Sovietborgs hits IndieGoGo on June 25th — Dreamcast Version Details Revealed!

Back in November, we took a first look at Sovietborgs, the upcoming release from Retro Sumus, the Spanish development studio behind the excellent Dreamcast indie shooter Xenocider.

Set in an alternate reality where the Soviets won the Cold War, this top-down run-and-gun game is coming to the Dreamcast, Mega Drive (Genesis), and Neo Geo. Retro Sumus has been sharing development updates for a while now, and have finally announced that the project will launch on IndieGoGo on June the 25th.

We caught up with Retro Sumus themselves to get the scoop on everything you need to know about the Dreamcast version — the one that really matters!

Drawing inspiration from retro classics like The Chaos Engine and Gauntlet, Sovietborgs features pre-rendered graphics reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country and Vectorman. We had a blast with an early Mega Drive build, and with Retro Sumus confirming to us that the Dreamcast version will have enhancements like twin stick compatibility, no colour/palette limitations, achievements and improved sound (including an original soundtrack and additional voice samples), things are only looking up for us here at the Junkyard.

Speaking of those voice samples, Dreamcast YouTube royalty Adam Koralik will be providing voices for all characters in the game, including the enemies. Seeing as the Dreamcast version will have even more voice samples, that means more opportunities to hear Adam do a fake Russian accent. Winner.

Along with standard Dreamcast editions, the IndieGoGo campaign will feature an exclusive PAL Dreamcast case version of Sovietborgs, along with another for Retro Sumus’ previous title Xenocider —featuring brand new artwork— as pictured below. This will be the second chance collectors will have to get their hands on a PAL case version of Xenocider, as the original run was limited to 50 and sold out fast.

People who love fragile game cases are going to lose their shit

Retro Sumus have also let us in on what people can expect the Dreamcast versions to be priced at.

"The Dreamcast version will most likely be the cheapest option available. Both because it's (naturally) cheaper to manufacture and because it's kind of "our" community and we feel that's the way it should be. So the price range would be close to what we had for Xenocider, around €45 for the standard edition and somewhere between 60 and 100 for the special or super-ultra-extra limited whatever." 

When we asked Retro Sumus whether other variants of the Dreamcast release would be available —such as Japanese or US style versions— here’s what they had to say:

"The crowdfunding campaign will tell us what the demand nowadays is for the Dreamcast, in general, and for specific regional variants, but yes, that's totally the plan!"

***

Exciting stuff! To set yourself a reminder for when the campaign goes live, go to the IndieGoGo page and sign up for updates. You can also check out the reveal trailer below.

Update (June 25th): this campaign has now launched! You can back it by clicking here.

Will you be backing the campaign on June 25th? Let us know by leaving a comment or by dropping us a line on social media.

DCJY welcomes Mike Arkin

Another month means another episode of the DreamPod, and this time, we're joined by a very special guest: Mike Arkin. With over three decades of experience in the video game industry, Mike has worked for the likes of Acclaim, Sony Imagesoft, Fox Interactive, and Activision. Most notably for us, he served as an executive producer at Crave Entertainment, the publisher behind some of the most unique and unforgettable titles on the Sega Dreamcast.

Mike shares a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes stories from his time working on the releases of beloved Dreamcast titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Super Magnetic Neo, Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm, StarLancer, and everyone’s favourite guilty pleasure, Razor Freestyle Scooter.

We also take some time to discuss Mike’s current role as co-CEO of the newly reformed Argonaut Games, their new remaster of Croc, and whether we will ever see a re-release of their Dreamcast opus Red Dog.

You can listen to this episode of the DreamPod and all of our previous episodes on Buzzsprout, along with all great podcast services.

8BitMods announces the VMU Pro — their Modern Take on the Sega Dreamcast VMU

When we first laid our eyes on the Dreamcast's memory card, the VMU, we all collectively thought, "Wow, it has a screen. This is the future", only to soon realise it had a battery life so short it could rival the lifespan of an adult mayfly. Still, the VMU was undeniably cool. When slotted into the Dreamcast controller, it added to gameplay, like providing an easy way to track your health in Resident Evil: Code Veronica or becoming a compass so you wouldn’t get lost in D2. When removed, it could play a whole host of little applications, even doubling up as a sort of Tamagotchi, letting you raise your chao from Sonic Adventure on the go. The VMU had plenty of cool features but was ultimately held back by the technology of the time — a point ex-Sega peripheral designer Kenji Tosaki reflected on in his interview with us last year.

It’s only natural, then, that those manufacturing modern takes on retro hardware would want to revisit the VMU and finally unlock its full potential. We’ve previously seen the excellent VM2 from veteran Dreamcast modder Chris Diaoglou, but now the UK-based 8BitMods are throwing their hat into the ring with the “VMU Pro”.

Considering the success of 8BitMods' MemCard PRO line of souped up memory cards for both PlayStation (1 and 2) and GameCube, it was inevitable that they'd turn their attention to the Dreamcast's VMU, and they started teasing the development of such a product as early as 2022. Various videos of the VMU Pro's development process would show up on 8BitMods' social media channels in the intervening years, including a video of an in-development prototype running DOOM. Watching the teaser trailer 8BitMods put out at the weekend, it looks like the VMU Pro will be capable of doing much more than that, though. 

Don’t let Nintendo see!

One of the hooks that is being heavily promoted as part of the product's announcement is the fact it can play "8-bit era handhelds and games consoles like the Game Boy Color, NES and Master System" and do so "on a beautiful 16-bit [colour] IPS TFT display", so no monochrome here. Another feature that isn't mentioned explicitly but I did notice flash up in the footage, is the inclusion of an in-built music player. A spiritual successor to the ill-fated VMU MP3 player before Grand Theft Auto 6? Madness!

A showcase of the on-board file management system.

Touted by 8BitMods as "the last VMU you'll ever need for your Dreamcast", the preview also boasts these following features:

• Wi-Fi enabled
• Backwards compatible with original VMUs 
• Rechargeable battery
• “Unlimited” storage
• "The best on-device file management you've seen on a memory card" 

For pre-orders and a full list of features, head to the 8BitMods website on the 15th of May at 6pm UK time (10am PT/ 1pm ET). The VMU Pro will cost a respectable £74.99 and will ship in November. It will be available in a variety of different coloured shells, including some transparent ones that look straight out of Y2K.

Are you excited about the VMU Pro? Does it look like the perfect storage solution for all your Dreamcast save file needs? Let us know in the comments below or via social media.