DCJY x VGNYsoft 20th Anniversary Collection — Limited Edition Dreamcast Junkyard VMUs, Console Shells and more!

Did we mention that The Dreamcast Junkyard is 20 years old? Well we didn't stop banging on about it back in December when the anniversary fell. We put out a blog post, a podcast episode, a round of t-shirts, and a whole load of social media spam to celebrate. But we also had something epic brewing in the pipeline, and today we're very excited to reveal it to you.

We have collaborated with our friends at VGNYsoft, the indie publishing arm of Videogamesnewyork, which has published some of the very best Sega Dreamcast indie titles in the United States, to bring you an epic collection of five limited edition items to celebrate The Dreamcast Junkyard's 20 years on the web.

Working alongside the VGNYsoft team for the past nine or so months has been an absolute pleasure, although keeping our lips sealed about such an awesome collaboration has been no easy feat. So without further delay, let's get into it...

DCJY 20th Anniversary VMU Shells and VMU

In 2024, we got our hands on some very cool injection-moulded replacement Visual Memory Unit shells from VGNYsoft. These replacement VMU shells were originally offered through a Kickstarter campaign before becoming more widely available via VGNYsoft's webstore. The idea was simple: remove the knackered, yellowed shell from an existing VMU and swap it out for a fresh one in one of several vibrant colours. Having had the chance to own some of these, I can confidently say the build quality is excellent, and these shells have found a permanent place on some of the VMUs that litter my gaming shelf. 

But yeah, I'm sure you can guess where this is all going. Dreamcast Junkyard VMU shells, baby!

Behold, the Dreamcast Junkyard VMU.

Available from VGNYsoft's webstore will be Dreamcast Junkyard 20th anniversary VMU shells in nine different colours: white, black, smoke, clear, silver, gold, clear orange, clear pink and clear purple. You can see them all below. 

It is very easy to swap a VMU's shell (all you need is a screwdriver and a few minutes), but for those who want to go the whole distance, there will also be new boxed OEM VMUs available fitted with the white 20th anniversary shell (like the one shown above).

A VMU for every occasion.

DCJY 20th Anniversary Console Shell

But those aren't the only shells on offer (we're really giving the girl who sells seashells by the seashore a run for her money.) Also available for the hardware junkies will be this absolutely amazing Dreamcast Junkyard 20th anniversary replacement console shell, manufactured in a transparent clear finish.

I am personally so stoked to get my hands on one of these, as I have a Dreamcast with a blue power LED mod that it'd look incredible on.

The pièce de résistance...

DCJY 20th Anniversary Enamel Pin and Acrylic Keyring

But that's not all. Also available is this lovely enamel pin with the 20th anniversary rendition of our logo, and an acrylic keyring of our regular logo. Put them on your jacket or backpack and make all your friends jealous. Once again, shout out to From Ashes to Fire (aka Kopke) for creating these logos for the Junkyard.

Pray tell, how might one acquire these exquisite treasures?

To get your hands on this merch collection, simply click the link below to head on over to VGNYsoft's special portal for this collaboration, where all items will be made available to pre-order at 12am EDT (that's 5am BST / 9PM PDT) on Monday the 8th of June (note: pre-orders have now gone live). No item will be limited to any specific number, however the window in which you have the chance to purchase them will be limited to a month. We'll see you there.

Click here to view the DCJY x VGNYsoft 20th Anniversary Collection!

Mandatory disclaimer is that we here at The Dreamcast Junkyard will not make any profit from this collaboration. It's also worth mentioning that for everyone ordering from outside of the USA, that up until now, VGNYsoft have only been able to offer domestic shipping on their products, but especially for this collaboration, they will be offering both domestic and international shipping. The team at VGNY has worked hard to keep international shipping costs as low as possible, starting at around $16 for international orders (about £11.91 or €13.76).

Balatro and Friday Night Funkin' are coming to Sega Dreamcast!

Since 2024, there's been a continuous stream of new ports to the Sega Dreamcast. While homebrew ports to the Dreamcast have been happening for decades, it definitely seemed like the appearance of Doom 64 and Grand Theft Auto III on the console firmly opened the floodgates to this current wave we're enjoying. With new releases appearing so frequently, I've come to realise that I'm eventually going to run out of fresh ways to introduce each article. There's only so many ways I can say "the Dreamcast didn't actually die in 2002, here's proof!" So let's just get straight to the good stuff: there's two cult indie hits coming to the 'Cast.

Balatro

Screenshot: Espouaisso

I'm pretty good at unintentionally avoiding the zeitgeist. I mean, I write for a Dreamcast blog, for God's sake (so perhaps it is more intentional than I realise?) But this is why I'm still yet to play the poker-themed phenomenon that is Balatro. It's on every modern platform, so I'm not sure why I've never gotten round to giving it a try. Well, it's now also confirmed to be working on the Dreamcast too, thanks to the work of a dev known as Espouaisso. 

Espouaisso has already managed to get a substantial portion of the game running at a smooth 60 FPS on real hardware, as demonstrated in this video from The Sega Guru. There is still plenty of work to be done, however, including implementing missing features and ironing out a number of graphical glitches.

Work porting Balatro to Dreamcast appears to have started around 16 days ago (at least, this is when Espouaisso first posted about it, anyway), so to see it in the working state it's in already is impressive indeed. If they continue at that same pace, Dreamcast owners may not have to wait much longer before they're able to download and play it for themselves.

Friday Night Funkin'

Screenshot: itsthedis

Friday Night Funkin' is a stylish-as-heck rhythm game heavily influenced by titles such as Dance Dance Revolution and PaRappa the Rapper, which sees players going head-to-head against a range of quirky opponents in sing-offs with the goal of impressing the main character's girlfriend. This is another one I've managed to miss (mainly because I suck at rhythm games), but I've always liked its visual style. I was not surprised whatsoever to learn that Friday Night Funkin' first debuted as a demo on Newgrounds, considering its art direction is very much reminiscent of Flash game classics like Alien Hominid, but with more of a hip-hop flare. 

Due to the game being open-source, it has enjoyed a thriving modding scene over the years, and is also the reason we will soon be seeing a port come to our beloved Dreamcast. The game is currently being recreated in the Raylib engine by developer itsthedis and has already been confirmed to boot and run on real Dreamcast hardware in a playable state. The animations are noticeably blurry at the moment (as shown above), though this is something that itsthedis is working to improve.

If you'd like to try this early build for yourself, head over to the Simulant Discord. A quick search there will lead you to a working CDI image that you can run on your Dreamcast.

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Are you excited to see Balatro and Friday Night Funkin' come to the Dreamcast? Let us know in the comments below! I personally feel like the console is the perfect home for unique indie titles like these.

English Fan Translation Released for Sega Dreamcast Shooter Triggerheart Exelica!

It's become tradition at this point for top hacker Derek Pascarella to gift us with at least a handful of English fan translations of Japanese Sega Dreamcast games each year. He just gave us Di Gi Charat Fantasy back in December, and now it's the turn of Warashi's cult-favourite shoot 'em up Triggerheart Exelica.

A port of a NAOMI arcade game, Triggerheart Exelica released for Dreamcast exclusively in Japan in —get this— 2007. In fact, it was released so late into the Dreamcast's commercial lifespan, we actually covered the news of its upcoming release here on the Junkyard! 

It was also one of 13 Dreamcast titles to ship in a DVD case.

Triggerheart has been an easy import for years due to it requiring little knowledge of Japanese to access its gameplay and enjoy it, but Derek's new patch will now allow you to follow along with its story mode in English, along with a few other bells and whistles. The localisation created for the game's 2023 Steam/Switch re-release served as a base translation, while dialogue exclusive to the Dreamcast version was translated into English by Walnut, who also made some additional refinements and translated the tutorial section. Text featured within graphics was also translated into English, with the altered graphics themselves reassembled by Malenko.

The game has a reputation for being bastard hard, and so Derek has seen to that as well by hacking in an "invincibility" mode that can be toggled on or off in the game's options and pause menus. Don't worry, this mode doesn't make you actually invincible to enemy fire, but instead grants you unlimited lives, so you never have to use a continue. This will allow those who struggle with the gameplay to still experience the storyline. Not all of us can be gods at shooters!

Analog stick support has also been implemented, for those who prefer to use it over the D-pad, and for us European players, Derek has also fixed a quirk where the game would default to 50Hz when booted up on a PAL console. With this patch, it now defaults to 60.

If you want to play this, simply mosey on over to the GitHub repository and download the patch. Instructions can be found in there on how to patch an existing GDI of the game. While you're at it, also grab yourself a free download of the game's rippin' soundtrack.

Four More Games Coming to the Sega Dreamcast! — NATP, Sonic R, SuperSolar, and OverServed

"Why make new games or port old ones to the Sega Dreamcast?" some contrarian Twitter user sneers. To which we reply, "why not?" Case closed, innit. Anyway, here's four games you can hopefully expect to be playing on your Dreamcast sometime soon...

Noah & the Poohloudies

Credit: Noah & the Poohloudies on YouTube

A few years ago, a guy launched a Kickstarter to make a game that would be available on every gaming system ever conceived by mortal hands. People were understandably skeptical about whether that was even possible, and, unsurprisingly, the campaign didn’t succeed. However, it turns out that someone has genuinely been attempting to pull off something similar. That person is developer Walfrido Abejón, who has spent several years plugging away at his game Noah & the Poohloudies, a charming robot-themed platformer which is not only in development for our beloved Sega Dreamcast, but also the 3DO, original PlayStation, Nokia N-Gage, Nintendo 64, and the Saturn.

Walfrido has kindly sent over a prototype build of the Dreamcast version of the game, which we’ll definitely be taking a closer look at soon. In the meantime, you can check out the video below from our pal The Sega Guru, which showcases footage of all the different versions in development. Even at this stage, what’s been shown looks genuinely fantastic, and we really hope it will eventually be developed into a full release. Be sure to subscribe to Walfrido's YouTube channel to be the first to see future development vlogs.

Sonic R

Credit: SonicRetro

The ports just keep on a-coming, and this one is an exciting one for those who were hoping to maybe see a bit more Sega amid the recent flood of (excellent) Nintendo 64 ports to Dreamcast. Absolute madlad Jnmartin84 is back again, and he has decompiled the PC version of Traveller's Tales Sonic-themed racer Sonic R and got it running on Mac. This game also came out on the Sega Saturn, and other than delivering a jukebox of banging tunes, it also provided an early taste of what could be for a fully 3D Sonic adventure.

But why do we care about a Mac version of Sonic R? Well, because it means the game can also now be ported to other systems, including the Dreamcast, and that is exactly what Jnmartin84 has promised. Plus, he's also teased the possibility of network play? Now that would certainly be epic to see. Watch this space!

SuperSolar

Developer Ninja Dynamics is currently working on an Afterburner-ish flight combat game for both mobile and Dreamcast, and it's looking "sleek af", as the kids would say. To get a taste of what you will eventually play on your Dreamcast, there is a version currently available for you to play in your web browser.

Check out footage below of the Dreamcast version, and follow the dev on Twitter to see new updates as they come out. It is shaping up to be an absolute stunner, though.

Here's the latest Dreamcast build of SuperSolar with a brand new water splash effect! I swear it's not a DBZ game! 😆 pic.twitter.com/WeRNmiioiX

— 🇪🇺🇵🇹 Ninja Dynamics (@ninjadynamics) April 20, 2026

OverServed

Finally, we come to OverServed, an upcoming Neo Geo multiplayer arena battler that looks to channel the chaotic fun of Bomberman. It'll support up to eight players duking it out at once, and what's more is it'll also support online play. But this is not just online play, this is cross-platform online play. That's right, we've got another game that's coming to a whole heap of platforms! We've already mentioned Neo Geo, but OverServed will also be released for —and cross-play over the net with— Saturn, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Apple TV and Android. The game is due to be released in November this year.

But what about our beloved Dreamcast? Well, good news: a version is in the works from developer FULLSET, but it is most likely to release after the other versions. However, they have said that if 1,000 people go to the Dreamcast version's Sumthings page and add it to their “wanted” list, they’ll fast-track it to meet that same November release. Now, getting 1,000 people to sign up to Sumthings and click "wanted", may be a tall feat, but I'm sure we could get the community to at least retweet and like the heck out of this Twitter post.

I can’t wait to face off on OverServed on my yellowed, scuffed-up Dreamcast against some dude rocking a console worth a grand. Nothing like a bit of class warfare to go with my retro games. Anyway, here's some gameplay footage.

Prototyping some exploding cakes in Overserved tonight. That lava cake situation needs some fixing for sure :) Many level specific elements and tons of other stuff still to be implemented. 8-player online play across #neogeo, #saturn & all modern platforms. pic.twitter.com/O5e9jRkHqS

— FULLSET | Neo·Geo Dev (@FULLSET_Collect) March 28, 2026

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Which of these games coming to Dreamcast are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below.

A Dreamcast DVD Player Appears!

Image source: Throaty Mumbo

The Dreamcast's inability to play DVDs out of the box is often cited as one of the main reasons the system faltered in the face of competition from Sony's PlayStation 2. Indeed, even the late, great Bernie Stolar himself mused about SEGA's decision to eschew a DVD drive in favour of internet capabilities when we spoke to him several years ago. In an effort to capture the buzz around DVD technology at the time, SEGA Europe went as far as bundling the Dreamcast with a seperate standalone DVD player, but it was too little, too late - the writing was already on the wall for the little white box of dreams.

Now, anyone who knows anything about the current state of the Dreamcast scene will attest to the ingenuity of the community when it comes to squeezing more than was ever intended out of the console. We have new games coming out at a steady pace, new VMU technology, new controllers, the system is back online, there's a whole online gaming scene and replacement internal components are myriad. At this point then, it was probably only a matter of time before somebody reverse engineered a Dreamcast to be able to play DVDs...and that's exactly what one particularly talented YouTuber has accomplished.

Going by the name Throaty Mumbo, the gentleman in question describes himself as someone who likes to 'test and play around with old hardware and software,' and upon viewing the video above, I can attest to this claim. Through a series of tests and hardware experiments, Mr Mumbo successfully convinces a Dreamcast to recognise and eventually play an Aqua Teen Hunger Force DVD via a drive connected to a controller port with a bit of Raspberry Pi action thrown in for good measure. It's a really interesting journey of discovery and raises the question of whether an officially released DVD drive attachment could have turned the Dreamcast's fortunes around back in the day.

Be sure to check out Throaty Mumbo's channel here.

Image source: Derek Pascarella

But wait - there's more! In other, somewhat relevant Dreamcast video player related news, Dreamcast development legend Derek Pascarella (with help from Chris Daioglou of Dreamware Enterprises fame) has recently released a patch which removes the proprietary infrared dongle requirement from the DreamMovie VCD/MP3 player, allowing for standard Dreamcast controller support. Check out Derek's work, read a history of the DreamMovie hardware and software, and download the fruits of his labour over at Github.

G-Cube Returns! — New Versions of the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox-Themed Dreamcasts Discovered

Long-time readers may remember our 2023 feature about G-Cube, a Japanese group of artists and model builders who put their skills to work creating custom modifications of things like model kits, toys and yes, even Sega Dreamcasts. At the time we focused on the recent rediscovery in Thailand of the mysterious PlayStation 2 and GameCube case mods for the Dreamcast, pictures of which have been circulating on the internet since the early 2000s.

As part of the previous feature, G-Cube was interviewed and confirmed that they would even accept new commissions for these unusual Dreamcast modifications decades later, though it seemed such an order would appeal only to the most dedicated of Dreamcast fans as conditions included paying a substantial upfront fee, providing necessary materials (including a Dreamcast console and accessories) and agreeing to Japanese domestic shipping only to receive the finished work.

An astute reader of the Junkyard from Japan recently tipped us off about some interesting posts on the G-Cube website. Over the last few years since the publication of our feature, it appears that G-Cube has been preparing multiple brand-new versions of their PS2, GameCube, and Xbox-themed Dreamcast case modifications. The links below to G-Cube’s website show some of the build process and many in-production photos of these new creations.

PlayStation 2 case mod: https://g-cube.cocolog-tnc.com/gcube/2024/03/post-7ab347.html

GameCube case mod: https://g-cube.cocolog-tnc.com/gcube/2024/12/post-c9f426.html 

Original Xbox case mod: https://g-cube.cocolog-tnc.com/gcube/2026/01/post-b80f55.html 

A new Xbox-style Dreamcast comes together in 2026!

While the new versions of the modifications look very much like they will turn out to be highly reminiscent of the original case modifications from the early 2000s, G-Cube has identified certain improvements to the designs on its website, such as using a magnetic attachment for the Gamecube case handle rather than the glue used in the old version (indeed, when the old Gamecube modification resurfaced in Thailand, the handle had been broken off from the case).

A new GameCube-style Dreamcast takes shape in G-Cube's mysterious workspace!

It is fantastic to see these complex designs come to life again and to know that there are more than one example of each out there. G-Cube appear to be masters of their craft and their Dreamcast designs have led to much discussion over the years. To close the story for now, I’d just like to point out that it is quite the coincidence that these elaborate Dreamcast designs are being made by a group called "G-Cube", since, as confirmed by IGN in its reporting from the year 2000, Sega itself had once considered “G-Cube” as a potential name for the Sega Dreamcast!

Horror Double Whammy: New Survival Horror Dreamcast Indie Title and Alone in the Dark Ports Incoming

You can never have too many horror games on the Sega Dreamcast. Of course, it already boasts some exceptionally terrifying titles, from survival horror classics like the Resident Evil series to lightgun shootfests such as The House of the Dead 2, but there’s always room for more. Well, I’m happy to report that the Dreamcast’s horror library is about to get just that little bit plumper, with these two fresh news bites I have to share today. So, picture a gothic Ryo Hazuki as I say: "let’s get spooky."

I couldn't find a goth Ryo on Google Images, so here's Richmond instead.

Brand new survival horror indie title in the works from JoshProd!

Not much is known about this project yet, but the concept alone has the horror heads in the Junkyard team rocking back and forth with manic glee. A brand-new, fully fledged horror title is something the Dreamcast’s indie and homebrew scene has been missing, with Wolfenstein total conversion mod Witching Hour standing as the (sort of) lone torchbearer for a while now.

On Saturday, Philippe of JoshProd announced that development had started on a brand-new, currently unnamed "3D survival horror game" with a "dark atmosphere", which will release exclusively on the Dreamcast, and will be a "love letter to the classics". It will feature fixed camera angles, as is traditional survival horror fare.

It’s refreshing to learn that this title will be developed from the ground up specifically for the console, especially since JoshProd and their publishing arm PixelHeart have typically focused on porting existing titles over the years, to varied reception.

JoshProd hasn't shared any gameplay screenshots or artwork, just the image you see above of a very dusty Dreamcast. If yours looks like this, perhaps it's time to play it more. Maybe play this upcoming JoshProd horror game on it? We've been informed by Philippe that we'll hear more about this project in the summer, so keep your eyes peeled.

Alone in the Dark ports coming to Dreamcast — Preview build available

"The Dreamcast already has Alone in the Dark!" I hear you cry. And you’d be right. Infogrames and Darkworks' Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, the sole Dreamcast entry in the series, is a great game (and especially lovely visually), but soon, you’ll be able to play three more Alone in the Dark entries alongside it on the system. Don't worry, I'm not talking about the much-derided 2008 game (although that would be quite an impressive feat technically), but instead the very first —and highly influential— Alone in the Dark, its two sequels, as well as the short promotional game Jack in the Dark. 

After over a decade in the oven, developer Corbin (aka Corbachu) of Isotope Softworks has released a Dreamcast preview build of "Dream in the Dark", which is a modern, hardware-accurate source port of the original Alone in the Dark trilogy's engine. It is a complete rewrite of the Free in the Dark engine, and features a number of bells and whistles that my simple brain doesn't quite understand, but you can read all of the technical fine print in Corbin's announcement post over on the DCEmulation forums.

This newly released preview build (which you can download here) includes the demo versions of the first and second game, along with Jack in the Dark as a bootable CDI which you can burn to a CD-R or run on an emulator. An Alone in the Dark 3 demo is missing from this build as that game is not fully implemented yet.

Speaking of development, Corbin mentioned at the end of the announcement that this release functions as an apology for "past problems shipping games", most likely referring to the previously announced —but still unreleased— Dreamcast titles SLaVE and Hypertension. The post was then signed off with "this is far from the only major announcements we have for this year"... Could 2026 finally be the year we hear more about these two titles? Well, watch this space, I guess.

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It sounds like 2026 could be be a good year for fans of the Dreamcast and survival horror. Leave an "eeeeeeek" in the comments if you can hardly contain your excitement.

Dream Table Poker — New Dreamcast Game in Development will Include Online Multiplayer

The newest indie title for the Sega Dreamcast comes from Glowhare Studio in the form of Dream Table Poker, which is currently being developed.

It’s a poker simulation which features a number of different ways to play for solo players against the “smartest poker AI for the 128-bit era”, as well as local multiplayer for up to four players. There are even strong possibilities for online play via DreamPi, which would be absolutely mega.

Rather interestingly, and perhaps the most unique part of Dream Table Poker is that it fully utilises the VMU display on your controller to show your cards away from the main screen, so that local multiplayer games become a whole lot more fun!

But the even cooler news is that there will be a Dreamcast Junkyard themed table and card deck available in the game as well!

It’s locked behind a cheat code (just to make things extra old school) which will remain a secret for now, but it will be shared at some point when the game gets a public release. An early build was released onto itch.io back in October, but this is now unavailable as the dev wants the final release to be everyone’s first impression of the title. 

The game is still in the early stages, so we’ll not fully preview Dream Table Poker quite yet; but once we get hold of a newer build from Glowhare Studio, you can expect a full rundown of how the game is shaping up from your favourite Dreamcast news source.

The Sega Dreamcast Controller is Getting a Second Analog Stick — Dream Color Plus Mod Update

The Sega Dreamcast was the only console of the sixth generation to have a controller with a single analog stick. (Yes, the GameCube did technically have a second analog stick, you’ve just got to squint a bit.) This lack of a second stick is a criticism often directed at the Dreamcast’s controller, and is even sometimes erroneously cited as a reason for the console’s downfall. Sure, having two sticks might have greatly improved a few first-person shooter games for those without Sega’s own mouse and keyboard, but the dual-analog control scheme that is now standard in modern gaming wasn’t really popularised until Halo: Combat Evolved came out on the Xbox (I know it came earlier with Alien Resurrection, but have you seen how much reviewers hated the way that game controlled upon release?)

Quake III Arena. Credit: Dreamcast Live

For those who want to play games like Quake III Arena with a regular pad the modern way, methods have existed for years to connect and remap dual-analog controllers —like those of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One— to the Sega Dreamcast. But what about a standard Dreamcast controller with dual sticks? A few months back, we reported on an upcoming mod for the Dreamcast’s controller called Dream Color Plus, which not only makes it wireless but also allows it to display Visual Memory Unit graphics in colour, simply by replacing the existing PCB with a new one. While chatting with one of the fine gents involved in the project, Nai Adventure, he gave us a full rundown of the features the DC+ would include, so check out that interview to learn more about the specifics of all these. One thing he did mention during that conversation was the possibility of the DC+ accommodating dual sticks. Well, the developers revealed their prototype build demonstrating exactly that. Thanks to Rapaz in our Discord for bringing it to our attention.

The Dream Color Plus prototype controller board with a second stick. 

During a livestream last night, Angelo Pontes, designer of the DC+ PCB, showed off a revised prototype version that includes a second analog stick. Of course, to accommodate this brand new (ahem) appendage, a new front shell for the controller would need to be created, and so this was 3D printed. You can see the 3D printed shell below. From what I understand, the print model will be open-source, meaning it will be available to the masses to print themselves, although backers of this project’s upcoming crowdfunding campaign will get the option to request one.

Dream Color Plus plus second stick plus 3D printed shell (plus, plus)

Most importantly, the team confirmed they’ve got the second stick working. The Dreamcast's maple protocol actually supported two analog sticks officially, it's just that the console never had a controller that had them! Believe it or not, both Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament were actually programmed to natively support two analog sticks, and will reportedly work with the DC+'s dual-stick setup straight out of the box. For games that don't have this compatibility, some button remapping will need to be done by the player in-game, or changed on the Dream Color Plus’ VMU display. The DC+'s dual sticks will also work with games that support the Dreamcast Twin Stick peripheral, like Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram, and even indies like Xeno Crisis and Postal.

I did wonder if the placement of the stick so close to the face buttons could pose a usability issue, but Nai Adventure has said the final version won’t have the analog stick so close (Update 23/03: a much improved stick position can be seen here). He also confirmed that for those just wanting to get a Dream Color Plus with a single analog stick, the option will also be available. Additionally, he let me know that the final version will include a built-in microphone, so the list of features just keeps on growing.

Here's a great clip Nai Adventure put on Twitter of the prototype Dream Color Plus' dual-analog control in action, being used with the Dreamcast port of Grand Theft Auto III. Two things we thought would never be possible on Dreamcast!

GTA 3 on DreamColor Plus!

• Color screen
• Rumble
• Microphone
• 2 real analog sticks
• Wireless
• Save data on SD card

The DreamColor Plus campaign goes live this weekend:
https://t.co/s9OfCEHHBf

If you're at DevGame Show, come try it firsthand! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/r4u3umUuuT

— Nai Adventure (@YTNaiAdventure) March 12, 2026

It really seems like the Dream Color Plus is looking to course-correct some of the limitations of the original Dreamcast controller. Dual-analog controls, colour VMU graphics, wireless connectivity, on-board memory, built-in rumble, a microphone, and with no soldering? That all sounds great on paper. It’ll be interesting to see how everything works once we get our hands on it. Nai Adventure has confirmed a crowdfunding campaign will launch for Dream Color Plus this Saturday.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is being ported to Sega Dreamcast

Over the last year we've seen a veritable glut of Nintendo 64 titles ported to the Dreamcast, and as someone who owned Nintendo's 64-bit console back in the day (and still has a soft spot for the console's particular brand of soft-filtered visuals), it brings a certain warmth to my cockles to see some of these titles running on Sega's swansong. 

Thus far, mainly via the magic weaved by one jnmartin84, we've been treated to stellar ports of DOOM 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64 (or Lylat Wars, if you grew up in a PAL territory). Looks like we're about to get another one of the N64's blockbuster titles gracing the Dreamcast in the near future though, as an anonymous developer has recently released a preview build of a port of none other than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Feast your eyes on The Sega Guru's exclusive first look at this witchcraft below:

The Legend of Zelda series, and more specifically Ocarina of Time, holds a dear place in my heart as it was actually the first Zelda game I became totally and utterly obsessed with when I picked it up during the first half of 1999 (hey, the Dreamcast hadn't launched in the UK yet so I needed to fill my time with something!).

The blue Cyalumes are always sold out

As you can see from the video above, this very early release isn't simply the full game playable from start to finish, instead requiring players to select certain maps/areas to play from a menu. Further, some of the textures, especially on the item select and map screens, are a bit glitched. However, as stated this is super early, and from the footage posted by Alex (aka The Sega Guru), the basics all look to be there.

The music is present and correct, the game appears to run with a fairly consistent frame rate and at a higher resolution than the Nintendo 64 original, and the familiar locations you'll have spent hours traversing are all recreated...but this time on Dreamcast. Of course, Ocarina of Time has been released on other Nintendo platforms since 1998, all of which boast cleaner visuals and other enhancements, but I'm sure you'll agree it's something of a marvel to see it now running so well on Sega's hardware.

Hyrule Field is reassuringly free of scrotes on Sur-Rons

No doubt Nintendo will already be aware of this port and be getting ready to drop the hammer on it from a great height, hence why the mysterious developer wishes to remain anonymous at this point. That said, the other Nintendo 64 to Dreamcast ports we've been treated to previously seem to have (so far) evaded the attention of the ninjas in Nintendo's legal team...so who knows where this could lead. We're sure you'll agree though that this is exciting stuff, either way. 

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments, and of course feel free to go and drop a like (or a follow or whatever the kids call it) on Alex's channel.

Now you can explore the world of Crazy Taxi...in your browser

First up, props go to PC Gamer for bringing this cool little news snippet to my attention. What am I talking about? Well, it appears that a very talented computer programmer (and fairly accomplished writer, I might add) named Will has shoehorned the Original and Arcade city maps from Crazy Taxi into the level viewing portal at noclip.website (scroll down to the 'Experimental' heading under the 'Games' list and you'll find Crazy Taxi). 

Noclip is a self described 'digital museum of videogame levels,' and a quick browse around the site will reveal a host of environments and stages ripped from a wide range of games which have been uploaded in their entirety; and they're all freely explorable using the mouse to look and the keyboard to move. I remember a long time ago I wrote about a similar project for (sadly defunct) retrogaming site RetroCollect, where some genius had managed to make the circuits from WipEout fully explorable via a disembodied camera. Well, thanks to Will and his work at (the sublimely titled) wretched.computer, the same is now possible in both of the playable environments from Crazy Taxi.

The blurb over at wretched.computer goes into extreme detail as to how this sorcery was achieved, and reveals that the stages uploaded to noclip are actually from the Nintendo Gamecube port of Crazy Taxi, as opposed to the original Dreamcast port. Following the link to noclip will allow you to enter the sun drenched environs of Crazy Taxi's pseudo California-esque landscape and gawp at all those polygonal landmarks you probably only ever caught a glimpse of as you tried to deliver Father White to the eerily empty church, or the heavily pregnant Maria to Boarder's Paradise before she dropped her sprog in the back seat of Gus's cab. Or the timer ran out...whichever came first.

Interestingly, there are also fully explorable recreations of Jet Set Radio's Tokyo-To districts at noclip, which are fascinating to whizz around. Personally I'd love to see Metropolis Street Racer one day appear as a fully explorable destination, but for the time being we'll have to make do with that game's unlockable free roam mode to sample the delights hidden within.

Have you messed about with noclip's awesomeness? And which Dreamcast game environments would you like to be able to freely explore? Let us know in the comments.

8BitMods' BitLink DC Kit Promises to Make Wireless Dreamcast Gaming a Breeze

With Sega never providing a wireless control solution for the Dreamcast themselves, the task of creating one has fallen on aftermarket companies and fans alike. There's a load of options out there: you've got controller options like Chris Daioglou's DreamConn — arguably the best solution overall, though it comes at a higher price point. Chris even created a wireless Dreamcast keyboard, in the form of the KeyConn. A more affordable alternative controller-wise is the StrikerDC Wireless from Retro Fighters, which has had been praised by those who have used it, but has compatibility issues with Dreamcast games that utilise Windows CE, and potentially corrupts saves when used with the VMUPro. If you’d prefer to use a different wireless controller altogether, or maybe a keyboard you have lying around, several adapters are available. These include the now hard-to-find Brook Wingman SD, BlueRetro adapters, and plenty of others, giving players more flexibility when it comes to wireless control methods for the Dreamcast (we know you lot love to tell everyone how much you hate the Dreamcast's original controller!)

8BitMods, the creators of the VMUPro, are throwing their collective hats into the ring with the BitLink, a new method that looks to give Dreamcast gamers the best of both worlds: not only by turning your existing stock Dreamcast controller into a wireless wonder through some easy modification, but also giving the option of allowing other controllers —both wired and wireless— to connect to the console.

The BitLink comes in two colours, classic white and smoke black, and consists of two parts. The larger piece, the "adapter," resembles a Dreamcast rumble pack, and slots into the second slot of your Dreamcast controller. To install it, you need to disassemble your controller and connect it via the "included cable to the controller's internal JST port," with no soldering required. There has been some confusion about how the controller will look once modded, with many asking whether the unused cable will just be dangling out the bottom of the controller, or if there will just be a hole where it once was. Hopefully 8BitMods will clear up some of the confusion soon.

Once done, your controller becomes wireless, with rumble, on-board storage (four virtual flash memory cards worth), and a battery that will also charge your VMUPro if you insert into slot one. It supposedly will also have "motion control", and we're intrigued to see how that can be utilised...

The thing that makes this adapter talk with the system is the dongle (pictured below), which can also use Bluetooth and 2.4gHz to link up other wireless controllers, keyboards, and computer mice. To charge, simply plug a USB-C cable from the dongle into the adapter in your controller. The dongle’s USB-C port can also be used to connect up wired controllers and keyboards. It will also apparently connect to some kind of built-in web interface via Bluetooth, which will allow for controller customisation (some second stick action in Quake III Arena, maybe?)

8BitMods' product page suggests that this too will have its own built-in storage, which would make sense, as they are offering the dongle on its own at a cheaper price of £26.99, while the "kit" —which will include both the adapter and the dongle— is priced at £69.98.

If you want to learn more, check out the product pages by clicking here. Pre-orders go live this Friday at 6PM GMT / 1PM EST.

Segagaga has Finally Been Translated into English — Here's How to Play It (and How it was Achieved!)

The headline you see above is not some form of freaky clickbait, nor is it a two-month-early April Fool’s prank. It is, however, signalling one of the biggest pieces of Sega Dreamcast news that we will probably ever report here on this website. Some thought it would never happen, but the day has finally arrived: Segagaga is now playable in English, thanks to the work of a team of dedicated fans led by Exxistance. If you just want to know how to play the translation, skip to the end of this article, where you will find a link to a download and instructions on how to apply the patch to your existing disc image of Segagaga. But we felt it was important to document the technical feats which made this holy-grail translation possible — and to ensure that those responsible receive the recognition they deserve. So read on if you want to learn more!

If you’ve spent more than ten minutes in Dreamcast fan circles, you’ll undoubtedly be aware of Segagaga, a 2001 Japan-exclusive RPG that tasks players with running Sega as it tries to regain market share against its main competitor, DOGMA (Sony, basically). Developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega, the game is well known for its wacky humour (much of it at Sega’s own expense) as well as its abundance of references to the company’s past IPs. Because of this, Segagaga has retained an almost mythical quality among Western Dreamcast fans, and from the moment it became clear the game wouldn’t be released outside of Japan, it has without a doubt been the most anticipated English translation of any game in the console’s library.

But as I'm sure you're aware, Segagaga's translation journey has been wrought with roadblocks. Many projects have started up over the years, only to inevitably fizzle out. But as we previously mentioned at the top of our interview with Segagaga’s creator, Tez Okano, the reason for the game’s multiple-decade stint in translation hell wasn’t due to a shortage of skilled translators capable of handling its distinctly Japanese humour, but rather a series of daunting technical hurdles.

The primary challenge stemmed from Segagaga's use of the Dreamcast’s BIOS font, as editing it was thought to be impossible for the longest time. What's more, the game only supported Shift-JIS encoding for text, a common two-byte format for Japanese language that was widely used in video games of the era (and still is today, though typically alongside ASCII or UTF support). Without changing the game to retrieve narrower Latin alphabet characters from the BIOS instead, the original Shift-JIS would leave the in-game text looking horrible, and too big to fit in numerous places.

Demonstration of Shift-JIS encoding, provided by Derek Pascarella.

By contrast, many other Japanese Dreamcast titles rely on their own internal font sheets, unique to each game, meaning that savvy hackers can go in and swap a Japanese font sheet for an English one, adjusting spacing between characters, along with other necessary tweaks. Because of this, these games were able to see successful translations much sooner, and form the majority of past fan translations we've seen for the console over the years. 

After two decades of unsuccessful attempts at translating Segagaga, it was time to bring in the big guns. Cracking a technical nut this tough required a meeting of some of the most talented minds the Dreamcast scene has to offer, including megavolt85, mr.nobody, VincentNL, Derek Pascarella, and madsheep. If it weren’t for them, I can only imagine how much longer it would have taken for us to see this translation become a reality… perhaps another decade?

In steps megavolt85, hacker extraordinaire, who was one of two previously responsible for making it possible for Atomiswave games to be ported to Dreamcast. On megavolt's input, Derek Pascarella explains:

"megavolt85 modified Segagaga to interpret ASCII, the single-byte encoding commonly used for the Latin alphabet. Not only that, but he modified the game to read from the ASCII section of the BIOS font, rather than the Shift-JIS section."

The next step was to make it so that ASCII from the BIOS could be edited. This was where Derek worked his magic, and shares how he made it happen:

"Segagaga speaks directly to the Dreamcast’s BIOS when it comes time to render text on screen. After megavolt85 did all of the assembly hacking to force the game to interpret ASCII-encoded text and then pull from the ASCII section of the BIOS font (rather than Shift-JIS), I started poking around a bit to see how it all worked. What I discovered is that the game actually copies the entirety of the BIOS font into RAM pretty near the location where the game executable ends! So, I disabled the assembly code that performed this copy, then also disabled the code that null’d out that portion of RAM before doing the copy. I then appended the BIOS font to the end of the game executable, and just like that, the font data was precisely where the game expected it to be, and it could be modified! This came in handy a number of times as font glyphs needed tweaking for optimal appearance."

See how much better ASCII looks in comparison:

Demonstration of ASCII encoding, provided by Derek Pascarella.

It appeared that the first-documented Segagaga translation patch project —which began in 2006— did manage to make progress in this regard, but unfortunately wouldn't see an update past 2013. While nothing technical from that previous project would make it into this one, project lead and texture artist Exxistance reveals that he was still able to utilise a wealth of other archived community resources.

"What was helpful [...] were the various artefacts people left on the internet, including the FAQs on GameFAQs that were created back in the mid-00s. Those were especially useful in helping me get my bearings as I initially worked through the game. Other helpful resources included The1Ross’ Open Source Translation Project, as well as various YouTube videos like Korone’s full playthrough of the game."

It was actually on a Dreamcast-Talk forum thread initially created to share The1Ross' project, where Exxistance would post his English-translated edits of Segagaga's textures. From there, mr.nobody —who previously worked on the English fan translation of Dreamcast horror title Seven Mansions— would get in contact with Exxistance.