Scraping the Barrell

I realise it’s been a while since my last post here at the Junkyard – but fear not! The recent blizzard of clear and blue plastic cases that has been battering my letterbox like a weather-based version of Ricky Hatton will put paid to this dearth of updates over the next few days. In the meantime, I thought you may (or more likely may not) like to see this:

In a maelstrom of ventricle-ceasing boredom, I borrowed – and subsequently only watched half of – possibly the shittest Adam Sandler film (EVER) off a mate last week. It’s called Punch Drunk Love, and even though the DVD box says it’s “Fucking Awesome, you twatting cunt” (sic), it’s actually a load of bollocks about a socially inept cluster fuck who is afraid of (amongst other things) getting intimate with a woman. Yep – it really is that good. Anyhow, the reason I bring this celluloid bowel movement to your collective attention is this: It’s got a Dreamcast in it!




Spotted a DC in a film? Want to share it with the world? Don’t bother – this is just a shite filler until I can be arsed to write about my new stuff.

NB – To the mate who entered my domain, saw my Dreamcast and ran over to it with childlike glee screaming “Wow! Is that an N64?!” – have a word with yourself.

Shopping for a Dreamcast in 2008

Someone needed a Dreamcast and made the trip down to the local swapmeet.

They find a re-packed Dreamcast for $60. With the Wild Thornberries video game! (They knew that it wasn't a game for the Dreamcast. They were just making fun of it. But they really didn't know what a RFU adaptor was...oh these kids today.)

My favorite quotes.

"Why do you want a Dreamcast?"

"Because the PS3 sucks."



This mirrors alot of my experiences with buying Dreamcast stuff. (It's mostly Russian or French and not Spainish being spoken though) You have to go to these places though. You never know what you can find. And, sadly, they are about the only place to find older games in some areas with no independent video game stores that carry retro stuff.

And people are ALWAYS trying to include the wrong system/games in a bundle. WTF? Is it so hard to tell a Dreamcast game from a PS1 game or computer software? Read the side label people!

I should document my next trip to a local flea-market to find Dreamcast stuff.

People still want the Dreamcast though. That is clear.

I just got the unreleased K-Project for my Dreamcast and I have been playing some Expendable as well. Damn Expendable is a fun little game. Pick it up and play a round if you haven't.

Arcade Goodness




This post has been written by Portugese Gaming Guru and Saturn Junkyard correspondent Nebachadnezzar over that his most excellent website Nebachadnezzar's Place of Awesomeness.
But being a diamond geezer, he's let me reproduce it here! Enjoy!

"Featuring several well-know characters from various Capcom titles (only one character was created exclusively for this game), this is pure arcade goodness that plays somewhat like the cult hit Smash TV. Using an overhead camera, you're put in levels that basically consists of just a small area filled with bad guys. After you wipe them out, the "semi-boss" comes and after him the real boss of the stage shows up. You beat the fucker and move on, simple as that.

The downside is that the game is painfully short, ending in (depending on your skills and difficulty level) 20 minutes/half an hour, if not less.Once you beat it for the first time, an artwork gallery shows up, but that's about it. There's no secret characters (actually there is, but they don't need to be unlocked, you just have to figure out how to play with them, and it's worth since we're talking about Megaman and Bulleta from the Darkstalkers series), secret stages or additional play modes.

There's a 2-player mode and nothing else, all you have left to do is beat records or play with all the characters (they play somewhat different, specially when it comes to the special attacks).But despite that this is a great game. The gameplay is solid and as fun as an arcade game gets. It would be better with a dual analog controller, but still the Dreamcast pad gets the job done. Also the graphics are really great, I wonder how this game looks when hooked up to an HDTV through a VGA cable...

Overall this is a great game that I recommend to all you arcade action fans out there.After beating this game (several times), I thought it was time for a more traditional shmup experience, and the first game that came to my mind (don't know exactly why) was Zero Gunner 2, also on the Dreamcast. But wait, that's 2, what about ZG1? The bad thing is, 1 was an arcade game only, there's no console port. The good thing is, it runs almost perfectly using the Model 2 emulator I talked about sometime ago in the Saturn Junkyard!It actually runs even better, since you can play it in full screen mode at a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. That's as much as my monitor can handle!


Talking about gameplay, it plays mostly like any other vertical smhup, the bullet hell variety, except for the fact that you can lock-on to enemies and then move freely around them, even to the point of turning your chooper 180ยบ and shooting down instead of up!This really contributes to differentiate it from the countless other shmups we see and play everyday and it was probably the idea behind the most excellent Under Defeat, one of the last official Dreamcast releases. Other than that, the progression is also interesting. From the main menu you can choose to play every single level in a row, but you can also select from the Europe, Asia and USA "campaigns", each with their own set of 5 levels to beat.

This is great for an arcade game, since you can try the 3 different scenarios at your own will, without having to beat one to have access to the other.The downside is it's difficulty. Yes, it's an arcade game, and at least using an emulator you won't end up broke, but still it could be a little easier at times. Anyway, as long as you're patient and don't forget to add more credits, this is a pretty good shooter to spend an hour or so with. Not to mention you can get both the game and the emulator on the web for free! What are you waiting for? Go grab it now! As always, if anyone needs links or help configuring the emulator, just ask.PS: I just found out that both Cannon Spike and Zero Gunner were developed by the same company, Psikyo. Funny, uh?"

Some interesting Homebrew projects

Well I think we all need a fresh breath of air to keep our spirits up after recent events.

If nothing else, the past week has shown that there is still alot of interest in the Dreamcast out there.

Speaking of interest in the Dreamcast...check out this quote from http://dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk/


"Dreamcast Scene is going through a major resurgence with the releases of a New Genesis emulator, New Games, a new compilation and much more. If you have a Dreamcast rotting away at home or can pick one up cheap then you could be enjoying one of the best console homebrew scenes" wraggster


Let me give you a quick rundown of some of the releases he is talking about.


Gens4All


Yes, you heard right! A brand new Genesis/Megadrive emulator has just been released for the Dreamcast!

I am still playing Genesis games on my Genesis of course but emulation on the DC is a close second. I really enjoy being able to emulate games on a console vs a TV.



Read all about "Gens4All"


Neverball


Neverball, a game similar to Monkeyball.




It reminds me of one of those old wooden box games where you tilt the top to move a ball around a maze. One false step and your ball goes kerplunk.

Like Monkeyball I play this game even though I am horrible at it.


There are some very prettty colors though.


Read all about the new version.



Visit the Neverball Homepage.

Captain Commando And The Avengers by Gabo-Hanzo

Another Beats of Rage Mod.

It looks pretty spiffy and I like most games where you can play as Captain America or The Punisher.

Read all about it.

EmuForge Homebrew Compilation CD

Do you like ZX-Spectrum video games? Do you also happen to like the Dreamcast? Well then by Golly you are IN LUCK.

This lovely CD image comes with a bunch of ZX-Spectrum games inlcuding Cannon Bubble, Phantomasa and Sokoban.

Camelot Warriors (the hardest platformer I have EVER played) is also present on this disk.

In addition it comes with an EDGE 3D engine port with FreeDoom.

All in all a very promising look toward the future all on one .cdi. I love the Dreamcast homebrew community for putting together such awesome compliation disks.

Read about it here.

http://chui.dcemu.co.uk/

nxDOOM vs Escena DOOM

This seems to be a Doom mega disk filled with mods and new levels.

You do need the original Doom2 .wad to play this homebrew though.

I have not had a chance to run this yet since it's split up into different parts.

But, hey, I like playing DoomDC. The loading times on that kinda sucked but the game itself ran fine once you got into the program. Some of the mods seem like good fun.

Read about this.

So there are a number of great releases for the Dreamcast and the homebrew scene seems to going strong.

Sega asks us "Do we still own a Dreamcast"?

Sega have updated Dreamcast.com with the following message: "Do you still own a Dreamcast?" along with a new user@Dreamcast.com registration set up page which requires your Dreamcast console's System number (which I believe may be the sticker at the bottom with the barcode). After Sega recently updated their trademark for the brand name and now this, what could they possibly be up to? What are Sega planning? Whatever this turns out to be, it shows that Sega has not fogotten about their last console after all of this time, and are even hoping that no one else has. Whatever it is, sign up and hope for the second coming, folks.

EDIT: Word is spending about on forums that this *might* be a hoax by a spammer trying to make money off the google ads from the G-mail account signing up to this gets you. Until Sega confirms that they are indeed not involved with this, I'm skeptical. At the moment the site is "temporarily suspended" due to so many requests, so who knows, but if someone is using the Dreamcast name as a scam...

The Escapist features an interview with Cryptic Allusion

Cryptic Allusion, makers of the finest video game featuring a samuari duck, were recently interviewed in the Escapist.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_139/2993-Interview-Cryptic-Allusion-on-Keeping-the-Dream-cast-Alive

Even though Cryptic Allusion seems to be trying to move in new directions the vast bulk of the interview had to do with the white wonder machine.

Including the following tidbit...

"I don't see the homebrew scene really opening up unless Sega decided to get involved with KallistiOS to help it along, filling in the gaps and, in the process, recreating it as a true dev-kit. I don't see this happening in the near future, but I suppose an old Dreamcast engineer could pop up somewhere. I want to point out that I do not know of anyone out there even considering this. Don't think of it as a rumor." -"Hot Rod" Roddy Toomim (Escapist, 139 March 4th 2008)

TOO LATE! It's out on the interwebs and is now FIRMLY A RUMOR. It's as real as the Dreamcast 2. Accept it Toomim. Just accept it...

In any case they seem to think that there will be a Dreamcast revival in about 10 years. I had my estimates for about 5-6. We will just have to wait and see who is closer.

It was mentioned they felt the Dreamcast was somewhat of a fickle machine, prone to breaking down. I heard this so often I now have like 5 Dreamcasts as backups but none of them have broken to the point of no return. In fact the only problem I have had (control board fuse) was easily fixed. Maybe I am just not as "hardcore" as other gamers???

They were also somewhat understandably skeptical about the future of Sega making hardware. I chose to ignore that paragraph just like I ignore reality since the year 2000.

The Escapist has great articles on gaming to read if you are bored.

All Hail the Undead Console.
All Hail the Dreamcast.

Brand new Dreamcast port...and yes, it's a Shump.



The first release of Tyrian on the Dreamcast has snuck it's way on the off white box.

God, Dreamcast Homebrew devs must LOVE shumps.


It does have bugs. For example the instruction screen doesn't work. Some people also said it's a bit slow, but I didn't notice that much. As with most first releases you can't save games yet.

The arcade version of the game plays nicely enough and the analog control stick is supported.
Get it here:


Pulled from DCNewsUKat DCEmu.co.uk:


Also there was a Golden Axe remake on the Dreamcast as well. Since I was out of the loop for a bit I forgot to mention this one before. It looks pretty sweet.

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=91011

Sega Dreamcast NIB - ShopGoodwill.com


A Dreamcast New in Box is now posted at the Goodwill website. Of course it's not REALLY new in box since they opened the sealed box to make sure it was in there. This is my biggest pet peeve about shopping in thirft shops. They ALWAYS open stuff, even if it's factory sealed. I have bought Genesis and Game Gear games that had been "new in box" before they were put on the shelf.

In any case thift stores and Goodwill sometimes have Dreamcast stuff for sale. I have gotten alot of good deals from stores like that.

What's really interesting is that after this listing was put up from Kotaku the list price went from $30 to $301.00 in a very short amount of time.


Hmm...$301.00? How much is the Wii again? I guess some people still know who the king of console gaming is.

The Dreamcast isn't new-gen or current-gen. It's AWESOME-GEN.

All Hail the Undead Console.
All Hail the Dreamcast.

Pulled from Kotaku

Originally posted on Gamertell

Reminder...

My last (weak) post has sat on top of the DCJY for a while and I know this stuff has been posted here a gazillion times before, but I think it encapsulates the magic of our fave console (perhaps) to a select few that haven't experienced it before...

So sit back, enjoy and revel in the glory that was the major player (all be it not commercially) of the last gen, then weep for the glory of what could have been...