The Best Dreamcast Multiplayer Games

The Nintendo Wii may get all the mainstream attention when it comes to party games, but the Sega Dreamcast is still one of the best (and most affordable machines) when it comes to solid multiplayer action. The Dreamcast multiplayer library is quite diverse and has a number of titles that are recommended for both hardcore and casual gamers.

Power Stone 2

Up To Four Players

Competitive

Pure Chaotic Combat

There is no better way for a group of friends to grow closer together than to beat the crap out of each other. Power Stone allows you to move around in a fully 3D environment in your battles in addition to utilizing furniture, poles, and other objects to do extra damage.

What makes Power Stone really stand out is the strategic element found within the game’s Power Stone gimmick. If a player gets three Power Stones they are temporarily boosted by a unique super-human power. So players will not only want to beat the crap out of their opponents, but also try to keep them from getting Power Stones and horde them for themselves.

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Bomberman Online

Up To Four Players

Team-Based & Competitive

Nothing Like Cornering A Friend With Two Bombs

If there is one party game franchise you can usually find on just about any platform, it’s Bomberman. The core Bomberman games are filled with frantic action with players in pursuit of blowing up their opponents.

Bomberman Online doesn’t quite live up to the fine legacy of Saturn Bomberman (with its support for up to ten players), but it is still one of the best installments of the last ten years. There are a variety of multiplayer modes to keep everyone busy. (BTW, don’t worry about the “Online” thing – all the good stuff still works offline as well.)

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Samba De Amigo

Up To Two Players

Cooperative & Competitive

Get Your Friends Shakin’

Music games are always fun at parties. They aren’t quite as intimidating to non-gamers and music on its own is a natural party enhancer. Unfortunately, the Dreamcast doesn’t have any 4-player music games, but Samba De Amigo is the best game of the genre and does support two-players.

While games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Heroes are only entertaining to watch from the sidelines if the player is highly skilled, Samba De Amigo is a riot to watch no matter the experience level. There is just something about watching people shake their maracas like there’s no tomorrow.

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Virtua Tennis & Tennis 2K2

Up To Four Players

Team-Based & Competitive

Deep & Realistic, But Easy To Learn

The Sega Tennis games are some of the most unassuming classics in all of party gaming. Typically, most people would view a Tennis game as being a boring experience, but if nothing else, Wii Sports has changed that perception a bit. However, as apposed to Wii Sports, the Sega Tennis games offer a much more realistic and deep gameplay experience.

Having the essential quality of being easy to play and difficulty to master, Virtua Tennis is perfect for getting non-gamers in on the party action. I have personally had many parties with both guys and girls of all gaming levels having a blast on a 4-player doubles tournament.

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Re-Volt

Up To Four Players

Competitive

Make Sure To Try Battle Tage Mode

As opposed to driving full-size cars (that tend to be a bit more complex), Re-Volt puts players in the driver seat of small, remote-controlled cars. You can think of it as a three dimensional hybrid of the NES classics Super RC Pro-AM and Micro Machines with extra multiplayer modes built in.

Very few racing titles will get a group of people yelling, screaming, and laughing as much as Re-Volt’s Battle Tag mode. The Battle Tag multiplayer mode is an addictive mix of Hide & Seek, Tag, and Hot Potato that is obviously perfect for parties.

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Chu Chu Rocket!

Up To Four Players

Competitive

The Best Multiplayer Puzzle Ever

This unique puzzle game from Sonic Team not only served as a good brain-teaser in single-player mode, but also has solid multi-player features. Chu Chu Rocket takes a cue from Lemmings, in that you must guide hapless creatures to safety.

The goal in Chu Chu Rocket is to guide mice to your rockets and cats into your opponents’ rockets by placing arrow throughout a maze-like course. Of course, you also have to avoid leading them to your opponents’ rockets and blocking incoming cats.

To make matters worse, each player can only have three arrows on-screen at a time and cannot place them on other players’ arrows or their own arrows. Needless to say, the blazing competition and deep strategy easily make up for Chu Chu Rocket’s simple presentation.

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Propeller Arena

Up To Four Players

Competitive

Death Match In The Air

The multiplayer air combat game is one of the most famous of the unreleased Dreamcast games as it used the September 11th attacks and an excuse for its cancellation. While some of the canceled games deserved their fate, Propeller Arena actually had a lot of promise as it was essentially a more arcade-like Crimson Skies.

The overall goal of Propeller Arena is fairly straightforward: shoot down as many planes as you can within the time limit. It is essentially like Unreal Tournament mixed with dog fighting. Just like any death-match game, if you get shot down, you will automatically re-appear in a random part of the arena to battle again. Power-ups are also available throughout the game that can give your special weapons and abilities. They are similar to the power-ups you would find in a game like Mario Kart.

The arcade-like control scheme makes Propeller Arena a great party game that is inviting to new gamers. Before you know it, you will have four people yelling at each other as they blow each their foes out of the air. As long as you don’t mind downloading an unreleased game, there is no reason you shouldn’t give Propeller Arena a try.

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Toy Commander

Up To Four Players

Competitive

Play With Your Toys Again

This is another one of those unique games you won’t find on any other console. Toy Commander lets you pull of combat missions with toy planes, tanks, trucks, and other vehicles, much like you did when you were a kid. Toy Commander’s four-player multiplayer has a number of modes that really bring the game to life.

There are multiple modes to try such as Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Cat and Mouse which is a concept similar to Re-Volt’s Battle Tag. While these modes might be similar in theory to those in an FPS, they are really a fresh experience in Toy Commander.

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Looney Tunes Space Race

Up To Four Players

Competitive

Classic Cartoon Racing

Once Mario Kart 64 came out, there were plenty of clones to be found on every console. My personal favorite on the Dreamcast is Looney Tunes Space Race. It uses cell-shaded graphics to create a convincing cartoon look for both the racers and the courses.

Like in Mario Kart, you have can obtain numerous power-ups to either give you a personal boost or devastate your opponents. The power-ups also tie in nicely with the whole Looney Tunes theme, such as dropping anvils and those guns that fire a boxing glove on a spring.

Between the power-up hijinks, the crazy courses, and the authentic character voice-overs, Space Race is a riot for players of all ages. You may also want to look intoWacky Races, which is a very similar game.

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Worms Armageddon & Worms World Party

Up To Four Players

Team-Based & Competitive

Strategy & Humor Combined Flawlessly

The Worms series is a longstanding strategic combat franchise that benefits from both stellar gameplay and wonderful comedy. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one, but I used to spend many nights in college having Worms Armageddon tournaments with my roommates and other guys on my hall and we were always dying from laughing at each other and the game itself.

I usually played the Worms games played on the PC, but the Dreamcast also has a respectable port of both Worms Armageddon & Worms World Party. Even if you only have one Dreamcast controller, you can pass it around for each player’s turn.

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Beats of Rage & BoR Mods

Up To Three or Four Players

Cooperative

Plenty of Mods to Keep Things Interesting

It’s no secret that the Dreamcast has one of the best homebrew scenes of any console. One of the standouts of the homebrew crowd is a side-scrolling brawler by the name of Beats of Rage. As you can probably tell by the name it is inspired by Sega’s classic Streets of Rage franchise.

In addition to the original Beats of Rage game, you can also find an excellent assortment of Beats of Rage Mods that put a new shell on the brawler’s engine. Probably the optimal way to test of the best of these brawlers is to download the Beats of Rage Volume 2.

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Fighting Games

Up To Two or Four Players

Competitive or Team-Based

Great For Tournament Setups

There is no shortage of top-notch fighting games on the Dreamcast, so it is one of the best platforms for fighting game tournaments. There are even a couple of my favorites that have special modes for four-player, team-based matches. I won’t feature all the good fighting games here (check here instead), but will instead cover four of my favorites for party situations…

Marvel vs. Capcom Series

Unless your friends are all hardcore fighting aficionados, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is probably your best bet for a 2D fighter. It’s hard to pass up the frantic action that you get with three-on-three teams of comic book and video game icons armed with dizzying combo moves. If you would like 4-player tag-mode, you will want the original Marvel Vs. Capcom, which isn’t quite as flashy, but still very enjoyable.

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Dead or Alive 2

This series is a favorite to many (for various reasons), but what makes it worthy of being on this list is its four-player Tag Mode. Much like you would imagine, this mode lets four people take turns dishing out the pain on the other team.

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Street Fighter 3: Third Strike

Capcom took the advantages that 2D games had (precise movements, quick reflexes, and strategy) and pushed them to the max with Third Strike. In addition to other great moves like Hyper Arts and Combos, Street Fighter 3 introduced the Parry system, which when used successfully, will interrupt the opponent’s attack and open him/her up to your best efforts.

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Soul Calibur

Any fighting fan knows that the Soul Calibur series is one of the best franchises in the genre. It has traditionally been relatively deep for a 3D fighter and sports a wide variety of characters. Sure, the newer installments have a few more character customization options and some enhanced game modes, but the original Soul Calibur holds up incredibly well in terms of gameplay depth and graphical quality.

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Even More: The Dreamcast 2D Fighter Library

San Francisco Rush 2049

Up To Four Players

Competitive

Smooth & Slick Arcade Racing

Rush 2049 is four-player, arcade-style racing at its finest. The Dreamcast version is the best port of this classic and it sports not only traditional racing, but a combat mode as well. It also performs surprisingly well with the four-player split-screen without reducing the graphical quality too much.

If you regularly have the same people over to play, you can have them save their own cars and control configurations on a custom profile (if you have enough VMU space).

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Ooga Booga

Up To Four Players

Up To Four Players Team-Based & Competitive

When You Need Something Unique

If you enjoy games like Power Stone or Bomberman, you might want to also take a look at Ooga Booga. In this wacky multiplayer titles, you play as witch doctors who throw shrunken heads, ride animals, or strategically using spells on each other to battle their way to victory and, in turn, the favor of a volcano goddess. There are a few different gameplay modes to give your party a bit of variety. The guys over at PlanetDreamcast did a much better job than I could do describing the modes, so I’ll let them handle it…

Smakahuna – “Chase your enemies around the island and each time you land a hit, you’ll be rewarded points depending on the type of attack used. At the end of each round, the player with the highest number of points wins.”

Boar Polo – “Two teams play a simplified game of polo — smacking, attacking, and charging a giant boulder towards their enemies’ goal, hoping to score. Most of the weapons are carried over from the Smakahuna mode, and can be used to either stop your enemies from scoring, or help move the ball for your own team.”

Rodeo – “focuses solely on your boar-riding skills. In this event, points are scored only by hitting an opponent while atop a boar, or by knocking another player down from one. Although less entertaining than the other modes, it’s good practice for beginners looking to become swine-savvy.”

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Honorable Mentions:

Unreal Tournament & Quake III Arena: If you have a newer console with more modern FPSs, you’ll probably want to stick with those. But if the Dreamcast is your most modern piece of hardware, both of these games have plenty of fun packed into them. Capture the Flag or Deathmatch in Unreal Tournament are my personal favorites. Outrigger is also worth looking into if you want a more arcade-like FPS with a not-so-dark look and feel.

If you have a newer console with more modern FPSs, you’ll probably want to stick with those. But if the Dreamcast is your most modern piece of hardware, both of these games have plenty of fun packed into them. Capture the Flag or Deathmatch in Unreal Tournament are my personal favorites. Outrigger is also worth looking into if you want a more arcade-like FPS with a not-so-dark look and feel. Test Drive V-Rally and Test Drive LeMans: Both of these great racers are both four-player. Playing that game with three other people can really get the competitive juices flowing. Both V-Rally and LeMans have unique characteristics that keep them relevant in a more modern era, but if you want more realism, stick with the XBox 360 or PS3.

Both of these great racers are both four-player. Playing that game with three other people can really get the competitive juices flowing. Both V-Rally and LeMans have unique characteristics that keep them relevant in a more modern era, but if you want more realism, stick with the XBox 360 or PS3. 2K Sports Series: Sega’s 2K sports games (NFL 2K2, NBA 2K2, NHL 2K2, World Series Baseball 2K2, etc) were some of the best in the business and more than made up for the lack of EA games on the Dreamcast. If you don’t have any newer machines at your place, these will do the trick.

Sega’s 2K sports games (NFL 2K2, NBA 2K2, NHL 2K2, World Series Baseball 2K2, etc) were some of the best in the business and more than made up for the lack of EA games on the Dreamcast. If you don’t have any newer machines at your place, these will do the trick. Armada: This isn’t your typical party game, but it is a unique game that has been described as an “Asteroids Action-RPG”. The fact that it supports four-player cooperative gameplay is enough to make it worth mentioning here. This may be a hidden gem for you and your friends if this sounds appealing.

This isn’t your typical party game, but it is a unique game that has been described as an “Asteroids Action-RPG”. The fact that it supports four-player cooperative gameplay is enough to make it worth mentioning here. This may be a hidden gem for you and your friends if this sounds appealing. Gauntlet Legends: This modernized version of the arcade classic makes for some great hack-and-slash adventure on the Dreamcast. Many of the elements that made you fall in love with the original can be found here.

This modernized version of the arcade classic makes for some great hack-and-slash adventure on the Dreamcast. Many of the elements that made you fall in love with the original can be found here. Giant Gram 2000: All Japan Pro Wrestling 3 & Fire Pro Wrestling D: The import titles are must-haves for wrestling fans. They are much more fulfilling than the western-developed games.

Other Multiplayer Favorites From Racketboy Members

Fur Fighters

Pen Pen Tri Icelon

Pop N Music Series

Demolition Racer: No Exit

Super Boom Tread Troopers

Spawn: In The Demon’s Hand

Sno-Cross Championship Racing

Mag Force Racing

Virtua Athlete

Also, if you’re a Dreamcast owner, be sure to check out the Sega Dreamcast VGA cable in the Racketboy Store