Review: Alice Dreams Tournament

In recent times, the rise of online gaming has all but phased out the local multi-player experiences of yore. I'm sure I'm not alone when I reminisce about hours spent playing Golden Eye or Mario Kart 64 on the Nintendo 64; or long periods taking turns on PGA Tour Golf on the Mega Drive. As a kid growing up through the 16, 32 and 64-bit eras, multi-player gaming was all about getting together with a group of friends or siblings and battling it out in front of one TV with a single console and multiple controllers plugged in.

The Dreamcast represents one of the last major consoles to feature four controller ports as standard, and the inclusion of a modem makes it a system that truly straddled the eras where playing with others became an oxymoronic experience with gamers connected via the internet as opposed to being sat on the same couch. Obviously, there are still plenty of games that offer local multi-player play modes but these days it's seen as a unique selling point or gimmick rather than a standard feature. Enter Alice Dreams Tournament, an independently developed Dreamcast exclusive that borrows heavily from the Bomberman series and is all about recreating the local multi-player sessions of old, but with a modern twist.

The final look of Alice Dreams Tournament.

Alice Dreams Tournament has a pretty interesting development history, so we'll start there. The game we see today actually started life as an end of level mini-game in a totally different project, titled simply Alice Dreams. Entering development back in 2003, Alice Dreams was a 2D side scrolling platformer based loosely on the Lewis Carrol novel Alice in Wonderland, and at the end of each stage the player could unlock a short bonus game if certain parameters were met. One of these bonus stages involved a simple Bomberman-like multi-player stage that was only ever intended to be a hidden extra, but it quickly proved popular and was turned into its own game - Dynamite Dreams.

It was with this blueprint that developers Julien Desquenne and Nicolas Pochet launched a Kickstarter to get Alice Dreams Tournament turned into a reality; and the project quickly reached its meagre €8,000 target, finishing with a total of €28,000 from 374 backers (full disclosure - one of those 374 backers was me, along with several others from the Junkyard team).

How the earlier Alice Dreams game looked.

It's a great story and you can read the full history of the game here and the find the Kickstarter project page here; but let's get down to business. Alice Dreams Tournament is finally finished and many backers now have the game in their hands, so how does the Dreamcast's latest new release measure up? Let's go through the looking glass and find out...

Developer Interview: Alice Dreams Tournament

Alice Dreams Tournament hit its Kickstarter goal in little more than a day, and it isn't really a surprise. This homage to local multi-player games of yesteryear has outstanding 2D visuals, a multitude of inventive game modes and a brand new use for the humble VMU. The Dreamcast Junkyard backed the project almost immediately and we look forward to being able to play (and review) Alice Dreams Tournament when it launches. In the meantime however, we caught up with lead programmer Julien Desquenne to ask a few questions about the history of the game, the Bomberman series and (naturally) if he knows the identity of the legendary Dreamcast barber...

The likeness is uncanny!

DCJY: Could you tell us a little bit about who makes up the Alice Dreams Tournament team and how you got together? 

Julien Desquenne: Our team consists of Nicolas Pochet the graphic designer and me, Julien Desquenne the programmer.  We met in 2003. In fact, I began to program a platform game and I was looking for a graphic designer to help me on the graphic parts. I really wanted to realize this game on Dreamcast. So I posted my research of a graphist on a Dreamcast French forum (dcreload.fr) and Nicolas replied very quickly and introduced me to his drawings. I was very impressed by his artistic talent and we decided to work on a common project.

The Dreamcast Games Of 2017

2017 has been something of a bumper year for Dreamcast releases, what with JoshProd, Orion, Retroguru, Alice Dreams and Senile Team all putting out new software on the system. The range and diversity of these titles has been pretty incredible too - especially when you consider that the Dreamcast was officially disowned by Sega well over a decade ago. 2018 promises even more new additions to the ever-growing library, with Intrepid Izzy, Xenocider, Saber Rider, SLaVE and a bunch of other games we have been sworn to secrecy over all due to hit our favourite little white box.

As we near the year's end, I thought it would be fun to have a little look back over the games that were released for the Dreamcast throughout 2017, and give a bit of kudos to those developers and publishers who continue to support the console with new software. The vast majority of the titles that have come to the Dreamcast in a physical case during 2017 have invariably come with high quality bespoke artwork, authentic packaging and - in some cases - unique extras or inventive aesthetic design. And while it's easy to look at some of the releases and pour scorn on them for being fairly basic in terms of visuals or gameplay, the majority of them have been crafted as labours of love, and not with financial gain in mind. For that, all of the creators should be applauded.

It's worth noting that this list only includes games that have been released for the first time this year, so even though games like Ghost Blade, Alice's Mom's Rescue and Sturmwind were given re-releases, they don't count (although I'll make a note of them at the foot of this article). Furthermore, 2017 marks the first time since Karous in 2007 that official third party support has been bequeathed to the Dreamcast, as even though they were published by JoshProd, Visco's games do qualify as official releases owing to the fact that Visco is listed as a third party T-code publisher (thanks to Scott Marley for that nugget of information). Anyway, let's get down to business and look at - in no particular order - the Dreamcast releases of 2017. Man, it still feels weird typing that sentence...

Alice Dreams Tournament Release Date Slips, Online Leaderboards & New Play Mode Revealed

May 22nd saw the release of a new update from the team working on the hotly anticipated Dreamcast Bomberman clone Alice Dreams Tournament. This update brings news both good and not so good; with the latter being that the game will no longer make its intended June shipping date. Reasons cited for this delay include the implementation of VMU functionality, the production of the 'making of' video, and other small bug fixes:

"It is important to be honest and tell you that we will not be ready in June. We still have promises to realize or terminate: the additional VMU interactions, the 'making of' and other small fixes."

 - Alice Dreams Website

While this is disappointing, it is commendable that Alice Dreams are being totally honest and transparent. While no firm release date has been given, I did reach out via Facebook to state that I'd really like to have the game playable at The Dreamcast Junkyard's stand at this years Play Expo Manchester in October, and they assured me it would be ready by then...so that's something at least.

Alice Dreams Tournament OST Available For Pre-Order

Alice Dreams Tournament finally hit the Dreamcast earlier in 2017 and went down pretty well with the community. The frantic, multiplayer focused Bomberman homage also impressed this gamer (read the review here), and overall Julien Desquenne and Nicolas Pochet delivered what they promised with their admirable Kickstarter campaign. One aspect of Alice Dreams Tournament that was especially noteworthy was the music - anyone who has played it will know all about the ear worm tunes that accompany the explosive action.

Thanks to online store and publisher Côté Gamers, a brand new Alice Dreams Tournament OST music CD is coming in October 2017, featuring 27 tracks - two of which are original compositions not found in the main game. Priced at a very reasonable €13/£12/$15, the 'day one' edition of the Alice Dreams Tournament soundtrack is limited and ships with a numbered certificate of authenticity.

You can pre-order the CD from Côté Gamers here (site is in French, so diligent use of a translation tool is encouraged...unless you can read French, of course!), and international buyers can take advantage of the 'books and brochures' shipping option for reduced delivery costs.

Finally, if you haven't had the pleasure of playing Alice Dreams Tournament yet, or didn't back the Kickstarter, you can now buy the game from the Alice Dreams store here.

Alice Dreams Tournament Shipping Very Soon!

It seems like a lifetime ago that many of us put our money down for a copy of Bomberman homage Alice Dreams Tournament, but it appears that we won't have to wait much longer to finally get the opportunity to play it. For those not up to speed, Alice Dreams Tournament is a modern take on the Bomberman style multiplayer battle game, with players moving around various stages, trying to eliminate each other with bombs. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the developers have been hard at work tweaking and finalising the code and have done plenty of promotion by allowing the public to test the game at a multitude of gaming events across Europe.

The Alice Dreams Tournament team (made up of duo Julien Desquenne and Nicolas Pochet) were in attendance at the RGC - Retrogaming Connexion 2017 event in Meaux, France this past weekend and posted some very interesting pictures on their Facebook page.

On top of this, a Kickstarter update posted on 16th February pretty much confirmed that the PAL, NTSC-U and NTSC-J packaged copies of Alice Dreams Tournament have been delivered and are ready to be shipped to backers:

"A quick news to share our joy with you - we received the games! All versions are here, except the PAL collector's edition where we still lack the front and back covers (they are in production).
As we will be at RGC this Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th February 2017 in Meaux, we will take some photos and share them with you! If you are near Meaux, you can pick up your game and we will gladly dedicate it to you if you wish!"

- Alice Dreams Tournament Kickstarter (paraphrased)

It's really cool to know that we're so close to finally getting our hands on this brilliant looking brand new Dreamcast game; and test audiences at the various gaming events it has been demonstrated at seem to have given nothing but positive feedback. Naturally, we don't know the exact date for shipping, but we'd wager it can't be very long now - a couple of weeks, max? Once it arrives, expect a full review here at The Dreamcast Junkyard.

Were you at the event in Meaux? Did you pick a copy of Alice Dreams Tournament up? If so, tell us what you think of it in the comments or over in our Facebook group!

PS - this isn't the announcement we've been teasing about on social media. For that huge news, you'll have to wait a few more days...

Alice Dreams Tournament Gets Kickstarter Update

Alice Dreams Tournament smashed its Kickstarter goal last year, and this new Bomberman-inspired Dreamcast game from Alice Team looks like it's going to be a winner for anyone who misses the fun of local multiplayer sessions of old. Online gaming is great and all, but nothing beats being sat in the same room as your adversaries for a bit of friendly (or unfriendly, in the case of my Goldeneye 007 days) rivalry. The good news is that the project appears to be bang on target, and Alice Team have updated the game's Kickstarter page with the following announcements:

Time for some news!

• We're beta-testing the Scoring mode! We're testing some gameplay modifications to make the challenge more interesting. Note, this mode will use an original interaction on Dreamcast! 
• Some of the new maps are ready for crazy parties! (See an example below)
• We are still working on US, Jap and Euro covers. Please still be a little patient, we will soon be able to show you them!

One of the new stages

That's not all though. It seems those nice folk at Alice Team are helping out fellow indie developer Mode4 with their Steam Greenlight project Bombslinger. More hands make light work eh? Alice Dreams Tournament looks set to meet its June 2016 release date for backers and I for one can't wait to get my hands on it.

Check out our recent interview with Alice Team's lead developer Julien Desquenne here.

Source: Dreamcast News

Developer Interview: Orion

Orion has been creating indie games for retro consoles for quite some time, and is behind the latest title to be announced for the Dreamcast: Zia and the Goddesses of Magic, out in September 2016. Orion's impressive back catalogue also includes recent Atari Jaguar to Dreamcast ports such as point and click adventures Elansar and Philia, and platformer Alice's Mom's Rescue. The Dreamcast Junkyard recently caught up with Orion to find out a bit more about this elusive indie dev and ask what is coming next from the French outfit...

DCJY: Hi, thanks for taking the time to speak to us and the Dreamcast community at large! Could you explain just who makes up the Orion team?

Orion: There is no team - just me! Orion is my internet nickname, I'm just one guy on my own trying to create games as a living.

Zia comes to Dreamcast in September 2016

A true one man outfit then! How did you get started in indie game development, and what are your earliest memories of wanting to be a developer?

My earliest memories are when I was playing games on my Atari STe computer at the age of 8, looking at those nice graphics and thinking to myself "I want to do the same!" From there, I quickly began to learn the Basic language by myself, and finally made my first 'game' when I was 12 years old. When the internet became popular, I started learning other programming languages, and continued making small games as a hobby. Later, I worked for 5 years at a small game company in Paris, and finally I decided to go solo and start my own company. It's been 3 years now that I've been creating commercial games on my own for various retro platforms.

Dreamcast Riding High At Gamescom 2017

The annual Gamescom trade fair in Cologne, Germany is always a hit with developers and publishers of the latest and greatest new games and hardware. All the big guns have been in attendance at the 2017 show, with major players like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft showing their wares, and the public have been lapping it up. But what's all this got to do with the humble Dreamcast? Well, believe it or not, the Dreamcast has been exceptionally well represented at Gamescom this year, with a glut of upcoming games on display for Sega's old warhorse.

Intrepid Izzy from Senile Team, Retroguru's Hermes, Xenocider from Retro Sumus, the recent releases from JoshProd, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, and Alice Dreams Tournament have all been on display and fully playable. This is due in part to the sizeable displays laid on by Retro Spiel and German retro gaming magazine RETURN. It's pretty awesome to see the Dreamcast represented at such a prestigious event, even more so with all these new titles on display. Below you'll find an assortment of photos from Gamescom 2017 showing that the Dreamcast is far from dead - it's very much alive and kicking!

New Dreamcast Kickstarter To Launch - Alice Dreams Tournament

Hey does anyone remember that awesome demo for Alice Dreams?  I certainly was disappointed that it never launched.

But now those same guys are making a NEW game.  And it will BLOW YOU AWAY!

Did you see that Dreamcast VMU Support!? Amazing!

Full details can be found here!

Quick Look Video: Alice Dreams Tournament

Some of you out there may have started to receive your copy of successful Kickstarter game Alice Dreams Tournament. We'll have a full review coming soon (well, as soon as all of the Dreamcast Junkyard team receive their copies); but in the meantime I decided to take a quick look at the game dropping into mailboxes as I type:

Have you got yours yet? If so, what do you think of this new game? Let us know in the comments or over in our Facebook group.

Falling In Love Again...

Where my Dreamcast collection was headed..

If you read my last post here at the Junkyard, you'll know that I had transitioned from an obsessive Dreamcast collector/hoarder of extreme proportions, to what one might term a 'retro dismissive.'

My retro gaming passion was not quite extinguished, but had definitely been dampened by the availability of a raft of downloadable Dreamcast titles on both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. It meant I could lazily access enough Dreamcast titles from my current consoles (initially the Xbox 360, and later the PS3), to ensure that I was getting my fix of retro Sega endorphins from a different source than the undead console.

Another factor in my gradual distance from the Dreamcast, was the fact that I'd been retro gaming for a number of years by this time. I had overwhelmed myself, flooded my brain receptors with more  nostalgic video gaming than it could handle. I'd purchased dirty little 'side collections,' for the Sega Saturn, the Sega Game Gear, The Sega Master System. As well as these, I'd played a ton of PlayStation 2 games, many of them stunning and of course unavailable on the Dreamcast; with Virtua Fighter 4 and the first two Yakuza games helping me through the Shenmue wilderness years.

Not actually Father K, or Simon Early for that matter...

Cool intro video for "Dynamite Dreams"

And the hits keep coming!

ANOTHER new game coming out for the Dreamcast.

If you have played the demo for Alice Dreams you will recognize this game. I think it started out as a mini-game for AD and got more and more popular. In any case it is gonna get released in 2008.
Holy crap this video is sweet.



Wow! VMU Support! There are actually modes where using the VMU is a big part of the game. FINALLY!

Hmm. Bombs, Mazes, 4 players, and sweet looking graphics.



F34r Teh b()mbz

The Complete Guide to Commercially Released Dreamcast Indie Games

The fact that we're still blathering on about the Dreamcast some 20 odd years after the console's demise is testament to two things - the fact that we're sad little people still holding on to a mere glimmer of nostalgia about our youth as we rapidly approach middle age, and also the fact that the community will just not let this console die. We obviously don't talk about the first of those points much (we don't want to remind ourselves that we're becoming less and less culturally literate with every rotation of this damn rock around the sun), but we do talk about how "alive" the system is all the time. Probably too much, to be honest, as many people like to put the Dreamcast firmly in the "past" folder in their brain, preferring to remember what it was like when it was new and current. This is completely understandable, to view the console solely through a sense of nostalgia especially now that we have so many ways of experiencing the console's library which don't rely on having shelves full of games (or spindles full of CD-Rs). We're in that stage of the console's post-life cycle that has many people who left their video gaming behind when they were young dipping into the console once more, stirring up their memories of happier times, and no doubt probably quite confused as to why some of us never left the machine in the past and have continued to be fascinated by Sega's last great home endeavour to this very day.

Whilst the nostalgia is to be expected, it is the vitality of the current Dreamcast scene which keeps us writing about it. In between the tired posts of social media influencers asking people if they remember Sonic Adventure or Crazy Taxi, there has been an incredibly active scene covering every element of the Dreamcast for years. We have new hardware and controllers, games with online modes re-activated, more translations of Japanese games than I can actually keep track of, books, magazines, an entire series of arcade titles ported to the console, and a strong homebrew community that is creating some astonishing things. And it's that last point that allows me to pivot, finally, towards the point of this article. Alongside homebrew ports of classic titles (as I write this, the recent demo of the Metal Gear Solid 2 port is literally mind blowing) and fun little projects, we've now had 20 years of "proper" retail-released indie titles for the Dreamcast. My aim here is to document all of these in one article. I do love a long article...

I love Dreamcast indie titles. While they are not officially licensed by Sega, there is something very special about receiving a physical version of a game to be played on a console a quarter of a century old. The quality of the Dreamcast indie scene varies, which is to be expected, but even when a game is a bit crappy, I still have a certain sense of respect that it has been released on the console at all. Of course, I am a big weirdo, and will pick up anything you slap a "Dreamcast" label on, but for those who want to be a bit more selective with their hard-earned cash when expanding their Dreamcast library, a subjective view is always useful. In this article I hope to do just that - as well as take a look back at the various versions of the games that were released, where you can pick them up today, and any other interesting things that I can cram in before losing all excitement about writing this already massive article. This will also be constantly updated (hello, future people!) with my views on any new indie release, which will hopefully allow it to be a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in the broad DC indie scene - this will of course sit alongside our regular indie reviews from the entire DCJY team (I can also recommend Laurence's superb roundup of the indie scene in this article, if you want a slightly different perspective). It's also worth checking out our directory of indie developers and publishers, where you'll find direct links to all those involved in the indie scene.

Now, I need to add some context and "rules" here. The scope of this article will not include every single homebrew port or project - the first rule of the article is that it had to have been released physically and could be purchased by anyone. Of course, you can pick up a copy of any of the homebrew ports with nice printed inlays on Etsy - so that's when the second rule comes in: the physical release must have been officially sanctioned by the developer or rights holder. Finally, only full releases will count - so no demos, hacks or mods will be included, although total conversion mods that became standalone games in their own right do count. For the context of this article, only the games that meet the criteria I've just established will be called "indie releases". Will I probably end up breaking these rules to include something that I probably shouldn't? You betcha. Welcome to the wonderful world of "Mike doesn't stick to his own rules". 

Enough of my nonsense (well, enough of this opening bit of nonsense, there's a lot more nonsense that lies ahead, I'm afraid!)  - on with the article!

In Praise Of Caleb...

It's been a while since Mr. Caleb, (the American Dreamcaster) walked into our lives and made The Dreamcast Junkyard a truly international affair... Apart from the Dreamcast love he's shown quite a lot, over on his excellent Hunyak Blog, he's also put quite a lot of sterling work over at our sister site, the Saturn Junkyard...

But he surpassed himself this week. You see apart from juggling about twelve jobs, and supplying residents of New York State with their lovely televisual pleasures, he's also taken the time to post me a shitload of unusual Dreamcast goodness...

Let's start with Smash TV, it was the winner of some sort of Homebrew development award... It's a lovely Robotron style shooter and it's so great to see new development on our favourite console... (but God Damn! - wouldn't it be nice to see something other than a shooter put out there? I guess Alice Dreams comes close - that was in the last package of lovely CDR's he sent me...)

Next there's Vampire Beat's Of Rage... BOR is a lovely cross between Streets Of Rage and erm... some other stuff... A fabulous piece of Homebrew that recreates the lovely linear 2D beat 'em ups of Megadrive/Genesis days...

But perhaps the newest kid on my Dreamcast block has to be the ability to play the lovely Lucas Arts classic "Monkey Island" from way back in about 1990... Yep, I'm able to access that lovely PC point and click classic tale of Mr. Guybrush Threepwood on my Dreamcast, courtesy of the lovely Scumm VM emulator...

It was a very lovely bunch of stuff! (Slightly disappointing was the failure of my CDR Street Fighter III - Third Strike, to load up... In the wake of the upcoming SF4, Games TM Magazine heralded SFIII as the best incarnation of the series..._

OK, I'd just like to say a big thanks to Mr. Caleb! He's a diamond! And thanks for expanding the Homebrew side of my DC collection!

Let's take a look at Hermes: Limited Edition - the first indie-branded VMU!

If you have dabbled in anything Sega Dreamcast in the last so many years, you'll most likely be aware that the modern indie game scene for the console is bustling, with no signs of slowing down any time soon. Despite the abundance of new indie software releases for the Dreamcast, there was one physical indie release in particular that seemed to peak my interest recently for an entirely different reason unrelated to the game itself, that being Hermes: Limited Edition, and its included Hermes-branded Visual Memory Unit (VMU). 

Hermes is a fun indie platformer developed by Retroguru with a glorious chiptune soundtrack where you play as a chef chasing after a chicken. Mike has already reviewed it on the blog a long while back, and you can check out his review here. In this post, though, I wanted to focus on that special VMU, because it is pretty much the first of its kind: the first indie-branded Dreamcast VMU. The only thing that would have come remotely close to something like this was the VMU lamp for Alice Dreams Tournament, which seems to have have been a Kickstarter-exclusive backer reward, as Adam Koralik and James from Shenmue Dojo both told us they own one.

Released by Video Games New York (aka VGNYSoft), Dreamcast diehards across the globe were understandably eager to get their hands on one of these cool VMUs. Unfortunately, dwellers of the United Kingdom like myself couldn't order from Video Games New York's website as they don't ship here. Luckily, Wave Game studios put a very small batch (ten, I think) of the limited edition up for sale on their website, so I snatched up one of those. Thanks, dudes!

The transparent green VMU is printed with the Hermes logo, as well as the chicken you play as, and the chef's meat cleaver. It actually comes packaged in an official American VMU box, which is stored inside the larger Hermes: Limited Edition box. It is pretty obvious that the VMUs used for this release are leftover brand new official VMU stock, but the printing on the VMU is such high-quality, you'd be mistaken for thinking it could have actually been an official release from Sega back in the day. Also, VGNY made a great choice in using the transparent green VMU!

Because I was so excited to receive my Hermes VMU, I actually mustered up some courage and decided to record a short clip showcasing the VMU, so check that out below! Apologies if I say “erm” a lot, I was ad-libbing!

If you want to get yourself one of these VMUs, there is currently stock available on VGNYSoft's website and Canadian site Video Games Plus. As for whether or not either will ship to your country, I'm not quite sure. Either way, let's hope this is the first of many indie-themed Dreamcast peripheral releases to come!

DreamPod - Episode 49

[iTunes][Stitcher][Buzzsprout][UK Podcast Directory][YouTube]

Music in this episode is from Alice Dreams Tournament, and the AGES II disc we recently looked at. Find out more about the Shenmue bomber jacket here, the Pix ’N Love book here and the new game from Orion here. Feel free to join our Facebook group, like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter; and if you’re feeling flush and/or generous our Patreon is here. Oh, and one last thing - give us an iTunes review if you can be bothered. Cheers!

Review: Xenocider

Full disclosure: The Dreamcast Junkyard has been reporting on the development of Xenocider pretty much since we learned of its existence, and prior to that we reported on Retro Sumus' previous foray into indie dev, Ameba. Over the years we have built up something of a friendship with Carlos Oliveros and the development team working on Xenocider. However, in the interests of transparency and 'ethics in games journalism,' we will not be giving Xenocider a free pass. This review will be conducted with the same unbiased cantankerousness as you've come to expect here at the Junkyard. With that out of the way, on with the review!

Retro Sumus first appeared on our collective radar way back in November 2014, when the Spain-based indie developer announced a visual novel starring a down at heel detective trying to solve a mysterious, supernatural murder. That game was Ameba, and since it was first introduced to the community it has been put on the back burner. Not because of any kind of internal turmoil, development hell or the game quietly becoming vapourware; but because Retro Sumus turned their attention to another project that was initially going to play second fiddle to Ameba. That side project appeared to hold more appeal to the development team and as they pivoted away from Ameba, the projects switched places with the former going into hibernation and Xenocider - the other game - stepping into the limelight.

Now, almost 7 years later, and after a number of huge revisions and an entire lore being created, Xenocider has finally landed on the Dreamcast. A bespoke, independently developed title, created and sculpted for the best part of a decade to run exclusively on Dreamcast hardware and utilising a game engine built from the ground up. You really couldn't make this up. And now, at long last - and much to the relief of the long-suffering dev team, no doubt - Xenocider is finished. It's real, it exists, it is playable on an actual Dreamcast...and by jove it's glorious.

As my learned colleague Mike Phelan alluded to in his comprehensive Arcade Racing Legends review, it would be quite easy for us Dreamcast fanatics to frothingly praise any and every new game to hit the console as a marvel, a wondrous and near perfect experience, simply by virtue of it being a game released for the Dreamcast. To proclaim everything as amazing, awesome, fantastic (or to use any number of other equally meaningless superlative descriptions) is far too easy these days; to turn a blind eye to a game's shortcoming and to give it a free pass simply 'because it's on Dreamcast.' I am all too aware of this trap, and I refuse to fall down into it. I am a hard man to please and I don't believe in sycophantically announcing every new Dreamcast game as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

With this in mind however, I'm quite confident in saying that Xenocider, for all its faults - which we'll cover later - still manages to elevate itself to the upper echelons of the Dreamcast indie library and sit proudly up there alongside stuff like Xeno Crisis, Alice Dreams Tournament, Leona's Tricky Adventures, Wind & Water Puzzle Battles and Sturmwind. That's because this is a game crafted with obvious love and devotion not only to the Dreamcast, but also with a devilish wink and a nod to other games it clearly takes inspiration from; simultaneously offering a refreshingly original take on the sci-fi shooter genre while presenting the discerning Dreamcast gamer with a hoard of gameplay modes, and as many extra bells and whistles as you'd normally expect to find in a current gen title.

Before we get to the game itself, it's worth mentioning the love and care that has clearly gone into creating the whole Xenocider package. From the excellent bespoke cover art drawn by DC Comics' Agustin Padilla, to the quality of the printed booklet and covers, to the artwork on the game disc itself (and on the bonus music CD if you have the two-disc special edition), everything about Xenocider's physical appearance exudes an air of professional attention to detail that is fantastic to see in an independently developed Dreamcast game; and like the JoshProd, Bitmap Bureau, Yuan Works and Duranik titles which came before it, the faux NTSC or PAL styling of the boxes means Xenocider will slot nicely in alongside its contemporaries on any discerning Dreamcast owner's shelf of indies.

So what of the actual game then? Well Xenocider is essentially an 'into the screen' run and gun shooter much in the style of retro favourites such as Space Harrier and Sin & Punishment. I'm not remiss to use those two titles as comparisons as Retro Sumus themselves have often cited those games as inspirations for Xenocider. Here though, you take on the role of Xara, a cybernetic Oppenheimer - quite literally a destroyer of worlds - who must planet hop through the star system, wiping out all lifeforms in her wake before eliminating an end of level boss...and ultimately the very planet itself. Pretty hairy stuff, we're sure you'll agree, and it's upon learning the main objective of the game that the title starts to make more sense. Furthermore, to reveal quite why all this death-bringing is going on would be to reveal spoilers...so we'll say no more.

Show Report: Nottingham Video Games Expo 2022

The weekend of 17 & 18 December 2022 saw the inaugural Nottingham Video Games Expo take place in...er...Nottingham. The city of Nottingham, England for the uninitiated, is the ancestral home of such luminaries as fictional horse jacker Robin Hood, painfully unfunny comedian Jon Richardson, professional face puncher Carl Froch, and Manchester United legend Andy Cole. It now also has its own gaming festival in the form of NottsVGE.

Naturally, The Dreamcast Junkyard took the opportunity to represent at this brand spanking new event, and it was a pleasure to be able to meet fellow Dreamcast enthusiasts, exhibitors and event visitors to spread the gospel of the Dreamcast to all who would listen.

Punters puntering

Several members of the editorial and podcast crew from the 'Yard manned our small but perfectly formed area, with Tom, Jaz, Andrew, Lewis, Kev and Lozz all taking turns to stand around and bore anyone who happened to wander near on the intricacies of the Dreamcast's genetic makeup or the splendour of the system's library and range of peripherals. Poor souls. The public, I mean.

Lozz, Lewis, Jaz, Andrew, Tom and Kev

It wasn't all fun and games though (or was it?), as we had a rather special competition to run. As alluded to in a recent post, our friends at Bitmap Bureau supplied us with several copies of the excellent Xeno Crisis to give away to those who were hardy enough to register a high score on the superlative Smash TV 'em up using the Dreamcast Twin Stick controller. 

Around 30 people took to the hotseat to test their mettle, including both Dan and Nick of WAVE Game Studios, and Dean Mortlock of SEGA Powered. Alas, the ultimate winner turned out to be none other than Aaron 'The Gagaman' Foster, a man who assisted in the early days of both the DCJY blog and DreamPod. It wasn't a fix, honest.

Elsewhere, anyone who visited our little section of the expo floor was able to sample some lightgun action with Houe of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission, or the traditional delights of Sega Rally 2, Power Stone, Virtua Tennis, Cosmic Smash, Crazy Taxi, Yu Suzki's Gameworks and a range of other titles when they were available/the Dreamcasts were behaving and not throwing up random issues such as controller ports not working or AV ports refusing to play ball with the screens.

NottsVGE was a much more intimate event than previous excursions (Play Expo Blackpool 2018 was probably our largest, with around 15 Dreamcasts available for people to play), but what was especially nice was the abilty for all of us from The Dreamcast Junkyard team to actually hear and engage with visitors, and have some audible conversations (other events tend to be quite loud due to the size of them). 

It was also quite fascinating on a personal level to see how the younger visitors approached the Dreamcast and the peripherals on offer, many of them having never seen the console before. The impressions were overwhelmingly positive, showing that the SEGA brand can still bring a smile to the faces of kids who aren't as au fait with the brand's hardware as us old farts are.

The next generation of Dreamcast gamers.

Paul, Marc and Dean from SEGA Powered.

NottsVGE offered a range of sellers who were hawking their gaming wares, along with a couple of teams you'll no doubt be familiar with if you're in any way interested in the Dreamcast. First up, and as mentioned, WAVE Game Studios were in attendance selling and demonstrating a range of titles from their impressive stable, with Intrepid Izzy, Alice Dreams Tournament, Rush Rush Rally Reloaded, Shadow Gangs and Postal all popular. 

Dean was forced at gunpoint to autograph a copy of SEGA Power.

Our friends from both SegaMags and SEGA Powered were also at NottsVGE and it was really nice to be able to meet the legendary journo/editor Dean Mortlock in the flesh for the first time. Matt and James from Shenmue Dojo were also in attendance, as were Get Well Gamers, YouTuber TootyUK, and community magazines Evercade Evolution and Amiga Addict.

Tom and Lewis with Dan and Nick from WAVE Game Studios.

On the main stage, the team from The Retro Hour interviewed a trio of guests from the golden era of Rare's time as Nintendo's third party development darling; while later a Q&A session was hosted by Paul Drury from Retro Gamer Magazine. 

The Retro Hour introduced guests from Rare.

Tom with Skilljim and Matt from Shenmue Dojo.

A rather popular Mario Kart 8 tournament was facilitated by Nottingham Nintendo, but the real coup de grâce was a battle royale between WAVE Game Studios and The Dreamcast Junkyard. In a true test of guile and skill over the course of two games of three rounds (Power Stone 2 and Virtua Tennis), these two behemoths went toe to toe...only for WAVE to trounce us 2-0. Naturally, the blame was levelled at Lewis' cack-handed Power Stone 2 skills and Tom's controller port only working intermittently. Um.

At least someone was having fun...

Liberties were taken to be honest.

The final insult of the event came when James 'Jaz' Harvey unironically subjected several hundred paying event-goers to a disgusting display of hubris, with gameplay from Spirit of Speed 1937 being displayed on a giant projector screen. If NottsVGE don't invite us back again, I'm confident this act of wanton terrorism will be cited. Oh, and there was Kev wandering around offering people cupcakes of questionable origin.

Would you take a free cupcake from this man?

Congratulations and thanks to both James (ItsMuchMore) and Alex (gamesreup) for inviting us to be a part of their successful debut event. It all ran smoothly and they should both be immensley proud for putting on such a great expo and generally just being top blokes. 

Overall though, it was just really nice to meet people and talk face to face with fellow gamers who either have a passion for the Dreamcast; or who had never even seen one before. Here's to the next Nottingham Video Games Expo, whenever that may be.