This was an insert inside a GamePro magazine. I don't recall which one. I never subscribed to GamePro and don't even remember why I had this issue. Let's assume it was the first issue printed after the Dreamcast was discontinued.

The cover is obviously inspired by the movie. Hmm... it mentions codes & cheats but either they didn't exist or I didn't scan them. The latter seems plausible since there are plenty of ways to find Dreamcast cheat codes.

I think I should have used smaller thumbnails now.

This is something of an FAQ section. The first question mentions the system being cleared out for $99.99. When I saw that news, presumably in a long dead site like GameSpy, I headed to the nearest EBGames and bought one.

I hadn't heard about the Dreamcast Zip drive before. The format was already nearly dead at that point. Once blank CDs, which hold >6x the capacity of a Zip disk, became dirt cheap they won the piracy high capacity storage debate.

The Dreamcast was a late 1990s system trying to compete against early 2000s technology. That very small difference in time is a huge difference in technology.

There are some really odd rumors on this page.

Nintendo buying Sega? It's never been Nintendo's business model to buy failing competitors. In general, no one buys a failing competitor except Vince McMahon. Acquisitions are typically done for, you know, growth. I don't know what Nintendo would gain from owning Sega. Nintendo has their own IP & franchises.

Microsoft Xbox somehow playing Dreamcast games? Even a very basic knowledge of gaming hardware would rule that one out. They run on very different CPU architectures.

It looks like there are only 20 games in this list but in the next page they combine two entries. This list is alright. Crazy Taxi is an essential game but it would be on other systems soon. NFL 2K1 is more fun than all the later Madden games. The Ecco games never do much for me but eventually I'll try this one.

Geez, my Dreamcast backlog looks massive now. I've barely played any of these.

OK, Shenmue, sure. It's definitely worth a try if you skipped it. Skies of Arcadia is a perpetual backlog game for me. I have both the Dreamcast and GameCube version. I'll get to it someday. I tried Virua Tennis recently and was impressed how easy it was to pick-up.

So many of these 21 games would be on other consoles in the near future. Revisiting this concept with Dreamcast exclusives would be interesting.

I know off-hand that Shenmue II never made it to the US on the Dreamcast. What about the others...

OK, the 18 wheeler game was almost done when the Dreamcast was canceled so it has a release. Black & White, canceled. Bomberman is a yes, and I probably even played it. Crazy Taxi 2 is also a yes. Fighting Vipers 2 did not make it to the US. Half-Life was not released. Tennis 2K2 was a late, but not the last, release. Sonic Adventure 2 is probably on a shelf in my house so that was released. And World Series 2K2 came out that summer. OK, so a pretty good number of these made it out.

Of everything on this page I would recommend first-party VMUs and controllers above everything else. The worst gaming junk I've ever owned is all third-party Dreamcast stuff, and that is very high low bar. VGA adapters are easy to get today and also something I would highly recommend.

All the stuff to support online games.. c'mon man. There's no way any of that will be around for long except for diehard fans running their own servers. They had to know at the time it was all close to useless.

Now, despite those comments do I own a Dreamcast keyboard? Yes, I sure do.

I don't think any of these imports require much Japanese knowledge.

I'll close with an unconventional take on the most essential Dreamcast things to own...

Sampler discs.

Yes, sampler discs. A set of Dreamcast magazine discs will go a very long way. Each one has 5+ playable demos. And a whole lot of Dreamcast games are fun for about a stage but maybe not a full playthrough. Nearly every action game is in this category for me. This is probably a result of experiencing arcades in the 1980s where nearly every game was kind of just one stage. For me, there is no better way to enjoy the Dreamcast than popping in a sampler disc. That is my biggest Dreamcast survivor's tip.