As a ‘hunter’ your job was to leave the safe confines of your orbital colony ship and venture to the surface of planet Ragol, which was to be your new home. However, the planet was also home to a host of nasties, including the powerful Dark Falz. Spread across a handful of areas, the game was relatively short for an RPG, but this didn’t matter as replayability came in the form of questing with groups of friends, tackling harder and harder levels, and trading loot.

The real-time combat, addictive loot collecting and text chat system that automatically translated set phrases to other languages all helped create a unique online RPG that’s still going today in updated forms.

PSO V2.0 added new areas, items and character classes to the mix, as well as improvements to the game’s lobby systems, and even though more recent incarnations have added all sorts of technical enhancements, it’s the Dreamcast’s version that most fans fondly remember.

4. Soul Calibur

Although the Soul Calibur series had the most irritating announcer of any fighter, the weapon-based combat more than made up for it. Soul Calibur on the DC was not only one of the best fighters on the system (some would say the best), but is often cited as the best 3D scrapper ever created.

The combat system was wonderfully implemented, and catered for total newcomers and seasoned veterans alike. It was easy to pick up, and very hard to put down, and it also packed in a collection of game modes, including an expansive quest mode, and a ton of special content.

It wouldn’t be a total exaggeration to call Soul Calibur a perfect fighting game, and even the later entries in the series have never really recaptured the overall quality and appeal of this incarnation.

3. Sonic Adventure 2

It’s a widely held belief that Sega pretty much killed off its mascot when it made the jump to 3D, and it has to be said that many of the 3D Sonic games are pretty terrible. However, Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast was an exception to that rule.

The first Sonic Adventure may have been a little rough around the edges, but the second game managed to refine the formula greatly. It featured multiple characters, various game styles and some impressive presentation. It was a slick, 3D affair that was one of the few such Sonic games to recapture the feel of the originals whilst injecting something new.

The pseudo-adventure elements of the first game were stripped out, leaving, for the better, a much more traditional action-oriented game. It also made much better use of the DC’s VM units thanks to the improved Chao garden.

It wasn’t a perfect game, but it’s one of the last, great Sonic games released, and to some, the only 3D outing worth playing.

2. Skies Of Arcadia

Some call this the best Final Fantasy clone ever made, and others would argue it’s even better than Square’s RPG series. Regardless of your view, what can’t be argued is that Skies Of Arcadia is one of the best examples of a turn-based RPG, period.

The story of Blue Rogue air pirate, Vyse and his friends is a sublime RPG masterpiece that contains a huge world, loveable characters and plenty of secrets to discover. Add on to that the ship-to-ship battles and innovative VM minigame and you had an epic adventure that simply wouldn’t let you go.

Sure, when compared to such titles as Final Fantasy, Skies Of Arcadia is nowhere near as challenging, with some vastly overpowered specials (Aika’s Delta Shield and Vyse’s Skull Shield practically made your party invulnerable in most battles), but it was nonetheless a vastly enjoyable game that didn’t settle for simply cloning other RPGs, but brought its own tricks to the party.

1. Shenmue (1 & 2)

No Dreamcast owner worth his or her salt should need introducing to Shenmue. Yu Suzuki’s open-world masterpiece may still be unfinished, but the first two games are something any self-respecting gamer should seek out, preferably on its native Dreamcast.

The story of Ryo Hazuki’s quest for revenge was an epic tale that took place in a stunningly realised recreation of late 80s Japan and China. Via a third-person view, gamers explored a detailed world, conversed with NPCs, investigated leads and even took part in Virtua Fighter-powered fights (the game was originally going to be a Virtua Fighter RPG).

Few games of the time could even come close to the impressive technical achievements made by the game, and despite some missteps, such as the infamously dodgy English dub, and a story that often left you waiting around for events to happen, it was a rock solid adventure/RPG, and one that still stands as a perfect example of what Sega’s internal studios were capable of.

To be this good…

That completes our list which, as always, will no doubt be missing some of your own personal favourites. So, feel free to chat about your own Dreamcast favourites below – there are plenty of classic DC games left to pick from. Which is your personal number one? Do you disagree with ours? Have your say below…