red Entertainment and Sega would want to bring the franchise to the Dreamcast as soon as possible. It took a while, but Sakura Wars 3 eventually arrived in 2001 as a Japan-exclusive Dreamcast game, quickly becoming one of the system’s best-selling titles and its best-selling RPG by a large margin. Thanks to the somewhat niche nature of its gameplay (blending elements of visual novels and dating sims with turn-based tactical combat), Sakura Wars didn’t come close to the level of sales success of 2001’s other best-selling RPGs, but it still managed to sell more than its Dreamcast follow-up, Sakura Wars 4.

• Release Date — July 20, 2000
• Developer — Wow Entertainment
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 48% (Mixed or Average)
• Total Sales — 0.347 million units

Despite being one of the worst-reviewed sports games on the system, the Dreamcast-exclusive World Series Baseball 2K1 ended up being the console’s best-selling baseball simulation game. For its time, World Series Baseball 2K1 was visually impressive and featured some unique mechanics when it came to batting and pitching, but issues with the game’s controls and a steep learning curve made it a game that was more fun to look at than it was to play. Still, it found enough of a foothold among players to earn itself a sequel, which was the better game but somehow sold less.

• Release Date — February 9, 2000
• Developer — Black Box Games
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 0.348 million units

One of the Genesis’ must-have sports titles was NHL ’94 (or NHL ’96, depending on who you ask), which made a great hockey game on the Dreamcast a must-have. Thankfully, NHL 2K was a much better licensed sports game than World Series Baseball 2K1, delivering an excellent approximation of virtual hockey that was essentially a better-looking version of those two 16-bit classics from Electronic Arts. The 2K version of licensed NHL games was short-lived, with EA eventually getting the sole licensing rights to the league, but that first NHL 2K on Dreamcast made enough of an impression to end up as one of the system’s best-selling games.

• Release Date — September 30, 1999
• Developer — Sega Software R&D Department 6
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Total Sales — 0.36 million units

Along with Virtua Striker 2 Ver. 2000.1, the Dreamcast had another soccer game among its 20 best-selling titles with J. League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou. But J. League Pro Soccer differentiates itself in a couple of key ways. For starters, J. League is a more accurate soccer simulation versus Virtua Striker 2‘s more arcade-style gameplay, making it more desirable among players looking for an authentic experience. Further, J. League Pro Soccer had the benefit of utilizing the Dreamcast’s modem, making it one of the must-have games among Japanese sports game fans for its implementation of online multiplayer.

• Release Date — January 28, 1999
• Developer — Sega AM Annex
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 0.42 million units

When it came to arcade conversions (taking previously arcade-exclusive games and bringing them to home consoles), no company did it as well as Sega, as evidenced by the libraries of both the Sega Saturn and the Sega Dreamcast. Accordingly, many of Sega’s most popular and successful arcade machines would translate to equally successful console ports, which is certainly the case with Sega Rally 2. Both one of the best racing games on the Dreamcast and its best-selling game in the genre, Sega Rally 2 sold an impressive amount of copies and became one of the must-have titles on the console for its North American launch.

• Release Date — June 19, 2001
• Developer — Sonic Team
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 0.5 million units

By the time Sega was ready to roll out the long-awaited sequel to Sonic Adventure, the writing was practically already on the wall for the Dreamcast. Both the GameCube and Xbox launches were just around the corner, and the arrival of the PlayStation 2 (along with its ability to play PS1 games via backwards compatibility) had put a serious dent in Sega’s console business. Still, Sega knew it had something special on its hands with Sonic Adventure 2, and it ended up being a massive improvement over its already great predecessor. Had the Dreamcast not stuttered out of the gate, it’s not hard to imagine a game like Sonic Adventure 2 far surpassing its half a million units in sales.

• Release Date — October 31, 2000
• Developer — Visual Concepts
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 93% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 0.5 million units

For the sequel to the already great NBA 2K, Visual Concepts and Sega chose to refine and iterate rather than reinvent the wheel, giving players the best basketball game of the era: NBA 2K1. In fact, the success and critical acclaim of NBA 2K1 are largely responsible for the franchise still sticking around today as the sole officially licensed professional basketball game. And while the visuals and modes have been greatly upgraded throughout the years, you can still go back and play NBA 2K1 and see that the foundation for the series’ future success has always been there.

• Release Date — July 29, 1999
• Developer — Vivarium Inc., Jellyvision
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 0.54 million units

One of the best parts about the Dreamcast was the system’s place as a home for games that seemingly couldn’t fit anywhere else, which was supported by Sega’s willingness to take big risks on new types of gameplay experiences. One of the more memorable in the console’s library was Seaman, which utilized both a new microphone peripheral for the Dreamcast controller and delivered a simulation/ecology management experience unlike anything else before it or since. The hype for Seaman (not to mention its off-the-wall premise) was enough to make it one of the Dreamcast’s best-selling games at just over half a million units, even if most players probably quickly abandoned it after the novelty wore off.

• Release Date — September 7, 2000
• Developer — Visual Concepts
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 97% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 1.01 million units

Despite being the best sports game on the Dreamcast (and arguably one of the best football simulations ever made), NFL 2K1 somehow managed to sell fewer copies than its predecessor. But when it came to sports games, no one did it quite as well as Sega, and the Dreamcast was the de facto home for the best professional football games during the Madden franchise’s transition between 5th and 6th generation hardware. In fact, it took Madden at least a couple of years to catch up, letting NFL 2K1 have a moment in time where it was players’ best option, especially for its online multiplayer mode.

• Release Date — January 27, 2000
• Developer — Hitmaker
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Driving/Racing, Arcade
• Review Aggregate Score — 90% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 1.11 million units

At the time the Dreamcast launched in North America, Sega’s Crazy Taxi arcade cabinet was still one of the most popular and prevalent machines that could be found in arcades all around the globe, and its console port ended up being even better. While it wasn’t a launch game, many players jumped on picking up a Sega Dreamcast as soon as Crazy Taxi became available, resulting in the title becoming a bona fide system-seller and moving well over a million units — one of only a handful of early titles in the console’s library to do so.

• Release Date — September 9, 1999
• Developer — Visual Concepts
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Sports
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 1.13 million units

It may have been slightly outdone by its 2K1 sequel in terms of gameplay, but NFL 2K retains the crown for being the Dreamcast’s best-selling sports game and one of the console’s most popular launch titles. Sega had smartly tapped into the Western market’s desire for great sports games with every generation of its hardware to make it to that part of the globe, with both the Sega Genesis and the Sega Saturn supported by strong titles in the genre. The Dreamcast was no different, coming out of the gate strong with a football game that outdid its main competitor, EA’s Madden, at just about every turn.

• Release Date — February 3, 2000
• Developer — Capcom Production Studio 4
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Survival horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 1.14 million units

For many players (myself included), the realization that the Dreamcast was getting a console-exclusive Resident Evil game at the time the franchise was peaking in popularity made picking up the console a must. As a result, CODE: Veronica quickly became one of the Dreamcast’s best-selling games and yet another system-selling title. It didn’t hurt that Resident Evil – CODE: Veronica was the first fully 3D game in the series, and the unique features it had in its Dreamcast version (including some great functionality with the console’s VMU peripheral) made it the superior version to the later CODE: Veronica X port to PS2.

• Release Date — December 29, 1999
• Developer — Sega AM2
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Simulation, Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 1.2 million units

Just a couple of years ahead of groundbreaking advancements in open-world game design courtesy of Grand Theft Auto III, the Dreamcast would get an early attempt with the incredibly ambitious Shenmue. And while Shenmue doesn’t hold up nearly as well as other early open-world games like Grand Theft Auto III, it’s plain as day how much of its DNA would end up serving as the foundation for Sega’s incredible Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Thanks to there being nothing else like it at the time, Shenmue quickly moved a million units, becoming one of the system’s best and fastest-selling games.

• Release Date — August 5, 1999
• Developer — Project Soul
• Publisher — Namco
• Genre — Fighting
• Review Aggregate Score — 98% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 1.3 million units

The story of SoulCalibur‘s console port is a great one, with the team at Project Soul tasked with making an arcade-perfect conversion for the Dreamcast just months ahead of the system’s North American launch. Not only did the team succeed, they actually outdid the arcade cabinet for SoulCalibur, resulting in the Dreamcast version being the definitive release of one of the all-time great 3D fighters. Unsurprisingly, SoulCalibur was a massive critical and commercial success, driving sales of the Dreamcast and selling well over a million units as the technical showpiece to impress your friends with.

• Release Date — December 23, 1998
• Developer — Sonic Team
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 2.5 million units

Japanese players would have to wait just a few months after the Dreamcast’s launch to get Sonic Adventure, but the title was raring and ready to go for the console’s North American launch, which helped it quickly become the system’s killer app and the best-selling game on the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure is the only game in the system’s library to sell more than 2 million units, and it’s no surprise to see it hold that position — after all, the Genesis had earned its place as the SNES’ main competitor on the back of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. When it comes to games that are synonymous with the Dreamcast, no title is more likely to come to mind than Sonic Adventure.