The NAOMI Games That Deserved a Dreamcast Port

Ask your average gamer with a passing interest in the Dreamcast to name their favourite titles for the system, and there is a good chance that you might hear answers like Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, or Resident Evil CODE:Veronica. The console certainly had a healthy crop of long-form, narrative-driven sagas like this which remain an enduring part of its identity to this day. However, it’s probably just as likely that the answers you’ll receive are replete with brash, high-tempo classics such as Crazy Taxi, Power Stone, or The House of the Dead 2. Titles in this vein, which were so obviously shaped by their arcade roots, also played a huge role in making the Dreamcast what it was – and some of them shifted big numbers too (OK, big numbers for the Dreamcast).

In retrospect, given what was just around the corner for video gaming, it is not uncommon to hear the opinion that Sega’s swansong console was overly reliant on arcade ports. If it were to serve evolving tastes, so the argument goes, perhaps it needed to have attracted more games that were divorced from the arcade scene. Considering the multitude of factors that coalesced to make the Dreamcast a commercial flop, it is impossible to say with any certainty whether this theory holds much weight. Personally, I suspect it may have the tiniest grain of truth to it. If so, then daydreaming about how the console’s release library could have been packed out with even more arcade titles is perhaps a little bit perverse, but this is the Dreamcast Junkyard after all, and pontificating on this type of nonsense is our jam.

The NAOMI-Dreamcast Connection

For the uninitiated, I should probably explain that, in the same year that Sega launched the Dreamcast to the home market (1998), they also launched the New Arcade Operation Machine Idea (NAOMI) system for the arcade market. And, barring a handful of differences which made the arcade system marginally superior, the two were practically twins. 

The front page of a NAOMI press release from 1998, with the Dreamcast swirl incorporated into the logo (later to be dropped in favour of clarity). Image courtesy of Sega Retro.

I am not at all technically minded, and plenty of other articles by highly knowledgeable authors have been written about the affinities between the two systems, so I won’t feign expertise and start talking about chips and memory. For now, it is sufficient to say that because of the similarities between the NAOMI and the Dreamcast, porting games from the former to the latter was a fairly simple affair. Naturally then, masses of NAOMI titles were brought over to the home market using this route - or were they?

Relying on the data assembled by the wonderful archivists of Sega Retro, by my count 159 titles were released for the NAOMI, either on ROM cartridge or GD-ROM, but only 60 of these made it over to our beloved Dreamcast. Sure, among those 60 there are many, many, stone cold classics, ranging from blockbuster hits like Crazy Taxi through to lower-profile titles that have garnered a cult following over the years, such as Ikaruga. As thankful as I am for ports like these, those numbers mean that 99 NAOMI games didn’t make the jump over to the Dreamcast, and indeed, many never left the arcade full-stop.

In certain instances, this is understandable. The Dreamcast had its fair share of bizarre accessories, but would anyone out there really have wanted to cram a StarHorse terminal into their living room? Probably not.

OK lads, back to mine for a few hours of StarHorse?

For other reasons, games like Dragon Treasure, where players sought out ‘medals’ in a thinly veiled gambling loop, were probably not well suited to the home market either. You can’t lose money to yourself after all. Yet there are plenty of other games that could have feasibly made it onto the Dreamcast, brightening up its library, bringing us hours of joy, and getting savaged by a grumpy and short-tempered reviewer in the Official Dreamcast Magazine. So, in no particular order, here are the NAOMI games that I feel should have been blessed with releases on the Dreamcast.

Monkey Ball

Landing in arcades with aplomb in July 2001, Monkey Ball had that upbeat, blue-skies aesthetic that Sega development teams of the era seem to have mastered. On the face of it, rolling a twee monkey character around maze-like platforms to collect bananas and reach an end goal is very simplistic, but the combination of platforming and puzzle elements proved to be a big hit, and the opportunity to master the controls and beat prior scores lent the game a degree of depth and replayability. 

Monkey Ball screenshot courtesy of the Video Games Museum.

Before the end of the year, the game was ported to the Gamecube as Super Monkey Ball - the first game Sega published on a Nintendo home console following their exit from the hardware market. To the delight of an ailing Sega, it was a commercial hit, spawning a quick sequel and a franchise that has remained active to this day. But really, this game’s first home console destination should have been the Dreamcast, and had it hit the arcades a year earlier, I don't doubt that I could have been clasping a well-used copy of Monkey Ball in a battered PAL case right now. Fortunately though, thanks to the dedication of Memorix101, an unofficial port is in the works, and we may well see a fully working version in the near future.

Crackin' DJ

Rhythm games were a big deal in the late nineties with the likes of Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania first taking the arcades by storm and then quickly transitioning over to the lucrative home gaming market. Of course, the Dreamcast was not immune to this bug and had a small but high quality library of rhythm titles, including the internationally recognised Space Channel 5, as well as Japan-exclusive hits like the Pop’n Music series. Yet, to my mind, it was a crying shame that Hitmaker’s Crackin' DJ didn’t make an appearance on Sega’s home console. Created specifically with a view to capitalising on the rhythm craze, its drawn out development process was by all accounts a tough one, and upon release it flopped, with blame partly falling on the daunting dual turntable controller that beginners struggled to comprehend.

Look mum, I'm a crackin' DJ! Flyer scan courtesy of LaunchBox Games Database. 

In light of its woes in arcades, not porting Crackin' DJ to the Dreamcast was in all likelihood the right commercial decision, but it means I was denied the opportunity to play it back-to-back with Jet Set Radio, in a fit of hip-hop fueled euphoria, from my dingy house in a bland English town. It’s also a missed opportunity for the Dreamcast to have been saddled with yet another endearingly cumbersome accessory that is only suited to a single game (or two if Crackin' DJ Part 2 was also ported in this hypothetical scenario). For now, we’ll just have to make do with listening to the soundtracks and dreaming of what could have been.

Illmatic Envelope

It’s well established that the Dreamcast has an exquisite library of shoot-em-ups. Furthermore, thanks to the circumstances that made the NAOMI an enduringly attractive home for shmup developers, it's also fairly well known that shmup ports from the NAOMI gave the Dreamcast a much longer official lifespan in Japan than elsewhere. Between 2002 and 2007, ten such games were released as Japanese exclusives for the Dreamcast, and in fact, the last ever Dreamcast GD-ROMs to be pressed and sold were reprints of Border Down in January 2008. Nevertheless, there were a handful of shmup titles released on the NAOMI that never saw the light of day on the Dreamcast, and one which would have been a perfect match for the little white box was Illmatic Envelope.

Released to arcades in June of 2008, Illmatic Envelope (AKA Illvelo) uses the same basic architecture created by Milestone for predecessors Radirgy and Karous, but applies an even more bizarre premise and what can only be described as a near-psychadelic visual presentation to produce a chaotic experience that is hard to put into words. We had glimpses of Milestone’s iconoclastic approach before, but in Illmatic Envelope it was allowed to run rampant.

A still screenshot really doesn't do this title justice... I'd recommend a video instead, such as this playthrough hosted by Insert Coin.

In late 2008, the chances are that an officially licensed Dreamcast port would have been just as viable as Milestone’s prior titles, with a small but dedicated fanbase still ready to snap up a print run of a few thousand copies. However, by the time Illmatic Envelope hit arcades, GD-ROM production had halted, which made such a prospect an impossibility regardless of demand. Fortunately, the game was not destined to be confined to the arcade with a Wii port appearing in late 2008, but that didn't fully satisfy my appetite. To this day I still yearn for a proper late-stage-Dreamcast DVD-case style release.

Mazan: Flash of the Blade

Released by Namco to arcades in 2002, Mazan: Flash of the Blade is a first-person hack and slash-type game, where the player takes on the role of an ancient Samurai tasked with defeating hordes of historically accurate monsters, including some rather terrifying penguins. The key feature the game is built around is that of a sword controller surrounded by a ring of sensors, the movements of which are then relayed into the game. Given that the action progresses on-rails, and considering the manner in which enemies present themselves, perhaps the most apt way to describe Mazan is as a “pseudo light gun game”.

Flyer scan courtesy of Neon Rocketship.

In the post Wii-era, the kind of motion controls the game offers probably aren’t as much of a draw as they once were. Indeed, after experiencing the horrendously clunky sword-fighting of Red Steel, some may have been put off the concept for good. However, the online consensus seems to be that Namco implemented the technology for Mazan well, and the game has drawn high praise from some well-informed commentators, such as Video Game Esoterica who describes Mazan as their “favourite unported arcade game ever”.

I’ll accept that releasing a Dreamcast port with a plastic sword and enormous sensor-ring accessory kit in 2002 would have been a reckless move. But surely something could have been worked out between the Samba de Amigo maracas and the fishing controller? Too ridiculous? Well then, I’d have settled for playing it with my Dreamcast mouse, or even the keyboard, à la The Typing of the Dead.

Kasei Channel Mars TV

The final game I'll cover here is the wonderfully vibrant Kasei Channel Mars TV, in which groups of up to three players compete in a succession of "quiz shows" that are broadcast from the planet Mars. Developed by Sega Software R&D Dept. 3 and released to arcades in 1999, Kasei Channel Mars TV is typically categorised as a "table game", but it is perhaps clearer to state that it ultimately consists of a set of mini games.

Screenshot courtesy of LaunchBox Games Database. However, again, seeing a video is a must, and I would highly recommend this footage from Insert Coin.

Obviously, the 2D art style and straightforward gameplay mechanics wouldn't have exactly been ideal for showing off the power of Sega's new home console back in 1999. However, in my eyes, Kasei Channel Mars TV could have been a perfect early online multiplayer game, perhaps releasing at a budget price in the vein of Toy Racer, or even being bundled as a magazine disc, as was done with Planet Ring in Europe. A trick was missed here, and the fact that the game has never made it out of the arcade is unfortunate.

Honourable Mentions

Some of you may be aware of the heartwarming story from 2004 where Dreamcast fans effectively saved the developer Triangle Service (a one-man band consisting of Toshiaki Fujino) from bankruptcy. Trizeal had tanked at the arcade, and upon gaining a licence to publish a Dreamcast port, Triangle Service issued an open letter calling for Dreamcast owners across the world to pre-order the game, which they duly acted upon. Perhaps less well known is that Triangle Service had intended to release their next NAOMI title, Shooting Love. 2007, on the Dreamcast in November 2008 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the console and pay thanks to those who had supported Trizeal. This would have been a fitting end to the console's official lifespan, but alas, it was not to be, because GD-ROM production had stopped.

The NAOMI cartridge for Shooting Love. 2007 courtesy of Sega Retro. 

While not releasing a game because there is no physical capacity to produce discs is reasonable, what is less forgivable is that in PAL regions the Dreamcast only had two light gun games (Confidential Mission and The House of the Dead 2), and even in Japan, the Dreamcast only managed to muster two more (Death Crimson 2/OX and the Virtua Cop 2 re-release). A bit stingy, considering that there were several perfectly serviceable NAOMI light gun games that could have made the jump with little effort. OK, maybe not Gun Survivor 2: Biohazard CODE:Veronica, which was a hot mess with a terrible title to boot (six words and two colons, really?!), but the ancient Egyptian-themed The Maze of the Kings would have been lovely.

The Maze of the Kings title screen, courtesy of Sega Retro.

I'm quite ignorant about fighting games, and so I didn't think it was appropriate to pick one out in the section above, but I will note here that there were at least five fighting games released on the NAOMI which were never ported to the Dreamcast (Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf.Achse, Toy Fighter, Jingi Storm, several variants of Melty Blood and several variants on Guilty Gear XX). Given how well regarded Guilty Gear X on the Dreamcast is, I can only assume that fighting game afficionados would have been thrilled to see one of the four Guilty Gear XX variants that were released between 2002 and 2006 ported over too. As to why shmup developers of the time universally agreed that Dreamcast ports were still worthwhile, yet fighting game developers did not, I don't know. Maybe that's an investigation worthy of another article...

* * *

So there we have it. Based on a perfectly fair, rigorous and transparent methodology, I've decreed which games should have been ported from the NAOMI to the Dreamcast. However, I am humble enough to concede the possibility that I may have made a minor mistake - if there are other titles that you believe warranted a port, then do let us know in the comments below. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for news on such ports becoming a reality in the near future. As we reported earlier, a port of Monkey Ball is underway, and a port of Cleopatra Fortune Plus (albeit "vibe-coded") has recently released, which hopefully means that the flood gates are now open.

P.S. To read a similar case made for titles from Sega's other arcade hardware (Model 3, Hikaru, Naomi 2) check out this article by Gregory Oborne over at It's Still Thinking.

Intrepid Izzy & Rush Rush Rally Reloaded are now available on ZOOM Platform

Well this is a nice little surprise. Intrepid Izzy and Rush Rush Rally Reloaded (or R4, to those in the know) - two of Senile Team's most highly regarded Dreamcast titles - are now available for the PC via ZOOM Platform, while a third Senile Team release, HypnoTiles, has also made the jump to everybody's favourite DRM-free storefront.

If you've been around the Dreamcast scene for any length of time, you'll no doubt be familiar with Senile Team's pedigree. They are the studio responsible for some of the Dreamcast's finest post-mortem moments, with the Beats of Rage engine signalling their arrival in the indie space on Sega's final console back in 2003; before going on to release Polyko's Super Jelly Bean Quest in the Sketchbook of Illusion in 2012, and more recently Rush Rush Rally Racing in 2009 and 2017 (in the form of the updated Reloaded) and Intrepid Izzy, also in 2017.

We were/are big fans of both titles, stating in our glowing review of Izzy: "...the game has everything a great action platformer should have: great gameplay and controls, charming artwork and beautiful animation, varied and well-themed levels, and a great sense of humour...The many years of development experience that Senile Team have under their collective belts shines through here - resulting in an incredibly polished final product."

Similarly, we gushed the following about R4: "Rush Rush Rally Racing is a fantastic title even if you don't have the option of playing the multi-player games on offer. The vehicle handling is amazingly intuitive, it sounds great and the game is peppered with numerous imaginative details (just don't hit the cows!); and while it's very difficult if you're generally shit at games like I am, with perseverance there's a lot of fun to be had." We even spoke to the man himself Roel van Mastbergan, Senile Team's lead designer, artist and programmer back in 2017 - check out the interview here.

Intrepid Izzy launched to overwhelming critical acclaim on Dreamcast.

To celebrate the re-release of both Intrepid Izzy and Rush Rush Rally Reloaded on ZOOM Platform (and the release of puzzle title HypnoTiles), there's currently a special offer of 25% off the asking prices. Naturally, we asked Roel for his thoughts, alongside ZOOM Platform's Jordan Freeman, who is a former colleague and business partner of the late, great Bernie Stolar and someone who is known to enjoy a bit of Dreamcastic action in his down time:

"Well, what can I say? It's always exciting to bring a game to a new audience, and now it's three games at once! Thrice the fun! Jordan and ZOOM Platform in general have been a pleasure to work with, so I hope this marks the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration."

- Roel van Mastbergan, Senile Team

"It is our pleasure to announce that Senile Team’s legendary catalog has come to ZOOM Platform. Roel and his team, like us, hold Dreamcast near and dear to their hearts. It’s a match made in Heaven. Tremendous classics such as Intrepid Izzy and Rush Rush Rally Reloaded combined with exciting new releases like HypnoTiles are exactly why the incredibly fertile Dreamcast indie scene remains alive and well to this day!"

- Jordan Freeman, ZOOM Platform

If you enjoyed 16-bit Micro Machines, you'll love Rush Rush Rally Racing.

If you've never played either Rush Rush Rally Reloaded or Intrepid Izzy on your Dreamcast (there's no excuse, to be honest), then now is the perfect time to give them both a whirl on your computing device of choice. As long as it's a Windows PC. And don't forget HypnoTiles, which looks like a fun variant on the Tetris formula with a bit of Lumines thrown in. Find out more over at ZOOM Platform.

Disclaimer for anyone interested: this isn't a paid or sponsored post or anything like that. I just like Intrepid Izzy and Rush Rush Rally Reloaded so if more people get to experience them, that's a bonus. Cheers me dears!

Atlus' Japan-Only Dreamcast RPG deSPIRIA Receives English Fan Translation of its First Chapter

These days, Atlus is a worldwide brand, what with the massive success of its Persona RPG series, but once upon a time, not every title they developed was done so with an international audience in mind. They developed the earlier Persona games for the Japanese market, while their first Sega Dreamcast game, Maken X, was done so knowing it would be distributed across the globe. The only other game Atlus released for the Dreamcast was deSPIRIA, which remained exclusive to Japan and was its own beast entirely. Its dated gameplay and visuals for its release year of 2000 make it hard to believe it would've ever been considered for a Western release, and had it been, the gaming press would've torn it a new one. But without those same contemporary "everything must be polygonal" goggles on, deSPIRIA is a very novel —if not incredibly niche— horror experience in the Dreamcast's library, and today I am excited to report that its first chapter is now playable in English thanks to a team consisting of rio de popomocco (translation) and DinoJesus (programming), with more to come later.

"Ma'am, this is a Wendy's..."

The game puts you in the shoes of Allure Valentine, a woman working for an organisation known as "the Church" and has you exploring a dystopian underground version of Japan, getting into psychic mind battles with the creepy individuals you encounter. That's the operative word here, "creepy", and one deSPIRIA embraces proudly, with "grotesque" being how its opening disclaimer message describes some of its content. I mean, the protagonist snorts some kind of parasitic worm thing up her nose in the opening cutscene... for plot reasons. Graphically, it is filled to the brim with those cold, uncanny, pre-rendered visuals often seen in horror games from the 90s. Graphics that were aged on arrival back on release, but in retrospect, only further serve to up deSPIRIA's unsettling atmosphere.

The exploration takes place in first person, and is basically point-and-click, with a sort of slideshow quality to proceedings. You can rotate on the spot to survey your surroundings, then click on an area of the environment to move there, triggering an FMV of you moving towards it. Those who have played and enjoyed titles like D and Kowloon's Gate before will feel right at home here. Well, it's hardly homely, but you know what I mean. The game also features some pretty psychedelic —at times nightmarish— battles in which the protagonist jacks into other people's psyches.

To play deSPIRIA's first chapter in English, you will need to go to the translation project's GitHub repo and download a patching tool, which will apply the translation patch to your existing GDI of the game. The patching tool isn't available for Mac or Linux, so you will have to find a roundabout way to get it to work on those operating systems, or alternatively get a friend with Windows to do it for you.

Interestingly, the creators of this patch offer three different modes for gameplay speed, which reduce random encounters and rebalance the game for those who just want to focus on the story. 

Unfortunately, as of writing this, I have been unable to get my patched GDI to play properly on GDEMU, with it crashing on a certain scene right at the start. I was, however, able to play the game successfully (and take the screenshots you see in this very article) via the Flycast emulator.

Those who have heard me witter away on the podcast before will already know how stoked I am for this translation, and I will be eagerly awaiting any future preview instalments (there's no word as of yet as to whether this is how they wish to release the rest of the patch going forward), and of course the full patch somewhere down the line. Will you be giving deSPIRIA a go? Let us know in the comments or on our socials.

New Dreamcast Survival Horror Title 'White Creek' is Getting a Visual Upgrade

We recently reported on the reveal of JoshProd, PixelHeart and Storybird Studios' upcoming survival horror title White Creek, and the general consensus is that it looks (no pun intended) pretty cool. Interestingly, the mainstream press also seem to have cottoned on to White Creek's existence, and in some cases made disingenuous claims that it represents the 'first new Dreamcast release for 25 years.' I guess those outlets missed stuff like Rush Rush Rally Racing, Pier Solar, Intrepid Izzy, Xeno Crisis, Xenocider, The Textorcist, Driving Strikers, Sturmwind et al.

Anyhow, White Creek is now a known quantity, and promises to be an intriguing mix of D2, Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark and The Ring: Terror's Realm. Actually, scratch that last one. One of the main criticisms I saw levelled at White Creek when it was first revealed via trailers and screenshots, was that it didn't really look like a Dreamcast game, and instead looked more like an original PlayStation title. A fair criticism as far as I'm concerned. Looks like the fine folks at JoshProd also took heed at these observations and have given White Creek a bit of a visual upgrade just in time for the upcoming release of a playable demo.

Original left, upgrade right (click for a bigger version)

Original left, upgrade right (click for a bigger version)

These screens are taken from the video posted on the PixelHeart YouTube channel, and as you can see the background details have been reworked to give the impression that the game really was intended for the Dreamcast, and not one of those piss-poor, cash grab PS1 ports we so commonly received back during the Dreamcast's natural lifespan (yes I am indeed looking directly at you, Nightmare Creatures II).

Original left, upgrade right (click for a bigger version)

Original left, upgrade right (click for...you get the idea)

I'm personally hoping for an increased level of visual detail in the character models too, though I'm not expecting to see the kind of fidelity on display in something like Code: Veronica (the Dreamcast game, not that new one that's just been announced, obvs). 

So what do you think about this graphical upgrade? Are you more interested now that White Creek appears to look a bit more like an actual Dreamcast game? White Creek doesn't have a firm release date as yet, but it will be releasing on modern platforms as well as Dreamcast and you can find the game's Kickstarter campaign here. 

NTSC-J baseball title Pro Yakyuu Team de Asobou Net! is back online

Another day, another dollar. And by 'dollar,' I of course mean 'obscure Dreamcast baseball game has been brought back online.' This time, the game in question is Smilebit's Pro Yakyuu Team de Asobou Net!, which for those who may be unfamiliar, is a baseball game that was released only in Japan back in 2000, and was part of the popular 'Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team!' lineage.

Pro Yakyuu Team de Asobou Net! differed from other entries in the popular super-deformed series by offering Dreamcast players the opportunity to enter into online games of rounders-on-steroids via the Dreamcast's Dricas service, essentially meaning you could attempt to hit a ball thrown by another human from the comfort of your own couch. Who needs to even bother going outside when such a concept is proffered? Not me, that's who. And neither do you.

I bet leg warmers are cheap in this reality.
And gloves with fingers. Mittens though? Gold mine.

Interestingly, Pro Yakyuu Team de Asobou Net! is actually quite highly regarded as a decent baseball experience; which is surprising when you consider how much of a dog's dinner Smilebit's 90 Minutes was. They also made some other game about breakdancing rollerbladers or something, but I'm not sure what that was called or if anybody ever played it.

Anyway, this magic has been conjured by none other than Dreamcast online gaming royalty Shuouma, and if you point your weary eyeballs downwards, you'll find an excellent gameplay video from our good friend Pcwzrd, who also explains how to get involved via the DreamPi contraption in the video's description. Of course, you can also find a bit more information on this new Pro Yakyuu Team de Asobou Net! release over at Dreamcast Live, along with a handy DreamPi connection guide. To be fair, the online scene on the Dreamcast has been on fire lately, with multiple games being brought out of the archive and placed back onto lane one of the information superhighway. Which is what us old people call the internet. Ask your dad/grandad. Cough.

Thoughts? You played this obscure gem? If so, what did/do you think? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out our look at similar (but not really) Dreamcast baseball-flavoured cartoon-characters-with-no-arms-which-aren't-Rayman-a-thon Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu here.

The Japan-Exclusive Magic: The Gathering Game for Sega Dreamcast has been Translated into English

Over the years, I've built up somewhat of a personal wishlist of Sega Dreamcast games I'd love to see translated into English, with Atlus' horror-RPG DeSpiria sitting firmly at the top, a choice I'm sure plenty of others also hold. Something a bit more niché I've been quietly rooting for though is the Japan-only Magic: the Gathering game, which simulates the long-running trading card game from Wizards of the Coast.

Quite why Japan ended up being the only region to receive this Dreamcast game based on such a popular Western TCG is anyone's guess. An American release was supposedly on the cards (sorry) according to an old article from IGN, with online features to be implemented, and the game even shipped with a folder on its disc titled "CARD_US" filled with English-language textures that were presumably intended for that American release. Now, a whole 25 years later, English-speakers can finally rejoice as a Dreamcast-Talk user by the name AstraLee has translated the game into English. 

In the past, those familiar with the TCG and the English versions of the cards (the game even featured ten exclusive cards) could muddle their way through this Dreamcast release, and in a similar fashion, AstraLee utilised a number of online Magic: the Gathering resources, along with their own knowledge of Japanese, to put together this patch. No AI or machine translation was used for the English translation itself, although for the sake of transparency, AstraLee did state that Claude was used to write some python scripts to extract the original Japanese text and format it into a .CSV file, which they then translated themselves. They did also run into some limitations with character limits when inserting the English text back into the game, so many phrases were shortened or compacted to fit better. Tutorial videos have also been left untranslated as of this first patch release.

For those who'd like to learn more about the Dreamcast game itself, I highly recommend watching this video from Magic: the Gathering YouTuber "Magic Untapped", which goes into some nice detail about it. To play this translation, simply head over to the GitHub repo to download the patch, which you can then use with Derek Pascarella's Universal Dreamcast Patcher to apply it to your own existing GDI of the game.

NAOMI Fan Ports are Finally Coming to the Sega Dreamcast with Cleopatra Fortune Plus (Vibe-Coded Edition)

What a crazy time we're living in. I woke up this morning to a message telling me that we've officially entered the era of NAOMI games being ported to the Dreamcast by fans, with Cleopatra Fortune Plus being the very first.

For those unfamiliar, the NAOMI was Sega's arcade platform first introduced in 1998, built on architecture very similar to that of the Dreamcast. That technical similarity was what made the Dreamcast the first reasonably affordable home console to deliver an experience that looked and played genuinely close to the arcade. During its commercial lifespan, a number of NAOMI titles were ported to Dreamcast, including classics such as Crazy Taxi, The House of the Dead 2, Dead or Alive 2, and Power Stone. Others, such as Jambo! Safari and Virtua Golf, were announced for the console but were ultimately cancelled.

What with the constant influx of ports we're seeing now on a near-monthly basis, the logical thought from those who inhabit the Dreamcast fan community has been "could the fans just port those missing NAOMI games to Dreamcast?" They were able to do it with Atomiswave arcade titles back in 2020, so why not NAOMI? Well, the Atomiswave arcade system, which launched in 2004, was essentially a repackaged Dreamcast for the arcade, with virtually identical hardware specifications. The NAOMI, on the other hand, packed far more RAM than the Dreamcast, leading many in the homebrew community to dismiss the possibility of fan-developed NAOMI ports as "impossible".

That was until today, when a Dreamcast-Talk forum user who goes by CaptainKoffski posted that they've ported Cleopatra Fortune Plus to Dreamcast. Cleopatra Fortune Plus was the NAOMI arcade-exclusive sequel to Taito's puzzle game Cleopatra Fortune, which itself received a Japan-only port to the Dreamcast. CaptainKoffski was transparent from the off that the project had been created using what the internet has dubbed "vibe coding", the practise of using AI models to assist anywhere from a little bit to entirely with software development. In CaptainKoffski's case, they admitted "the entire port was done with AI, with minimal effort on my part."

AI is a huge topic of conversation at the moment, with a number of ethical and environmental concerns being raised surrounding its use. Just last month, Sega drew criticism from fans for revealing that AI was used in the development of the upcoming Crazy Taxi: World Tour. AI has also begun to seep into hobbyist circles, where it has received a mixed reception. What really is puzzling (excuse the pun) about this NAOMI port, though, is that despite its lack of human touch, it actually runs well, with seemingly no issues.

While we can't ignore the fact that this port's very existence is a huge breakthrough, we can only hope those who live and breathe Dreamcast development can unpick some of the information CaptainKoffski provided in their accompanying GitHub repo to find out how the heck the AI pulled this off, with the hopes it may aid future porting efforts. That said, I am aware that a very human effort to bring a major NAOMI title to the Dreamcast has been confirmed as being very close to completion, so I doubt this will be the last we see of NAOMI ports to the console in 2026.

Show Report: Nottingham Video Games Expo 2026

Back in 2022, The Dreamcast Junkyard travelled to the fair city of Nottingham to take part in Nottingham Video Games Expo '22. Nary four years later we were back to our old shenanigans, once again gracing Robin Hood's stomping ground with our collective odious presence. That's because on Saturday 18th July 2026, NottsVGE returned with gusto, in a plush new city centre venue to welcome hoards of rabid enjoyers of electronic games to the hallowed event space hidden within the bowels of the (actually pretty nice) Crowne Plaza hotel.

Armed with a plethora of slightly dodgy display screens (some of which were salvaged from charity shops), and an overflowing Lidl carrier bag of Dreamcast consoles, we trudged through the back alleys of Nottinghamshire to set up our encampment in a small corner of the event space. The scene was set, the hangovers were negligible and the monitor connection issues were overcome by the crack team of weary Dreamcast apologists which staff this very blog. Eventually, the doors were flung open at 10:00 and we greeted our expectant audience.

Early drama during the setting up process, as Lewis and Brian discuss whether Jaz should be allowed to run another Spirit of Speed 1937 competition.

Multi-player Mario Kart 64 running on a Dreamcast seemed to go down well. 

Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was a particular crowd favourite while I played Suzuki Alstare. Um.

To be fair, there were probably far too many of us manning the 12 foot table as myself (Tom), Lewis, Andrew, Lozz, Brian, Kev, Jaz and Harvey (aka Pizza Hotline and composer of our podcast's epic outro tune) were on hand to bellow uncontrollably at anyone who dared come near our stand. But by the grace of Zeus we were there to spread the Gospel of Dreamcast™ to all who would heed our words...and I don't believe anyone was left disappointed.

The event was very popular with those seeking gaming goodies.

One of the talks, this one being an interview with Ocean Software's Gary Bracey.

Sega Bass Fishing was popular with everyone. Because it is class.

Throughout the day we welcomed all and sundry to experience the delights of Under Defeat and Radirgy in proper TATE mode; unreleased Atomiswave gems such as Kenju, Maximum Speed and Faster than Speed; CRT-enabled joy in the form of House of the Dead 2 with light guns; slightly unhinged prancing with Samba De Amigo and maracas; and a whole host of competitions with titles such as Crazy Taxi, Sega Bass Fishing, Power Stone 2, ChuChu Rocket!, and Virtua Tennis 2. 

There was an online-enabled Dreamcast showing off Phantasy Star Online, Quake III: Arena and web browsing functionality through the unbridled power of DreamPi; and we also managed to showcase some of the work of the Dreamcast community, with the excellent ports of GTA III, Mario Kart 64 and Super Monkey Ball all going down a storm.

As you can probably appreciate, many a conversation about the awesomness of Dreamcast was had and many a round of Soulcalibur was lost and won. We even managed to rope gaming royalty like Wil 'Super Play and N64 Magazine' Overton into a doubles tournament on the aforementioned Virtua Tennis 2/Tennis 2K2.

Several generations of Dreamcast enjoyers in one shot.

That is one sexy modded Dreamcast system, I think you'll agree.
Ignore the yellowed controller on the right. Cheers.

Wil Overton is actually pretty good at Virtua Tennis. Who knew?!

Away from The Dreamcast Junkyard's set up, there were numerous traders hawking their glittering warez. YouTuber TootyUK and the ever-present Sore Thumbs Retro Games were selling hardware and software; our good friend Marc Jowett (aka The Gaming Newsagent) had a massive assortment of games magazines and books on sale - I even grabbed a copy of Chris Scullion's excellent Dreamcast Encylopedia for an unbeatable price.

Elsewhere, the Derby Computer Museum had a whole array of classic consoles and computer hardware on display which were fully playable; Arcade Club had a range of classic arcade cabs availiable set to free play mode; Debug and Secret Mode had a pretty massive area showing off a range of brand new indie games (I was quite partial to SUPER 56 from Onion Soup Interactive - think WarioWare, but even more unhinged); and the UK Amstrad Group had an entire room filled with Amstrad games, hardware and slightly musty nostalgia.

I grew up with an Amstrad. Not this one. I had a proper
CPC 464+ though, not a CPC464+ monitor connected to a povo CPC 464. Cough.

Roland Perry (right, obvs) is royalty in the Amstrad scene.

Obligatory Atari Jaguar mention. This one was £300, 
but can you really put a price on being able to play Club Drive on native hardware?

The UK Amstrad Group's area was of particular interest to me, as my very first gaming device was an Amstrad CPC 464+, so speaking to people who are as passionate about the Amstrad platform as I am about the Dreamcast was very, very cool. I even got to meet Roland Perry, the visionary architect behind the whole Amstrad CPC range. Not sure he was too thrilled when I said I wasn't a fan of his eponymous Roland series...but I digress/cringe.

Look at it! It's pure art. The thing in the middle, I mean.

Is this basically Inception?

Back at The Dreamcast Junkyard's area, we welcomed one of the OG members of the editorial team, Aaron 'The Gagaman' Foster, where he was presented with one of the amazing objets d'art created by VGNYsoft - an acrylic sign of his own artwork, a visual representation of the beginnings of this very blog. By all accounts he was very humbled, but that was short-lived as he was press ganged into a session of Samba de Amigo. On the topic of VGNY though, we also had on display some of the very special, very limited edition Dreamcast Junkyard 20th Anniversary Dreamcast console shells...and they looked (look) absolutely superb, even if I say so myself.

Old favourites like Crazy Taxi still command so much attention.
Note the DCJY console shell on the left, courtesy of VGNY.

ChuChu Rocket! 4-player went down a storm.
We won't talk about the fights that ensued after a Cat Attack.

Soulcalibur on a crisp CRT won't ever not draw a crowd.
The Pokemon toys weren't ours, btw.

I think it's safe to say that NottsVGE 2026 was the biggest and best yet, and full respect goes to Alex (aka The Sega Guru) and his team for putting on yet another stellar event. Personally, my thanks go to the DCJY team for their outstanding efforts throughout the day, and also to the people who came to speak to us, share their love for the Dreamcast and play some quality games. 

Never, ever accept a donut (or a cupcake) from this man.

Had to keep a tight watch on Jaz, lest he sneak off and subject
the entire event to more janky racing games.

Another highlight was that Jaz didn't get to re-run his disgusting Spirit of Speed 1937 competition on a giant screen (see the 2022 event for that blasphemous display of hubris); meanwhile Kev forgot to bring his customary petrol station cupcakes to hand out to unsuspecting event goers. He did go to Wendy's and buy some tiny donuts (most of which he consumed himself while grunting feverishly under a table), but to be honest I think the less said about that, the better.

From left to right: Pizza Hotline, Lozz, Kev, Jaz, Andrew, Brian, Tom, Lewis and Aaron

So there we have it. NottsVGE 2026 was a resounding success, and no doubt we'll be there again in years to come. See you there!

Were you at Nottingham Video Games Expo 2026? Did you encounter any of the reprobates in the image above? Are you mentally scarred? Let us know in the comments!