Soulcalibur II on Sega Dreamcast: Who Would the Exclusive Character Have Been?

One of my earliest memories as a Dreamcast owner was playing Soulcalibur and frankly being amazed at how it looked and played. I had never even heard of the "Soul" series before, let alone seen the arcade game it was based on. My purchase had been entirely fuelled by magazine reviews in all their static glory, so finally seeing it running was one of those special moments of awe you'd get as a gamer during that era.

Despite not being a Sega game, it is a title that is culturally linked to the Dreamcast by many. Yet by the time the sequel hit in 2002, the Dreamcast had sadly stepped out the ring (RING OUT!), leaving the follow-up to find its new home split between the Xbox (Dreamcast 2) the GameCube (the other Dreamcast 2) and the PlayStation 2 (Dreamcast stand). 

Each edition came with an additional fighter exclusive to that console. For the GameCube it was Link from the Legend of Zelda series, Xbox had Spawn, and the PS2 had Heihachi Mishima, who is apparently from Tekken (who I had to look up for this article as I honestly had no memory of the PS2 special guest).

The point of this whole preamble is actually to set me up to share a question that I've long pondered...

"If the Dreamcast had actually received Soulcalibur II, which character would have been the console-exclusive fighter?" 

In an alternative timeline where the Dreamcast had powered through and continued to succeed where we saw it fail, it would've ultimately received Soulcalibur 2 and other Soulcalibur sequels on follow-up Sega consoles. Also in that universe, there is a fan blog of PS2 fans moaning that if only people had been more into DVDs as a concept, the PS2 could have succeeded and Sony would still be making consoles today, rather than eventually being acquired by Philips Electronics...

Anyway, let's get to looking and speculating at the Dreamcast-exclusive characters that we might have had a chance to play as. 

Obvious characters tier

Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue

Given that Shenmue was based on Virtua Fighter tech and design principles, it's perfectly conceivable that Namco would've just did the obvious and slotted Ryo straight into the game. The only problem is that Soulcalibur is a weapon-based fighting game and Shenmue is more about advanced fisticuffs, but Ryo does find a sword guard in the first Shenmue, so maybe he could've just pivoted to using a sword? Failing that, he could even just have used one of the forks from the front of his forklift if needed, or the handle bars from a Hang-On arcade machine. To be fair, the PS2-exclusive Heihachi was weaponless in that version of Soulcalibur 2, although this does seem at odds with the rest of the roster to me.

Every bout could have ended with "I won't let you down, Father" or some other stoic phrase about loss and regret, or maybe a "Maybe I'll have some more fun?" This would've opened the way for having Lan Di potentially as a boss too, similar to what they would later do with Yoda, Darth Vader and Starkiller in Soulcalibur 4.

Chew Chew Mimic - Dreamcast Edition Now Available for Pre-Order from Orc Face Games

Chew Chew Mimic, one of the latest efforts from renowned UK-based developer Lowtek Games, has taken a step closer to reaching the Dreamcast with pre-orders opening on the Orc Face Games website over the Easter weekend. For the princely sum of £15 (inclusive of shipping until the end of April), you can pick up a physical copy of the game, which comprises a professionally pressed disc and eight page full-colour manual enclosed within a sealed jewel case. Fortunately for the those who have long since switched their disc drive for an optical disc emulator, a complementary digital version is included too, to be accessed via a QR code on the manual. Also of significance is that those pre-ordering will not have a lengthy wait either, as Orc Face have informed us that they are aiming to have copies out the door by the end of May 2025.

So what is Chew Chew Mimic all about? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a bright and breezy puzzle game where the player is tasked with placing tiles in a formation that will allow one of four knights to reach the end of each of the 100 levels. Following on from the likes of Flea! and Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, the game maintains numerous signature Lowtek elements, including a distinctive art style, pun-heavy cutscenes, and a chiptune soundtrack from composer Tuï. The story goes that the game, which takes inspiration from a certain cat-and-mouse (and spaceship) Dreamcast classic, was first conceived by retro gaming YouTube personality John Riggs (who previously also brought us Yeah Yeah Beebis II) and Alastair Low after a couple of fateful encounters at gaming conventions. 

Right from the off, although being primarily developed for the NES, Chew Chew Mimic was touted for a Dreamcast release. Indeed, when we first got wind of the project in 2023, it was looking likely that a version for our beloved Sega console would be made available simultaneously with, or at least soon after, the NES version, as arrangements had been made with prolific Dreamcast publisher Wave Game Studios. Alas, versions for the NES, Evercade and Playdate came and went, whereas the DC edition entered a state of limbo when Wave seemed to enter an indefinite publishing hiatus as the months of 2023 rolled by with little progress. Thankfully though Orc Face Games, founded in 2024 by HarleQuest’s lead developer Ross Kilgariff, has picked up the thread, and will now be ensuring that Chew Chew Mimic isn’t added to the Dreamcast’s voluminous directory of cancelled indie titles.

Ten Years of the Dreamcast Junkyard DreamPod Podcast

A decade of DreamPod? Who would've thought? Well, apparently not us, because we completely missed the fact that April the 11th marked ten years since the introductory episode of our podcast —episode 0— first went live! Thankfully, a kind listener on Twitter gave us a much-needed reminder of this major milestone.

To celebrate, Dreamcast Junkyard and DreamPod founder Tom Charnock joins Lewis for a special retrospective episode. They dive into the podcast’s humble beginnings, and reminisce about some of its greatest guests and funniest moments. Be sure to let us know yours on social media or in the comments below!

Three cheers for Ten years!

Listen to the episode below, or via your preferred podcast app.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who has tuned into the DreamPod over the years, and for continuing to keep the Dreamcast dream alive!

Wipeout Ported, Segagaga Fan Translation Breakthroughs, Speed Devils now Online - Dreamcast News Round-Up April 2025

I must confess, there’s been a flurry of Dreamcast news these last couple of months that has largely passed me by. Distracted by the day job, some new(ish) part-time studies, and about a billion hours of pointing up the ugly paving slabs in my back garden (still somehow unfinished), I’d taken my eye off the ball. Fortunately though, a rainy Sunday has presented me with the opportunity to get caught up, and rather than taking notes just for my own benefit, I thought I may as well draft a news round-up for the Junkyard.

So, after dusting off my keyboard, pinching a list off Lewis, and conducting a systematic desktop review of relevant sources (skimming Dreamcast Talk), this is what I’ve managed to drum up. In no particular order, here’s what’s been happening in the Dreamcast scene lately.

Get in loser, we’re playing Dreamcast online

I know some folks take little interest in this aspect of Sega’s swansong console, but I MUST urge them to reconsider at every available opportunity, as 2025 is arguably the best time to be playing the Dreamcast online since its commercial heyday. We’re only in April and online multiplayer modes for several titles have already been launched or revived this year.

Most recently, in March, Speed Devils Online was brought back online thanks to the sterling work of Shuouma and flyinghead. As explained by PC Wizard in his Dreamcast Live blog post, Shu started work on this title way back in 2017, with some of us hoping that it could be cracked reasonably easily given that the game shares server code with the likes of POD 2 and Monaco Grand Prix Online (all developed by Ubisoft). Alas, it wasn’t as simple as that, but thankfully, eight years on, flyinghead has picked up Shu’s groundwork and managed to finally solve the puzzle.

Speed Devils Online opening screen, courtesy of Sega Retro.

Rewinding back a little further, in January the Dreamcast ports of two colossal PC titles were brought online. First of all, NuQuake, a version of Quake ported to the Dreamcast (thanks to mrneo420, dreameatergames, Ian Michael, BERO and Kazade), was brought online out of nowhere by a fellow called Maximqad. Why would you want to play the original Quake when the sublime Quake III Arena is available I hear you ask? Well, for one thing, NuQuake supports up to 16 players in a single match, far more than any of the officially licensed Dreamcast titles were able to manage. Fair warning though, if you do try NuQuake out, then a Dreamcast Broadband Adapter is highly recommended, as performance via dial up is currently still pretty sketchy.

The second port of a monster PC title that was brought online for the Dreamcast in January was no less than Counter Strike. Granted, unlike NuQuake which is publicly available, this title is still very much a work in progress and remains in a closed testing phase for now. Nevertheless, footage has been published by The Sega Guru showing the online multiplayer mode functioning via real hardware which is tantalising in and of itself. So, who’s responsible for this development? Maximqad of course. They’ve come out of left field, are rapidly stacking up big wins, and we’re all for it. God speed.

If battling it out over a phone line isn’t your vibe, then there are plenty of other reasons to get your Dreamcast online. For one, you could browse through the hundreds of thousands of internet radio stations available via the refreshed DCPlaya software released by Delux in February. Or, maybe you want to back-up your VMU saves, but don’t have a VM2 or one of those wacky cables Lik-Sang pushed back in the day? Well, now there is a web browser-based option in the wonderful Cloud VMU produced by Robert Dale Smith.

2025: year of the port

The last few months have seen an unprecedented wave of hefty high-quality ports released for our beloved little white box. Sometimes this blog may come across a little hyperbolic, but in this case I reckon there are reasonable grounds for getting hyped, and each of the following deserve your attention for varying reasons:

Wipeout box art snippet nabbed from Laced Records.

This month (April 2025) jnmartin84 released a port of the eternally cool Wipeout to the Dreamcast, which commentators such as The Sega Guys are (reasonably) touting as the best version of the game to date. Feature complete, running at 60fps, and with input remapping to allow for the Dreamcast controller, this is exactly the kind of work that we love to see. Check out the project’s GitHub page for more details.

Jnmartin84? Doesn’t that username ring a bell? Ah yes, that’s because in January, they also released a virtually perfect port of Doom 64 that features a whole suite of enhancements, some of which are exclusive to the Dreamcast edition, including real-time lighting. A gushing overview and interview with the developer from the Junkyard's founder, Tom Charnock, can be found here. 

Unless you’ve been entirely cut off from civilization lately, you’ll probably know that an alpha port of Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Dreamcast (yes, that still seems ludicrous to type) was released to the world on New Years Eve 2024. Without being paid a penny, a phenomenal international team of volunteers led by skmp achieved what many had thought would be impossible, thereby resolving a debate that has been running ceaselessly in the scene for nearly a quarter century. Oh, and as if that wasn’t impressive enough, they followed it up with a port of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in April, as covered by Lewis for the Junkyard.

Ken Rosenberg upon reading this blog post...

Unwilling to let the momentum fade, skmp is now beavering away at porting a more contemporary title, The Liquid Jet, to the Dreamcast too. In fact, Sad Mask Party’s “slimy and psychedelic” PC adventure game is so fresh that only a demo is available right now. It is hoped that the first level will be playable by the end of this month – stay tuned for further updates.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been Ported to the Sega Dreamcast

Custom artwork by NRU07

Little Jimmy the Dreamcast fan sits in the school cafeteria at lunchtime. All his buddies sitting with him at the lunch table are exchanging enthusiastic stories of their experiences playing their new favourite video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

‘And then I got 6 stars on my wanted level and I was on the run from the military in a golf cart!!!’

Little Jimmy nods and feigns laughter, pretending that he too can relate to all the hilarious tales of virtual carjacking and mass murder that his friends —who really shouldn’t be allowed to play the game for at least seven more years— relay at the lunch table. But Jimmy’s friends all own Sony’s newfangled PlayStation 2 console. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City didn’t release for the Sega Dreamcast. In fact, it seemed there hadn’t been any new releases for the console since his mom bought him NHL 2K2 back in February. 

He holds back tears as he stabs at his mac and cheese with his fork. There, floating in the luminous yellow sauce, the macaroni noodles resemble a broken swirl.

***

Alright, alright. Dumb introductory story aside, the news that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been ported to the Sega Dreamcast and the fact that you can play it today of all days is no April Fools gag. In fact, if you’ve been anywhere near the Dreamcast scene in the last few months, it is highly likely that you already knew it was being worked on, with results being produced at an astonishing rate, especially considering the same talented team —led by developer skmp— only just released their port of Grand Theft Auto 3 (known as "DCA3") back on New Year’s Eve.

The reason we're able to see a port of Vice City only four months later is because the majority of the groundwork was done when porting GTA3 previously, which used reverse-engineered source code from the RE3 project as a base. We caught up with skmp to get the lowdown as to how their new Vice City port came about so fast:

"Vice City uses the same engine (RenderWare) and the codebase is very similar to GTA3. We were able to use our RenderWare backend as is - with a few fixes, as well as most of the repack tools and in general apply changes from [GTA3] to the [Vice City] codebase. The main challenge was the memory usage of animations, as Vice City has much bigger animations that barely fit on memory. We ended up using a slightly more advanced way to compress animations — using hopf coordinates for rotations and delta encoding for the data. We had to separate animation players from animation sequences as players have decompression logic and state now. [...] Apart from that, it has been smooth sailing!"

skmp also mentioned that all of these new optimisations will be backported to DCA3 as well. Moving forwards, that means that him and his team will try to "keep the two codebases in sync", so whenever a fix or an optimisation lands for one, they will make sure it is applied and released for the other.

Credit to SWAT for these screenshots

So, how do you play the best sixth-gen Grand Theft Auto game on Sega's swan song console? (In my opinion, of course. Yes, I know that one mission with the RC helicopter was really awful.) Well, like with the previous port of Grand Theft Auto 3, you'll need to compile your own version from an original PC copy of Vice City that you've purchased. Head over to the project's GitHub page to download the files you need (the “Miami” folder), and if you need some compiling instructions, you can find them here. Once you have the CDI image created, you can finally play Vice City on a Dreamcast that can play burned discs, or if it has an optical drive emulator installed, load the image on your SD card and you'll be committing virtual felonies in no time.