Showing posts with label Controllers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Controllers. Show all posts

Retro Fighters unveil a 6-Button Wireless Fight Controller for the SEGA Dreamcast


When Retro Fighters' "next gen" Dreamcast controller went to Kickstarter, I recall some of my Junkyard colleagues presuming that it was designed specifically for fighting games. This was due to the company's name, along with the fact the controller's official name was "StrikerDC". It and its later wireless counterpart were, in fact, controllers designed for play with all manner of Dreamcast games, just with a more ergonomic form factor similar to that of modern controllers.

Well, Retro Fighters have unveiled today (9.9.99!) that they are actually now finally bringing us their very own take on a Dreamcast fight pad, with the upcoming "D6 Dreamcast" 6-Button Wireless Controller. Obviously the layout and shape of the controller is very reminiscent of the the beloved SEGA Saturn controller, but in a Dreamcast context, seasoned fans will notice a lot of similarities to the excellent ASCII Pad FT, an officially licensed Dreamcast controller designed especially for fighters.

Of course, like Retro Fighters' other wireless Dreamcast controller, there are no VMU slots on this controller, and connectivity to the Dreamcast's trusty memory card will instead be delivered via a VMU dongle that plugs into the Dreamcast's controller ports. This dongle also doubles up as the method with which the controller connects to the console.


Available in both white and black, the controller boasts the following features (from their website):
  • Compatible with Dreamcast, PC, and Nintendo Switch
  • Low latency 2.4 GHz wireless technology
  • A precise and responsive D-pad
  • Equipped with integrated Kailh micro switches for both the D-pad and face buttons
  • Offers multiple modes: left stick, right stick, and d-pad configurations
  • Two customisable modes for C/Z buttons: choose between L/R shoulder buttons or specific “C” and “Z” buttons
  • Compatible with original VMUs, 4X, and the upcoming 8BITMODS VMU Pro

The controller is currently up for pre-order for the price of $49.99 (about £38) with an expected release of 2025.

What do you think of the D6 Dreamcast wireless controller? Are you excited to finally get a wireless fight pad for the Dreamcast? Let us know in the comments below of via one of our social media pages.

An Interview with Kenji Tosaki: How the SEGA Dreamcast and its Beloved Peripherals Came to Be

One day we realised that The Dreamcast Junkyard account on Twitter (or X, as it is now known...) was followed by none other than Kenji Tosaki, the peripheral development manager at SEGA of Japan from the 1990s until 2001, when he retired. He led the design process for classic SEGA Saturn peripherals like the 3D Control Pad and the Virtua Gun, but perhaps most importantly to us here at the Junkyard, he was heavily involved with the design of the Dreamcast console hardware, its controller, the Visual Memory Unit (VMU), and even the Samba de Amigo Maracas Controller, to name a few. To have such an important figure from SEGA's heyday follow usof all peoplewas truly an honour. We knew we had to reach out and try and arrange some sort of opportunity to speak with him.

What followed was a whole lot of machine-translated correspondence, and we must thank Tosaki-san for answering all our questions, as well as his time and patience throughout this process. Another thank you also goes out to Brian Vines and Laurence Goodchild for assisting me with the decision on which questions to ask, as well as Derek Pascarella for some technical explanations.

Of course, we couldn't just let the resulting interview you see below remain machine-translated, so this is where I must extend a huge thanks to translation extraordinaire (and my former Nakoruru fan translation comrade-in-arms) Duralumin, who graciously translated Tosaki-san's original Japanese answers into English.

What was revealed from our conversation with Tosaki-san is a whole lot of great insight into how the Dreamcast hardware and many beloved peripherals came to be. We also thought it was important to use this opportunity to try and dig deeper into some of the more esoteric Dreamcast-related lore, to try and get some light shone on topics that have fuelled debates within SEGA fan communities for decades. Why was a second analog stick a no show on the Dreamcast controller? What was SEGA's view on adopting the almighty DVD format that would've supposedly helped the Dreamcast go toe-to-toe with Sony's PlayStation 2? We also made sure to pick Tosaki-san's brain about some cancelled Dreamcast peripherals, such as the VMU MP3 player, with the hopes of unearthing new information about them.

While our interview does touch on the SEGA Saturn somewhat, it is mainly referenced to assist the explanation of points relating to the Dreamcast's own design. If you'd like to hear Tosaki-san get more in-depth about the Saturn, I highly recommend you go check out his interview with our friends over at SEGA SATURN, SHIRO!

Credit: SEGA Retro

DCJY: Thank you for agreeing to talk with us about your career at SEGA, Tosaki-san. We have read that you were involved with the design of the Dreamcast console. The design was definitely more compact than its predecessor, the Saturn, and very futuristic-looking for the time. When you and your team set out to design the console, what inspired the design?

Kenji Tosaki: The lead director and producer on the design of the Dreamcast was actually Mr. Oikawa [Akitoshi Oikawa], who also handled the design of the SEGA Saturn. For the Dreamcast, the design of the console itself was contracted out, but Mr. Oikawa personally handled the controllers and other peripherals.

Now, when the Saturn was still in development, we ended up drawing up the design ahead of finalizing how much space all the internals would need. Stuff like the main board, the CD drive, power supply unit, all of that. The original design was quite a bit smaller than what the Saturn finally became. As development progressed, we added more components, and the footprint grew larger.

The preliminary designs for the console couldn't accommodate all the changes, so we had to go back to the drawing board, and it ended up quite a bit different from what we had originally envisioned. It had to be made larger, so we also had to redesign some of the finer details of its appearance to match.

With the Saturn, the technical development —the main board, the drive unit, etc.— and the product design had been sort of progressing on different fronts, and that disconnect caused us a lot of issues. Plus, the technical design turned out to be more complex than expected, so the production and assembly was more complicated. We learned from all of that when we were working on the Dreamcast. 

Our top priorities in designing the Dreamcast were to optimize the internal layout and heat dissipation. I think the internal design turned out really nice and clean. Of course, keeping it simple also helped with assembly. We also waited to plan out the console design until the technical design had been locked in to a certain extent, so we didn’t have to go back and rework a lot of things.

Regarding the design itself, we shopped the job around to a wide variety of outside agencies for proposals;  not just Japanese companies, but even American design houses. Mr. Oikawa reviewed a ton of ideas. 

Ultimately, Mr. Oikawa went with a relatively minor Japanese company’s proposal. They did a very good job of taking Mr. Oikawa’s asks into account when building their approach.

On the conceptual approach, I’ll quote Mr. Oikawa himself:

"The Dreamcast design is made up of simple shapes; squares, triangles, and circles. The point of the triangle points toward the player, representing how the games and online content were to be player-focused. From the console, straight to the player. But then the start button on the controller points towards the Dreamcast. That represents how, in response, the players reach out and connect with the console."

Credit: SEGA Retro

When you and your team were designing the Dreamcast's controller, what were the most important features or aspects that you knew it had to include? It is well known that the Dreamcast controller shares some design similarities to the Saturn's 3D Control Pad, which you also worked on. How much did that controller inspire the Dreamcast's controller?

When we were developing the Saturn 3D Controller, that was the first time we had ever tried to design an analog-input controller. We looked at how we could best make an analog controller, and spent a lot of time working on the basic design, control methods, layouts, and all the associated design questions.

We also looked into all kinds of additional features; stuff like integrated displays, paddle wheel controls, mouse input, motion sensing, infrared, rumble, haptics, voice recognition... many different things. Most of these features proved too costly to have natively on the Saturn 3D pad, but we made sure to design the controller to include an expansion port so those features could be added later.

We had actually planned out a motion sensor and vibration pack, and even made a prototype. We made sure that the controller's cord ran out of the back, since anything to do with motion sensors that you would have to tilt or shake around would be harder to use with the cord coming out of the front of the controller. 

For the analog inputs, we felt it was essential to use a sensor that wouldn't experience any change in the analog signal from drift or wear. To accomplish that, we used "Hall" elements. We knew we definitely didn’t want resistive sensors. We didn’t add them for the sake of having a selling point, we just saw it as the obvious choice. It wasn’t until 2020 that we saw other companies start making controllers with those same Hall elements. I guess the market finally caught up to the SEGA 3D Control Pad, and it only took 25 years.

When it came to the Dreamcast controller, we applied a lot of what we had learned from the Saturn 3D pad.

As I mentioned, the idea behind the Dreamcast ecosystem was “play and communication.” The console could go online, but the concept extended beyond just that. There were also four controller ports, so you could have four people at once all playing together. Then, we decided we would try putting an individual display on each controller. We had originally conceived it as something like a personal monitor for each player for sports games, with individual displays. The VMU was our solution.

Connecting the VMUs directly to the console would have meant we would have to add four pretty big ports for four players’ VMUs, which wasn’t a great solution from either a cost or design standpoint. So, we decided to explore plugging the VMUs into the controllers instead. Every VMU would be like a memory pack, but with an LCD screen and control buttons; it could have its own independent apps, and when it was plugged into the controller, the screen would serve as an additional display.

Away from the controller, you could connect VMUs together to swap data with your friends, or play games against each other. That was another facet of the “communication” concept. For us on the peripherals team, we figured it wasn’t likely that every kid would have an internet connection they could use to play online, so we focused on ways we could build “play and communication” through controllers and accessories.

We also planned out a built-in gyro sensor, so you could control games by moving the controller, as well as built-in vibration, and a built-in light gun pointing device. It turned out to be too expensive to implement those features natively, so we decided to build two expansion slots into the controller. That would leave room for us to release expansion units after the fact. We expected one slot would usually be occupied by the VMU, so we needed to have one more for other expansions.

The most important decision made regarding the controller was to have memory units connect to it instead of the console. We designed the VMUs for that purpose.

The controllers themselves were developed to work with an interface device [MapleBus] that could also support VMUs and any expansion packs. MapleBus proved essential, as it had the kind of scalability we needed.

For the expansion slots, we had to think about what sort of functionality we would need in the future. For instance, if we put out a rumble pack, the vibrations from that accessory would travel down to the slot and the connector. That’s not necessarily healthy for the components, and we expected these to be used long-term. So, we had to come up with a design for the connectors that would be durable and reliable.

The analog input was also much more advanced than the 3D Control Pad. We improved the precision, and allowed wider strokes. At the same time, the units could be made smaller, and needed less space to install internally.

I really would have liked to have seen the gyros, vibration, and wireless pointing built-in on the controller, but it just would’ve been too expensive.

The original US patent for the VMU. Credit: SEGA Retro

Hands On with the Retro Fighters StrikerDC Wireless Dreamcast Controller

Retro Fighters have recently released the Wireless update to their StrikerDC “next gen” Dreamcast controller. We took a look at the original wired version way back in 2020, which was so long ago I forgot that it was me who did the actual review.

Well, we here at the Junkyard have the new version in our grubby little hands (thanks to Retro Fighters for sending us some units to review), and we've started to put it through its paces… and everything is so far, so good. In the video below, you can see my initial thoughts and feelings pretty much in real time, with just one or two edits in and around the fat of the content.

Can't be bothered to see my stupid face? I get that. Then to briefly summarise my initial impressions: this is a product that improves on the original in most ways, the triggers and analog stick both feel nicer when in use. Having stopped to think about it, I’d say the triggers feel similar to something like the Razer controllers I have, as they have a nice audible click when pressed. It will be interesting to see if they hold up over time, unlike those of the wired version, which many had to send off to Retro Fighters for replacements. Also, as far as I can tell, the controller has no input lag.

For more information on all the controller's new features, check out Lozz's original news post about it.

If you have one of these, owned the original, or have a question, then let us know in the comments below or on one of our social media channels.

Prototypes of Retro-Bit's Upcoming Dreamcast Controllers Finally Revealed

Photo courtesy of SHIRO!

Let's face it, the Dreamcast controller isn't exactly beloved. Sure, it was the tool that granted us the ability to experience some of the best games to ever exist, but unfortunately suffers from a not very ergonomic shape, a single uncomfortable analog stick, a funky D-pad (no, not the Jet Set Radio kind of funky), and a wire that comes out of its butt. Probably it's best attribute is the fact that it is compatible with a variety of accessories like the VMU memory unit, the rumble pack and the microphone, but those don't make up for how sore your hands feel after an intense sesh of Maken X.

Anyway, those who frequent the Dreamcast community may recall that Retro-Bit, a manufacturer of all kinds of aftermarket retro gaming accessories, including officially licensed recreations of Sega controllers, announced a redesigned Dreamcast controller in 2020 with an ETA for later that year. In 2021, they provided an update to say that due to manufacturing shortages, the controller had been delayed. Finally, at this year's Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Retro-Bit finally offered us a glimpse of these much anticipated pads.

Photo courtesy of SHIRO!

Thanks to our friends at Sega Saturn, SHIRO!, those who didn't attend the convention were able to get a look at these in progress prototypes of both a wired and wireless variant of Retro-Bit's controllers via some photos they uploaded to Twitter. Matching the original designs presented to us in 2020, these upcoming controllers feature a more comfortable-looking recessed analog stick (compared to the dome design of the original), a Sega Saturn style D-pad, redesigned trigger buttons, and six face buttons that are laid out in a slanted orientation more suited for fighting games, with the C and Z buttons doubling to mirror the L and R triggers. On the wired version, the wire comes out of the top. This means there is now only one VMU slot available, however the controller does include built-in rumble, and if you're anything like me, the rumble pack is all that second slot gets used for anyway.

The wireless Bluetooth version shown off does not have a built-in VMU slot, and instead opts for the use of a VMU receiver dongle, which is similar to what we've seen from the upcoming Retro Fighters StrikerDC wireless controller. A possible reason we're seeing this workaround from companies like Retro Fighters and Retro-Bit was explained to us in our Discord by our pal Derek Pascarella (not affiliated with either company, just a bit of a tech whizz), who explained that not only can Bluetooth connections be interrupted which can lead to save data being corrupted, but also the "madness of trying to synchronise timings of a Bluetooth signal with strict MAPLE bus timings for Dreamcast input peripherals". Very good, what he said. So far, the only person to pull off this technical feat of allowing VMU support in a wireless controller is Chris Diaoglou with his DreamConn, and we can only imagine how much time and effort that took him to pull off.

Retro-Bit's dongle connects from USB-C to the Dreamcast controller port, stands vertically, and even has a little kickstand for extra support. Retro-Bit's wireless controller will also ship with a compatible USB dongle for compatibility with PC, Mac and an array of modern consoles.

Photo courtesy of SHIRO!

At the expo, SHIRO! also filmed an interview with Retro-Bit's Marketing and Product Specialist Andreas Ordonez, where he showed the controllers off a bit more, and also answered some very important questions. Andreas confirmed that various aspects of the controller are still being improved and ironed out, such as the form-factor, and how the VMU receiver will operate. With this in mind, he said we may hear more in 2024 depending on how everything progresses. As for pricing, he speculated that it would possibly by in the $49.99 range and not much more than that, with the wired version obviously being cheaper, although an idea of price wasn't given for that one.

I do like the idea of having a Saturn-style D-pad and an improved analog stick, but I'm personally not as keen on the drastic change to the layout of the standard A, B, Y, Z button layout, and perhaps wished they'd opted more for something like that of the Mad Catz Dream Pad, that preserves their original position (I never thought I'd praise something Mad Catz made). Also, while it's not so much an issue for me, the form factor still looks very similar to that of the original controller, which many have criticised for being unergonomic, so to have all these potential improvements but keep that original shape seems a bit of a misstep. But of course, these are just prototypes, so are subject to change from what we should expect from the final product.

Anyway, let us know what you think of these prototypes in the comments section below, or via one of our many social media channels. A big thanks goes out to Sega Saturn, SHIRO! for their coverage of these controllers. Be sure to go check out their website.

Peripheral Review: Brook Wingman SD

Disclosure: The Brook Wingman SD was sent to us for review.


The Brook Wingman SD is an interesting device, coming from the powerhouse that is Brook Accessory. I’ve got one of their PCBs in my SEGA Virtua Stick High Grade, which permits its use on multiple formats with ease… and no lag. Brook have quite a catalogue of products, and I believe are building a decent brand name for themselves with quality useful products. 


What is the Wingman SD? In short, it’s a dongle, that allows the gamer to connect a multitude of modern peripherals to their Dreamcast as well as the Sega Saturn (check out Brian's article on The Saturn Junkyard for a look at the Saturn functionality). You can connect your 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch Pro controllers to the Dreamcast for some high quality gaming fun.

There was something a touch surreal pairing my PS3 controller to the DC… but it was incredibly easy to do, and worked extremely well, without any perceived lag. Same goes for the Xbox One controller. The Xbox controllers are often regarded as some of the most ergonomic (and I agree), and using them to play Sega Rally 2, Rez (OK I have that on 360 and PS4), Shenmue, Headhunter, Re-Volt, was really great. The device comes into its own with FPS, though, bringing the DC into the 21st Century proper. Some prefer keyboard and mouse, which you can do on DC, but I am a fan of controllers. And now, Quake, Unreal Tournament, etc… have proper dual analogue support. And wireless!! What a revelation! 


Hands on with the 'RetroFighters DC Striker' Pad

I dislike the term Retro gaming, as a label I feel like it's too simplistic a term and not anyway near tangible enough when people try to define what it actually means. Does a game or console need to be from a certain console generation? Does it need to have been released during a certain year or have other technological parameters to be defined as retro? Do you have to be at a certain age or experience level to be able to use the term? And why do other forms of media not have the same fascination with the term that gamers do?

For me a better way to describe 'retro gaming' is as something that is historically important to your age group or own personal life. Space Invaders and Pacman are still great games I am interested in playing, whereas I dislike others from the same period and will give up on them after about 45 seconds, similarly in cinema terms I would just call 'Jaws' a masterpiece and recommend it to anyone despite it coming out 7 years before I was even born, but I don't value or label all films from that era in the same way, there is no retro in other mediums as contentious as in Video games.

Retro Fighters Kickerstarter controller


Everyone and their dog has an opinion on if the Dreamcast pad is any good or not, however today saw a potential actual contender arrive for the much aged original Sega Dreamcast design. So if you do happen to either not be a fan, or just fancy a change after all these years, then more options are emerging in this field.

Retro Fighters, the LA team that has previously successfully Kickstarted and delivered pad designs for the NES and the N64, today launched and then achieved the £10,000 goal they had set for delivery of the project for a new DC pad, that will fully support VMU and rumble too.

Dreamcast pad working on Nintendo Switch


We here at the Dreamcast Junkyard love our sometimes unfairly maligned controller, however have you ever wished you could use your beloved VMU housing beaut on your Nintendo Switch? Well, no me neither, but now you can anyway.

Forced to use a screen shot of a YT video? You betcha!

Is The Dreamcast Controller Really That Bad?

One of the recurring criticisms I see levelled at the Dreamcast is that the standard controller is rubbish. It's almost become the de facto response when people discuss the Dreamcast - it's a great console...but that controller! Urgh! From complaints about the trigger travel distance, to the lack of diagonals on the d-pad, to the cardinal sin of having only one analogue stick, the evidence is overwhelmingly damning for the humble HKT-7700. If something is repeated enough times, it eventually passes from the realm of hearsay and into law, right?

With this article, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at the Dreamcast's standard controller and investigate whether it really is all that bad, or if it is just a victim of hindsight. In the grand scheme of all things gaming, the Dreamcast's controller is one of the less heavily lambasted - the Atari Jaguar and Nintendo 64 controllers have come in for far more criticism than Sega's offering ever has. However, with the aforementioned examples, gamers who have spent any amount of time with these examples will usually attest that even though they might look a bit unwieldy they're actually pretty comfortable to use. Without going too far off topic, the Jaguar controller is labelled as heavy and cumbersome; but in actual fact is very light and very ergonomic in the hand. Likewise, the Nintendo 64's unorthodox tri-pronged design draws derision in this age of dual analogue sticks and built-in rumble, but back in the day the design of the thing was revolutionary.
But what of the Dreamcast controller? It's true that it is very easy to look back at hardware of the past and casually pour scorn on it, and there are countless listicles on clickbait sites about 'the top 10 worst controllers,' usually written by people who have never even used said hardware; simply basing their opinions on photos they found on Google. As someone who played a Japanese Dreamcast shortly after launch (it wasn't mine - a friend bought one), and then got my own about a week after the UK release in October 1999, I think I'm pretty well qualified to talk at length about the Dreamcast controller. I dread to think how much of my adult life has been wasted spent with a Dreamcast controller in my hands, and so I have some opinions on how it sucks but also on how it's actually pretty good. I also threw this topic open to the good people of the Junkyard's Facebook group and I'll share some of the best comments later on in the article. For now though, let's kick things off with a good look at the controller, its origins and its various parts.
It's pretty clear from the basic design of the unit that the origins of the Dreamcast controller are a derivative of the Sega Saturn 3D controller. The button and analogue stick placement, twinned with the general bulbous two-ponged aesthetic are clearly throwbacks to the earlier concept, and placement of the triggers and d-pad only amplify this. While there is an image floating around online (and this magazine scan) that shows a multitude of alternative prototypes for the Dreamcast controller, it's pretty obvious that someone thought the 3D controller design was the one to go with and so it was adapted and updated.
In truth though, the subtle changes made to various aspects of the 3D controller as it evolved into the Dreamcast controller are somewhat puzzling, and while some offer improvements, others are clearly a step back. For instance, the d-pad...

Respect Your Dreamcast Controllers With This Display Stand

Ever wanted to display your beloved Dreamcast controllers on a shelf but couldn't find a way of keeping them vertical? The unwieldy and unsightly controller wire trailing all over the place like some ghastly leviathan? Nope, me neither. However, it's nice to have the choice, right? Well, thanks to Rose Colored Gaming you now have this very option. Leave your controllers strewn across the carpet like the aftermath of some long-forgotten future war (where all the soldiers have entrails shaped like Dreamcast controllers); or put them neatly on a shelf with the wires all wound up, neat and tidy like. It's totally up to you.
According to Rose Colored Gaming, the Sega Dreamcast Controller Display Stand is laser cut from acrylic and even has a Dreamcast logo laser etched into the base. It costs $11.99 (plus shipping), weighs in at 0.25lbs and comes in transparent, black or neon red flavours. You can also get a discount if you buy multiple units.

Thanks to @pomegd on Twitter for alerting me to this little beauty.

DreamConn Wireless Dreamcast Controller Appears On eBay

Here's something we haven't seen before - A true wireless controller for the Dreamcast. While the system has a butt-load of peripherals, they're all wired - even the Samba De Amigo maracas are tethered by a cord. Wired controllers were very much par for the course in the late 90s and early 2000s though and stuff like the Nintendo Gamecube Wavebird came a little later (although the Sega Saturn - amongst others - did get infrared wireless controllers iirc). Wireless is all the rage now and it seems one hardware modder thought the old Dreamcast needed to get in on the action. Enter the DreamConn:
Here's the blurb from the eBay France auction:

DreamConn is the first REAL Wireless Controller for the Sega Dreamcast.

As seen in the photos, DreamConn is an original Dreamcast controller that is modified to be wireless. Enjoy your beloved console with no more cables!

Game Heaven PS1 Dreamcast Controller

Here's an interesting item. It's an unashamedly unofficial third party controller for the Dreamcast. Nothing unusual in that - there are plenty of third party Dreamcast peripherals, produced by a myriad different companies and they vary wildly in quality. Oddly, the best third party peripheral I've personally come across is the Treamcast DreamPhoto mouse I looked at a few months ago and that thing is about as unofficial as it's possible to get without calling your device the Mega Breamcast. But back to the present - here's the Game Heaven 'For DC.' That's actually what it says on the packaging, and as your eyes will no doubt be telling your brain as you look at the lovely images, it's a Dreamcast controller in the shape of a PlayStation pad.

Quite why this exists is something of a mystery, but I'm glad it does because without it, I wouldn't be writing this tripe for you lovely people to read.
According to the garishly-coloured cardboard inlay, the Game Heaven (I can't bring myself to refer to it as the 'For DC,' even though that's technically what I should be calling it, going by the box) was produced in that country where copyrights and trademarks are little more than rumours -  China. Due to this, I'm willing to bet that this was actually created for the Treamcast, but don't quote me on that - there's every possibility it was just made there to be exported so that fools like me could spend money on one. But am I a fool? Am I? I'd like to offer the notion that no, I am not a fool. Far from it. How so? Well, because the Game Heaven is actually a fantastic controller. No, wait - hear me out.

A Dreamcast-themed PS4 Controller

This type of thing would normally be reserved for an Alanis Morrisette song, but hey - we're all about forgiving and forgetting here at the Junkyard. While it's probably true that the Dreamcast would have had a much longer natural lifespan had the PlayStation 2 not loomed into view so soon after Sega launched it, you can't deny that the PS2 was also a great system and brought lots of new features to the table. The PlayStation 4 is currently enjoying quite a bit of success though, and console customisation specialists Extreme Consoles clearly thought it was high time the PlayStation paid some respect to it's fallen adversary. Naturally, they've come up with this:
Dreamcast-themed PS4 Controller
Yep, a Dreamcast-themed PS4 controller. The accurately coloured face buttons, Dreamcast-branded centre button and VMU details are lovely. For maximum authenticity you could argue that they should have removed the right analogue stick; and obviously, there isn't an actual VMU slot because this isn't a Dreamcast-compatible joypad (as if you needed reminding)...but as a piece of hardware for a PS4-owning Dreamcast fan, you could do much worse. Also, reports that it beeps when you turn it on are unconfirmed. Here's a YouTube video showing the pad in all it's glory:


For further info, feel free to visit Extreme Consoles' website and Twitter.

The Blueprint

The Dreamcast Junkyard is, as the name suggests, primarily a place where the love is targeted squarely at Sega's fantastic 128-bit swansong. However, being part of the Sega Network and all, there is a fair bit of affection around these parts for the rest of the Sega hardware stable. I personally own a Master System, a Megadrive 2, Mega CD 2 and a Sega Saturn as well as a Dreamcast, so I occasionally find myself purchasing bits and bobs for those systems too. This past weekend, I managed to get hold of a  Saturn 3D pad - you know, the one that you're meant to play NiGHTS Into Dreams with. I also got a copy of that very game (it was actually very kindly donated by Cauterize from Retro Collect - big thanks!), as well as a copy of Christmas NiGHTS too.

The reason for me going on about all this is that I never really appreciated just how similar the 3D pad is to the standard Dreamcast controller. Putting them side by side, you can really see just how alike they are, and you can see how Sega took the 3D pad and developed it into the Dreamcast controller we all know and love today. Random thought: is it mere coincidence that the 3D pad was bundled with a game with the word 'Dreams' in the title...but then went on to become the blueprint for the controller for a console with the word 'Dream' in it's name? Conspiracy theories abound.

A picture speaks a thousand words, but a video speaks twenty billion...so I did a little comparison and uploaded it to Youtube. Yes, I sound like a complete arse and say "erm" every 2.8 seconds...but hey - I never claimed to be a professional. I'll leave that to the...erm...professionals. Eh? Enjoy:

Bag Influence

Here at the DCJY, we like to keep our collective fingers on the pulse. The pulse of DC gaming, naturally. But the pulse of fashion is no different - why, just yesterday I acquired a really nice pair of lime green bell-bottomed flairs and some red sequinned platform boots to go with them. I really turned heads when I popped out for some milk last night, oh yes.

I realise that not everyone out there in DC land can pull off this look, but have no fear - DCJY (well, eBay actually) is here to offer some solace:

Wonder if there's a second VMU slot?

In THREE wild colours! Woah!

Erm...

Yep - that's a backpack in the shape of a Dreamcast controller. A backpack. In the shape of a Dreamcast controller.

If only I had a spare £200 so I could add one to my (already rather debonair) outfit. I feel a Kickstarter coming on...

Head here to the eBay auction if you fancy getting one, or probably just Google 'Segakawaii' and I'm sure you'll find a reputable source.

I'll never be able to look at a Dreamcast controller the same way again..

To most people, this photo above is just a Dreamcast controller. To those who have been playing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which just released on the PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii U recently, and has played that game quite far in, it probably means a extra bit more.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, and do not mind being spoiled probably the coolest unlockable in a Sega game for about a decade, and also need a solid piece of evidence why you as a Sega fan must own this game, check out the video after the jump..

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Gagaman crazy DC splash out ...again.

So yeah, I've spent rather a big chunk of money on this large bundle of Dreamcast stuff you see above you. For reference there is 70 games amongst it (68 American, 1 PAL and 1 Japanese), two controllers, two VMUs, two rumble packs, a VGA box, two microphones (bundled with Seaman and Alien Front), a fishing controller and Samba De Amigo Maracas. To be fair I'm not keeping everything you see here: whenever I buy bundles I end up selling whatever I don't want out of it to make some of (or if I'm lucky sometimes all) the money back Obviously there are plenty of games here I already own, and in some cases I will be replacing my chunky PAL games with these much slimmer-on-the-shelf American versions.


Now I'm pretty aware that this black Sega Sports Dreamcast isn't mega rare over in America but not many of these pop up here in the UK for sale and I must say it's much nicer than I was expecting.The fact that even all the buttons and areas that are normally grey on a standard Dreamcast are all black too makes it look very slick, and the matching controller is a nice compliment to it as well. The system even had two black VMUs to blend in with it, though a shame there was never any black rumble packs. I now own PAL, American and Japanese Dreamcast consoles. Why? Why not?


The one lone Japanese game that featured with this bundle was also a highlight for me, that of the rather pricey 2.5D platformer Napple tale. Separately this would have cost me quite a bit, much like that time when I got a bundle that had Gigawing 2, Trizeal and Radilgy in it: it's the only way I'll ever afford to buy some of these rarer games, even if it does mean I end up with a ton of other games I already have lol.

Highlights amongst the huge array of American titles include Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Grind Radio (now own all three regions of this game lol), all three Sonic games, both Tony Hawks, every Sega Sports 2K2 game (including the odd renaming of Virtua Tennis 2, changed in the US to Sega Sports Tennis 2K2), both Power Stones, Seaman, Alien Front Online, both Phantasy Star Onlines, both Crazy Taxis, Daytona USA, both Sega Bass and Marine Fishing, both Tokyo Extreme Racers, both Reday 2 Rumbles, and lots and lots more. Phew!

After sorting out what I want from the lot I have a total of around 200 games for my Dreamcast: roughly 50 PAL, 50 American and 100 Japanese, plus the indie releases, and I'm still not done! I must be nuts.

SegaShiro goes Soul Calibur Fishing!

When I was a guest on the SegaShiro podcast a few weeks back (if you didn't hear it, go download it now) I recommended (or should I say demanded) that the Shiro guys should try playing Soul Calibur with the Fishing controller at least once, and sure enough DJ Fob Fresh took up to the challenge and he uploaded a 20-odd minute video of his playthrough! I can't seem to find a way to embed the video here so you'll just have to head over to their site to see it. It also sounds like DarrenIndeed will be next on the site to do the same, wahaha!

Sunday Night Blues

Ho hum. Another life-threateningly dull weekend draws to a close, then. Only thing to look forward to now is work in the morning. How pathetic...

On the other hand, whilst trawling eBay for stuff I don't need, want or have enough money to actually buy I discovered a rather cool Dreamcast peripheral:


A Desert Eagle!

According to the guff in the description, it's even got a motorised blow-back function like those guns on the old Time Crisis arcade cabinet - which is uber-cool whichever way you look at it. Blasting zombies and terrorists with a Desert Eagle? I'd buy that for a dollar...

Want it? Look here.

Screwattack and Classic Game Room show their DC love



Screwattack's Video game Vault tends to focus on NES/SNES games, but recently they've gone into a couple Dreamcast games: 18 Wheeler and Space Channel 5, the latter of which is above. I haven't posted the 18 Wheeler one because I can't find myself agreeing that it sucks, because it doesn't. The Space Channel 5 vid is pretty good though, even if it spoils the ending which I'm still no where close to getting near. Oh well.



Elsewhere, the Classic Game Room has returned with a new series on Youtube, which has already featured some quality Dreamcast lovin' in the form of a review for Le mans 24 Hours (one of my personal favorite racers on the system), a THREE PART review of the bat shit mental shooter that is Mars Matrix, and a review of the Dreamcast controller and VMU for good measure.

Mark is doing these on his own now (well, except for his dog who occasionally joins in to nibble on the odd NES controller), but he does an excellent job of showing off what made the Dreamcast so great in these new videos, and taking you back to what owning one back when it released was like. They're all essential viewing especially if you haven't played Le Mans or Mars Matrix before, both of which are rather underrated games. Below is the controller vid and the first part of the Mars Matrix review.