It's Thanksgiving night and the turkey carcass lays neglected in the kitchen along with ten other side dishes that are begging to be shuffled off to the fridge. Unitdaisy has left to drive her mother home, leaving me to host an old friend of mine and her boyfriend. After discussing our respective jobs for a bit, the old friend asked if she could show her boyfriend Space Channel 5, so I obliged and booted it up. After about half an hour of continuous play it became obvious she wasn't just showing him, but proceeding to go through the entire game. "But he has to see Space Michael!" she exclaimed when I mentioned that, her boyfriend probably had received a sufficient taste of the game by seeing three of the game's four levels.

There's something about Space Channel 5 that makes me scratch my head and wonder why it and the Dreamcast didn't make a bigger splash. For a year or two Unitdaisy and myself would schlep our Dreamcast, extra controllers, games, VMUs (the Dreamcast memory cards, enhanced with a tiny LCD screen that matched the on-screen action) and maracas (but that's another article) over to friend's houses, friends who hadn't spent any time with a video game system since the Atari 2600. Once we set up the systems and showed off a few of the system's premiere titles (Soul Calibur, Samba de Amigo, etc.) they'd take to the Dreamcast like a fish to water. And while they enjoyed most of the games we brought along, Space Channel 5 always managed to steal the show. While the contrived plot of a reporter saving the universe against an alien invasion wasn't terribly compelling in and of itself, saving it through dance apparently was. Ulala, space reporter extraordinaire, would salaciously strut her stuff to a brassy soundtrack, vanquishing invading aliens named Morolians left and right, all while gaining a troupe of back-up dancers to thwart the invasion. Space Channel 5 feels stylish and is utterly infectious: from Ulala's exclamations to the 'retro-future' design of each level, it was a feast for the eyes and ears that kept even those with little interest in games glued to the controller. I firmly believed that if there was one game that could bring 'non-gamers' to the Dreamcast, it was Space Channel 5.

Regardless of my beliefs, Space Channel 5 failed to be the Dreamcast's savior. It mostly sat unsold and unloved on retail racks before getting chucked into the discount bin. Then SEGA pulled the plug on the Dreamcast and that was the end of that - the U.S. never even received the sequel on its native hardware. However, on this Thanksgiving I see the same exuberance for the title I saw so many years ago as my friend is thoroughly captivated by Ulala's antics yet again, singing along with the Morolian dance steps even though she hasn't played the game in over a year. Not only am I reminded of those gaming parties but I also recall an acquaintance who dressed as Ulala on Halloween and I can't forget to mention that, to this day Unitdaisy never fails to say 'Now Moloading' (the loading screen text that pun-tacularly replaced the industry standard 'Now Loading' text) whenever she encounters a loading screen in any video game. The game certainly inspires those who play it, and I'm hard-pressed to think of any other game that has gripped those around me to this extent.

Sadly, with the death of the Dreamcast and the departure of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Space Channel 5's creator, from SEGA it appears that Ulala will forever be nothing more than an occasional easter egg in future SEGA games. Space Channel 5's sequel, entitled Space Channel 5 Part 2, finally braved the North American market via a poorly translated budget-price PS2 collection which also included a port of the first game. Sadly, the sequel seemed to be more of a twisted parody of the first game, containing more fan-service rather than actual substance, including such souring experiences as Ulala bound by a tentacle monster. THQ released a port of the first game for the GameBoy Advance that served to disappoint everyone, and you can find a nearly dead-on impression of Space Channel 5's gameplay mechanics in SEGA's Feel the Magic: XX/XY, and there are rumors that Ulala may have an additional outing on next-generation but "nothing has been decided".

At least we can revel and revisit the original game's glory. Some might say that it's 'Simon Says' gameplay is shallow and it's hard to argue with them, however the game is undeniably engrossing. Mizuguchi knows that presentation can go a long way towards creating a fulfilling experience, as evidenced by his other Dreamcast masterpiece Rez, and that facet certainly acts as Space Channel 5's tentpole. Unlike many games, the presentation is enough to make the main characters feel tangible, they have distinct personalities deftly conveyed through the character design and movement; they become characters that anyone playing will instantly want to glom onto. The campy dialogue and plot comes off as fun instead of cheap, and it's worth playing through the entire game just to experience the funky and swinging soundtrack. More than anything, I'd argue that the shallow gameplay was what had myself, and my friends, so enamored with the title: easy to pick up, but so charismatic that you didn't want to put it down.

Obviously Space Channel 5 didn't bring thousands of casual gamers 'into the fold' like I hoped it would. In fact, it appears that the American release didn't come close to meeting SEGA's financial expectations. However, given the looks on my friends faces and my personal experiences with the game I'm still rather in disbelief about the entire ordeal. The simple fact that my friend, my old friend who spits on most video games and only graces a PS2 if there's a dance pad involved, here she is having a more-than-merry time with the title. Sure, my sample pool may not be large but the zeal these typically non-gaming folks exude convince me that there's more to Space Channel 5 than most gamers are willing to give it.