Released stateside in 1999, Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast never got a fair shake in its time. The system, the forerunner of the generation that would include the more successful Xbox and PlayStation 2, offered online connectivity and stunning graphics. Yet the Dreamcast flopped so hard, Sega pulled out of the consolemaking business and now spends its time standing in the corner, talking to itself and making 12 awful Sonic games a year.

Still, the Dreamcast has its followers, who were overjoyed in April when ThinkGeek offered new, boxed Dreamcasts for sale. Too good to be true, right?

Right. Nick Chester of the video game blog Destructoid writes that an anonymous tipster ordered one of those Dreamcasts and found that the seller has a very loose definition of the term “new.”

Our tipster was “fortunate” enough to place an order before they were sold out, and was disappointed by what he received.

“While the extra controller was new, the console was far from it,” he writes. “The console itself is roughed up — the barcode has been scratched, the console’s plastic has gunk on it.”

He continues on to mention damage to plastic from being expose to the light, a worn serial number sticker, scratches, “gunk” on the controller port, and more. All total, with shipping and delivery, our tipster tells us the Dreamcast cost nearly $200.

A request for a full refund has been submitted, which he hopes will cover costs of the console, shipping and handling charges; after two weeks, he’s received no response from ThinkGeek.

Dreamcast, your tragic mythos only grows with sob stories such as this.

UPDATE: ThinkGeek apologized.

We’re very sorry about the whole thing—we never meant to ship used Dreamcasts. We know our customers are smarty pants and could tell if they’d been duped with a stale Dreamcast; we’d never get away with taking advantage of you guys, so why would we try?

ThinkGeek’s new-in-box Dreamcasts not so new [Destructoid]
(Photo: Destructoid)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.