DCJY InsideOut: Fast Striker Limited Edition


Hurray, the latest new Dreamcast indie release has arrived! Here's a quick video of the packaging of the limited edition which includes a bonus soundtrack disc, as well as rather a lot of footage of my first playthrough of it. first impressions are it's a much more accessible shooter than Last Hope and Dux what with it's four different game modes, I manged to play through to the 4th level on Novice in this first ever go without even grasping all the games techniques yet so that's cool.

Sturmwind Trailer!



Finally we have direct feed footage of Redspotgames new release due next year, and it looks stunning! In other news, Fast Striker is now shipping to all those who ordered! It's a great time to be a Dreamcast gamer! :)

RedSpotGames permanent price drops on R4 and W&W!

Redspotgames have just put out some permanent price drops on some of their excellent indie games including Rush Rush Rally Racing DX (which comes with the soundtrack CD) for just 22 Euros (£18.60 / $29.25) and get this: Wind and Water Puzzle battles for an amazing 10 Euros (£8.45 / $13.30)! If you haven't already picked up these outstanding games now is defiantly the time to get going to their shop!

Dreamcast Collection for PS3/360 confirmed.

"The Dreamcast fans are very devoted," he said. "You see on eBay people are still buying the games and system. We actually have a Dreamcast collection coming out soon. We are looking to bring some of the old Dreamcast games to market digitally and packaged. The titles are still to be announced. The Ultimate Genesis Collection did huge numbers on PS3 and 360, so it's an important part of our business. We've already been releasing some Dreamcast games digitally; Crazy Taxi [for one]." 

Quoted from Alan Pritchard, vice president of sales and marketing at Sega during an interview in the latest issue of Game Informer. This means that pre-order on GameStop is real, though wherever the price and release date were real is yet to be known.

Most likely it will at least contain Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Sega Bass Fishing and Space Channel 5 Part 2, but will that be all or will there be more? Well Sega did say they plan to release more than those 4 in the future so we might start seeing announcement of further downloadable titles in the near future that could also be on the collection.

Some games might have issues getting ported, mainly due to licensing issues which led to the changes in the re-release of Crazy Taxi. Jet Set Radio for example might run into some issues that would led to cut music. Also Daytona USA 2001 would be stuck due to Sega not owning the Daytona license anymore (which is why the arcade re-release of the original Daytona is called Sega Racing Classic).

Also I doubt there will be any online play with any of these releases so that rules Phantasy Star Online out unless they really want to surprise and impress us. Space Channel 5 Part 1 was probably skipped due to the game using pre-rendered video backgrounds that would require a lot of work to look good on a HD resolution. Of course third party games will be out of the question too.

There are still plenty of easily portable games however: Skies of Arcadia, Dynamite Cop, Virtua Fighter 3tb, Zombie Revenge, House of the Dead 2, Outtrigger, Puyo Puyo Fever, Virtual On 2 (already on XBLA), Sonic Adventure 2, 18 Wheeler and many more.

Who knows!

New Redspotgames release announced: 'Sturmwind'!

Well this came out of no where! Redspotgames have announced a new game for the Dreamcast during an interview on a German TV show (about five minutes in)! Their website is down at the moment but I found the news via Dreamcast Scene. When the site is back up it should be up for pre-order. Can you guess what genre it is?

Why of course it's another scrolling shooter! There is very little footage of the game at the moment but this video does show a bit of it.

There has also been two screenshots via the DCemu forums. I must say it sure looks pretty!


Some details revealed about the game:
- 16 Levels
- 3 selectable difficulty levels
- Configurable Controls
- Adjustable screen position
- Different weapons selectable
- More than 20 giant enemies
- Hundreds of different enemies
- Introduction FMV sequence
- 2D/3D hybrid game engine
- Resolution: 640x480
- PAL50, PAL60, NTSC and VGA (with adapter)
- Region-free (universal)
- Works with any Dreamcast compatible with MIL-CD
- Sound CDDA
- Supports: Joypad, Arcade Stick (Analog / Digital), VMU, Rumble Pack (configurable)
- Hiscore tables with WebCoder to internet
- System of unlockable content awards

Interview with Corey Marshall, the DC Turns 12 and ODCM Overload


Courtesy of the awesome SEGAbits community member Supa comes a great interview with the English voice actor of Ryo Hazuki, Corey Marshall! Fittingly, this interview comes the day after Ryo’s fictional birthday. Ryo would have been forty-two years old. Check out the interview to see what Corey has been up to, hear some great stories from the days of Shenmue 1 and 2 and his thoughts on Shenmue City!

Click here to read more


In other news, while it happened a few days ago, the Dreamcast had it's 12th birthday in Japan on November 27th! Yup, November 27, 1998 was the day the Dreamcast first hit the retail market. And here we are in 2010 still talking about and still anticipating new (independently developed) games for it! Dead console my foot!


In other OTHER news, I have finally completed my Official Dreamcast Magazine collection! All I was missing was Issue 0, and now it is mine. Muahaha. Hopefully before the holidays I'll get to making a video detailing the mags as well as maybe showing off the demo discs.

Dreamcast Collection disc release heading to the 360?


Via SEGAbits and Scrawl comes an interesting piece of news! It seems that SEGA of America has a Dreamcast Collection disc release planned for the XBOX 360 (and possibly PS3) for release on February 15th, 2011. While nothing else is known of the title, it would make sense for SEGA to feature the four XBLA Dreamcast re-releases on one disc. Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5 Part 2 and SEGA Bass Fishing on one disc? Even if I've already downloaded one of the four titles, it does sound tempting. Here's hoping for some kick-ass package art and more Dreamcast Collection releases to come!

I've picked up Qubed a while back, a collection featuring Rez HD, Lumines Live! and E4. These releases are a great value, often cheaper than buying the titles individually, and they save on harddrive space. Plus, who doesn't like holding a physical box?

My collection as of now...200 games you say?

Well, roughly 200 games anyway. If you start to get technical and don't count games I own in multiple regions, don't count discs like Visual park, What's Shenmue etc etc it varies, plus I actually forgot to include a couple games that were in PAL cases and a couple Japanese games I'm considering selling. Either way to celebrate this milestone here's a bunch of photos showing most of them. The ones with spine cards are not sealed by the way; rather they have sleeves over them to make them look that way. I know, sad..

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Capcom vs SNK, Capcom vs SNK 2, Marvel vs Capcom, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Power Stone,
 Street Fighter Zero 3, Street Fighter III W Impact, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Star Gladiator 2, Vampire Chronicles,
 Last Blade 2, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, King of Fighters Dream Match 1999, Evolution '99, 2000,
 2001, Guilty Gear X, Dead or Alive 2, Fighting Vipers 2, Virtua Fighter 3tb.

18 Wheeler, Cyberteam in Akihabara Pita Pies, Bikkuriman 2000, Blue Stinger, Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoyo's Video War,
Blue Submarine No.6, Cool Boarders Burrrn!, Cool Cool Toon, Crazy Taxi 2, D2,
Daisessen, Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix, Daytona USA 2001, Death Crimson OX, Expendable,
F355 Challenge, Fish Eyes Wild, Frame Gride, Get! Colonies, Get Bass.

Gigawing, Godzilla Generations, The Lost Golem, Mobile Suit Gundam E.F.F Vs Zeon & DX, Jet Set Radio,
Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2, Lack of Love, Mr.Driller, Napple Tale, Net De Tennis,
Netto Golf, Pro Yakyu Team de Asobonet!, Pop n' Music 2, 3, 4,
Power Jet Racing 2001, Psychic Force 2012, Plus Plum, Puyo Puyo 4, Puyo Puyo DA!

 Puyo Puyo Fever, Puzzle Bobble 4, Rainbow Cotton, Radilgy, Rayman the Great Escape,
Rent-a-Hero No.1, Rez, Roommania #203, Samba De Amigo, Samba De Amigo Ver.2000,
Sakura Wars, Sakura Wars 3, Sega Rally 2, Sega Tetris, Sengoku Turb,
Sengoku Turb Fanfan I Love me Dunce-Doubletendre, Silent Scope, Shenmue, What's Shenmue, Sonic Adventure 2.

Space Channel 5, Spawn in the Demons Hand, Sports Jam, Tako No Marine, Tetris 4D,
Tokyo Bus Guide, Treasure Strike, Trizeal, Virtual On Oratorio Tangram, Virtua Striker 2 Ver.2000.1,
Visual Park, Zombie Revenge, Zusar Vasar, Last Hope, Wind & water Puzzle Battles,
Rush Rush Rally Racing DX, Cosmic Smash, Segagaga, Last Hope Pink Bullets, DUX.

Dreamcast Express Vol. 4, Vol. 7, Armada, Gauntlet Legends, I Spy Operational Espionage,
Maken X, MDK 2, Pen pen Triicelon, Power Stone, Resident Ecil CODE: Veronica,
Space Channel 5, Speed Devils, Super Magnetic Neo, Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater,
TrickStyle, Wacky Races, 4X4 Evo, Alien Front Online, Atari Anniversary.

Bang! Gunship Elite, Bomberman Online, Charge N Blast, Coaster Works, Demolition Racer No Exit,
Floigan Bros, Frogger 2, Gigawing 2, Illbleed, Jet Grind Radio,
Kao the Kangaroo, Looney Tunes Space Race, Mars Matrix, Maximum Pool, Metropolis Street Racer,
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits 2, Ooga Booga, Outrigger, Phantasy Star Online Ver.2, Power Stone 2.

Q*Bert, Quake III Arena, Ready 2 Rumble Round 2, Sega Smash Pack, Samba De Amigo,
Seaman, Sega GT, Sega Marine Fishing, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia,
Sonic Shuffle, Starlancer, Test Drive Le Mans, Tokyo Extreme Racer 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2,
Typing of the Dead, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Unreal Tournament, Vanishing Point, Xtreme Sports.

4 Wheel Thunder, Aerowings 2, Bangai-O, Chicken Run, Chu Chu Roket,
Confidential Mission, Crazy Taxi, Deadly Skies, Donald Duck's Quack Attack, Dynamite Cop,
Ecco the Dolphin, F1 World Grand Prix II, Fur Fighters, Gunbird 2, Heavy Metal Geomatrix,
House of the Dead 2, Hydro Thunder, Jet Set Radio, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Mortal Kombat Gold.

Pod 2, Project Justice, Pro Pinball Trilogy, Rayman 2, Re-Volt,
Rush 2049, Samba De Amigo, Shenmue II, Solider of Fortune, Sonic Adventure,
Soul Calibur, South Park Rally, Chef's Luv Shack, Stunt GP, Super Runabout,
Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing, Stupid Invaders, Tech Romancer, Toy Commander, Virtua Tennis
Virtua Tennis 2, V-Rally 2.

Next XBLA/PSN Dreamcast ports revealed!

They are Sega Bass Fishing and Space Channel 5 Part 2. JeuxVideo24 have screenshots of how they will look on the new consoles in 720p and widescreen.


Space Channel 5 Part 2 is an interesting choice. before you ask where part 1 is, I believe they've picked this one simply because it's easier to port. Part 1 one used pre-rendered video backgrounds (as opposed to in-game graphics like in Part 2) so not only would they need to re-render those videos in HD, they would either have to stretch them or force the game to be 4:3 (like the Sonic Adventure port was). Maybe this is why they have skipped to Part 2. To be fair though Part 2 is a much rarer game, especially on Dreamcast on which it would cost you a small fortune, especially if you went after the special edition box set.

Sega Bass Fishing is.not quite so exciting. The game really required the fishing controller to have much fun with it so wherever they will implement the Move controller for the PS3 version is yet to be seen, but very unlikely. Hopefully Sega marine Fishing will follow up eventually from this, as that was a much more fun and bigger game.

In case you were not aware, Crazy Taxi is due out at the end of November so at this rate it looks as though we may be getting a Dreamcast port every month if one of these is due in December.

Pizza, Ice Cream and a Blue Swirl


While returning from the gym on this beautiful Columbus day, I noticed that a local daycare had a familiar logo painted on the side of their building. I quickly snapped this shot of it. While I could have parked the car in the lot and gotten out for a better shot, remember that it was a daycare, it was 3pm and I was a 26 year old sweaty man in shorts (due to the gym). Suffice to say, I was in no state to snap photos of a building full of children. I wonder if they really do offer pizza, ice cream and Dreamcast (European imports, no less!).

iVMU


Via Kotaku comes this rather cool VMU mod. Looks like the new iPod Nano has the exact same screen size as the Dreamcast's VMU, so somebody was smart enough to put two and two together! It's a pretty cool mod, however it would be extra cool if the VMU still functioned. The buttons seen above are merely aesthetic now. I'll bet some genius could jail break the Nano and add a VMU emulator then find some magical way for the Nano to talk to the Dreamcast. If only that was made a reality...


Check out more photos here!

Airbrushed Dreamcasts

Have we already seen these before?

Well if so they are worth another look.





Very nice work.

Chu Chu Rocket has got to be my favorite.

A few more in the artist's gallery -

http://www.topairbrush.com/Dreamcast.html

Dreamcast Cosplayer. Yep.


 We've seen it all now folks. Spotted this Tokyo game Show photo over at Tiny Cartridge. Nuff said.

Gagaman crazy DC splash out ...again.

So yeah, I've spent rather a big chunk of money on this large bundle of Dreamcast stuff you see above you. For reference there is 70 games amongst it (68 American, 1 PAL and 1 Japanese), two controllers, two VMUs, two rumble packs, a VGA box, two microphones (bundled with Seaman and Alien Front), a fishing controller and Samba De Amigo Maracas. To be fair I'm not keeping everything you see here: whenever I buy bundles I end up selling whatever I don't want out of it to make some of (or if I'm lucky sometimes all) the money back Obviously there are plenty of games here I already own, and in some cases I will be replacing my chunky PAL games with these much slimmer-on-the-shelf American versions.


Now I'm pretty aware that this black Sega Sports Dreamcast isn't mega rare over in America but not many of these pop up here in the UK for sale and I must say it's much nicer than I was expecting.The fact that even all the buttons and areas that are normally grey on a standard Dreamcast are all black too makes it look very slick, and the matching controller is a nice compliment to it as well. The system even had two black VMUs to blend in with it, though a shame there was never any black rumble packs. I now own PAL, American and Japanese Dreamcast consoles. Why? Why not?


The one lone Japanese game that featured with this bundle was also a highlight for me, that of the rather pricey 2.5D platformer Napple tale. Separately this would have cost me quite a bit, much like that time when I got a bundle that had Gigawing 2, Trizeal and Radilgy in it: it's the only way I'll ever afford to buy some of these rarer games, even if it does mean I end up with a ton of other games I already have lol.

Highlights amongst the huge array of American titles include Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Grind Radio (now own all three regions of this game lol), all three Sonic games, both Tony Hawks, every Sega Sports 2K2 game (including the odd renaming of Virtua Tennis 2, changed in the US to Sega Sports Tennis 2K2), both Power Stones, Seaman, Alien Front Online, both Phantasy Star Onlines, both Crazy Taxis, Daytona USA, both Sega Bass and Marine Fishing, both Tokyo Extreme Racers, both Reday 2 Rumbles, and lots and lots more. Phew!

After sorting out what I want from the lot I have a total of around 200 games for my Dreamcast: roughly 50 PAL, 50 American and 100 Japanese, plus the indie releases, and I'm still not done! I must be nuts.

A wonderful image for Dreamcast fans

Dreamcast fans shed a tear, the legend has returned. Only platfrom mentioned thus far is PC, but a console port is not out of the question yet. More details and a trailer (no footage, just the logo) can be seen at SEGAbits.


 Update: Unrelated to the PSO2 announcement, but cool nonetheless is the official Japanese website for the Dreamcast rereleases. Very retro! Almost reminds me of the old Dreamcast Direct web pages. Check out the site here!

Dreamcast Collection - Sonic Adventure Trailer


Sonic Adventure is out today for the XBOX Live Arcade, check out the snazzy trailer SEGA put together! Bonus points for including the swirl logo. PlayStation users will have to wait a week for the game to hit PSN. While the delay is a shame for Sony fans, perhaps it was SEGA's choice to make them wait a week as a repercussion for supporting the PS2. I'm joking, I'm joking!


I've downloaded the game and played a good 15 minutes of Sonic's story and I have to say that I'm quite impressed! The game plays just as the Dreamcast version did, so yes there are the occasional glitches. Then again, just as an old car has its problems (you have to jiggle the keys to turn on the ignition!), if you're are accostomed to the flaws as one who played the Dreamcast game for years would be, you'll know how to avoid them. Basically what I'm trying to say is, if you played the game last week on the Dreamcast and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy it here.

There are also a number of cool features such as online leaderboards, a solid 60 fps framerate, achievements and the promise of DLC which is to include missions from the Gamecube's Sonic Adventure: DX as well as 360 avatar awards and items for use in the PS3's Home. Its also possible that the DLC will include the Game Gear games found in DX.

Obviously try it before you buy, but as a fan of the game I say pick it up! It has a helluva lot more content than most XBLA titles.

Dreamcast News Roundup

9/9 is a magnet for Dreamcast news. Within one week there are more stories of interest to Dreamcast fans than there is in a typical month! As such, I've rounded up some stories and news tips rather than stagger them over a series of posts (hence the term "roundup"). Let's get a long lil' doggies!


First up is a ALERT for those who subscribed to GOAT Store Publishings newsletter in an attempt to recieve their super special coupon, which is said to be all five of their indie titles for $50 (that's $36 savings!). Due to a glitch in their system on 9/9, many requests for their newsletter were lost. If you did not receive an email notification after signing up, you are not signed up. If you aren't subscribed, head on over to this link and do so. They've extended the coupon application time to Friday due to the glitch.


Next up is are two cool interviews with indie developers Senile Team and NG:Dev.Team courtesty of SEGAbits and brought to my attention by forum member cube_b3. These are the teams that brought us Rush Rush Rally Racing and the upcoming Fast Striker. Give the Senile Team interview a read here and also check out the NG:Dev.Team interview here!


This third piece of news is all about the rereleases of Dreamcast classics! Tomorrow Sonic Adventure will hit XBLA and PSN for $10, making it the first of the many promised Dreamcast releases from SEGA. The game will feature achievements/tropies and is said to feature DLC, though this feature has only been seen in very early leaks and could be cut for all I know. Check out the video above  and make sure to download the demo tomorrow if you can. Always try before you buy.


Another Dreamcast game being resurrected, this time on the iPod Touch and iPhone, is the awesome Chu Chu Rocket. Impressions of the game have been very positive, such as those found in this preview from Touch Arcade. Highlights from the preview include:

Multiplayer is 1-4 players, and you can either join up in teams of two or play free for all style. The goal here is to get as many mice to your own rocket as possible, while using arrows to direct cats into players rockets in order to prevent them from gaining any mice. This mode can be played over WiFi, 3G, or Bluetooth, and if you can't find any friends to play with you can add bots to the game and play against the AI. There are 25 levels to battle on, and the game will be the first from Sega to utilize Apple's new Game Center social network.

...

ChuChu Rocket! was a total blast when I had a chance to play it today, and it makes me sad that I never tried out this title almost a decade ago. It seems like a perfect fit for the iPhone, with all of the original levels reworked to be touch screen friendly. Gamers have been begging Sega to bring ChuChu Rocket! out on a current platform for years, and finally they will get their wish on the iPhone and iPad. Both versions will be exactly the same except for the iPad version which will contain a same-device 4 player multiplayer mode. Expect to see ChuChu Rocket! sometime in late October.

So there you have it for the Dreamcast news roundup! It seems every aspect of the undead console is thriving: the fan community, the developers and the games of old. All hail the undead console!

SegaShiro goes Soul Calibur Fishing!

When I was a guest on the SegaShiro podcast a few weeks back (if you didn't hear it, go download it now) I recommended (or should I say demanded) that the Shiro guys should try playing Soul Calibur with the Fishing controller at least once, and sure enough DJ Fob Fresh took up to the challenge and he uploaded a 20-odd minute video of his playthrough! I can't seem to find a way to embed the video here so you'll just have to head over to their site to see it. It also sounds like DarrenIndeed will be next on the site to do the same, wahaha!

Dreamroom 2010 Postgame Show

 For those who missed the action yesterday, check out all ten hours of my stream available to view for another week as well as Gagaman's stream which currently has his four hours of gameplay on loop.

Another year, another loop added to the Dreamcast's swirl. As I stepped outside this morning, after a day of Dreamcast gaming, I realized that I hadn't stepped outside the entire previous day! Still, it was all worth it and I'd gladly do it all again next year. In fact, I will do it all again next year! Until then, let's reminisce on something that happened 24 hours ago...

The fun began when the always awesome Gagaman made a wise last minute decision to begin the party early with Dreamroom 2010 UK. He even made a cool version of my logo to go with it, blue swirl and all! Gagaman played a variety of games, from Japanese oddities to SEGA Marine Fishing.

A real man's game.
After a good four hours of fun (which you can still watch) things switched over to my feed (which you can also still watch). During the ten plus hours that I played, a good number of visitors popped in including Junkyard favorites Gagaman, Stacey (who is actually the inspiration for the game 18 Wheeler!), Caleb, Tom (he stopped into Gagaman's stream), BIGMercenary, A Moomintroll and SEGAbits regulars Crackdude, Fluffy and Cube. The first portion of the day saw Sonic Adventure, a good number of demos, Rent-A-Hero, Rayman 2, a complete auto playthrough of Space Channel 5 (best ending ever), Cool Cool Toon, 18 Wheeler, Zombie Revenge, Sonic Adventure 2,  Tokyo Bus Guide, Ecco, Super Magnetic Neo (ARGH!) and Tech Romancer.

Words to live by.
A Dreamcast rug in Rent-A-Hero!
The second half saw a visit from my good IRL friend and Dreamcast fan Jason. Those on the chat were in awe that two Dreamcast fans could exist in the same city and know each other. To prove Jason's cred, I'll let you all know that he brought his own Dreamcast controller (red) with VMU, cable extender, maracas and games. We played a good number of 2 player games including Capcom vs. SNK, Last Blade 2, SEGA Rally 2, Star Wars Demolition, Rush Rush Rally Racing and an hour and a half of Samba de Amigo. Best. Game. Ever.

Tougher than it looks.
After 90 minutes of maraca shaking, I was beat and so I called it a night. The Dreamcast was shut off and yet it still retained a warmth that surly was due to the love it felt for all the fans who remembered its birthday. Okay, so it was actually hot due to ten hours of use, but I still think love played a small part.

Until 9/9/2011!

Dreamroom USA is LIVE!

Watch live video from Dreamroom on Justin.tv

LIVE from: 12am-11pm EST (US), 6pm-5am GMT (UK)

Some photos of the room:
The man of the hour
The guests of honor
Behind the scenes, very technical stuff
The VIPs

Dreamroom UK with the Gagaman starts now!

Oh hey, it's the 11th anniversary of the Dreamcast's American launch! Don't think i'm going to let Barry have all the livestreaming fun because in about an hour or so (so UK time 1pm) I'm going to be doing some livestreaming of direct-feed Dreamcast games on Gagatelly below!

 
gagaman on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Click on the link and you also be able to chat to me while I'm playing. Games I'm going to be having a crack at include Rush Rush Rally Racing,  hanagumi taisen Columns 2, Gigawing 2, Mars Matrix, Sega Marine Fishing and more (I may also take requests for games). I will stop streaming about 4 or 5pm, just in time for when Barry's much more well prepared livestream will be kicking off!

EDIT: Kicking off a bit early, why not?

Elusive 'My Wife And Kids' Dreamcast Image!


Well here's that picture I alluded to at the end of the last post. I found it here. Obviously they weren't that keen on saving their progress as you'll note there are no VMUs in the controllers.
It kind of ' gladdens' and 'saddens' me at the same time, to see the Dreamcsat showcased as THE cutting edge console in turn of the millenium films and TV shows. How short that particular meteoric blaze of glory was...

Here's a very poor youtube video to illustrate the point further.

Haarlem Globe-trotter

This is actually a REAL shop in Haarlem!!

Hey Up M'Dears!

'Tis I, your pimpernel-like, least prolific, and yet curiously most admired team member, Father Krishna!

"Who?" I hear you ask, -well a quick glance at the old side-bar should reveal my DCJY credentials, whilst a dip into the DCJY archives should reveal why I don't post here very often. The last time my DC received a play session, was a blast through Shenmue last October, to see if it still stood the test of time (it does!). This was inspired by my purchase of Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing which I dearly love, and play on the Xbox and DS.

However, as usual, I digress. I recently returned from the Astral Plane where I reside with those ethereal beings the 'Ascended Masters', in order to take a short visit to the wonderful cities of Amsterdam and Haarlem, in that most tolerant and easy going of territories, the Netherlands!

Apart from getting thoroughly off my twat on pipe fulls of (absolutely legal) Haarlem Haze and Ice-olator Resin, I also stumbled upon this little shop which proudly displayed an image of the Hallowed Hedgehog, with the 'crap and unimaginative/post modern and ironic' shop name: Game Shop.


Once inside, there was a great selection of all things aSega including cartridges for the Game Gear, Master System and Megadrive, games for the 32X and Mega CD and this tidy little collection of Dreamcast and Saturn games. The games were an exorbitant 15+ Euros, and were not particularly rare or exciting. Thus nothing got bought for my Dreamcast or Saturn collections.


What I did buy was this rather lovely little nugget for the Gameboy Advance - Sonic Pinball Party.


Chock full of Sega goodness, this basic pinball sim features both the Saturn's 'NiGHTS' and the Dreamcast's favourite primate, 'Samba'. In fact in 2003, (in contrast to the glut of ports heading from the Dreamcast to the Xbox, Gamecube and PS2), Sonic Pinball and Jet Set Radio for the Gameboy Advance were among the only original games using Dreamcast IP game characters that were still being produced!

It's always good to stumble across a tiny independent gameshop that still sells Dreamcast merchandise, even better when said discovery comes after a particularly potent strain of bubble hash on a beautiful day in the coolest country in Europe.

(On a 'Tomleecee DC spotting' related note, the Kyle family in My Wife And Kids are always playing the Dreamcast, I just don't know how how to capture the image and print it here!)

Take care peeps!
FK :)