Twelve whole months of reviews, news, podcasts and features; and we thought it only right to round them all up for your ease and enjoyment, just in case you missed some of them. We know you have busy lives, San Diego. Personally I'd like to say a huge thanks to the entire team here at the 'Yard, to the developers and community that still endeavours to create really awesome Dreamcast software/news content; and also to you - our readers - for continuing to visit and make what we do here worthwhile. Anyway, here's some curated highlights from 2021...
Reviews
- Intrepid Izzy - Lewis took a look at Senile Team's awesome action-platformer, declaring it a rather special experience that all Dreamcast owners should own.
- Xenocider - Tom cast a critical eye over Retro Sumus' years-in-the-making 3D into-the-screen shooter, decreeing it to be the Sin and Punishment homage we all deserve.
- Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back - Mike took a look at this less than spectacular release that seemed to slip under many a radar.
Retrospectives
- Surf Rocket Racers - James dipped his toe into the waters of Crave Entertainment and CRI Middleware's jet-ski racer, and found it to be quite a pleasant experience if not a Wave Race beater.
- Stunt GP - RC vehicles tearing around locales strangely devoid of any human life? That's Stunt GP and Tom rather liked it.
- Bang! Gunship Elite - Some see it as Starlancer's poor relation, but Bang! Gunship Elite is a decent space shooter in its own right. Find out why here.
- Q*Bert - One of gaming's most well-known and foul-mouthed characters made an appearance on the Dreamcast, but was it really worth the effort?
- Taxi 2 - Derek Pascarella released an English language translation of the French exclusive Taxi 2 earlier in 2021, and James decided it was time to take a fare in this elusive movie tie-in.
- Wetrix+ - Earthquakes and torrential rain are the name of the game (poetry?) in this Dreamcast remaster of the Nintendo 64 puzzler...but is it worth a punt?
- European Super League - One of the Dreamcast's numerous PAL-exclusive soccer titles, we thought it was a good time to take a look at Virgin's poor effort in the wake of the collapse of the real-life Super League.
- F1 World Grand Prix II for Dreamcast - Tom did a few laps with Video System's Dreamcast F1 sequel, and included a potted history of the series too.
- Sega Extreme Sports - James decided it was high time to catch some radical air with Innerloop's extreme sports title, and found the time to chat with the studio's CEO Henning Rokling, too.
- UEFA Dream Soccer - At the other end of the footballing spectrum to European Super League, UEFA Dream Soccer is perhaps the finest recreation of the beautiful game on Dreamcast...for now at least.
Features and News
- New Year's Resolutions 2021 - The Junkyard team set out their resolutions for 2021. How many did we stick to before chinning them off mere weeks into the new year?!
- In White 1999: The Time D2's Laura Appeared as a Model in a Japanese Fashion Magazine - Lewis wrote a fantastic deep dive article on the strange tale of Laura from Warp's D2 appearing as a model in a Japanese fashion magazine.
- Shenmusings of Ryobots, Niaowu, and Shenmue III's Uncertain Legacy - Brian pondered the eternal question - is Ryo Hazuki an android; or does he prefer the term 'artificial human'?
- Lost Atomiswave fighter KenJu ported to Dreamcast - Tom got to grips with KenJu, one of the long lost Atomiswave titles that was ported to Dreamcast by megavolt85 in 2021.
- Bounty Hunter Sarah: The Capcom Dreamcast Game You Never Knew About - Capcom are well known for their Dreamcast fighting games, but what of Bounty Hunter Sarah? Lewis investigated, and also spoke with the actress who stars in the game.
- The Great MSR Missing Persons Poster Hunt - Part 2: We Found Them! - Last year we investigated the mysterious 'Missing' poster found in MSR. This year, we finally found the other two posters hidden in the game.
- Trailer for unreleased horror game 'If It Happen' found - Aaron looked into the unannounced and subsequently cancelled If It happen - a game none of us even knew existed!
- Typing Jet: The lost Jet Set Radio game? - Tom goes on a trip down the rabbit hole looking for the enigmatic and presumed lost mobile version of Jet Set Radio - Typing Jet.
- Upcoming Dreamcast Indie releases - 2021 and beyond! - Mike looks forward to the indie games heading to the Dreamcast in 2021 and beyond. Some made it, others are still to come...
- Channelling Dreamcast: 3 games doing what Sega won't - A cursory glance at some contemporary game releases that try (and in some cases fail) to capture the essence of the Sega of the Dreamcast era.
- A homebrew Dreamcast MIDI Interface Cable appears! - A talented chap called Ben Ryves took matters into his own hands and created a homebrew version of the elusive HKT-9200 Dreamcast MIDI Interface Cable. He then made some music on a Dreamcast with it. What a legend.
- Dee Dee Planet: Beta of Cancelled Dreamcast game Released Online - Lewis reported on the discovery of yet another lost Dreamcast title - Dee Dee Planet courtesy of Pcwzrd.
- The original Rez website has been fully restored - A look at the fully restored Rez website, and a few words with the man who did all the leg work.
- I mode! You mode! We all mode for i-mode! - Scott went on a trip back through time to investigate the i-mode functionality Japanese mobile gamers enjoyed back in the day, and also checked out some of the Dreamcast-derived software that appeared on the platform.
- Dreamcast console shells in 2021 - Kev pondered the viability (and cost) of new Dreamcast console shells for a modern audience.
- Petrol Panic! 6 of the best gas stations in Dreamcast games - Plenty of Dreamcast games feature gas stations, and during the height of the UK's fuel shortage, Tom reviewed some of the best (and worst) filling stations to be found in the Dreamcast's library.
- Watch the Sega shareholder meeting that ended the Dreamcast - A livestream of the Sega shareholder meeting that heralded the end of Dreamcast production was captured by one savvy gamer and preserved online for posterity.
- Preview - Non Casual Encounter - SEGASaturno Productions returned with a proof of concept demo for their next title, Non Casual Encounter. You can now order one of only 100 copies of this intiguing visual novel, but be quick!
- 5 Dreamcast Fan Translations You May Have Missed - Fan translations of Dreamcast games have exploded in popularity in 2021, and Lewis took a look at some you may have missed.
- Let's take a look at Shenmue World from Shenmue Dojo - Shenmue super site Shenmue Dojo released Shenmue World earlier in 2021. Tom took delivery of a copy of this weighty tome and put his thoughts on the blog.
- New Dreamcast Prototype Found: Panic World - Veteran developer Mike Mika revealed some details about a lost Dreamcast title he had previously worked on - Panic World.
- Bokomu No Tatsujin Translation Project Released! - Aaron reported on yet another fan translation that came to the Dreamcast in 2021 - this time Bokomu No Tatsujin.
- Previously unseen prototype Dreamcast logo discovered - An eagle-eyed Redditor discovered a previously unseen prototype Dreamcast logo on the Japanese patent office website. Hidden in plain sight for all these years...chimpanzee that!
Interviews
- Out of Print Archive - Andy and Neil, curators of the Out of Print Archive dropped by the Junkyard to discuss all things gaming magazines of yesteryear. In this revealing interview we covered the origins of the Out of Print Archive, the ingestion process and how the team decides which magazines should be preserved digitally.
- WAVE Game Studios - Daniel from WAVE Game Studios stopped by to tell us about the origins of the newest publisher of indie Dreamcast games, and how they hope to kickstart a renaissance of Dreamcast physical game releases on store shelves.
DreamPod episodes
All of our podcast episodes can be found on your favourite 'podcatcher,' or simply by going to our Buzzsprout site here. Alongside our usual chaos, we did have some great guest epsiodes in 2021 and those are detailed below.
- DreamPod Episode 87: Caspar Field - Former editor of Dreamcast print magazine DC-UK Caspar Field joined the DreamPod team in January to speak about his memories of the magazine and how it all began; the short lived Mr Dreamcast magazine project; and Caspar also recounted his experiences working in game development.
- DreamPod Episode 88: Video Game Esoterica - Game preservationist extraordinaire Anthony Bacon, of YouTube Channel Video Game Esoterica, joined the DreamPod to speak about Dreamcast oddities, Kenji Eno's D2, and his own quest to educate the world on the fate of the 3DO M2.
- DreamPod Episode 90: Dreamcast in 1999 - The Dreamcast Years podcast crew joined the DreamPod for the first of 2021's crossover episodes, this time to talk about the Dreamcast scene in 1999.
- DreamPod Episode 91: Dreamcast in 2000 - Once again co-hosted by the Dreamcast Years crew, the second crossover episode of the year focussed on Dreamcast and wider pop culture in the year 2000.
- DreamPod Episode 93: Dreamcast translations - The DreamPod welcomed stalwarts of the Dreamcast fan translation scene Derek Pascarella and Burntends to talk all things Sakura Wars Colmuns 2 and the wider efforts by the translation community.
- DreamPod Episode 100: Peter Moore & Listener Questions - For the momentous occasion marking 100 episodes of DreamPod, the crew answered listener questions; but also welcomed former SEGA of America president Peter Moore onto the show to talk about his history with the Dreamcast.
Videos
You may already know that we have a YouTube channel, but we also have a Twitch channel too so be sure to check that out. On our YouTube we regularly hold livestreamed discussions (lovingly titled 'bookclubs'), and below you'll find links to some of these Kev-hosted video chats.
Things we were asked not to feature because we're 'content thieves, and everybody in the Dreamcast community knows it'
- Castlevania Resurrection
Once again, thanks to you for reading, listening to and watching our Dreamcast related nonsense over the past year (well, past 16 years!). If you'd like to support what we do, you can do so at Buy Me a Coffee. Please also feel free to join our Discord and get involved in the chat.
Remember to stay safe, stay cool, keep Dreaming and stay tuned in 2022 for even more of the same.
2 comments:
An excellent round up. We’ve really knocked out of the park this year. A pleasure to be a part of the madness as always!
Post a Comment