The international DLC of Sonic Adventure

The Sega Dreamcast has always been known as an underrated treasure among video game consoles. Not only did it have a short life, but another feature that was groundbreaking for its time was that it was also the first game system with online distributions and downloadable content for games. Sonic Adventure was the first Dreamcast game to make use of this, however as time has passed it's no longer possible to re download these events, unless you already have a VMU that's had these distribution events stored with a working battery. So today I'll be sharing some of the original DLC that was in the U.S. release of the game from the span of 1999 to 2000.

U.S. Launch Party (released 9/09/99)

The first downloadable event features Dreamcast symbol balloons and signs strewn about the Station Square celebrating the launch of the Sega Dreamcast. By interacting with these decorations the player would be greeted with complimentary messages from Sega and Sonic Team about the system's launch and celebration.

Tremble Park (released 10/18/99)

Released just before Halloween, Tremble Park featured "Happy Halloween" signs around the Twinkle Park entrance of Station Square and would tell the player about a new Halloween event going on in the Twinkle Park stage. Once entered the player is treated to many "Trick or Treat" signs placed throughout, with jack-o-lantern characters accompanying the decorations. They can't hurt the player, but can get in the way. If the player is playing as as Amy, they can also find these signs and jack-o-lanters inside the Twinkle Park mirror room.

Christmas 1999 (released 12/17/99)

By mid December of 1999, Sega released a Christmas download event with Station Square having newly placed Christmas trees around different parts of the hub, and include small details such as a pixelated Sonic and Chao (the virtual pets introduced in the game). On top of that, interacting with any of the trees will start up a song from the Christmas version of the Sega Saturn version, Nights into Dreams.

AT&T event (released 12/24/99)

This was an event collaborated with AT&T and Sega Dreamcast Magazine that released before the end of December, tasking the player to race to a goal at the Speed Highway stage with AT&T platforms put into different places of the stage, as well as allowing the player to new areas that they couldn't access before from normal means. Additionally by playing as Tails and going to the Sand Hill stage you had to go through a number of signposts to the end, and lastly, playing as Knuckles in the Mystic Ruins hub and dig underground for treasure and using AT&T signs for clues on where the treasure may be. Winners of this contest would receive an AT&T premium package for a year, one Dreamcast game, or a one year subscription to Sega Dreamcast Magazine.

Y2K event (released 12/29/99)

Another late December download event, this one is as obvious as it sounds, large rings could be found in hubs, telling the player to find other large rings in each of the stages of the game. Touching these rings the player receives a message that says "A happy new year in 2K! Please support Sonic in 2K". Aside from that addition, signs are also found in Station Square with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles celebrating the new millennium and year.

Samba GP (released 04/27/00)

The last of the Sonic Adventure download events released in April of 2000 and was made to promote the release of another Sega Dreamcast game, Samba De Amigo. Even though the event was based on the name of the game, this new additional racing course for Twinkle Circuit really has nothing to do with the game at all, but a neat bonus is that an instrumental version of Super Sonic Racing plays, a song that was previously in a Sonic game on the Sega Saturn, Sonic R.

To conclude, these downloadable events never made a comeback in the game's remastered port, Sonic Adventure DX, but thanks to the PC gaming community, modders have made it possible to re-experience these events again with the Steam version of the game, complete with all of the details.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of overlooked history of Sega's launch title, and it's my own way of celebrating a game that's already more than 20 years old. If you have your own memories of the game, leave a comment and as always, see you next article!