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Super, smashing, brilliant.!


And so in the words of the great Jim Bowen, I re-appear.

So my good friends, whats been going on in the world of the Krishna since we last spoke?
Well the good news is I've been playing the Dreamcast!
Wahey! Not in the stupid, alphabetical, slavish way I once promised you...reviewing all the games I've got... yada, yada yada... That was never going to work!!
Well I reserve the right to make an arse of myself online (and frequently do...)
In fact I was due a break from the cess pool of Manchester, at my Lighthouse off the coast of Birkenhead.
That means I was given a break from my computer, electricity, running water, and the distractions of my most recent obsessions... The most compelling websites of the Gnome and The Elderly Gamer (see the links section on the 'Yard.)
OK so with only the responsibility of luring Oil Tankers away from those deceptive Wirral Rocks, I decided to play a bit. But what, pray tell, has been floating my fickle boat?
Well, in a nutshell, here it is...
It's a trip down rose tinted memory lane... A place where the Dreamcast meets the Megadrive, flirts with the Saturn, and has a threes up with the two of them... (ooh Matron!)

In an attempt (desparate to say the least) to reclaim their market share in the face of being 'bitch slapped' by the PS2. Sega tried this... Read on...
(O.K. On re-reading what I've written this is already making little sense to me.. But as usual dear reader I'll ask you to bear with me till we get to the point.)
Sega Smash Pack.
You have to understand that the good folks at Sega had a load of un-sellable Dreamcasts on their hands. The PS2 was cornering the (then) 'Next Gen' market...
So Sega cobbled together a load of it's more successful eighties and nineties releases and squeezed together one 32 bit disc full of classics. A lovely looking box, some garanteed gameplay and a few 'not selling' consoles, and what do we end up with?
Pure gold, that's what... Now Sega only released this package in the US, so if you are gonna pursue it, it means looking up a conversion package to play it on your Euro Dreamcast... But hey that's not so hard... (Damn if I was Gagaman or TLC I'd have posted you a link...cough...)
OK so what we got?
Let's start with 'Revenge Of Shinobi'. HOLY FUCK!! Side scrolling Ninjatasic, star throwing, synthesised sound tracked, dog killing, mask wearing fightfest!
Want me to go into the intracasies of gameplay, hidden levels, cheats etc.? I don't think so... For all you younger game players... It's just male loving Ninja ass kicking bollocks... And all the more fun for it... The graphics are well... very Eighties.


But they're bringing all the Retro stuff back on the DS and the PSP so just accept it... The Dreamcast was AHEAD OF ITS TIME... for realising that we'd all be looking for Retro thrills when the next, next gen came out...


Golden Axe... Lord Of The Rings type shit... Elves, Gnomes, Dragons etc all displayed in a similar side scrolling combat type way... Can I tell you any secrets about its gameplay, unlocked levels, hidden characters etc...?NO! It's just loads of Retro fun.
God! I've just realised that I'm not selling this game too well...


O.K.Streets of Rage... Side scrolling gay punks on Rollerblades... Picking up drainpipes and whacking people! Fucking great!


Virtua Cop 2? With references to Shenmue on the Subway walls? Pick up your light gun and protect the streets of ' Virtua City' by blasting away at 'terrorists' and bank robbers...
Pure arcade brilliance! This game also has the honour of being the fourth and final Light Gun compatable Dreamcast release.
















Again peeps all of this plus Sonic,


Sega Swirl
and available on one disc!


Will try to pad this out with a load of pictures! Until my next sober post... keep the DC faith... and Goodnight Children... Wherever you are...

13 comments:

  1. That comes with "Shining Force"! too huh! Yeah!

    Ah! I totally forgot about this title...

    I forgot to ask about it when I was buying games at that shop...crap. I shoulda looked for it. I ain't got a light gun for my saturn to enjoy the real version of Virtua Cop.

    It's jsut not that same on the computer version without a proper controller and all.

    Some people do say that the audio in the games is kinda messed up on that disk and not as good as some emulators though.

    But all those titles...I wish you had posted this earlier!

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  2. Hey Caleb!
    I've heard the criticism of the re-rendered music before... To be honest they sound like I remember on the megadrive/genesis.
    I had been after this beauty for some time, and actually bought it with a shit load of stuff I didn't want or need, as a bundle off ebay.
    Something I forgot to add was the fact that the addition of Virtua Cop makes it the fourth and final Dreamcast release that was compatable with the light gun.
    I had recently played Virtua Cop on my beloved Saturn (I have two light guns for that :)
    BTW where is the Aladdin's Cave where you pckup all your stuff?
    Thanks for dropping in!

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  3. I dropped alot of quarters on the Shinobi games... and still got my a$$ kicked every time. Pretty sad, wish I had them quarters now...

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  4. Well Deitrx, after the initial purchase of a Smash Pack you could play again and again for free!
    Get your revenge on the game for all those quarters it ate. I know you are a 360 enthusiast, but the wii is going to have the ability to download old SNES and megadrive (genesis) games. A feature that almost has me interested in getting one...

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  5. The Wii is Nintendo's Dreamcast. In other words, it may be the best console they ever make, but if it flops (Unlikely judging by word of mouth so far), it may also be their last.

    The difference being that Nintendo are a lot smarter with money than Sega was, and Sony are really cocking up things for the PS3, so they'll keep on truckin'.

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  6. Gagaman!
    'Tis truly great to hear from you... Perceptive as always...
    I agree whole-heartedly. Sony have fucked up by missing out on the Christmas market... They've been lazily complacent and over-confident about their fan base...
    There seems to be a strange alliance between Nintendo/Sega as corporations (and former rivals). Obviously Microsoft have massive financial resources due to Windows etc... plus they were the first to tap into Next Gen. But a similar amount of innovation has been plugged into the Wii as was the Dreamcast. (Plus they've amassed a good amount of dollar thanks to the DS)
    It is interesting to look at the marketing strategies of Nintendo... they are promoting innovation and spinning the PS3 as bland...Looking recently retrospectively at DC advertising it didn't try hard enough. PS2 marketing was aggressive and competetive, but could also draw on the victory of the PS1 over the Saturn. Most of the online opinion (even by 360 owners) seems to be in favour of the Wii. I'm a bit of a Nintendo fan boy these days...(SHHH!) I love the innovations of the DS over my sons PSPs (cripes who'd have thought that would have ever been an issue...) It will be interesting to see how it all pans out...

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  7. ...darn another piece of gaming history i missed out on.... a best of dreamcast box.... is a masterpiece of marketing. why the bast.... ignored the europeans is beyond me.... we never attacked Japan did we? hell pal conversions can't be that difficult....

    now if you could stand up straight... (elderly pins victoria cross on fatherkrishna's cassock.....)

    :)

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  8. Brilliant stuff my friend... And may I add that Sega Swirl is kindly available for free...

    Anyway. Welcom back, post often...

    I'm off to my cellar... See you December :)

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  9. AH! My two favourite bloggers have arrived (thanks to needy invitations on their respective- and quite frankly essential- websites.... -see links on the side of the 'Yard)
    Thanks for the medal Elderly I shall wear it with pride...
    (Father Krishna breathes on medal, polishes with his cuff and glances nonchalantly at the mirror...)
    It's lovely to see you here on the 'Yard. You know you're being drawn away from the 360 by the lure of the Dreamcast, just admit it...
    ;)

    Gnome! How the hell are you? And more importantly where are you?
    Has the course work suddenly intensified? Anyway good to hear from you!Thanks for dropping in!

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  10. The Smash Pack is awesome.

    The sound quality is much poorer for some sounds (try the intro to Shining Force), but it's good enough.

    I haven't gotten into Shinobi yet, (is it worth it?) but I sure do like playing "Streets of Rage" with my nephew.

    --b9

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  11. Is Shinobi worth it? HELL YES!
    All the games on this particular bundle are worth it!
    However, I regret in my rushed review I forgot to mention the ones that I didn't play...
    There is loads of unreviewed stuff that I forgot to mention in this post... Will rectify this error ASAP!

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  12. What did you think of Sega Classics Collection (2005 edition) on PS2? And are you gonna check out Sega Genesis Collection as well? It's a very nice collection of games...

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  13. Well Ross i have to say the only PS2 Sega offering I have checked out is the Eye Toy classic sega heroes which I thought was frankly fucking ace (I have posted about this in the August/September or October archives -I can't remember which) One of the best and most appealing thing about the Wii is it's ability to download retro SNES and Megadrive classics. i think it's really interesting how the Retro market is growing in the face of the Next Gen Market... I thinkg that my tired old crusade of reminding people that "gameplay (and not graphics) makes a game..." is finally paying off! (LOL!)

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