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The last stand of: Sega Dreamcast
Last official UK release: Heavy Metal Geomatrix (April 12, 2002)
Last official US release: NFL 2K2 (September 19, 2001)
US Dreamcast gamers were given the ace NFL 2K2 as a send-off for their console, while UK players were given a surprise parting shot in the shape of Heavy Metal: Geomatrix, over a year after the console had been declared dead by Sega itself. If you're unfamiliar with Heavy Metal (and you'd be well within your rights to be), it's by Capcom and is a third-person fighting game in the Power Stone vein. It's not a classic, but solid enough and the soundtrack is pretty decent to boot.
In terms of whether it was a fitting conclusion for the console... well, it was better than the Saturn's. And seeing as so many Capcom classics found their home on Dreamcast, we'd say this a Capcom brawler was a good way to finish. Of course, the Japanese Dreamcast market stayed alive for years and still might see the odd release. But that's another story altogether.
Final hurrahs: Shenmue II, Daytona USA 2001, Rez
US gamers had to wait for the Xbox version of Shenmue II and so got a full English dialogue dub. UK, gamers, however, were treated to one of the most fascinating adventures ever. Exploring Hong Kong with Eastern language and only subtitles to decipher the plot gave a feeling that you really were privileged to be playing the title at all. With so much money spent on the game's development (along with its predecessor), releasing it in the cheapest form possible to eek out the last revenue from the franchise on Dreamcast was the only logical conclusion. And we'll never forget the experience. Gorgeous environments, innumerable side-tracking curios and one of the biggest cliffhangers in gaming still has us itching to play a Shenmue III. Lan Di - we haven't forgotten what you did.
Also notable in the console's final year were the initial release of Rez (yup, it was a Dreamcast game first) and finally, finally a decent home version of Sega's 32-bit classic Daytona USA. The US version had full online play, but European gamers had to make do with split-screen. A pity, but it was still great to play it without the glaring pop-up of the Saturn original. And it felt right too. The petition for a PSN/XBLA version starts here.
Above: Shenmue II. A beautiful, astonishing adventure that was years ahead of its time
