I was never even really a Sega fan (had a Game Gear that was not worth the money), but there was something about the Dreamcast. I bought one at launch and I really enjoyed it. In fact, I'm trying to think what I did with it. Seems like I gave it to my brother who ended up pawning it.
Personally I hated the memory cards. They were ahead of their time (too big, not that much storage for the mini games, poor battery life, etc), but in this case it was a major hindrance where the idea was beyond the technology. Oddly enough, even though I hate goofy peripherals and the like now, I kinda thought it was good back with the Dreamcast. I loved House of the Dead 2, even though we only had one crappy light gun (since Sega wouldn't sell their official one stateside). Also, that was back when I absolutely hated fighting games, but even then I could tell that Soul Calibur was very good. Ah, good times.