The Dreamcast Junkyard's choicest cuts and hottest takes of 2022

Well, another whole year has come and gone, and we're all a little older and a little wiser. All a little bit more wrinkly and decrepit. All a bit more wizened and broken. All a bit more...I think you get the idea. Anyway, as has become something of a custom here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, we thought it would be totally radical (dude) to round up the majority of the content we've posted here over the last 12 months; so you don't have to navigate the archive using that unweildy little sidebar thing.

Huge thanks must go to all the people who have continued to create content that we report on, and of course to those who have agreed to guest on our podcast. Thanks also to the team members who write the features, the news posts and the reviews; and of course thank you to you - our readers - who continue to visit the Junkyard year in, year out.

For your reading pleasure, presented below in a digestable list are some highlights from 2022. Not everything we've published is included, but if you're reading this on the desktop version of the blog you'll find the aforementioned unweildy little sidebar archive just down there on the right, from which you can find everything from not just 2022, but from the last 18 years of The Dreamcast Junkyard...

Shadow Gangs

Reviews

  • Ghoul Grind: Night of the Necromancer - Mike cast a critical eye over Woog Worx's interesting retro-styled, auto-scrolling, Halloween-themed platform adventure, and was particularly impressed with just how well executed the whole affair was.
  • Postal - Lozz suited up and dove in to Dan Redfield and WAVE Game Studios' Dreamcast fantastic release of Running With Scissors' blood-soaked 90s shooter, and was pretty impressed with what he saw. Twin Stick controls and complete DLC included on the disc were particular highlights.
Yeah Yeah Beebiss II
  • Yeah Yeah Beebiss II - In 2022 the Dreamcast played host to a port of a sequel to a game that never actually existed. That port was the simple yet enjoyable Yeah Yeah Beebiss II and Tom found that while the game was quite basic in design, it was also quite a fun little title.
  • Shadow Gangs - Showcasing just how diverse the range of new Dreamcast releases were in 2022, Lozz took a look at the visually impressive side scrolling brawler Shadow Gangs. While the aesthetics were a highlight, the game's difficulty level was seen as a slight negative.

Virtua Sriker 2 ver 2000.1

Retrospectives

  • Virtua Striker 2 - When is a football game not a football game? When it's Virtua Striker 2 of course! Tom took to the pitch in Sega's arcade football fest to see if Virtua Striker 2 holds up.
  • The Flashback series on Dreamcast - The Dreamcast has now recieved officially sanctioned ports of both Flashback and sequel Fade to Black. We joined Conrad B. Hart to see how well these ports fared on the Dreamcast.
  • Nettou Golf - Kev switched off Giant Killers, donned his most hideous golfing attire and interrupted a good walk when he investigated Nettou Golf, an NTSC-J title which he found to be surprisingly good fun.
Maximum Speed
  • 90 Minutes: Sega Championship Football - 90 Minutes represents one of the most turgid footballing experiences one can find on Dreamcast; however the NTSC-J version (titled J.League Spectacle Soccer) is one of the very best to grace a GD-ROM drive. How so? Find out in Tom's retrospective!
  • Maximum Speed - The Atomiswave played host to a number of interesting games that were never ported to other platforms, and Maximum Speed is one such title. A sort of Daytona-lite that features stock and open wheel vehicles, and some of the most annoying sound effects you're ever likely to hear.

Flyer for Premier Eleven

Features and News

  • The Hunt for Premier Eleven - Premier Eleven is often seen as the greatest football game the Dreamcast never got. By 'often,' we mean 'by us.' This elusive Atomiswave title does exist in very limited numbers out in the wild, but so far it remains undumped. Join us on this most whirlwindy of investigations.
  • Brave Little Abacus - Lewis went down the rabbit hole of discovering why this celebrated band used a Dreamcast during their live shows, and even managed to bag an interview with Brave Little Abacus frontman Adam Demirjian, who explained the reasoning behind it, as well as his general admiration for the console.
  • Dreamcast translation projects - The Dreamcast English translation scene appears to be going from strength to strength, and so our resident translations specialist Lewis brought us news on projects involving such NTSC-J titles as Radirgy, Chaos Field, Panzer Front, Puyo Puyo~n, Cool Cool Toon and RUN=DIM as Black Soul.

RUN=DIM as Black Soul

  • The Dreamcast indie scene enters a 'Golden Age' - Lozz took a deep dive into the indie scene on the Dreamcast, as more and more games are released and new publishers enter the Dreamarena (sorry).
  • Where are they now? - ODM's '100+ New Games' - The Official UK Dreamcast Magazine famously printed a '100+ New Games' feature in the July 2000 issue, and so Andrew decided to delve into the history books to find out what happened to them all. Did all of these games materialise...or was it all just pie in the sky?
  • VM2 'next-gen VMU' from Chris Daioglou - Serial Dreamcast peripheral upgrader Chris Daioglou returned in 2022 with a vision for a next-gen VMU. Titled VM2, the project was launched on Indiegogo and smashed its funding goal. Read about it here.

RIP Mr Yukawa

  • A farewell to Hidekazu Yukawa - News of former SEGA Japan Managing Director Hidekazu Yukawa's passing was reported in June 2022, after the great man died in June 2021 aged 78. Here, Lewis respectfully paid tribute to his legacy, and detailed every time Mr Yukawa appeared in a Dreamcast game. Rest in peace Mr Yukawa, gone but not forgotten.
  • Gauntlet Giveaway! - Midway's Gauntlet Legends offered a pretty sweet deal to anyone who bought the game - send in proof of purchase and receive a set of pewter miniatures based on characters from the game. Through a series of bizarre events, Tom ended up with a set of these miniatures and here's what he thought of them.
  • The 'All About Dreamcast' VCD - Lozz managed to bag himself a copy of a Chinese-language VCD sold in Hong Kong and Taiwan titled 'All About Dreamcast,' and being the dutiful digital preservationist that he is, then went and ripped it and uploaded the contents to YouTube.

SEGA Spud Dive

  • Is video of the Sega Spud Dive lost media? - The Sega Spud Dive was a publicity stunt that involved people swimming through vats of mashed potatoes to win Dreamcast related prizes, and we've covered it several times here. However, there doesn't appear to be any video of the events...which is odd considering the numerous film crews in attendance.
  • Remute Generations - A music CD with exclusive Dreamcast functionality and visuals created by Duranik? Yes please! Here, Tom took a look (and a listen) to Remute's latest release - Generations.
  • Title Defense: Dreamcast's lost boxing sim - Title Defense was intended to be a more simulation-based alternative to Ready 2 Rumble, but sadly it was never released. That didn't stop the game being featured quite regularly in magazines of the era. Tom took a look at what could have been, had Climax not shelved this intriguing title before it could muster a defense. See what I did there?

[lock-on] Volume 003

  • [lock-on] Volume 003 Dreamcast special - [lock-on] Volume 003 offered a veritable smorgasbord of Dreamcast content, some of which was created by the very people who write the guff on this blog. Once the disclosure was out of the way, Tom took a look between the pages and offered a wholly unbiased opinion.
  • Dee Dee Planet playable online - Dee Dee Planet was a pseudo sequel to ChuChu Rocket! that would offer online gaming to Dreamcast owners. Sadly, it was never released. That was until the Dreamcast community got hold of it, released it and added online functionality in 2022. Most impressive.
  • Dreamcast Mini: Hopes and Prospects - The promise of a 'Dreamcast Mini' has been doing the rounds online for years, but how would it work, really? Would Sega even be able to turn a profit from such an expensive endevour? Lozz threw caution to the wind and offered his thoughts.

RIP Bernie Stolar

  • Show Report: Nottingham Video Games Expo - The Junkyard Crew took a rare trip out into the real world to take part in NottsVGE, where we met some industry legends, drank some beer, played some games and generally had a thoroughly nice time.
  • TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection lands on Dreamcast - Dreamcast coding legend Ian Micheal decided that he wasn't overly impressed with Konami's decision to skip the Dreamcast when it came ot releasing TNMT: The Cowabunga Collection. So he went ahead and created his own version...which is arguably better than Konami's. So there.
  • Bernie Stolar sadly passes away - The late Bernie Stolar is credited as being the father of the Dreamcast, and it was with great sadness that we learned of his passing in June 2022, aged 75. In this rather sombre news update, we paid our respects to the gaming industry giant. Rest in peace Bernie Stolar, who will forever be remembered as the force behind the creation of the Dreamcast.

Dreamcast Gold Ingot from RetrOldTech

  • There's gold in them there Dreamcasts! -  Lewis took a look at the tongue-in-cheek offering of a gold bar made from reclaimed precious metals out of Dreamcast consoles. Clearly a prank novelty item from RetrOldTech, but one we couldn't help but applaud for its downright weirdness.
  • Dashy no Blast demo released - Talented indie developer Voxel surprised us all with the release of playable Halloween-themed demo Dashy no Blast in October 2022. Playing like a better version of Cannon Spike, this promising demo hit all the right notes.
  • Cuphead on the Dreamcast?! - Developer Aionmagan created this rather nifty proof of concept Cuphead demo for the Dreamcast back in June. While it is very limited in scope (it's basically one screen), it proved that the Dreamcast could cope with Studio MDHR's amazing animations, if nothing else.

Dreamcast magazines for preservation

  • Dreamcast Magazines: Appreciation and Preservation - Lozz presented this rather well researched appeal for Dreamcast magazine preservation, taking a look at the various periodicals that catered for the platform and asking for Dreamcast owners to plunder their attics and cupboards for missing issues.
  • RetroAchievements adds Dreamcast support - Ross popped up after a lengthy hiatus to report on RetroAchievements adding Dreamcast games to its database of supported titles. For those uninitiated, RetroAchievements basically adds trophies to games from all manner of classic systems, so having Dreamcast added was a pretty big deal.
  • Using AI art to create Dreamcast images from hell - On a particularly boring day back in May, Tom decided to see what would happen if he prompted an AI image generator with terms like 'Dreamcast' and 'Jet Set Radio.' This article was the result. You're welcome.

Sonic Adventure
  • Sonic Adventureland: A Roller Coaster of Love - Brian bought a ticket and took a ride through Sonic Adventure's numerous roller coaster themed Action Stages, reminiscing about some of the real life theme parks he'd also visited along the way.
  • SEGA Powered issue 5 - Issue 5 of SEGA Powered magazine was fairly heavy on the  Dreamcast content, and naturally we thought it would be nice to have a flick through its pages here at the Junkyard.
  • Hermes: Limited Edition - Lewis finally managed to snag a copy of the excellent indie title Hermes, and it was a copy of the rather nice limited edition which came bundled with a special Hermes-branded VMU.
  • Spring News Round-up - A lot of Dreamcast news happened during the month of April, and Lewis was on hand to document the creation of a Dreamcast bedding set, the release of a Mega Duck emulator and a bunch of new indie games.

Interviews

  • Driving Strikers - Jaz tracked down and chatted with Luke 'Kazade' Benstead to discuss the concept behind the upcoming online-enabled Rocket League style title for Dreamcast, Driving Strikers.
  • Video Game History Foundation - wasn't really sure where to put this one so I settled on including it here. Tom and Brian joined Frank Cifaldi and Kelsey Lewin from the Video Game History Foundation's History Hour podcast to discuss the US and European launches of the Dreamcast, and also the history of this very blog.

DreamPod episodes

If you're a regular listener to our podcast, then you'll know that we occasionally have special guests on the show to discuss their own history with the Dreamcast. Below are some of the highlights from the past year, however all of our regular 'news' episodes can also be found at Buzzsprout here.

  • In DreamPod 103, we welcomed writer, producer and director Jörg Tittel, who previously wrote for the Official US Dreamcast Magazine. In this wide ranging chat, Jorg discussed how he got involved in writing for the magazine, and how his friendship with the late Shinya Nishigaki resulted in a cameo appearance in Illbleed.
  • DreamPod 106 saw us welcome WAVE Game Studios' Daniel Crocker and SEGA Powered editor Dean Mortlock. In this episode we chatted about how WAVE Game Studios was formed and how they have taken the Dreamcast scene by storm; and we also discussed Dean's history in magazine publishing, from his time at SEGA Power through to his latest venture SEGA Powered.
  • Shenmue Dojo were our honoured guests on DreamPod 108, with James Brown and Matt Oliver joining us to discuss all things Shenmue. From the origins of Shenmue Dojo, to the release of Shenmue World, thoughts on the cancellation of the Shenmue animated series, and even a Shenmue quiz, if you're a fan of Yu Suzuki's magnum opus, this episode will be right up your street.
  • DreamPod 109 was tinged with both sadness and joy, as while it was a characteristically enjoyable romp through the year 2002 with the team from Dreamcast Years, it also marked the very last episode of the DCY Podcast (well, unless you backed the physical minidisc release of the actual final, final episode as part of the Dreamcast: Year Two book).
  • Our guests for DreamPod 111 were Dan 'The Mega' Driver and James 'The Segaholic' McGhie, who together are known as The SEGAGuys. In this episode, we chatted about Dan and James' entry into the world of Sega, their own podcast and YouTube channel, hypothetical Dreamcast sequels and of course there was a Sega-themed quiz.
  • In DreamPod 112 we were lucky enough to be joined by former SEGA Europe marketing director Giles Thomas, who spoke to us about how he was handed the task of launching the Dreamcast in Europe. From his time at MTV and VH1 music channels to joining Sega and overseeing the marketing campaign across the continent, Giles offered us a goldmine of interesting tales from the early days of the Dreamcast. 

"Cupcake anyone?"

Videos

  • Giant Killers series - I felt it was only right to include this here simply due to the sheer amount of love Kev (pictured above, replete with his stash of cupcakes) has poured into this series. Yes, if you find yourself yearning to watch a middle-aged man from Northamptonshire play through season after arduous season of Dreamcast football management sim Giant Killers, then you are in for a treat. Head over to our YouTube channel and feast your eyes and ears on Kev's superlative series. Don't bother looking at any of the other recent stuff as it's pretty much all embedded in the articles featured above. I just wanted to give Kev some recognition for this labour of love. And mention his cupcakes again.

What's next?

Naturally, we can't predict the future. However what we can do is commit to continuing the same level of slightly obsessive coverage of any and all noteworthy Dreamcast related news happenings, and a steady stream of new podcast episodes, news, reviews and features over the next 12 months. Everything we produce here is done purely for a love of the topic, none of us do this as a regular job - we are simply a rag tag band of  hobbyists (if that's the right term). If you'd like to support us though, you can do so by visiting our 'Buy me a Coffee' page here.

You can also continue to follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook group, join our Discord, subscribe on YouTube or simply leave us a nice (or horrible) review over on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you may get your podcasts). It all helps and is hugely appreciated. Here's to another great year of Dreamcast related goodness.

The Dreamcast Mini: Hopes and Prospects

Since Nintendo launched their NES Classic to commercial and critical acclaim in 2016, most video game console manufacturers of the '80s and '90s have been stirred to try and reproduce that success, dusting off long neglected brands and intellectual properties in the hunt for financial gains. 

Technically speaking the NES Classic isn’t all that innovative – ‘plug and play’ systems that enable users to sample a selection of old games straight out of the box had already been kicking around the market for many years. Dozens of these types of units were produced during the nineties and noughties, typically on the cheap, including a spate of abominable Mega Drive clones churned out by third-party manufacturers under license from Sega. 

One of the more famous Dreamcast Mini images one can find with a bit of Googling.

Although the fundamental premise was the same, the NES Classic had characteristics that distinguished it from what came before and established a framework to be emulated moving forward (good pun, right?). Here was a first-party designed and produced system that stayed true to the original's aesthetics, with a carefully curated set of games, and a decent build quality that gave customers a much more realistic reproduction of the console’s experience.

In its first year on the market the NES Classic sold over 1.5 million units. Rather than languishing in the darker recesses of the Argos catalogue or piling up in the gloomy discount bins of retailers, these new-old consoles sold like hot cakes, and competitors quickly took note. Sony’s PlayStation Classic was released in late 2018, while Sega were relatively late to the party, with the Mega Drive Mini hitting stores in late 2019.

The Mega Drive Mini, released in 2019, did well enough to warrant the release of the Mega Drive Mini 2 in 2022.

Inevitably, the question many gamers and industry hacks have persistently raised since the revival of plug-and-play system via the ‘Classic’ model is: what's next? Could it be feasible that Sega are secretly working away on a Dreamcast Mini as we speak? For some outlets, the mere mention of the Dreamcast in a survey sent to Japanese buyers of the Mega Drive Mini was enough reason to run pieces with rather optimistic headlines earlier this year.

While the anticipation felt by some for the possible revival of a personal favourite is understandable, the harsh reality is that to date no verifiable proof has surfaced to suggest that a Dreamcast Mini is on the horizon. This article could probably end here, but as we’re occupying that strange limbo period between Christmas and New Year with little else productive to do, let’s allow some leeway to ponder the prospects of such a product appearing in the near future.

No matter how much you’d love to have a teeny tiny version of a design classic sitting next to your TV, the first and foremost factor Sega will be considering is the potential profitability of a Dreamcast Mini. After all, behind the sparkly mission statements and corporate social responsibility lingo, they are a business with shareholders that only love Sonic as long as he is bringing home stacks of hard currency alongside the chaos emeralds.
Maybe a Dreamcast this mini would be taking things a bit too far...
Is there really a large enough audience for a Dreamcast Mini? One key customer profile in this respect would be those who are motivated to open their wallets by nostalgia. Middle-aged folks who want a momentary escape from the drudgery of modern life but can’t be bothered with the hassle of picking up second-hand hardware, or the need to trawl through forum posts to figure out how to re-calibrate their rickety GD-Rom drive. 

On this point, the Dreamcast is at a severe disadvantage, as without some serious mental gymnastics it is hard to be nostalgic for something that you never experienced in the first place. 9 million units sold is nothing to be sniffed at, but it is a drop in the ocean when we consider the figures racked up by the behemoths of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection lands on Dreamcast!

We recently reported that Dreamcast coding legend Ian Micheal was working on a port of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Sega's radical platform. We use the term 'port' very loosely though, because in light of the Dreamcast not getting an official release of The Cowabunga Collection, Ian has actually gone above and beyond and created what is essentially a definitive version of the compilation, arguably bettering what was officially released on current gen platforms by Digital Eclipse and Konami.

The result of five months of hard work, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast actually includes more content than the Konami release, and due to the 'indie' nature of the Dreamcast version, it also includes content that otherwise wouldn't be possible to include in an officially sanctioned port due to licensing issues.

The front end is marvellous!

So with the Dreamcast version of The Cowabunga Collection probably being the definitive compilation of half-shell based retrogaming goodness, what exactly does it contain? In truth, an absolute treasure trove of perfectly emulated 8- and 16-bit TMNT titles from a range of classic systems (running at 60fps in some cases), episodes of TMNT cartoons digitised from VHS tapes, a Vanilla Ice music video (worth it for this alone in my opinion), scanned game manuals, full soundtracks for all games, VMU icons and logos, bespoke menus, display options...the list goes on. 

Super NES emulation runs at 60fps.
Vanilla Ice finally makes his Dreamcast debut.

What's also quite interesting is that The Cowabunga Collection FAQ states that it will not run on an emulator - you'll need an actual Dreamcast to play it, so the fact that both GDEMU and burnable disc images are available is a bonus. Here's a full rundown of what you can expect in terms of playable titles included:

  • Super Nintendo: Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (NTSC-U/PAL), Turtles Tournament Fighters (NTSC-U/PAL)
  • Nintendo Entertainment System: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NTSC-U), Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NTSC-U), Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NTSC-U), Turtles Tournament Fighters (NTSC-U)
  • Nintendo Game Boy: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (NTSC-U/PAL), Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (PAL), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (NTSC-U/PAL)
  • Sega Mega Drive: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper Stone Heist (NTSC-U), Turtles Tournament Fighters (NTSC-U)
  • Miscellaneous / ROM hacks: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ZX Spectrum), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Coin-op! (ZX Spectrum), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of Rage Remix (Mega Drive), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of Rage: The Final Shell Shock (Mega Drive), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper Stone Heist Remixed (Dreamcast/Beats of Rage), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Lost in Space (Dreamcast/Beats of Rage)

As you can no doubt tell from this list of features and games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast is easily one of the most impressive things to come out of the Dreamcast indie scene for quite some time, and huge props must go to Ian Micheal and artist Adam Burrell; and those from the wider Dreamcast community who supported the development process. 

VMU artwork is a really nice touch!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast feels so polished it could be mistaken for an officially sanctioned title; and if it weren't for the fact that there are unlicensed roms included on this collection we dare say certain Dreamcast publishers would be snapping this up for a full physical retail release. It really is that good - from the menu music to the quality of life features (there's no need to soft reset the console to go back to the main menu...which is such a small thing, but so welcome!), everything about The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast just oozes quality. 

There's also an intriguing 'first' included in The Cowabunga Collection, whereby FMV is layered over the top of other screens, creating a very nice visual effect (the main title screen is a good example of this). Believe it or not, this is a totally new tecnique created by Ian and has never been done in a Dreamcast game before. Nice.

It even features manual scans that are fully zoomable.
Dreamcast BOR variants feature too.
Really nice added features include game controls info screens.

If you'd like to see the title screen effect, front end in motion, and also the quality of the various flavours of console emulation on display, check out Ian Micheal's video presentation below:

The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast is a real treat and the best bit is that it's totally free to download and enjoy yourself on real hardware. If you'd like to support Ian, you can find his Patreon page here...that said, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets snapped up by emulation specialists Digital Eclipse based on this interactive resume!

Head over to either the Dreamcast-Talk forums or Ian Micheal's radical YouTube channel for download links, which along with the game also include the lovely PAL and NTSC box art variants.

Be rude not to play Turtles games on the green Dreamcast!

Have you sampled The Cowabunga Collection on Dreamcast? If so, let us know your thoughts on this bodacious release in the comments!

Update January 2023

After the initial release of The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast, it appears an updated version was posted to the internet. Named the 'Dark Theme Collection,' this slightly revised iteration also features the Streets of Rage 2 rom hack Shredder's Re-Revenge. Below is a thorough investigation into this updated version from YouTube channel Madlittlepixel:

Video Game History Foundation welcomes DCJY

It's not often we get invited to guest on other podcasts, but when we do it's always a pleasure. In this case, those lovely folks at the Video Game History Foundation reached out to us and asked if we'd like to join them for episode 99 of the Video Game History Hour podcast to share our memories of the Dreamcast launch from the perspective of gamers on opposite sides of the pond. That pond being the Atlantic Ocean, naturally.

So in episode 99 of the Video Game History Hour, Tom and Brian joined Frank Cifaldi and Kelsey Lewin to discuss what it was like for Dreamcast fans waiting for the release of the system in both the US and Europe, the significance of 9/9/99, the delayed release in Europe, the different packaging and advertising campaigns on the two continents and just why the Dreamcast has such a lasting appeal all these years later. Listen at the link below, or on all the usual podcast services.

It was an honour to be asked to appear on the Video Game History Hour, even moreso considering how much great work the Video Game History Foundation does to help preserve the heritage of the hobby we all love. On a personal level I've followed the work of Frank and Kelsey and the Video Game History Foundation for quite some time, so it was a privilege to be able to converse with them both over the course of the podcast episode.

I should also add that the Video Game History Hour is a podcast that I regularly listen to, with each episode featuring a guest that has their own niche or area of expertise. There are some absolutely fascinating topics covered in the back catalogue, so I would implore anybody with an interest in obscure gaming topics to explore previous episodes. After you've listened to episode 99, of course.

Thanks again to Frank, Kelsey, Robin, Brian and eveyone else involved. Visit the Video Game History Foundation here, find the all episodes of the Video Game History Hour here, follow on Twitter here.

Title Defense: Dreamcast's lost boxing sim

Think boxing on the Dreamcast and no doubt your mind will be instantly transported to the cacophonous auditoria of Midway's infamous Ready 2 Rumble; an ebullient Afro Thunder pacing around the ring with the kind of swagger only normally reserved for arcade boxers that looked - through a contemporary lens, at least - like playable CGI creations.

Yes Ready 2 Rumble and its sequel Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 pretty much had the boxing genre sewn up on the Dreamcast; so while other systems before and since have enjoyed a wealth of options when it comes to digital pugilism, Sega's own great white (now possibly yellowing) hope only played host to the two Midway propositions. This is especially curious since previous Sega systems offered an embarrassment of riches when it came to boxing titles, with games like Greatest Heavyweights on the Mega Drive and Victory Boxing on the Saturn being two particular highlights from my own sordid youth. Arguably the most famous boxing franchise of all time is Punch-Out!!, but seeing as I was a Sega kid, I never really dabbled with those games until later on.

At the risk of turning this into a stroll down my personal memory lane of boxing games, it's time to take a detour through a lesser-travelled ginnel. See, the Dreamcast may have only received the two Ready 2 Rumble titles as officially released boxing games, but there was scheduled a mandatory challenger to face Midway's undisputed champion. In the opposite corner to Ready 2 Rumble, and hailing from the south coast of England, wearing superlative hi-res visuals and offering an impressive array of inventive gameplay modes, stood Climax Studios' Title Defense

Or at least it did, before the camera panned back around and it had vanished from the ring leaving nought but the faint whiff of Ralgex and dissappointment.

Source: DC-UK / Out of Print Archive

Announced in March 2000 by Portsmouth, Hampshire based Climax Studios, Title Defense promised a more realistic simulation style approach to boxing for the Dreamcast. Acutely aware of the long, muscle-bound shadow cast by Ready 2 Rumble, the game's designers were keen to distance Title Defense from Midway's arcade rooted punch fest at seemingly any and every opportunity. While not a Dreamcast exclusive, the fact that the Dreamcast was the only 'next-gen' console gamers could actually purchase at the time of Title Defense's announcement meant that it was the lead platform in many ways; and also presumably the reason Sega's system was the focus for a lot of the early media.

"Climax today announced it has begun development on Title Defense, a cutting-edge boxing game for PC, Dreamcast, Nintendo Dolphin, PlayStation 2 and X-Box. As addictive as a pure arcade game, but as detailed as a serious simulation, Title Defense is being designed to provide the all-round thump-'em up experience that previous boxing games have failed to deliver. 

"Making full use of the power in PCs and next-gen consoles, Title Defense will use high-resolution 3D graphics to bring TV-style mug-punching to glorious life. It promises to be a heavyweight game in every respect, weighing in with a fluid control system, advanced AI and punch-by-punch interactive commentary."

- Climax Studios, 9th March 2000

In the months following the initial press release, various members of Climax Studios' development team were interviewed by the gaming press, extolling the virtues of their Ready 2 Rumble-killer, and detailed the various features and gameplay modes that Title Defense would offer over the competition. The game was also featured in magazines of the era, with UK Dreamcast magazine DC-UK printing a four page spread focussed solely on Climax Studios' upcoming Dreamcast releases in the June 2000 edition. Naturally, this feature included a 'first look' at Title Defense, which showcased the game's impressive graphics and detailed some of the modes players could look forward to.

Source: DC-UK / Out of Print Archive

These modes included a sparring session, an exhibition fight mode, a curious sounding 'shadow boxing' mode (in which players would spar against a 'ghost' version of their own fights, apparently), and of course a full on career mode. 

Speaking to IGN in May 2000, Climax Studios' Business Development Manager Chris Eden said: "There's a career mode in there, yeah. The plan is, in terms of game modes, there will be a sort of straightforward arcade style mode where you'll go through and you'll fight 'X' many fighters, yeah? That's something we really need to do to keep the arcade gamers happy. But what we plan to do is put in a career mode, that'll require so much progression into the game. And that's something people hadn't really thought about before. For example if you look at real life how many fights does a boxer have? What's the level of opponents they fight? Things like that. Boxing isn't a sport where you fight anybody all the time, and games like Ready 2 Rumble don't show the hard work behind a boxing career or anything like that. Something we're sort of looking at as well is a small management mode where you'd be able to manage a stable of boxers and you'd be able to take part in the fight itself."

DC-UK's Climax Studios feature, July 2000

It wasn't just the variety in gameplay options that impressed though. The visuals, from the scant screens that were available looked truly outstanding. While clearly very early, the shots that were shared with magazines and websites of the era depict some excellently detailed character models - somewhat reminiscent of the superb models seen in Ultimate Fighting Championship - and some large (albeit empty) venues which would no doubt have eventually have been filled with roaring crowds. 

Again speaking to IGN, Chris Eden stated: "Title Defense is mainly really nice technology. People talk about physics as the new Rock and Roll in games and that's true, we've got a very detailed physics model in Title Defense and it allows us to model where the muscles work, and stuff like that. When the characters move, the muscles bulge and deform realistically, that's essentially how it works. And that is what will set us apart from games like Ready 2 Rumble, this total realism, like watching a boxing match, the movement the physics of it all."

What's especially interesting about the visuals of Title Defense is that the fighters were apparently not animated using motion capture of real boxers, but instead relied on manual hand animation. This time speaking to Game Interviews, Chris Eden said: "The game is fully hand animated at the moment. We did toy with the idea of using motion capture but to us the benefits of animation outweighed those of mo-cap."

Alas, there is no known video footage of Title Defense in motion, so quite how well this animation style held up is something of a mystery at this point, but still an interesting little fact to note.

Source: DC-UK / Out of Print Archive

While Climax were quick to point out that Title Defense was at the opposite end of the spectrum to Ready 2 Rumble when it came to gameplay and feel, the one similarity both games would share would be the lack of any official boxing license, with EA Sports having the exclusive rights to real world fighters tied up in its pre-Fight Night era Knockout Kings franchise. 

"EA has most of the boxing licenses sewn up, I think. As we've seen with Ready 2 Rumble and other games, a license isn't necessary for boxing as it is for like football, yeah? If you look down the line and looking at a boxing game, we've got this idea of this game with a player to interact with, and an awful lot of the people you meet are going to be other players," Chris went on to explain during his interview with IGN. "In a game world like we envisage people will generate their own reputations and careers. Licenses are essentially about having pre-generated reputations that you're up against, yeah? But if you start thinking about a boxing universe then reputations get generated by players, which I think is far more interesting."

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.