The Sega Dreamcast (code-named "Blackbelt", "Dural" and "Katana" during development) was Sega's last video game console, released on November 27, 1998 in Japan, on September 9, 1999 in the United States and on October 14, 1999 in Europe. Based on a similar hardware structure as Sega's NAOMI arcade machine, it was designed to supersede Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's N64.
Although generally considered to be "ahead of its time" - it was the first console with online gaming out of the box - the Dreamcast failed to gather enough momentum before the release of the PlayStation 2 a year later. After the Dreamcast was discontinued, Sega withdrew from the console hardware business.