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I doubt anyone in the UK awaited the arrival of the Dreamcast with as much enthusiasm as I did.

Having stolen a few minutes of Sonic Adventure on an imported Japanese DC at Gamestation some months previous, and poured over the first few issues of DC-UK, I'd gone and asked every relative I had (including a few I really didn't enjoy conversing with) to send me money for my 15th birthday, which I studiously saved for launch day on the 23rd September - two weeks after the console's American release.

Of course, the Dreamcast didn't hit UK shores on the 23rd. It was delayed a further, agonising, three weeks, by which time I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on that cool-white curved controller with the new blue swirl.

I'd agreed with my local game shop - a popular indoor market stall ran by a guy called Rob, who I'd gotten to know quite well through my years of gaming custom - that I'd trade my PSone and N64 consoles for SEGA's new super console.

I'd agreed a value for my machines. I'd confirmed he was getting a Dreamcast for launch. I had cash to put towards the part-exchange. I'd even given him my contact details so he could call me when they came in. And ALL of my friends had heard about the Dreamcast from me. A kid in school even asked if I had wet Dreamcasts (which in hindsight was rather witty. Well done him).

But when launch day came, October 14 1999 (strangely enough, a Thursday), disaster struck. Rob called me to say he hadn't gotten any stock! After months of saving and further weeks of waiting through the delay, I was now Dreamcast-less. Worse still, I only had enough money to pay for a part exchange against my existing systems, with one game and a VMU. Bad times, right?

Nay, good times! I left school on the Friday, one day after the DC launched, to speak to Rob about when he might get stock - and when I got there, I was greeted with joyous news. He had managed to get one, single Dreamcast unit, reserved exclusively for me.

BUT! He closed in only 45 minutes. I don't think I've ever ran home faster in my life.

Throwing consoles and games into boxes, frantically ringing my Dad for a lift, and pelting through the town to the building society, my excitement had reached fever pitch. Walking into Woolies (RIP) to grab the VMU felt like the final few miles of a fateful pilgrimage.

Actually getting the Dreamcast home, switching on Sonic Adventure, seeing those visuals moving, watching THAT whale chase me, and feeling the true Sonic sense of speed transplanted into full 3D was practically a dream(cast) come true.

I'd never cared much for Mario's drastic transition into 3D in Mario 64 - it didn't feel like Mario any more. But Sonic Adventure, to my mind, took the essence of Sonic and placed the cam behind the character. It was thrilling to play, and looked like nothing I'd ever seen. I played it into the wee small hours, and couldn't wait to show it off at the weekend.

When Saturday came, friends came over and we enjoyed Sonic's fishing mini-game, and then the next weekend I went and got Trickstyle, Power Stone, and an extra pad, much to everyone’s delight.

Soul Calibur followed a few months after, and after a quiet Christmas spent on Soul Fighter and Pen Pen Triicelon, Crazy Taxi elated, and Resi Code Veronica proved the next BIG DC exclusive to both replicate launch day enthusiasm, and further justify my expensive purchase.

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