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They finally did something! |
New Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi Games Announced by Sega!
Celebrating 25 Years of the Dreamcast and the Kaiju Monster it Rode in on
Well, shit. It’s been 25 years…or 300 months…or over 13 million minutes. That’s how long it’s been since Godzilla Generations was unleashed in Japan.
And the Dreamcast, too, for that matter.
In our house, it's always November 27th, 1998. |
I was a tween when I first learned of Sega’s swansong console. Undeterred by President Shoichiro Irimajiri’s creepy disembodied head at the initial Dreamcast reveal, it was ultimately Sonic Adventure which ignited my hype for the platform and all the ambitious and imaginative experiences that would come to define it.
(From EGM #112 November 1998) Don’t tell tween me that middle-aged me kept this tattered mag. He’d think it was weird and sad and he’d probably be right. |
But the blue ‘hog was just the tip of the spear. With unprecedented visual and aural fidelity, groundbreaking online capabilities, intuitive hardware architecture, and a supplemental operating system, the Dreamcast fancied itself as both a developer-friendly haven and bleeding-edge forerunner of gaming’s future.
(Preserved by Unseen64.net) |
Elsewhere on the software front, Virtua Fighter 3tb, Get Bass/Sega Bass Fishing, and Sega Rally 2 signaled a renewed commitment to Sega’s iconic arcade experiences at home. Blue Stinger, Pen Pen TriIcelon, and Climax Landers (eventually released as Time Stalkers in the West) flaunted their vibrancy and helped crystallize the Dreamcast’s aesthetic. AM2’s Shenmue – known as 'Project Berkley' at the time – promised to help reimagine how players might inhabit dense and bustling virtual spaces. Meanwhile, the presence of Biohazard: Code Veronica and D2 hinted at resurgent third party support from large and small game makers alike. And Godzilla Generations…was also there.
Although most of Sega’s in-house projects had yet to be unveiled in depth, they’d go on to spark a creative and innovative renaissance that continues to endear the Dreamcast to us a full 2.5 percent of a millennium later.
(From EGM's 1999 Video Game Buyer's Guide) Some of the other games I was looking forward to. |
In the meantime, Sega faced hurricane-force headwinds as it prepared to get the thing off the ground. The community has expressed no shortage of anecdotes for all the challenges stacked against the company at the time. Among them, people often blame the following:
- Sega’s dwindling financial resources (i.e. capitalism*);
- A merciless competitive landscape amid Sega’s diminished command of industry trends (also capitalism*);
- The upcoming launch of the PlayStation 2 (capitalism strikes again!*);
- Intracompany divisions over the direction and priorities for the Dreamcast across regions;
- Sega's squandered goodwill with publishers, manufacturing partners, retailers, and consumers through several generations of missteps;
- Minimal time to prepare for the Japanese launch, yielding a meager day one lineup and delays for several would-be launch window titles;
- Shifting tides in consumer sentiment (sometimes people just like other things, you know?)
- Sega being Sega;
- Obama.
* I mean, maybe Sega just sucked at capitalism and that's totally OK. Would we really love the Dreamcast as much today if it had been managed by a more fiscally responsible and risk-averse company?
To me, Sega’s biggest challenges of the era were inseparable from its identity. The company’s deep-rooted stubbornness and rebelliousness – while enabling its uncompromising creativity and ambition – led it to hang its fortunes on innovations the public was not yet ready to embrace (e.g. online console gaming). At the same time, Sega continued to cling to established conventions which had fueled its past success and legacy but were falling swiftly out of vogue, globally (e.g. its arcade-centric ethos). In straddling the future and past, Sega found itself awkwardly out of step with gaming's present. Sega was a perpetual pioneer yet it struggled to meet people where they were, or adapt enough to counter its competitors’ most basic strategies to woo them. Sadly — insomuch as we can feel sad for a for-profit corporation — the world was growing ambivalent to Sega’s presence and there wasn’t much anyone could do about it.
(From the What's Shenmue? Dreamcast demo) |
In many ways, the Dreamcast’s Japanese launch reflected the history of this turmoil. And charmingly, Sega owned it. The company responded by promoting the platform in perhaps the most human way imaginable. Senior Managing Director Hidekazu Yukawa (R.I.P.) became the literal face of the Dreamcast to the point his image was emblazoned on a later edition of the console’s retail box. People knew him as Mr. Sega.
Sega’s Japanese Dreamcast advertising campaign was unconventionally humble and earnest, a likely reflection of Yukawa-san himself. Abandoning the brutish bluster of Segata Sanshiro’s salesmanship, Yukawa wore a friendlier face and carried a more genuine demeanor. Acknowledging the dire situation Sega found itself in, he made a gentler appeal to players. He was simply grateful for the chance they may invite the Dreamcast into their homes.
The Yukawa TV ads rolled with the punches with humility if not grace. In an early spot, demon children haunted Yukawa’s nightmares, exclaiming they didn’t need Sega just before a rift opened and swallowed him into an abyss. And when production challenges hobbled Sega’s ability to produce enough Dreamcasts to meet retail targets, Yukawa-san dedicated an ad to apologizing for the stock shortages while fans pelted him with trash (gamers, amirite?). Meanwhile, his wife wondered when he’d be done with making all these stupid commercials. It was a pitiful ad campaign in that Yukawa-san and Sega actively solicited our pity.
So yeah. Sega was having a rough time even without a new generation of competition looming in the next millennium. As such, the company aimed to seize as much of a head start as possible, hastening the Dreamcast to the Japanese market just to get it out into the world. No doubt Sega of Japan needed to start generating revenue and building a user base sooner rather than later. So as a byproduct of that, there was little time to develop games ahead of the Japanese launch. In fact, the Dreamcast rolled out with four whole titles on day one.
The Dreamcast lobster |
I recently revisited those Japanese launch games, so I'll ramble about them next...
New Dreamcast Compatible Arcade Fight Stick heading to IndieGoGo!
We've seen a lot of new indie hardware teased or released for the Sega Dreamcast in the last few years - such as the VM2 and a number of new controllers - but what with the popularity of fighters on the system, it was only a matter of time before someone produced an arcade/fight stick for it. Well, that is exactly what is going to happen as Turkish company TR Fight Stick are heading to IndieGoGo on November the 18th to pitch their "Octopus" arcade fight stick to the world.
Based in Istanbul, Turkey, TR is known for producing precision quality fight sticks and other arcade accessories, but it was not for these products that they previously crossed the radar of the Junkyard. Back in 2018, TR advertised the "Dreamcase", a metal shell that could house your GDEMU in the interest of keeping everything compact and sleek. While this idea wasn't one I noticed taking off much with Dreamcast owners, TR's latest Dreamcast-related project is definitely sure to. I mean, who doesn't love a nice arcade stick?
TR reached out to us the other day to inform us about this upcoming project, and I must say the Octopus looks like a really nice bit of kit, and that's just from seeing prototype images (like the one above), as well as the trailer the company put out to promote their campaign. See listed below all of the bells and whistles we can expect from this upcoming controller:
- Compatible with the Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, MiSTer, and more.
- Custom built Dreamcast Encoder PCB: this arcade stick offers a built-in next-gen backlit VMU and 10 separate internal memory cards. You can swiftly swap the internal VMUs with a combination of buttons.
- Connection is wired for microscopic latency.
- A layout inspired by the ergonomic Vewlix layout, which is designed for lengthy gaming.
- Non-slip padding ensures the controller is comfortable and stays put during intense gaming sessions.
- Both analogue and digital control modes available.
- Changeable artwork for personal flair.
- Activate Turbo button for turbocharged game sequences.
- Start button on the rear and a tournament lock switch to prevent unauthorised changes.
- Uses the Open Stick Community's GP2040-CE multi-platform gamepad firmware.
- SOCD Remover.
While I'm not exactly quite sure what an "SOCD remover" is, I'm sure some fighting game buff somewhere just nodded their head with satisfaction upon hearing that information. Just giving you all the facts I can, folks. Anyway, check out the teaser trailer below to see some cool 3D renders of this potential product.
The IndieGoGo campaign for the Octopus launches on Saturday the 18th of November, at 8AM PST. A portion of the funds will go to aid recovery efforts for the earthquake that struck Turkey back in February of this year. TR can be found on Twitter if you want to follow them for further updates about this campaign.
Do you like the look of this fight stick? Do you think it's exactly what you need to enhance your Capcom vs. SNK gameplay experience? Let us know in the comments below or on one of our many social media pages.
A Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Prototype is Running on the Dreamcast!
Just three weeks ago, a video went up on YouTube from a creator called Frogbull showing off their very own prototype of Metal Gear Solid running on the Sega Saturn. Seemingly looking to prove wrong the naysayers claimed MGS could never have run on the Saturn, the results looked very impressive, and definitely had many Sega fans intrigued to see what was next from Frogbull. Little did I expect, however, that next we'd see Metal Gear Solid's sequel, Sons of Liberty running on the Dreamcast. But don't just take my word for it, see it for yourself below!
Dreamcast-Themed Ale Spotted!
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Credit to Anthony DeCenzo on Untappd |
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Credit to Eric Latulippe on Untappd |
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The Creamcast's full label/wrap. Again, credit to Untappd. |
Prototypes of Retro-Bit's Upcoming Dreamcast Controllers Finally Revealed
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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.
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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.
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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.
Dreamcast shooter Trizeal has been Translated into English!
Only days after reporting the news that an English fan translation patch has been released for one Dreamcast shoot 'em up (Under Defeat), we've already received another, and this time it's for Triangle Service's 2005 vertical-scrolling shmup Trizeal. The patch was created by the one and only Derek Pascarella, and I must say, I'm feeling a bit of deja vu...
Fact about this game: the head of its tiny development team begged fans to purchase it upon release because the arcade game it is a port of didn't do that well financially. Despite this, Trizeal is definitely not a title to sniff at. While it isn't often brought up in conversations about Dreamcast shmups, and lacks some of the gimmicks seen in other more acclaimed DC shooters, it is still a high-octane romp that can be enjoyed by any seasoned genre fan.
While the game doesn't have anything in the form of a storyline, Derek's patch translates all Japanese in-game text/graphics, and even improves some instances of English text. Something cool that Derek has also added to this patch is a new unlimited continues option that can be toggled on and off during gameplay by pressing the L and R Trigger buttons simultaneously. A small asterisk will appear next to "1P SCORE" during gameplay to indicate unlimited continues is on.
Dreamcast shooter Under Defeat has been Translated into English!
Thanks to TapamN, who previously brought us a whole slew of helpful VGA patches, comes an English translation of the shoot 'em up Under Defeat.
Under Defeat was what we in the West would call a "late release" for the Dreamcast. Considering the Dreamcast was cancelled in 2001, it's mindboggling to acknowledge that over in Japan, games like this one were still coming out for many years. This one even came late enough to be acknowledged on this very blog upon release!
Developed by G.rev, Under Defeat has been praised for its smooth controls and challenging but fun gameplay. Most notably, however, are its excellent graphics: with attractive 3D throughout, the level of detail on display in this game is astonishing. It's not one for genre fans to overlook, and now with TapamN's translation patch, English Dreamcast fans can now have some insight into the game’s plot too.
- Opening text
- Ending text
- The tutorial
- End of level results screen
- VMU selection text
- Menu descriptions
- VMU Save file descriptions (seen in the console's BIOS)
- In-game VMU text translated
StrikerDC Wireless Controller Announced by Retro Fighters
Cool Cool Toon has been Translated into English!
- Derek Pascarella - programming, editing, playtesting
- rio de popomocco - translation, editing, playtesting
- Cargodin - translation, editing
- James Tocchio (GGDreamcast) - editing, playtesting
- Yuvi - graphics
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Cool Cool Toon's Neo Geo Pocket Color link cable functionality in action, as shown by Derek. |
A big thank you goes out to all involved with the creation of this translation. Your hard work is helping to keep the dream alive!
Daytona USA back Online, Dreamcast: Year Three, Samba De Amigo in VR, and more! - Dreamcast News Round-Up July 2023
Dreamcast: Year Three announced!
Debug Indie Sampler, Vol. 3
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This modern art is getting out of hand... |
Reinvigorating the games of old...
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The King of Fighters '99 - Evolution working in VGA mode, as shown by Derek Pascarella (ateam). |
Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me - Samurai Shodown Spin-Off for Dreamcast Translated into English!
After nearly two years of hard work, I am absolutely elated to inform you that a team consisting of Derek Pascarella, Duralumin, Marshal Wong and myself have completed our English translation of Nakoruru: Ano Hito kara no Okurimono for the Sega Dreamcast, and today you will be able to play it.
Being a fan favourite character of SNK’s beloved Samurai Shodown fighting franchise (known as Samurai Spirits in Japan), it’s only natural that Nakoruru would get her own spin-off game. SNK granted developer Inter-Let's the privilege of crafting a story that explored her character in finer detail, with the result being Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me (as we’ve decided to dub it), a Japan-exclusive visual novel game released for Windows in 2001, with an improved Dreamcast version releasing a year later in 2002. To take a source material known for its intense arcade fighting thrills and adapt it into a quiet, heartfelt text-based adventure was definitely intriguing, so much so that it made us want to produce an English translation almost two decades later!
To translate the game into English was no small feat, however. With over 12,000 lines of text, our translation of Nakoruru was going to take us more than a year to produce. But it honestly feels like that time has flown by, because the more we worked on translating the scripts, the more we fell in love with the game's plot and characters.
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Mikato meets Nakoruru for the first time. |
The game’s story is told from the perspective of seven-year-old Mikato, an orphan who is taken in by the people of the snowy village Kamui Kotan. She is selected by the village's chief to serve as assistant to the shrine maiden Nakoruru, somebody the people of Kamui Kotan admire for her strength, dependability, and outward positivity. Mikato soon realises, however, that deep down, Nakoruru is harbouring an intense sorrow.
While Nakoruru is based in the world of Samurai Shodown, it can be played without any prior knowledge of the franchise, but if you are a Shodown fan, there are quite a few playful references to other characters in the franchise sprinkled throughout the game's script.
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Nakoruru's childhood friends Yantamu and Manari. |
The gameplay of Nakoruru is simple, and familiar to those who have played a visual novel before. Advance the story with a button press, and occasionally make choices, some of which greatly affect the game’s narrative.
Also included throughout the story are several basic but charming mini-games. These include quizzes, fishing, dodging enemy attacks, playing music, and more.
While Nakoruru may lack the 3D graphics and arcade action many associate with the Dreamcast, it still boasts gorgeous, crisp, hand-drawn 2D artwork, and its beautiful coming-of-age storyline will pull at your heart strings as it deals with topics of friendship, loss and insecurity. The Dreamcast received over 100 visual novel titles in Japan, and in terms of quality, Nakoruru is up there with the best the system has to offer. For those new to the visual novel genre, you can learn more about them in this fantastic video by Bowl of Lentils.
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Combat training mini-game where you dodge left or right to escape attacks. |
We adopted an assembly line process to translate the game’s script. First, dialogue for an individual scene would be translated by Marshal and Duralumin, then the editors - both myself and Derek, would check over the translations for any spelling or grammatical errors, but primarily to ensure they read as naturally as possible in English. Once the script edits were complete, Derek would insert them back into the game. Working together and seeing the story come to life, and by our own making, was incredibly rewarding.
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Making an important decision in the heat of combat. |