Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

---

Yu Suzuki, you son of a gun...

Sega's AM2 and CRI division does it again and gives us another example of how ahead of its time the ill-fated Dreamcast was with today's video, "Outtrigger", a fantastic (but fairly barebones) port of a Japanese 1999 Sega NAOMI arcade game in 2001. Initially, I was just testing my capture hardware and VGA box but it was looking so good that I made a video for it, lol. The game is labeled as a FPS or third-person action game around the web and the vibes it bring are undeniably "Sega", through and through. There were a few stipulations with the game's release, such as the rough spot they had migrating the Arcade's trackball / joystick combination for controls, and the online play was removed from the PAL version of the game (it still featured local multiplayer), but the game was rushed out the door as Sega would not spend much longer officially supporting the Dreamcast.

In Outtrigger you play a member of the "International Counter-terrorism Special Force (Interforce)", formed by "Visitaria", a multi-national company for military and space products. As an elite squad, they suppress all forms of terrorism with boomsticks and defend all who are deemed innocent. Jay Aragaki (the hot-blooded pro), Alain Ciel (the calm and intelligent noble), Lina Miyagi (the high-spirited tomboy) and Talon Grant (the gentle giant of few words) make up the main squad, but there are also a few generic characters and then the opposition that make up the terrorists. As can be expected of an average Sega Arcade game, this is about the extent of the plot, as the in-game plot is basically non-existent (even half of the "story" in the manual is basically a setup to talk about the Outtrigger Online Network).

If you've played a 3D shooting game before (Quake, Unreal Tournament, GoldenEye 007, etc.), then you generally know what to expect here, but the experience is streamlined to be more fast-paced and Arcade-like. The game's main modes are Arcade Mode and Mission Mode. In Arcade Mode, the player takes on four tiers of training exercises that get progressively tougher to help you in Mission Mode. In Mission Mode, the player performs more demanding tasks than in Arcade Mode. The game has a variety of small arenas where players run around and shoot their guns while dodging, grabbing power-ups, and fighting to be the last one standing or fulfilling other requirements as needed. Machine guns, Plasma Cannons, Rocket Launchers, Flamethrowers, Grenades and other manner of weaponry can be used and there are also additional characters and weapons that can be unlocked in Mission Mode. Two gadgets worth mentioning are the Noctovision and Thermography, which allow you to see in the dark and see heat signatures respectively (and they look darn cool in action).

One thing that helped the game stand out of course was the online play that was present with the SegaNet service where six players could go against each other, though this functionality was short-lived (and part of the reason it was not featured in EU equivalent, Dreamarena, although unofficial support was restored last year for online play). Another aspect of the game was the ability to rocket jump to higher areas (not really needed most of the time but helped on a couple maps) and yet another, perhaps historically significant element, was that different characters had fixed loadouts, classes and stats. In this regard, it became known as one of the first "Hero Shooters" ever made along with Team Fortress (Mod / Classic), at least in the conventional 3D sense. These stats were not front and center, but they could certainly be felt in the heat of combat. Jay and Alain are balanced, Lina is the speedster, Talon is the powerhouse, and the unlockable characters have varying specs. You can also make "Edit" characters which are just existing characters that you can mix and match weapons with (you can pick a preferred character and their abilities are skewed by weapons instead of class, so you can override some of the weaknesses a character would normally have).

The one major caveat to this game are the controls, which are notoriously lacking due to no key bindings; "Config E1" was the only one that fault somewhat plausible on controller, though you can use a keyboard / twinstick and mouse as well. The game is not the best that the Dreamcast has to offer visually, but it's still looks pretty damn good and the soundtrack is also a highlight as it's fairly varied and REALLY good quality (the tunes come in almost like redbook audio). The character banter and announcers have the same somewhat cheesy appeal of other Sega Arcade games of the era. Don't expect the game to last more than a few hours in single player, but multiplayer is still fun to this day. This is a video showing two 3/4 Arcade Mode sessions, some of Mission Mode, a little character customization, an attract mode and an ending. Enjoy.

- ADDITION -
Visit Us At: gamingsanctuary.org