Dreamcast Light Gun title Death Crimson 2 has been Translated into English!

For a console that famously championed peripheral use, the Sega Dreamcast sure had slim pickings when it came to games that utilised the light gun. Most notably, the console received arcade-perfect ports of both The House of the Dead 2 and the severely underrated James Bond 'em up Confidential Mission; but what else was there? Those who dared to discover were met with Silent Scope without light gun support, a port of Virtua Cop 2 that was stuck on a disc with a load of poorly emulated Genesis games (unless you imported the standalone Japanese release), a hidden light gun mode in Demolition Racer: No Exit (yes, really), and the Death Crimson series.

Developed by Ecole and released exclusively in Japan in 1999, Death Crimson 2: Meranito no Saidan has the very distinct privilege of being the sequel to a game so notoriously bad that it had a particularly masochistic set of Japanese fans gluing the game's disc into their Sega Saturn so as to make sure the console could never play any other game. Luckily, Ecole did improve, and Death Crimson 2 was received better than its predecessor. Perhaps the most intriguing part about this sequel was the inclusion of a full story mode with almost Resident Evil-esque free-roaming sections where you explore in a third-person perspective outside of the light gun gameplay. While an "improved" version of Death Crimson 2 called Death Crimson OX did receive a Western release (in the USA, at least), it completely dropped the story sections, meaning non-Japanese speakers never got a chance to experience this weird mishmash of gameplay in the English language. 

Well, fret no more, as a fan translation of Death Crimson 2 has just released today! And who translated this Dreamcast light gun oddity, you ask? Well, it's the same guy who did the last English Dreamcast fan translation, too, and many before that! That man being - of course - the ever-busy Derek Pascarella.

With Derek's patch, everything in the game is now translated into English. This includes everything from the story sections, to cutscenes, to textures and graphics; with misspelled English place names (such as street signs) also being corrected to match the official Western release of Death Crimson OX. 

As always with Derek's releases, he's gone above and beyond with extras and enhancements. First up, Derek has added a VMU icon for the game, because Ecole were too lazy to implement one themselves. Next, he added a cheat function, which can up your lives and reset any countdown clock with a simultaneous press of the Dreamcast controller's left and right triggers. The reasoning for this is to allow players to experience the game's story without having to endure going through numerous difficult stages repeatedly.

Then you have the bonus content section, which is accessible from the game's main menu. Utilising a modified version of the Dream Passport browser, players can access a variety of extras from the series, including a video of composer Kunitaka Watanabe tearing it up on the keyboard as he plays the original Death Crimson theme, along with an archive of fan support messages from Ecole's now-offline official Death Crimson 2 website, which have been machine-translated into English.

So, to download Derek's fan translation patch for Death Crimson 2, just head to its dedicated GitHub page to download it. For detailed steps on how to apply the patch for your desired method of play (i.e. burning to a CD-R, playing on an ODE), see the patching instructions section of the README. While the game does support the standard controller, if you're going to be using a light gun I recommend consulting the section on light gun compatibility. Make sure you report back to Derek if you experience any issues with a particular light gun setup, as he will aim to try and resolve such compatibility bugs in the future.

Are you going to crack out the light gun and give this English fan translation a go? Let us know in the comments below, or by hitting us up on one of various social media channels!

Minecraft-Clone "ClassiCube" now available for Dreamcast - supports Online Play

Do you know Minecraft? No? Have you been living under a block? Joking aside, if you seriously don't know what Minecraft is, then it is a game where you jump around swinging a pickaxe at all different types of blocks to build or destroy whatever your heart desires. It's like Lego with minerals... or something.

The reason I'm referencing a game that is hugely popular with people too young to know that the creators of Sonic once made video game consoles, is because today I was made aware that ClassiCube, a free, open-source clone of Minecraft, has hit the Dreamcast, and it supports online play! 

Screenshot from the PC version of ClassiCube.

This Dreamcast port of ClassiCube is currently only in the early alpha stages, which means it is likely to crash/freeze or have issues with performance, but as a proof of concept, it really is an exciting project. Click here to download the .cdi file for it, and if you want to try getting it online, I recommend checking out the video below.

Also check out The Sega Guru's video, which includes an interview with the developers. 

Believe it or not, we actually saw another homebrew Minecraft project for the Dreamcast back in 2017 called "Crafti". Tom wrote about that here.

Are you going to give ClassiCube a go? Do you think this is an exciting project? Let us know in the comments below, or via our social media channels?

Fragmented Almanac: Unique Dreamcast Puzzle Collection goes up for Pre-order!

One of my favourite memories from when I first got involved with The Dreamcast Junkyard happened towards the end of February 2020, when I played the demo for "Reaperi Cycle" in preparation for an episode of our podcast, the DreamPod. Interesting extra tidbit: I'd got engaged to my now-wife just the day before! 

Upon booting up the Reaperi Cycle demo, I was met with a point-and-click game in an isometric style, with really compelling pre-rendered graphics indicative of 90s PC titles, such as Sanitarium. This was not a style of game I ever expected to hit the Dreamcast, but something that I'm so glad I played. The mission of the demo was to solve puzzles in an alchemist's study to try and unlock a strange floating cube in the middle of the room. Not being that smart a puzzle game aficionado, I found some of the puzzles quite tricky to solve, which had me turning to fellow Junkyarders Tom, Mike and James for help, as they were also playing the game in prep for the podcast. 

Reaperi Cycle

In this age of instant information, even if we'd tried to look for a walkthrough to this demo, we would've come back empty handed, so what followed was something I'd not experienced in a long time: we started exchanging hints and tips with one another about what we'd each managed to figure out. With everybody's help (particularly Mike's, if I recall correctly), I eventually managed to get that cube open and complete the demo, and it felt awesome. It took me back to my playground days of yore, when my friend who was a year older than me would effectively function as a walking walkthrough guide, helping me out with advice whenever I got stuck on Pokémon Red. Reaperi Cycle reminded me of that, and it was amazing to feel that same buzz once again of utilising the advice of friends to finally beat a game. 

So then... why did I share this sentimental little tale? Because developer of Reaperi Cycle, ANTIRUINS, is finally releasing definitive versions of not only Reaperi Cycle (now known as The Hideout), but also Summoning Signals, another excellent demo that they also showcased back in 2020. And what's more, they're both combined into one release, called the Fragmented Almanac, with enhanced visuals and audio. That's two really unique games for the price of one, and you can pre-order them today, for an expected release date of March 2024.

Fragmented Almanac will be available digitally for $14.99 (for play on emulator, ODE, etc), with disc copies costing $29.99. The physical game comes in two editions with different cover art, and they both look absolutely sick. You'd be forgiven for mistaking them for some underground band's short-run release on some boutique indie label's Bandcamp. "Dude, I really hope they release Fragmented Almanac on vinyl next!"

On ANTIRUINS' store page for this release, the collection is described as follows:

"The Fragmented Almanac is a strange document, an oddity even amongst Dreamcast games.  At the junction of video games, art and alchemy, this project is the culmination of 7 years of Dreamcast development, spread over 5 different games. The Fragmented Almanac re-unites two of these experimentations under a multifaceted and complex timeline."

And the games contained within:

"THE HIDEOUT : This place is filled with alchemical knowledge, old tales and mystical symbols. It's the hidden path in the forest, seen by very few. Can you unlock its secret?

"SUMMONING SIGNALS : Sprinter-2 crashed on an Unknown Planet. Help the Pilot and figure out a way to leave the labyrinth. Discover this strange world where new technology and old ruins coexist."

The games also boasts such features as a "new Almanac system [which] guides you through the complex world", an "eerie soundtrack composed by Gabriel Ledoux" and the useful extra of "hints [being] displayed on the VMU". Nice.

The developers of Fragmented Alamanac are Canada-based, but did confirm in our Discord that they are currently working to try and get a distributor arranged for Europe, although $11 to get one of these sent to the UK (where I'm based) isn't too bad a delivery cost. Once again, you can pre-order the game here.

Are you going to check out The Hideout and Summoning Signals as part of the Fragmented Almanac? Let us know in the comments below, or on our socials.

The Top 25 Dreamcast Indie Games 2024 - Voting Now Closed

It's been eight years since we last went to readers, viewers, listeners and followers of The Dreamcast Junkyard to ask YOU what the best indie games for the Dreamcast are... and what an eight years it's been! Incredibly, no less than 43 new indie games have seen release for the console in that time - and that is just those that received actual physical versions.

As we're officially in the Dreamcast's 25th year of celebrations (I am now dubbing the time between the Japanese launch in 1998 and the PAL release in 1999 "the Dreamcast anniversary year"), it seems only fitting to bring this vote back and see what the current fan favourite indie games are, especially considering the increased number of releases since we last did the vote. Pier Solar topped the charts last time, just beating out Sturmwind, but a lot has happened since then!

How to vote:

Simply click on the form at the bottom of the page (or here, if its easier!) and name your selection of a minimum of three indie releases, with a maximum of 10. There's no need to order them, however you will be asked to select one of your choices as your absolute favourite on the second page of the form. I will then have the Junkyard gremlins work their magic, run the spreadsheets, click the dials and receive brown paper envelopes in dark parking lots so that we end up with the definitive Top 25 list of indie games.

That's not all though. As well as using this chance to work out the Top 25 indie games, we've also got a few additional votes that you can take part in, namely Best Indie Developer, Best Indie Publisher and Most Anticipated Future Indie Release.

Criteria:

I suppose we better clarify what an "indie release" is. Any commercially released or free game that runs on the Dreamcast that was not officially licensed by Sega but was sanctioned for release by its developers or rights holders, qualifies. This includes all the games listed in my Complete Guide to Commercially Released Dreamcast Indie Games article, along with any other game that can be downloaded digitally for play on the Dreamcast for either a price or free, as long as it was allowed by its developer or rights holders.

The only titles that don't qualify for this voting would be unofficial ports of games, such as the Atomiswave ports, or unofficial mods or hacks of existing games (including any Beats of Rage mods, although Beats of Rage itself does qualify). Basically, if the developers or rights holders didn’t authorise it for play on the Dreamcast, it doesn’t qualify. Also, any unreleased games from the Dreamcast's official lifespan (such as Millennium Racer or Propeller Arena, for instance) don’t qualify either.

You have until the 31st of January 2024 to vote, and once we have closed the polls and had the time to write up the results we'll be announcing the final list on the blog and across social media.

Voting has now closed.

The Dreamcast Junkyard's choicest cuts and hottest takes of 2023

Well, here we are again. A whole 12 months since the last time we did one of these yearly roundup articles, and 10 months since I decided to retire from the Junkyard for the sake of my fragile sanity. Going against my better judgement, I thought it would be nice to pop in to the 'Yard at this special time of year to look back in anger with fondness at some of the highlights of 2023, published by the hard-working and dedicated team of nerds who keep this place going in earnest. Even with the AI-powered threat of the Dead Internet™ and Big Gaming Websites™ slowly terraforming the entire World Wide Web into a sanitised, homogenous wasteland of black text on white backgrounds and carefully prepared press bullshots, The Dreamcast Junkyard is still here showing that little niche blogs can survive in the present era. But, y'know, that's not to say if some conglomerate wants to buy us out for a few million quid we wouldn't listen to offers. Of course, I jest...cough.

Now, back to that actual topic at hand. The dystopian nightmare that is/was the year 2023AD. It's been...interesting. So much new Dreamcast news to report on, new releases to salivate uncontrollably over, and original features that simply wouldn't write themselves without the aid of an advanced large language model and a few clever prompts. Yes, the humble Dreamcast has had quite the year, and so without further ado, I present to you a concise(ish) whistle-stop tour de force of the choicest cuts and hottest takes published here over the last 365(ish) days.

Are ya ready? Here we go...

Reviews

• Not actually a Dreamcast release, but a title heavily influenced by Jet Set/Grind Radio, Lewis laced up his roller blades, donned his finest DayGlo lycra and tackled Team Reptile's excellent homage Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Reports of lycra chaffage are wholly unfounded, refuted and are to be quashed immediatley.
• Taking a pinch of inspiration from Rocket League, the first online-enabled retail release in nigh on 20 years arrived on Dreamcast in 2023. As expected, Lozz buckled up, checked his mirrors, signalled and then manouvred into battle in Luke Benstead and David Reichelt's indie hit Driving Strikers.

• Another game heavily influenced by a much-loved Dreamcast original, Cosmic Smash homage C-Smash VRS from RapidEyeMovers and Wood & Wolf was given a thorough going over by a VR-helmeted Brian. Rumours that he destroyed his living room while jumping around in said VR helmet are wholly unfounded, refuted and are to be quashed immediately.
• After Tom checked out the Dreamcast re-release of Visco's 1992 Neo-Geo title Andro Dunos (brought to us by JoshProd and PixelHeart), Lozz entered the very same (heavily sanitised) cockpit to take on the challenge presented by Andro Dunos II.

• Our colleague Andrew Dickinson wrote a book once - did he mention that? Well, guess what - he wrote a sequel to it and it was released this year. Dreamcast: Year Two featured many contributions from across the Dreamcast community and Lewis was on hand to leaf through it. Will there be a Dreamcast: Year Three? Will Andrew mention he wrote a book again? Answers on a postcard.
• Mike kicked off his Dreamcast-themed loafers, donned his velvet smoking jacket (probably) and delved betwixt the pages of Fusion Retro Books' Dreamcast-themed special edition, the snappily titled Fusion Dreamcast Magazine.

• Mike also cast a critical eye over two indie releases this year, with PRO's physical release of Wolfenstein 3D mod Witching Hour and Lowtek Games' semi-sequel to Flea!, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, both getting the Phelan treatment. Which sounds way more ominous than I thought it would now I've typed that sequence of words out.
• Drunk on nostalgia while waiting for some form of Crazy Taxi reboot to appear (it'll never happen), Brian hailed down Cassius John-Adams' Fifth Element-inspired Crazy Taxi homage MiLE HiGH TAXi - a game which presumably also took at least some naming inspiration from psychedelic Saturn k-hole NiGHTS into Dreams.

Features and News

• A highly skilled Dreamcast developer who goes by the name Frogbull decided they wanted to see PlayStation 2 stalwart Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty running on Sega's superior hardware. So they went out and created a proof of concept demo. No, we aren't making this up, and Lewis was on hand to investigate.
• Tom noticed that it was high time he delved back into the Atomiswave library that was recently made playable on Dreamcast, with a look at Sammy's lesser-spotted Need for Speed: Underground rip-off homage Faster Than Speed.

• 2023 represented a major milestone in the history of the Dreamcast - 25 years of existence. To mark the occasion, Brian revisited the Japanese release of the console, and even looked at the four launch titles on offer, particularly zooming in on one of the more maligned of the four - Godzilla Generations.
• Y'know, it wasn't always like this. Not very long ago, just before your time, right before the towers fell, circa '99, this was catalogues, travel blogs, a chat room or two. And loads of random Dreamcast-themed fan sites. To illustrate, and take a look at what became of our brothers and sisters in arms, Lozz sampled a load of other online Dreamcast resources that were founded after the Dreamcast was discontinued (some even before the Junkyard started)...and where they are now. Thanks to Bo Burnham for this guest entry.

• Back in 2022, Tom lamented over the lost Dreamcast boxing game Title Defense. With the help of Dreamcast community legend PC Wizard, he managed to track down and speak to someone who was heavily involved with said game's development and ultimate demise, and uncover the true story of why Title Defense never came to the Dreamcast. Spoiler alert: it never existed.
• Apparently modern Sega isn't simply a hollow shell and shadow of its former self, and this year teased reboots of two of its most popular Dreamcast franchises. So you can disregard the previous comment about Crazy Taxi never coming back. Because it is, along with Jet Set/Grind Radio. Hopefully not as mobile games, but only time will tell. As ever, Lewis was on hand to take a look at the teaser trailer.

• Long time Junkyard contributor Aaron "The Gagaman" Foster checked in earlier this year with a rather fascinating investigation into the smallest Dreamcast games. Not small in stature, but in file size. No, it's actually more interesting than you'd think. Honest.
• How many versions of The Typing of the Dead are you aware of? Apart from the Dreamcast release of this zombie-themed Mavis Beacon homage, you might be surprised to know that there were numerous spinoffs and ports to both computers and other console platforms. Want to know more? Of course you do, so be sure to check out Lewis' superb dissection of The Typing of the Dead's weird and wonderful ports.

• Many Dreamcast releases were originally promoted via the arcane medium of the humble flyer or leaflet, and in this excellent deep dive into one of the more esoteric aspects of Dreamcast lore, Lozz investigated the myriad flyers and leaflets now preserved online for all and sundry to gawp at.
• If you've been online for as long as most of us have, and have been trawling the Dreamcast-flavoured underbelly of the internet for an equally terrifying stretch of time, you'll have undoubtedly come across heavily compressed images of Dreamcast consoles modded to resemble the Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube and Sony PlayStation 2. Ever wondered where these curiosities came from, or what became of them? Enter contributor Dark, who investigated the origins and fate of these mysterious variations of the Dreamcast.

• Tom took time out from shaking his fist at a cloud, put some clothes on and ventured out of his delapidated shack; and then took a train to London to experience C-Smash VRS and interact with some real life humans. Read his report on the launch event here, and then scratch your head in bemusement at the final paragraph where he annouces his retirement from the Junkyard...while you simultaneously read these very words which are being written by him on a keyboard right now.
• Contributor Oliver Luddy announced his debut at the Junkyard by checking out the various iterations of steering wheel peripherals with which Dreamcast users can control onscreen vehicles. Some are good, others are not so good. But how will you know which is which without checking out Oliver's Dreamcast Steering Wheels - An Overview?

Credit: The Sega Guru

• Dreamcast indie royalty and wombat appreciator Ian Micheal fully inserted himself into something commonly known as 'Christmas spirit' by releasing his latest creation - a compendium of Christmas-themed games for the Dreamcast. Featuring rom hacks and ports of games from a multitude of genres, the Dreamcast Christmas Collection is also notable for featuring covers of various festive songs which are sung by Ian himself. Ian, your talents are clearly wasted on indie dev.
• The DreamPod crew asked our listeners to share their favourite Christmas Dreamcast memories from years gone by, and boy did they not disappoint. In this festive roundup which served as a companion piece to DreamPod episode 125 for RadioSEGA's WinterFest, Lozz packages them all up for your reading pleasure, while nursing a hangover inevitably brought on by enjoying too many Creamcast ales.

• Bet you didn't know Radirgy/Radilgy received a spinoff on the Nintendo 3DS. Well, it did, and in his deep dive, Lewis discovers that not all is rosy in this particular entry's cel-shaded garden. To be fair, the clue is in the title of the feature: Radirgy De Gojaru! - Radirgy's Terrible 3DS Spinoff.
• It's been a good few years at this point since Retro-Bit teased their wireless Dreamcast controllers. While wireless controllers for the Dreamcast have been available for quite some time thanks to the work of Chris Diaoglou, the Retro-Bit ones are officially sanctioned by Sega and were spotted "in the wild" a few months ago in 2023.

• Fresh from his recent foray into the world of Dreamcast soccer management blockbuster Giant Killers, Kev decided it was high time to turn his attention to American sports games. More specifically, the unusual Japanese releases of NFL 2K1 and NBA 2K1. What makes these two titles so notable? Well, it's the fact that they received special “bible” editions. Want to know what any of that means? Then check out Kev's feature on the Sega Sports 2K1 Bible Editions. Note: God and/or Jesus are not involved. Sorry.
• Sticking with Kev for a moment, he also investigated the experience of playing a range of games with the Dreamcast Arcade Stick (see what I did there?), but the twist here is that they aren't games that any normal person would actually want to play with an Arcade Stick, but which are fully compatible. The things we do in the name of science, eh? You can read about Kev's highly empirical findings in his feature here.
• Last but by no means least, and after a whole year, many hours of work and hundreds of contributions, The Dreamcast Junkyard's refreshed Top 200 Dreamcast Games 2023 was finally unveiled to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the system. This really was a Herculean effort from all of those involved, and the final list throws up some very interesting placings in the definitive ranking as voted for by you - the loyal readers of t'Junkyard.

English Translations

This year saw even more Japan-only titles translated into English by the dedicated Dreamcast fan translation community. There are many talented people involved in this niche within a niche (with a special nod to the likes of Derek "God" Pascarella, VincentNL, SharkSnack, Rolly, RafaMGam, TheKitchenSunk, Harpu, Ozidual, DocHikari, dukeblooders, Marshal Wong, Duralumin, James Tocchio/GGDreamcast, Yuvi, Cargodin, rio de popmocco and TapamN, to name but a few).

Some of the most notable titles to receive an English language translation were covered by Lewis here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, with one of them even being worked on by him (Nakoruru). Check 'em out:

• Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan
• Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000
• Rent-A-Hero No. 1
• Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me
• Cool Cool Toon
• Under Defeat
• Trizeal

Interviews and Podcasts

• Daytona USA 2001 was brought back online in 2023, restoring much of the original multiplayer experience that was enjoyed by Dreamcast owners in Japan and the USA back in the day. The bulk of the work to bring the game back online was completed by developer ioncannon, and Lozz was on hand to get all the details on this excellent resurrection project.
• On episode 126 of our podcast DreamPod, Lewis and Kev welcomed Nick Thorpe, Retro Gamer Magazine Features Editor. The conversation covered a wide range of topics, including how Nick's career in games media started and progressed, some contentious entries in the 2023 Top 200, Nick's memories of the Dreamcast launch and favourite games, and how he would get hooked on playing the Dreamcast demo pod in order to get his Sonic Adventure fix, much to the frustration of the other kids.

• Seasoned games journalist Chris Scullion joined Kev and Mike for episode 121 of the DreamPod, during which Chris detailed the process of writing his latest book The Dreamcast Encylopedia, his memories of the Dreamcast, and some of his favourite titles. Mike mentioned that he is also writing a book. Andrew wrote a book once, too. Not sure if he's ever mentioned that.
• Episode 120 of the DreamPod saw Andrew and Lewis welcome YouTuber Dreamcast Enjoyer (aka Dominic) to the podcast, during which they spoke about a range of topics, from the Dreamcast's “cosiest” games to Dominic's foray into the world of YouTube.

• Regular hosts Lozz and James welcomed guests Harvey (aka Pizza Hotline) and Holsten to episode 118 of the DreamPod to discuss the burgeoning online gaming scene, which has had something of a resurgence on the Dreamcast thanks to DreamPi. If you ever wondered how to go about getting your Dreamcast online, and which online games are worth your time, then this is the episode for you!
• Harlequest developer Ross Kilgariff joined Lewis and Lozz on episode 115 of the DreamPod, during which the jolly trio discussed all things indie dev, Kickstarter and of course Harlequest - a brand new 3D platformer heading to Dreamcast in the not too distant future.
• Of course, you can find all of the other episodes of The Dreamcast Junkyard DreamPod on all of your favourite podcatchers, so be sure to give us a review and a rating if you can be bothered. We'll love you forever if you do. It doesn't even have to be positive. I left a one star review myself on all the ones I'm on, for example. Can't stand the sound of my own voice.

Community Collaborations

• Mike and Lewis were special guests on episode 377 of the excellent podcast The Retro Hour, chatting all things Dreamcast and Dreamcast Junkyard. Turns out the episode Mike and Lewis appeared on was one of The Retro Hour's most popular episodes of the year...who'd have thunk it?

• We also appeared as guests once again on RadioSEGA's WinterFest 2023, sharing fuzzy memories of Dreamcast Christmases past for the 125th episode of the DreamPod, joined this time by none other than Patrick Traynor of Sega Saturn, SHIRO! fame. WinterFest is an institution within the Sega community at this point, so as ever we thank the team at RadioSEGA for having us.
• Lewis was invited to appear on episode 201 of The SEGA Lounge podcast by venerable host David "KC" Luis, where he spoke about his own personal history with the Dreamcast and gave a little glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes at the Junkyard (hint: it's organised chaos).

What's next?

I'm pretty confident that the Dreamcast scene will continue to go from strength to strength in 2024, and no doubt the fine team manning The Dreamcast Junkyard will be on hand to offer a familiar torrent of news, features, reviews, previews, podcasts and interviews. If you haven't already, please go and give The 'Yard a follow on Twitter, or join our lovely Discord community so you don't miss anything.

I'll return at the same time next year to post my annual round-up of other people's hard work; but until then, I wish you all a very happy 2024 and give you my thanks - as ever - for continuing to support the Dreamcast, the Dreamcast community at large, all the indie devs doing amazing stuff, and of course this very blog. Ciao for now!

Ian Micheal has released a Christmas Collection for Dreamcast!

Cover by The Sega Guru

On the 23rd day of Christmas, Ian Micheal gave to the community... a Christmas collection for the Sega DC.

Ever since his work on the Sega Powered demo disc, homebrew extraordinaire Ian Micheal has really been experimenting with the idea of Dreamcast "collections" using the same UI. Around this time last year, he released the much anticipated (unofficial) Dreamcast version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, which featured a wide range of old-school Turtles games, ROM hacks, cartoon episodes, music, and more, to peruse and enjoy on your Dreamcast. 

In October, Ian decided to put a seasonal twist on this concept with a Halloween collection, and now, in a similar vein, Ian has released a Christmas-themed collection for play on the Dreamcast, which he’s been teasing since the beginning of the month. There's so much packed onto it, I'm not even sure where to start...

He stares into your soul as he asks "have you been a good boy this year? HMM?!"

Let's start with the games. This collection is chock full of Christmas-themed games to play, from the Europe/Australia exclusive Mega Drive title Daze Before Christmas, to the Home Alone games, to Christmas ROM hacks of Sonic, Mario, Pokémon and even Wolfenstein 3D! There's nothing quite like a festive spin on old favourites to get you in the mood for the season. Just don't let Santa know we shot him in the Wolfenstein mod…

The longer you look…

But of course, the most important reason why you'd want to download and boot this collection up on your Dreamcast, is to hear Ian sing his own renditions of classic Christmas songs, such as Jingle Bells and Chris Rea's "Driving Home For Christmas", along with many others. This man really is multi-talented. Sadly, he didn't cover blink-182's "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" this time round, but let's hope he does that on a 2024 edition of this collection.

With interactive and musical delights covered, this collection wouldn't be complete without something to watch. How about the 1964 stop-motion classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Well here it is, on your Dreamcast. Sorted, mate.  

The ultimate Christmas question: are we listening to George Michael or Ian Micheal?

To play Ian's Christmas collection, head over to the Dreamcast-Talk forums to download the CDI. There's even a video to watch of Ian showcasing it. I definitely think this'll make an excellent addition to the Junkyard's usual Dreamcast-related Christmas traditions, which include Blue Stinger, the Sonic Adventure DLC and that one Toy Commander DreamOn demo where you zoom about as Santa on a jetpack.

Are you going to download this? Let us known in the comments below or via one of our many social media pages! Either way, we here at the Junkyard wish you a very Merry Christmas!

New Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi Games Announced by Sega!

If you are a Sega enthusiast, I'm sure you are already well aware of the big announcement they made last night at The Game Awards. If you still need filling in, then here's the news: Sega have announced new games based on some long-neglected IPs, and much to our delight here at the Junkyard, two of them are Dreamcast staples: Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi! You can view Sega's teaser trailer below.

While not a whole load is known about these two new games other than the brief flash of footage shown in Sega's teaser trailer, they do look really cool. The Jet Set Radio game shown is actually the one which had images leaked following a July 2022 survey from Sega. The footage shows Beat tricking - and also parkouring - around Tokyo-To. The game looks to still retain the series' distinctive cel-shaded look, but appears to opt for more realism in its graphical style. A brand new take on Jet Set Radio's very own DJ Professor K is shown off too. In an interview with Washington Post, Sega of America CEO Shuji UtsumI confirms that “the original creators” are involved in some regard.

The Crazy Taxi game looks great too. The gameplay looks as energetic and flashy as any modern take on Hitmaker's arcade classic should be. The teaser shows a taxi being chased by the police, drifting around large, open streets. The footage also seems to imply that players may also be able to take control of the police car, which makes me wonder if there will be some kind of multiplayer mode involved where some players ride the taxis while others chase them down as the cops... perhaps even the dreaded "games as a service" model based on Fornite that was mentioned back in 2022? Of course, I will save any judgement until I know more, but let's hope that Sega know who the real audience is for these reboots.

The other games announced include some very awesome-looking 3D Golden Axe and Streets of Rage reboots (makes me wish we'd got that cancelled Street of Rage for Dreamcast!), which look very much like they'd be a lot of fun as co-op experiences. The last game showed off is a new entry in the Shinobi series which utilises an absolutely stunning 2D art style. 

At the end of the teaser trailer it is clarified that all the games announced are still in development, so it's probably going to be a bit of a wait before we finally get to play them, or even find out more information, like which platforms they'll be available on (hopefully not mobile exclusives!). The Sega fan community have also picked up on the fact that after the announced games are listed, it reads "and more", meaning there is a potential for even more games (hopefully all reboots!) to be unveiled from Sega at some point. Maybe a HD rerelease of Skies of Arcadia? Shenmue 4? The much anticipated Floigan Bros. Episode 2? Only time will tell...

For now, though, this announcement has made the Sega fan community very happy indeed. It's good to see Sega have finally pulled their finger out after countless years of shrugging off the passionate cries of fans asking them to revisit their abandoned IPs.

They finally did something!

What do you think of these new reboots? Which ones are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments section below or via one of our various social media pages!

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.

(via Advermax on Youtube) 

Yukawa-san was just doing his best.

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.