Episode 134: 25 Years of the Blue Swirl (a European/PAL Dreamcast Launch Retrospective)

This episode was as inevitable as a blue Dreamcast case with its hinges broken off. Of course the Junkyard was going to record an episode to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the SEGA Dreamcast's October 14th 1999 launch in PAL regions! Blue swirl for life, mate.

In fact, celebrating this occasion was so important that we even managed to convince Junkyard founder Tom Charnock to emerge from his coffin and host the damn thing. Listen in as Tom, James, Andrew and Lewis share their memories of the Dreamcast, and provide a retrospective on the highs and lows (looking at you, Australian launch!) of the Dreamcast's venture into Europe and other PAL regions. There's also one of James' 10-questions quizzes to wrap up the episode... but will Tom, Andrew and Lewis fare better at the quiz than OziSoft did at launching the Dreamcast Down Under?

Relevant Links:

• Order Dreamcast: Year One & Year Two books
• Dreamcast Premiere Posters
• Sega Dreamcast Info page on the Dreamcast launch in France
• How the Dreamcast almost went unreleased in the Netherlands
• SEGA-16 Interview with José Ángel Sánchez (SEGA Spain)
• Australian Launch Retrospective Video

Music featured:

• Metropolis Street Racer - "Heartland"
• Monaco Grand Prix - "Japan"
• Dead or Alive 2 - "What's My Name"
• Nijuuei - "BGM #13"
• SEGA Marine Fishing - "The Offing"

Looking for more Dreamcast Junkyard goodness? You can check out our blog, join our community on Discord, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can also donate to help us with hosting costs using Buy Me A coffee. Thanks!

More from DCJY:

• The Top 200 Dreamcast Games (2023)
• The Top 25 Dreamcast Indie Games (2024)

The outro music from episode 114 onwards was created by our friend Pizza Hotline! You can stream or purchase Pizza Hotline's latest album "Polygon Island" on all major music platforms by clicking here.