Dream Disc '24 Dreamcast Game Jam - A Showcase of All 24 Entries!

The entry period for the first ever Dream Disc game jam —a homebrew jam for the Sega Dreamcast— came to an end on January 3rd. Organised by Cypress of PsyOp Studios, and Ross Kilgariff of Orc Face Games, the jam was created with the aim of uniting the talented developers of the Dreamcast homebrew scene behind the shared challenge of developing new software for the console in a short space of time — and boy, did they deliver! 

Although judging is still yet to take place, each entry is already available to download from the Dream Disc '24 itch.io page for free. While the majority of submissions take the form of bitesize game demos for play on the console itself, there are also VMU games and some other miscellaneous pieces of software to check out too.

As detailed in Lozz's article from October (check it out for more details on the jam), the top ten entries chosen by the judges will go on to be featured on a physical compilation disc from Orc Face Games. While we intend to talk in more detail about those chosen games on an upcoming episode of our DreamPod podcast, for now I wanted to showcase every submission here so you can learn more about them and choose your own personal favourites from the bunch! 

Junkyarder Mike Rogers also took the time to record some footage of all the Dreamcast software entries, which we have uploaded as a nice compilation to YouTube, which you can watch below.

So without further ado, let's get into the entries — all 24 of them. 24 entries for Dream Disc ‘24. How fitting!

Game Entries

Each of the 20 games submitted to Dream Disc '24 is unique, with an eclectic mixture of gameplay, graphical styles, and game engines on offer — there's something here for everyone to enjoy. 

While compatibility can vary, you should be able to burn all of these games onto a CD-R, stick them on an ODE (i.e. GDEMU, MODE), or play them on an emulator like Flycast.

A-Blaster by PrOfUnD Darkness

Mashing up ideas from classic space shooters Astro Blaster (Gremlin/Sega) and Megamania (Activision), A-Blaster is the first of many entries that will be challenging your dexterity. You get a single life to shoot down nine single-screen levels’ worth of aliens invaders, as they move quickly across the top of the screen. To help overcome their barrage and be within a chance of staying in the game, you have a “warp” ability at your disposal (a feature made famous by Astro Blaster), which slows down enemy movements and lasers for a few seconds.

Download A-Blaster

Beach Box by PsyOp Studios

A complete remake of a Summer Jam 2024 entry, Beach Box is the first of two submissions to Dream Disc '24 by jam organiser Cypress, aka PsyOp Studios. This summery romp may be made up of simple shapes, but its gameplay is addictive. Taking control of a little square, the aim is to dodge larger rectangles by jumping or shifting dimensions, collecting coins as you go. It's sort of like Flappy Bird, except if Flappy Bird was actually fun. You also don’t have to give yourself carpal tunnel to play it.

It's a nice touch to see such a simple game have such a surprising range of unlockable power-ups and characters. I'm still trying to collect enough coins to get the little sock dude, Murph.

Download Beach Box

Big Drill by captkuso

Big Drill is what trendy internet pundits would call an "idle" game (wait, does that make me one of them?), in which you are in charge of a... big drill. It does what it says on the tin, really. 

Basically, the 3D blocks on screen are mined away automatically, with your resource numbers —which are listed on the right-side of the screen— increasing as you go. When your resources total specific amounts, it's time to take charge and buy upgrades for your drill. Upgrades include speeding up the drill, making it more durable, and increasing the amount of resources it collects. Pick the correct upgrades at the best time to see how deep you can drill.

For those looking to challenge themselves further, there is also a "prestige mode" to unlock, which resets any current progress and starts you again at a higher difficulty. 

Keep your eye out for a video detailing Big Drill's development coming to captkuso's YouTube channel in the next couple of weeks.

Download Big Drill

Segagaga Encore: A Fan Recreation for PC - Alpha Footage Released!

Back in June, while scrolling the paragraphs of conversation that populate the Dreamcast-Talk Segagaga forum thread, I came upon a post from a developer known as Rengundo, who mentioned that he was working on recreating the first chapter of Segagaga in Unreal Engine 5. Sharing a short 27-second clip of some gameplay, it looked surprisingly faithful to the original. It was on PC, as opposed to the Sega Dreamcast, but —perhaps most importantly— it was in English!

After getting the chance to recently talk with Tez Okano about Segagaga, my appreciation for his game was at an all-time high. But I was soon hit with the sobering reminder that an English fan translation patch for the game continues to remain a non-starter, despite the community's best efforts. As detailed in the introduction to that interview with Okano-san, technical issues with in-game text hacking has been the main hurdle that has prevented any fan translation patch project of the game from reaching completion.

That was when I found myself wondering about Rengundo's project once again. Replying to a comment on his original video, it turned out he was still working on it. He had encountered some issues with Unreal Engine 5, but had since switched the project over to Godot, and confirmed that an update was due imminently.

A cutscene from Segagaga Encore, which uses Ross O'Reilly's open source translation of Segagaga.

On January 5th, alpha footage of what Rengundo was now calling "Segagaga Encore" appeared on YouTube, and well, it's looking really impressive! In the new engine, Rengundo had not only managed to effectively recreate the game's distinct graphical look and "Development Studio A" area, but also its opening cutscenes (complete with English dubbing), and its RPG battle system — all in widescreen. This remake will also feature modern quality-of-life improvements like free movement and cinematic camera angles. If you want to see it for yourself, I have embedded the video below.

While we all obviously want a fan translation patch of Segagaga to be released someday for the Dreamcast, this outside-the-box approach of delivering at least something playable in English —in this case the first chapter— is certainly not something to be sniffed at, especially when it looks this good. Intrigued to learn more, I got in touch with Rengundo to ask him all about the Segagaga Encore project.

DCJY: Hi Rengundo, thanks for agreeing to answer our pressing questions about your Segagaga Encore project. We're really loving what we've seen so far, and are excited to get into the ins and outs of the project with you. First though, we must ask: when was the first time you encountered Segagaga? What was it that drew you to the game?

Rengundo: Thanks for inviting me to answer these questions! I first heard about Segagaga in early 2023 while looking around forums for interesting games to potentially translate. The strange name immediately caught my attention, and the more I learned about it, the more intrigued I became. I’m not sure there’s anything quite like it. It’s this wonderfully self-deprecating, meta take on Sega’s own struggles at the time, where two high schoolers are tasked with saving the company from bankruptcy. 

What truly fascinates me is the way Segagaga blends humor and commentary on the gaming industry. For instance, its “battle system” revolves around arguing with Sega employees. After each battle, there’s a chance to negotiate salaries with the employees, trying to bring them onto your team at the lowest possible rate to maximize your budget. A lot of its jabs at industry practices, like rushing out unfinished titles to boost sales during high demand, still feel very relevant today. It’s such an interesting little game that it’s impossible for me to ignore.

Various technical hurdles with hacking Segagaga have been blamed for why we don't have an English fan translation patch for it already. Was your recreation of Segagaga on PC an attempt to take matters into your own hands and bypass the roadblocks that face the Dreamcast version?

Absolutely. By the time I learned about Segagaga, there was some decent progress on many of the hurdles, though there were notable issues that still remained. As someone new to the Dreamcast modding scene, and seeing the nearly two decades of failed attempts to make an English version, I didn’t feel confident in my ability to create a translation patch. I had the idea of making the game in Unreal Engine, as it didn’t seem too logically complicated if I only focused on the RPG parts. I decided to recreate the first chapter of the game, hoping that part of the game being playable in English could build interest and support for patch efforts. 

For the earliest version, I ripped the player’s sprites from VRAM to make a sprite sheet for him and put some basic movement code together. I shelved the project when new people announced they were working on a translation patch. But after more than a year with no updates from them, I decided to pick it back up and have been making progress since.

Doom 64 for Dreamcast: Impressions and Developer Interview

See, before I got my Dreamcast in November 1999 I owned a Nintendo 64. I couldn't get a Dreamcast at launch because my dear old mother (God rest her soul) forbade me from owning more than one console at a time. Consoles, she wagered (and therefore games of all types) led to a malady known simply as "brain rot." Her words, not mine. 

Regardless, I tell you this to set the scene of my pre-Dreamcast gaming habits. I wasn't what you'd call a hardcore Nintendo fan, you understand - the Nintendo 64 was actually the first Nintendo system I had owned at that point, having been a devout Saturn apologist immediatley prior and before that one of the 7 people in the UK who owned an Atari Jaguar (Jag reference: check). No, I got a Nintendo 64 because I simply had to have 'the fastest, most powerful games console on Earth,' which was ironic, seeing as that's how Nintendo's platform was officially marketed at one point.

Oooh...a Sonic the Fighters preview? Sold!

In the very early days of the Nintendo 64's existence, it was known as the Ultra 64, which apart from being possibly the sexiest moniker ever to grace a games console, also invited many a developer to prefix their upcoming titles with the word 'ultra.' With this in mind, one of the games that piqued my interest very early on was Ultra Doom. 

By the time the magazines were teasing Ultra Doom, I had already played the original Doom on the PC (a slightly decrepit 386 that even at the time was wheezingly obsolete, what with its Windows 3.1 operating system and lack of CD-Rom drive), and had then sampled Doom's delights/horrors on the Atari Jaguar and the Sega Saturn respectively. But Ultra Doom - which was later renamed Doom 64 - now...that held a certain fascination and morbid curiosity. It was Doom, but not as we knew it. Side note: I was also very much looking forward to the Ultra 64 port of Red Baron, but we'll probably never know what happened to that particular footnote of gaming history. Moving on...

Give GT Interactive a ring on that number bottom left. I dare you.

From the first time I saw those pink plasticine (clay) demons, foreboding sky boxes and brand new levels reproduced in tiny low resolution magazine preview shots, I knew I would one day play Doom 64. Quite simply, it was my destiny. Lo and behold, the prophecy was eventually fulfilled and Doom 64 was a constant inhabitant of my Nintendo 64's cartridge slot once I managed to get hold of a copy in late 1997 or early 1998. I can't quite remember exactly when I got Doom 64 because it was 27-odd years ago...and now I feel the crushing weight of middle age gripping my soul. Thanks for that.

Still banging on about Turok nine months later. Boring!

What I do remember though, is the magazine reviews. The journos of the era, I seem to recall, while not crushingly negative, weren't exactly enamoured with Doom 64: some reviews slagged off the sprite based visuals, puzzle design and complete lack of multiplayer options. Turok Dinosaur Hunter had also been out for a while by the time Doom 64 released, and many reviews were lukewarm on Midway and GT Interactive's Doom update for its reliance on 'old fashioned' visuals and gameplay tropes. 

That didn't bother me, though - I thought Doom 64 was excellent and I can clearly remember being awestruck the first time I saw that darkened corridor in the second level where the neon arrows are painted on the floor and ceiling. It was just mesmerising and fresh to me, especially having played other versions of 'normal' Doom to death. I should also mention at this point that I had also played the PlayStation port of Doom on a friend's console and I loved the colourful lighting...but, y'know, I didn't have a PlayStation. It is what it is.

It's about to kick off. Nice candles though.

By now, you're probably wondering what any of this tripe has got to do with the Dreamcast, and I think you'd be well within your rights to demand a refund of your internet data considering you came here to read about Dreamcast stuff. But here's the bait and switch: Doom 64 is now available on the Dreamcast...and it's possibly the best way to play 1997's Doomiest release in the present year...

An Interview with Tetsu "Tez" Okano - the Mastermind behind Cult Dreamcast RPG Segagaga

There isn't a day that goes by in the Sega Dreamcast community where someone doesn't ask when an English fan translation of Hitmaker's 2001 Japan-exclusive Segagaga —the RPG simulation title where you run Sega— is releasing. Since the mid-2000s, a handful of translation projects have been announced, only to inevitably fizzle out, leading some to go as far as to brand the game as "cursed" (see also: “the final boss” and “the Half-Life 3” of Dreamcast translations). But what many may not realise is that rounding up the perfect group of persevering translators to see a translation through to fruition is the least of Segagaga's problems. The biggest hurdle facing any translation patching attempt is actually the way the game was originally programmed to draw text from the Dreamcast's BIOS, as opposed to using a font sheet, like many (successfully translated!) Dreamcast games do. While the core of this issue has been solved by some exceptionally talented hackers in the Dreamcast fan community, there is still much to be worked on.

Photo of the regular Segagaga release. Photo: doceggfan.

But it's only natural that out of all the games, an English translation of Segagaga would be the most sought after by fans of Sega and the Dreamcast alike. Segagaga satirises Sega itself, providing an entertaining tribute to its diverse and beloved back catalogue of franchises and characters, while also not pulling any punches in its portrayal of the then-struggling corporation's various business missteps. Some great tributes have followed since, such as the animated series Sega Hard Girls, and ensemble games like All-Stars Racing Transformed. However, through its brutal honesty and self-awareness, it is Segagaga which stands out the most, not only as a fitting love letter to Sega, but also as a prime example of the rebellious nature the corporation was known for during its time as a console manufacturer.

When it came to masterminding Segagaga, there was truly only one man for the job. Step up Tetsu Okano, aka Tez Okano, aka "Zolger Tetsu", aka "Ichizou Zoruge", aka the director of the best Astro Boy game. Known for his unconventional approach to everything from video games to manga, Okano-san truly took a risk when he set out to create a game that poked fun at the very company he worked for, and we are elated to reveal that we recently got the chance to talk to him all about his career, and of course, Segagaga.

Screenshot of Segagaga. Credit: CDRomance.

Translator extraordinaire Duralumin —who previously assisted with our Kenji Tosaki interview— returns once more to translate Okano-san's answers from Japanese. Laurence Goodchild also deserves a shout out for assisting with the questions and supplying the lovely photos of the Segagaga launch event, scanned from issue 16 of Italian Dreamcast magazine Dreamcast Arena.

But this wouldn't be an interview with Tez Okano if it didn't diverge from the traditional format in some way! When asking Okano-san about his earliest memories of video games, his reply was... a comic? Well, in case you didn't know, in Japan, Okano-san published an autobiographical manga called "8-Bit Chronicles" which covers his formative years as a child discovering the burgeoning world of video games. He supplied us with the first two chapters in Japanese, and Duralumin —who translates manga professionally— proceeded to translate them into English. We have uploaded them to a Google Drive folder so you can read them, which is something I implore you do. The comic is not only an awesome homage to the golden age of video games, but also very amusing.

A small preview of the first page of 8-Bit Chronicles, as translated by Duralumin.

Finally, Okano-san wanted us to stress to you, our audience, that the answers you see below from him are his recollections of events that happened over two decades ago. He wanted to make sure that we clarify that he is not speaking officially on Sega's behalf, just recounting his own memories of the time. With that disclaimer out of the way — the interview!

Photo of Tez Okano. Credit: Sega Retro.

DCJY: Thank you for talking with us, Okano-san! We thought it was only right to start at the beginning, so what are your earliest memories of video games?

Tez Okano: When this is published, I hope you'll share the first chapter of my manga, 8-Bit Chronicles. It covers Space Invaders, Galaxian... I could talk about those games all day! But this is probably the easiest way to understand the story of why I, as well as many other Japanese kids in the late '70s, fell in love with video games.

What led you into a career in the games industry, and how did you eventually join Sega?

When I was still in my college years, I made my debut as a manga artist through Kodansha. However, working as a manga artist, you don't really have any security once your series is over, so I found myself enticed by the gleam of the rising star that was the gaming industry. And of course, Sega at the time was still young, and seeking unconventional talent.

"Morning" magazine, where Tez Okano's early manga work was published. His name can be seen at the top of the woman's right shoulder.

So let's get into Segagaga. It has been documented that you developed the game in secret for two years before presenting it to Sega. What was your reasoning for keeping it a secret?

Many places have a particular culture around satire, parody, and irony, Japan included. However —I understand you’re from England— irony is much less familiar to us in Japan than it is in the UK. And while Sega was a pretty big umbrella, it had no shortage of people who would take issue with self-deprecating parody. You'll also notice there's never been any effort to make, say, a Namcococo or Nintendododo, for example, and that should tell you something. That being said, Sega has always prided itself on doing the crazy stuff that no one else could pull off, and the Segagaga project explored that philosophy to the limit. But, it just wasn't the kind of thing that you wanted to make a show of around the company, and invite all that scrutiny and risk the project's survival.

Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Dreamcast - DCA3 Alpha Version Now Available

Japanese cover art mock-up courtesy of Dreamcast-Talk user k-do.

Most of you will likely know that a port of Grand Theft Auto III for the Sega Dreamcast has been in the works for some months now. Indeed, those outside the niche Dreamcast scene may have even heard the news given that the project gained coverage across the broader gaming press earlier this year, attracting everything from wide-eyed amazement through to cynical befuddlement. Back then, spectating the porting work was possible because the project was out in the open, with every ounce of progress laid bare for the public to see in real time.

In recent weeks though, this dynamic was lost as those at the heart of the project shifted to working in a behind-the-scenes fashion - most likely to reduce the risk of Rockstar putting the kibosh on the project before it had a chance to bear fruit. As such, we went from hearing near-daily updates, to a radio silence that carried the potential to feed cynical thoughts: where's my freaking GTA 3 already? What are those lazy no-good schlubs doing? Maybe a port wasn't feasible all along! and so on, and so forth. Fortunately though, even with the absence of a cheerleading public, it seems that the rapid pace of development didn't slow down one iota, as today the alpha version of DCA3 (top marks for this pun lads) has been released.

What does it stand for though? Can you do better than 'divine car abduction III'? Let's hear your suggestions in the comments please.

What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that, with a little jiggery pokery, you can compile a version of GTA 3 that will run on your Dreamcast. Given that it is an alpha version, bugs and occasional crashes are to be expected. Nevertheless, many testers have reported running the game for extended periods without issue, and, in my experience, the alpha version looks gorgeous and runs far better than I had expected it might. The controls map quite naturally on to the Dreamcast's regular controller (for the most part), and, perhaps most importantly, those who wish to progress with Claude through the game's infamous gangland story are be able to save progress to a VMU (although using one which is otherwise empty is recommended).

A key reason that you will need to compile your own alpha version, rather than simply download a ready-to-go .CDI or .GDI, is that players are expected to have their own legitimate version of the game. Morals and ethics aside, this is obviously an absolutely essential step to ensure the preservation of the porting project - any moves that have even the slightest whiff of piracy risk incurring the wrath of some extremely well resourced legal teams.

A sight to behold. Not the undecorated walls... GTA 3 on the Dreamcast!

Fortunately, compiling instructions are available. So, as long as you are capable of following these, have bought a copy of GTA 3 for PC (Rockstar offer a digital version with Vice City and San Andreas for a reasonable price), and have a Dreamcast that can play burned discs or has an optical drive emulator installed, then you should be good to go.

It would be wrong to drop this piece of news and not say something about the significance of the release. Really, it's hard to overstate what a monumental achievement the port is. In less than a year, an international crew of enthusiastic developers ('The Gang'), led by the mastermind skmp, have applied their skills to voluntarily deliver one of the defining games of the sixth console generation to the Dreamcast - a game that had begun development on Sega's swansong console, but instead ended up fuelling the stratospheric success of the arch-rival PlayStation 2, shifting 11 million copies for that console alone. 

In the intervening years the possibility of GTA 3 running on the DC has cropped up again and again as a topic of conversation in the scene, whether that be the technical flavour of 'could it be done?' or the alternative history variant of 'what if it had been?' The latter conversation may still plod on forever more, but the former is now totally dead and buried. Evidently, with the right skills and commitment, use of the free development library KallistiOS, and access to reverse-engineered code, it has now been definitively proven that the Dreamcast is more than capable of running this game.

Image created by Brazilian Dreamcast supremo NaiSan.

Of course, what is on offer right now is only an alpha version, but given the team's track record, it seems highly likely that the project will progress on to further iterations that buff out the rough edges. For now, all that's left to do is hear a few words from 'The Gang' themselves...

Merry 'Castmas! - The Festive Games of the Sega Dreamcast

This time last year, I had almost no time to enjoy the holiday festivities. I was unable to put up a tree or lights, let alone restore holiday cheer to Twin Seeds City. Rather, we were swamped with uprooting our lives, dog, and 15 years’ worth of belongings as we prepared to move across the Atlantic. It made for a hellishly stressful shitmas.

This year is the opposite, mercifully. So far I’ve enjoyed relaxing and rekindling the holiday spirit. I’ve indulged in some longstanding traditions, while adopting several new ones from this side of the pond. The Christmas markets, Sunday roasts, and excessive pints at my locals have helped make this season all the merrier. Of course, I’ve also been playing a bunch of Dreamcast games to help celebrate the season.

Sega’s final console imparted us with a multitude of titles that could be considered festive in one sense or another. Of course, these games will resonate with different folks in different ways. Some are dusted in snowscapes, some are lit with Christmas decor, and some just have festive vibes. Whichever the case, the following games have helped restore my holiday spirit in their own odd and unique ways…

Blue Stinger 

I’ve spilled plenty of ink championing Blue Stinger as a highlight of the Dreamcast’s festive offerings, and its library in general. We’ve also rambled about the game in several of our podcast episodes by this point. In fact, you can listen to our latest DreamPod dedicated solely to Shinya Nishigaki and Climax Graphics’ holiday classic.

Ditching any semblance of survival horror, Blue Stinger teeters a balance of action/beat ‘em up, B-movie camp, and festive vibrancy. Yet that understates how hard it goes on all counts.

Whether you crave gory fisticuffs or holiday cheer, Blue Stinger indulges in both and spares us from all nuance. If you want to obliterate Dinosaur Island’s mutant folk, its vending machines offer a buffet of shotguns, stun rods, rocket launchers, and lightsabers for your destructive delight. And if you want Christmas cheer, it will bury you in an avalanche of neon snowman, chipper earworms, and festive/bizarre Pen Pen cameos. 

Blue Stinger embodies holiday excess and it will charm the shit out of you if you let it.

Christmas moral: We can capture the magic of Christmas with just a little brute force...and tequila.

Beverage pairing: Mistletoe Margaritas

Dessert pairing: Hassy pudding

Song pairing: My friend Angela’s metal karaoke rendition of “Feliz Navidad” followed by this song on loop for 10 hours

Cool Boarders Burrrn! (NTSC-J) / Snow Surfers (PAL) / Rippin’ Riders (NTSC-U)

As a game without a consistent title between regions (for legal reasons), I at least appreciate their alliteration.

Frankly, I’ve always wished I enjoyed UEP System’s Dreamcast snowboarding game more than I traditionally have. I still return to it every couple years thinking that maybe it will finally click. It never fully does but we’ll muddle through somehow.

Perhaps my expectations were overblown by my love for other turn-of-the-millennium snowboarding games. I always balked at Snow Surfers’ stifling rigidity. It offers limited potential for exploration and improvisation, which contrasts unfavorably with the likes of SSX, Amped, and even Steep Slope Sliders. But in its own charming way, that also makes Rippin’ Surfers a unique kind of grind. Countdown timers are unforgiving and tricks are limited to specific launch points (as with other Cool Boarders games). There are just a few viable approaches to each course, which I was compelled to practice ad nauseam to improve my best scores and inch towards more optimal runs.

Unmoored from the expectations of its contemporaries, I found a merry little game in Burrrn Riders. With a little persistence, carving the slopes feels surprisingly serene, and is further bolstered by the chill beats and nifty set pieces. It’s not an expansive game but its simplicity makes it feel oddly cozy.

Christmas moral: Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy games for what they are.

Beverage pairing: Jingle Juice with Mountain Dew

Dessert pairing: Christmas crumble or something with alliteration

Song pairing: “Merry Muthafuckin’ Christmas” by Eazy-E

Shenmue

AM2’s classic Santa stalking simulator needs no introduction here. I’ll just say that — with Shenmue’s dynamic weather system — I had to load through all my Xbox saves, all my PS5 saves, and a dozen VMUs before I finally found a save state where it was actually snowing in Dobuita. After that, I had a jolly time crunching through the snow and following Santa around town as he peddled local boozers to underage teenagers before imbibing at them himself. We couldn’t stay out too late, though. Ryo still had to show up for his forklift job on Christmas Day. 

On a side note, Mark's mandatory, pre-shift forklift races do not pay overtime and that’s fucking bullshit.

Christmas moral: Unionize.

Beverage pairing: Milk

Dessert pairing: Nothing. Ryo doesn’t eat food in Shenmue 1 because he is a ryobot

Song pairing: “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” by Harvey Danger

The Time a Bus Company tried to get Jet Set Radio Banned in the United Kingdom

While modern Sega tends to stick to the straight and narrow (i.e. reboot Sonic every other year, say they'll give us a new Crazy Taxi but only if it's some live service guff), they've certainly had some contentious moments throughout their history. At this point we've all heard about the United States Senate hearings concerning Night Trap. Throw a stone at YouTube and it's bound to land on a video covering the topic for the umpteenth time, not to mention countless deep dives into the Japanese multinational's various crappy business decisions. If you want to talk real controversial Sega history, how about the time they threatened a poor, innocent Dreamcast fansite with legal action? We're not still bitter or anything...

During the Dreamcast era, Sega found themselves in the sights of the city of Milwaukee's Common Council, who petitioned them to cancel the release of Smilebit's Jet Set Radio (or Jet Grind Radio, as it was known there in the US). The council claimed that the game would glamorise the act of graffiti tagging, with the fear being that it would encourage the young bucks of Milwaukee (geddit?) to transfer their petty vandalism from the virtual walls of Tokyo-To to the streets of Milwaukee itself. Ultimately, the game wasn't cancelled, but Tom's article on the whole saga is definitely worth a read.

The youths are going to graffiti your gran!

For a long time, we here at the Junkyard thought that was the extent of the concern surrounding Jet Set Radio's apparent mission to turn the youth of 2000 into mindless paint-spraying zombies. This was until Antosk8er in our Discord shared something very interesting that we'd never seen before. Turns out there were some powers that be attempting to get Jet Set Radio withdrawn from sale here in the United Kingdom too...

What Antosk8er found was a PDF of a report dated May 2002 from the London Assembly Graffiti Investigative Committee titled "Graffiti in London". The committee in question, which was comprised of three politicians - each from one of the three main political parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats) - was established in 2001 with the goal to “investigate graffiti across London, examining examples of best practice in its prevention and removal".

To be fair, those tags are pretty shit.

While I can definitely appreciate the artistry behind graffiti (no, this does not confirm that I am in fact Banksy), I can sympathise with the reasoning behind the establishment of this committee. In the foreword of the report, a 2001 survey is cited, which said that 77% of Londoners listed graffiti as “a quality of life concern". The report also mentions that "local authorities, transport organisations, businesses and private individuals [were] spending millions of pounds each year trying to prevent and remove it." But who needs money when you've got graffiti soul?

The report also painted a dreary picture of the effect graffiti was having on Londoners. "Graffiti has a negative effect on the lives of the thousands of Londoners who travel in vandalised, unpleasant buses and trains, and live in areas blighted by graffiti." And this, my sweet soul brothers, is where Jet Set Radio came into the picture.

Preview: Sovietborgs

Nearly three years on since the release of the fabulous Xenocider, Spanish indie development studio Retro Sumus have released more tantalising details about their follow-up Dreamcast and Mega Drive/Genesis offering, Sovietborgs. Retro Sumus have taken something of a diversion with Sovietborgs though - as you can probably tell from the screenshots dotted throughout this article - moving away from the polygonal splendour of Xara's 2021 Sin & Punishment homage, and instead channelled the likes of The Chaos Engine (and possibly early Saturn/PlayStation shooter Loaded) with this latest project.

For the record, the images here are taken from a very early demo of the Mega Drive version of Sovietborgs (releases for both Sega platforms were announced simultaneously), and the Dreamcast version promises visual and audio enhancements, more of which you can read about in the short interview below. But first, you may well be asking yourself: what the hell is a Sovietborg and why should I give a damn?!

According the official lore of Sovietborgs (um...Retro Sumus' Twitter account), the story goes a little something like this:

On November 9, 1989, 11:14 pm, the KGB's glorious electronic brain, Tovarishch-Prime, became self-aware, and immediately managed to take control of Arpanet, triggering the detonation of all capitalist thermo-nuclear devices inside their own silos. 

25 years later, the West remains a nuclear wasteland. But like cockroaches, there are still pockets of resistance and free-thinking threatening our workers' paradise. In these forsaken locations, new mutant races emerged due to radiation and their sickening capitalist mind. Fortunately, the Soviet People have developed a new unit of the illustrious Red Army, the Sovietborgs. 

Half man, half machine, all proletarian, they can go where no one else can, inmune to radiation, and liberate all new capitalist races from their pitiful existence. Join the Sovietborgs. Become a part of their prestigious present and future, travel the world pacifying all hotbeds of belligerence. Let the dream world of our venerable Tovarishch-Prime finally become a reality for all.

So yeah, something about capitalists and cyborgs. And guns. Lots of guns. We've played the limited demo of Sovietborgs and found it to be a rather enjoyable explore-and-shoot-stuff style romp, where you control the lead 'borg (designated by a little hat, naturally), while two AI controlled 'borgs follow you around and do your bidding. And by 'bidding' I mean shoot stuff. 

The demo is really only a single level, but it gives a good idea of what we can expect in the final game, with you controlling the squad as you move through ruined landscapes wiping out hordes of zombies which burst through randomly appearing portals with a taste for human brains; spider things that erupt from puddles of green ooze; and...er...mutant chickens which cluck forth from eggs that descend from the heavens. You need to destroy the delivery methods from which these unspeakable bastards all spring too, otherwise they'll just keep coming. This can be a bit problematic on a technical level as the demo does suffer a little with slow down when the hordes get a bit big, but we have no doubt this will be sorted in the final game and opens up the Dreamcast version for some absolutely enormous crowds of enemies streaming towards your squad. Nice.

Funding the Junkyard - Patreon and Merch Announcement!

We have one big double whammy update coming your way today: All systems are go on our brand new Patreon, and we have an awesome new range of Dreamcast Junkyard merchandise launching too!

We are frequently asked by fans of the blog and podcast how they can help support The Dreamcast Junkyard with its operating costs, and for a while now, you've had two options: a BuyMeACoffee page for one-off donations, and a small collection of merchandise that’s been available since 2015. The Junkyard team have rocked these classic tees at their fair share of gaming conventions, but the roster of available designs hasn’t been updated for quite some time. 

Tom Yukawa modelling one of our original t-shirt designs. Timeless.

With our production values improving all the time on the website and podcast alike, and the persistence of that pesky phenomenon called "inflation", our monthly operating costs have increased too. So, to help keep the lights on whilst also ensuring that the Junkyard remains a 100% independent, not-for-profit, ad-free initiative, we thought it was high time to get a Patreon set up to allow for donations on a monthly recurring basis, and give our merchandise a refresh ahead of the site's 20th anniversary in 2025.

Patreon

I won't rabbit on too much here about the Patreon, as I'm certain you are more than aware of what one is; not to mention Lozz has gone to a lot of effort to summarise the ins-and-outs of it in a new dedicated section of the website (which is linked to below!) 

What’s important to stress, however, is that our aim with this Patreon is to solely cover our operating costs, and we will manage our Patreon in a way that is in accordance with this. This means we won't be producing any exclusive content for patrons, as we don't wish for anyone to be excluded from anything that the Junkyard produces. However, we are planning to have a semi-regular Q&A for patrons to take part in, and our answers will be presented on future episodes of the DreamPod.

Click here to go to our Patreon.

Click here for more information and a FAQ on our Patreon.

Merch

We decided it was time to break our merchandise dry-spell and do so in style. That's why we chose to collaborate with one of our favourite artists from the Sega fan community, Kopke, and his illustration/graphic design studio "From Ashes to Fire", to produce some truly epic new designs. 

The first of the two new designs available features a colourful cast of iconic Dreamcast characters, while the other is a clean new re-design of the Junkyard's logo. If my ADHD allows me enough executive function to do so, I endeavour to update our website and socials to incorporate this new design. For now though, you can enjoy rocking this new art on t-shirts, hoodies and long-sleeve shirts. There's even mugs and stickers available too. Buy a DCJY mug for work and watch your colleague's eyes glaze over as you answer the question "what is The Dreamcast Junkyard?"

We also opted to change our merch provider to Fourthwall, which means higher-quality products for all. We tried quite a few providers before landing on Fourthwall, and a big thanks goes out to KC of The Sega Lounge for pointing us in the right direction.

You can find our new merch range here.

***

So there you have it, new Patreon and merch! If you can't commit to monthly payments, the Buy me a Coffee page will remain up for one-off donations. We will also keep the old merch page up for those who still want to grab some of those classic Junkyard designs Tom put together.

That's all now. As always, we are grateful to everyone who supports the Junkyard, regardless of whether that is monetarily, or just reading our articles and listening to the podcast. The dream never dies!

Ordering a Pizza Online on a Sega Dreamcast in 2024

A few months ago, fellow Junkyard compatriot Harvey Jones notified me of a cool thing he'd seen in the Sega Online Discord. Considering Harvey's online/musical alias is Pizza Hotline, it was no surprise that what he wanted to share was, of course, pizza-themed...

Those of you in the loop may be aware that a sizeable section of our scene has been indulging in multiplayer gaming via fan-hosted servers for many years now, yet although it doesn't often get discussed, the ability to browse the web via the Dreamcast never disappeared either. Of course, given that the composition of your average website has changed dramatically since the turn of the Millennium, your mileage may vary while surfing the web via Sega's aging hardware. Many contemporary websites simply will not load, and to the dismay of geeks like us, few administrators are enlightened enough to produce Dreamcast-friendly versions of their sites, such as that created by Reye for the Dreamcast Junkyard (http://dcjy.reye.me).

But what if, after an exhilarating session of Phantasy Star Online, you are feeling hungry? Maybe you have a hankering for a piping hot pizza? You could reach for your smartphone and open your preferred delivery app... but no. Real Dreamcast gamers should order their pizza on the Dreamcast.

Well, that is exactly what "Delux" has proven to still be possible in the year of 2024. While ordering a pizza from Domino’s was actually possible on Dreamcast back in the day, Delux has been forced to think outside the box to acquire his favourite pizza pie. In the video that he has kindly prepared for us below, you can see the lengthy but very impressive process that is taken to place an order for two 12" pizzas with extra pepperoni - one pan style, one New York style - on the Domino's website.

So I suppose I should try and provide some kind of explanation for what is going on in the video... Okay, so basically, Delux is able to access the Domino's website on his Dreamcast by using a tool known as a "WRP", or "Web Rendering Proxy", which Google describes as a tool that's designed to "render web pages for use in antique web browsers". Wow... antique, huh? I'm not sure if I should be offended or not.

Dream Disc '24 Game Jam - More Details and an Interview with the Organisers

On the 23rd of October, the organisers of the Dream Disc ‘24 Game Jam revealed their forthcoming event to the world, and, in the days that have since passed, their announcement has produced quite a buzz, not only within our niche scene, but across the wider gaming world too.

For some, the title of this hotly anticipated 'jam' may be confusing though, so let me break it down in lay terms. A game jam is a time-restricted event at which developers of various kinds will conceptualise and begin creating games. Much like a musical jam, the idea is that people with complementary skills will band together, sometimes with total strangers, and experiment in an open-minded environment. The hope is that the focused attention these conditions produce will result in some innovative results. Alas, it’s always a possibility that some of the outputs will be hideous abominations, but the learning and networking experience can be useful in and of itself nonetheless. 

In the case of the Dream Disc’ 24 Game Jam, developers are being encouraged to congregate online around itch.io and the Simulant Discord between Friday 20 December and Friday 3 January to “collaborate, build, tinker and show off” their projects. That being said, projects that were begun prior to these dates can be submitted, and entrants are welcome to drop by and introduce themselves whenever they may wish. In another wise move from the organisers, it’s also the case that, in addition to games, software utilities and even hardware can be accommodated for too.

So, that clears up the sticky issue of what ‘jam’ means. What about the ‘Dream Disc ‘24’ part? Well,  thanks to one of the event’s main sponsors, Orc Face Games, the top ten entries (as judged by expert panel) shall subsequently be featured on a physical CD-ROM to be made available to the public for the cost of shipping alone. If that wasn’t enough incentive, there is also a cash prize pool to be shared by the top three entrants. This currently stands at close to $900 USD, and in a peculiar twist of fate has been buoyed by advertising income that had been set aside for a contest to be hosted by the website DCEmu 15 years ago that never materialised. Those funds are now finally being put to good use thanks to one of the administrators of that OG website, darksaviour, digging them out all these years later. Of course, the pot is likely to grow further too as news spreads and additional donations are received. 

25 Years of Sega Dreamcast (EGX London 2024 Panel)

On the 27th of October at EGX London 2024, Christopher Dring of GamesIndustry.biz hosted a panel called "25 Years of Sega Dreamcast". The panel featured publishing veterans and founders of DC-UK magazine Caspar Field and Keith Stuart, as well as Junkyard member and author of the Dreamcast: Year One and Year Two books Andrew Dickinson, to discuss "one of the most influential games consoles that people didn't buy." 

Many great stories are shared throughout the discussion, and the panel really focuses in on what exactly made Sega's final console so fantastic. If you weren't there in the audience to see this talk live, fear not, as Dan from Debug Magazine was there to capture the whole thing on film, the footage of which we have preserved on our YouTube channel, complete with crisp 4K video quality and lovely clear audio (also thanks to Dan!)

Let us know what you thought of the talk by leaving a comment below, or on the video itself!