Dreamcast keeps track of play history?

[Salduchi]

A while back, a guy I bought a Dreamcast from told me that the Dreamcast has some sort of internal memory that records every game a particular console has played (and maybe playtime) and that it’s inaccessible unless you have a special tool to access it. Maybe Sega could access this data when doing console repairs? The only thing I know of that the Dreamcast keeps track of is internet data. Does anyone know anything about this? I’ve be very interested to find out.

[majinga]

I don't think so.
The DC don't have a place to store this data.
And in the 1998 there where no reasons to track this data.

[Leynos]

No. I don't know what the first gaming system was to do this but I didn't see this until Wii as it had internal flash memory.

[TapamN]

There is a region in flash that some games use to record play data. Few games do it, and it can vary depending on which region the game is. (Shenmue II JP has records, while Shenmue II EU does not.) It stores stuff like when the game was first played, how many times the the game was booted, and when it was booted. I don't think it records how long you play a game for.

I wrote a program that can display some stuff from flash, including the play records.

I know these games create play records:

Sakura Taisen (JP)
Sakura Taisen 2 (JP)
Sakura Taisen 3 (JP)
Sakura Taisen 4 (JP)
Sega GT (JP)
Shenmue II (JP)
Virtua Fighter 4 Passport (JP)
Virtua Fighter History (JP)
Virtua Fighter 3tb (JP)
F355 Challenge (US)
Samba De Amigo 2000 (JP)
Sports Jam (US)
Aero Dancing i (JP)
Evil Twin (EU)
Hundred Swords (JP)
Soul Calibur (JP)
Millennium Soldier (JP version of Expendable)

I think some version of DOA2 can also create play records?

Edit: The Lost Golem and Napple Tale also create records.

[Blades]

I never knew that. I wonder what other secrets my old Dreamcast is hiding.