VP Candidate Tim Walz Was a Big Dreamcast Fan, and We Think We've Found His Favorite Game

ign.com:

It’s been a while since a known gamer resided in The White House. The first, and last, to do so was former President Barack Obama, who brought a Nintendo Wii with him when he took office and, according to someone who played against him, apparently mains Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. But depending on the outcome of the 2024 election, The White House may soon have a second gamer in residence: current Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

But Gov. Walz isn’t bringing a Nintendo Wii with him (that we know of), nor has he attempted to settle his political disputes in Smash to our knowledge. His gaming habits are, surprisingly, a bit deeper a cut than that. It turns out that Gov. Walz is reportedly a fan of the Sega Dreamcast. And through some sleuthing, we’ve managed to not only track down Walz’s old Dreamcast console, but we may have also uncovered at least one game that the former teacher-turned-politician has historically enjoyed: Crazy Taxi.

We first learned that Gov. Walz was, at one point, a Dreamcast enjoyer due to an article in The New York Times. In the report, a former student of Walz’s recalls that he used to share “unusually relatable” stories with his classes, “like the time his wife had seized his Dreamcast, the Sega video game console, because he had been playing to excess.”

Obviously, this immediately sparked a flurry of community memes speculating what game had Walz so enraptured. Was it Sega Bass Fishing, a quintessential “dad” game that seemed in keeping with Gov. Walz’s overall demeanor? Was it Sega Sports NFL 2K, an apropos choice given he was a football coach and then-Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss was on the cover? Was it something more left-field like Shenmue or Skies of Arcadia? Theories abounded. We, and probably a number of other journalists, reached out to Gov. Walz’s office weeks ago looking for the answer, but didn’t get any response.

That would have been the end of it, but for one member of gaming forum