Operation Rainfall launched back in 2011 and within a few years, played a part in motivating the powers that be at Nintendo of America and Xseed to localize popular Japanese RPGs The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Pandora’s Tower.
Even more unbelievable was the case of Shenmue III, that until it was announced before our very eyes at E3 2015, seemed just as realistic as a new SEGA console. It’s very likely that had fans not continued to voice their desire for a Shenmue III over the years, it would have been nearly impossible for creator Yu Suzuki to convince anyone to resurrect that franchise.
The power of social media will be crucial in trying to get some kind of similar momentum behind a Dreamcast 2 or a new SEGA console.
“We can be so much more optimistic these days because of how social networking allows us to reach people and band together to support games that we love,” said Freeman
Although the percentage is still low, there’s as a good a chance as any now, in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and more, to get Project Dream off the ground. And while many quietly associated with Project Dream toil away on a pitch, Freeman and Wiseman work to use social networking to grow interest.
“We like to get fans thinking so we routinely put up polls or questions to gain an insight into what they want, I [Freeman] like to engage in a bit of productive spamming over on 2chan and other Japanese sites.”
Although the goal is SEGA buying into the idea to reenter the console business, Project Dream isn’t putting all of their eggs into the Dreamcast 2 basket. If SEGA is still showing some interest, they’re willing to hold out, but if they get a hard no, Project Dream will still work to deliver something that will appease longtime fans of SEGA hardware.
“If SEGA says no, then Ben [Lawson of Project Dream] would like to carry on with a spiritual successor to the console. If we then manage to get licenses in hand, then games could be made available even in that scenario.” said Wiseman
At this point, some people might be wondering what the point of all this is. Why do we even need new SEGA hardware when people can still play SEGA games on the consoles that already exist? Freeman and other hardcore SEGA fans will tell you that it’s just not the same. There’s a certain charm that’s missing by playing it on something other than a SEGA console.
“There are so many unique series and titles, people who loved the high quality releases on the Dreamcast may enjoy [SEGA] Saturn games, people that quit gaming after Megadrive may rekindle a love of games through playing Saturn titles, and being able to play them on a SEGA console, it feels so right, compared to playing a ported version on a Wii,” said Freeman.
She continued: “Even today’s youth, they have so much passion and love for games, old and new. What could be a better way to encourage those sequels that never happened to the games people loved most?”
As superficial as that may sound to some, there might be something to it. How strange would it be to play Super Mario Bros. on a Xbox if Nintendo were ever to go the SEGA route? For SEGA fans, who are just as into the classic SEGA IP as Nintendo fans are of theirs, this has been the reality for quite some time now.
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Even if SEGA doesn’t sign on to fulfill Project Dream’s wildest dreams, that doesn’t mean that their efforts couldn’t inspire SEGA to meet somewhere in the middle and do something to please the SEGA faithful that have yet to lose the magic of the 90s.
Perhaps it will be just a commitment to delivering better home console games than they have been doing over the last few years, or importing more of their Japanese games such as the Yakuza franchise. Even more optimistically, maybe fans can consider Project Dream a success if they can at least get enough attention to convince SEGA to revisit some of their classic franchises that have remained dormant since the 90s and early 2000s.
Still, until SEGA shutters its doors for good, there will always been a population of fans that are ready and waiting for SEGA’s big comeback. Swooping down from the skies to go toe to toe with the likes of Nintendo, Sony and Xbox. Until that actually happens though, it’s probably best to keep dreaming.
