Wacky Races

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Infogrames Sheffield

When it comes to kart-style racing games, Dreamcast owners had the choice between Looney Tunes: Space Race and Wacky Races, both published by Infogrames. Space Race is pretty much Looney Tunes-style mayhem and chaos where Wacky Races is often more of a competitive race with occasional weapon distractions. Depending on your preference, you may prefer one over the other. I’ve grown to appreciate Space Race more over time, but back when the Dreamcast was in its prime, I preferred Wacky Races. Being a fan of the Wacky Races cartoon, it was neat to relive it to a degree with this game. These days, however, much like my preference of Warner Bros. cartoons over Hannah Barbara cartoons, I can’t help but prefer the chaos of Space Race over the calm-in-comparison Wacky Races. Wack Races is still good, though, and well worth checking out if you’re a fan of racing games, particularly kart-style racers.

Review added: 04/13/2019

World Series Baseball 2K1

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Wow Entertainment

I absolutely loved the World Series Baseball games on the Saturn. I thought that they were the best 3D baseball games I had ever played. So, it made sense that I was excited for the franchise to debut on the Dreamcast…Unfortunately, it didn’t really come close to meeting my expectations….at all. A lack of game modes is only the beginning of all of the problems found here. An awkward pitching system further hampers the game, as does the automatic fielding that doesn’t always play like you would – they may not jump at the fence to steal a home run or dive to catch a ball…and they’ll seemingly often drop it when they do make the effort to catch the ball. The automatic fielding should have been an option, not a mandatory thing. The graphics were absolutely amazing for their time, but as most folks understand when it comes to video games, graphics don’t make a good game. While this wasn’t the absolute worst baseball game that I’ve played, it was far from the best and not an acceptable experience for the baseball fans anticipating its release. You’re better off pulling out the Saturn and playing previous entries in the World Series Baseball series instead of this one. To end on a bad baseball pun, Wow Entertainment really struck out with this one.

Review added: 04/20/2019

WWF Attitude

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City

When it initially released on the N64 and Playstation, WWF Attitude was actually somewhat good. While not exactly a pick-up-and-play game, once you understood how everything worked, it was definitely enjoyable, especially considering the quality of wrestling games that we had historically gotten in North America. The career mode was fantastic for its time and the creation options were unrivaled, with the best create-a-wrestler at the time of its release and the added ability to create arenas and pay-per-views. That said, when it released on the Dreamcast, about half of a year had passed since it had released on other systems…and in that short time, WWF Attitude did not age well. New wrestling games came out or were about to come out with better, smoother gameplay (some of them containing WWF wrestlers) and Acclaim answered with a simple port of WWF Attitude, with little to no enhancements, on the much more powerful Dreamcast. At its original release, Attitude was considered to be very good. A mere five months later, it already felt outdated. This is still may be the best all-around wrestling game released in North America for the Dreamcast…but if you want a better wrestling experience on Sega’s last console, import just about any wrestling game that released exclusively in the Land of the Rising Sun instead.

Review added: 04/13/2019

WWF Royal Rumble

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Yuke's

WWF Royal Rumble in the arcade was decent, but not great. When a port was announced for the Dreamcast, a lot of wrestling fans were hoping for some new content, possibly some tweaked gameplay...unfortunately, there was none. This is just a straight port of the arcade game. You have the options of playing singles mode, which is basically an arcade mode from most fighting games, and Royal Rumble mode, which is just a 30-man Royal Rumble match...where you'll see the same wrestlers over and over because the game's roster does not have 30 wrestlers to fill those spots. It's entirely possible that you'll see three Matt Hardy's on screen at once during a Royal Rumble - wrestler entry seems to be completely random, regardless of who is currently in the ring. On the plus side, though, this game does allow nine wrestlers in the ring at a time, which allows for some fun, hectic moments. The gameplay itself is not the best - my main complaint is that there is no lock-on, so if you're trying to back away while throwing a punch or perform a grapple, you're going to turn your back to your opponent. Likewise, it's not always the easiest to line-up a punch or grapple when trying to catch an opponent off-guard, too. It can take a while to get used to it...but if you spend enough time playing, you’ll get it. Unfortunately, with a lack of modes and content, and so-so gameplay, this game ultimately falls flat.

Review added: 04/12/2019