MiLE HiGH TAXi: A Hovercab Homage to Crazy Taxi (Review)

If you ever yearn for the spirit of Sega’s creative heyday, you needn’t look much further than the present. The spirit of that era continues to live on through modern Dreamcast releases from publishers like Wave Game Studios and PixelHeart, as well as creators whose projects breathe new life into decades-old titles via fan translations, online restoration, unreleased game preservation, and VR remakes. 

Sega’s turn-of-the-millennium spirit also lives on through the subsequent generations of developers who’ve been inspired by its legacy. It lives on through the ambitions of those who build upon and reinvent its concepts, and through those who create new and bespoke experiences of their own — just as Sega’s studios had done at their creative peak. At its core, the Sega spirit is a pioneering spirit. And when we pay homage to its past, it stands to reason that we ought to embrace the future, as well.

Conceived as a pandemic passion project by solo developer Cassius John-Adams, Mile High Taxi (officially stylized as MiLE HiGH TAXi) is the latest game to shepherd that legacy. It pays clear homage to Crazy Taxi but with a futuristic twist. Mile High supplements AM3/Hitmaker’s fare attack concept with the verticality of that chase scene in The Fifth Element where Bruce Willis nosedived his hovercab through hovertraffic to evade the hovercops. 

The game wears its influences like a hood ornament, tasking you with picking up and dropping off passengers throughout an exhausting and suffocating metropolis. As with Hitmaker’s forebearer, you’ll earn some cash and replenish a ticking countdown timer with each successful drop off. Those fares are well earned as you’ll spend most of the time weaving through (and into) a grid of infinitely tall skyscrapers while being constantly berated by the passenger and pedestrian populace.

Mile High’s towering cityscape is irradiated with billboards featuring clever nods to ‘80s and ‘90s films like Idiocracy, The Fifth Element (obviously), and Coming to America. Belying its title, Mile High Taxi appears to be set in a futuristic version of Toronto rather than Denver, Colorado – at least inferring from its abundant references to Tim Horton’s and Quays (pronounced like “keys”, not “kways” as one NPC will frequently remind you). Either way, of all the dystopian cities I’ve explored in video games, Mile High’s is by far the most Canadian.

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kamloops anymore.

Conceptually, Mile High plays like Crazy Taxi in six dimensions with vertical maneuverability added to the formula. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for it to feel like precisely that: a formula. You begin by picking up customers on suspended platforms and pedestrian bridges, waiting as they leap into your cab (via karate kick, front flip, or diving chop) before stating the generic cross-streets and elevation of their destination. From there, it’s a mad dash to the drop-off point, with a floating arrow and GPS-style map for guidance.

The scoring system is a little obtuse. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to the feedback you receive from passengers, but it's usually negative. Passengers frequently complain, except when you smash through street signs, stop lights, and patio furniture. They love that shit.

Which, fair. So do I.

Unfortunately, Mile High’s novelty wears thin after a few minutes of chauffeuring random passengers to indiscernible locations around its nondescript grid. Lacking distinct landmarks, varied street layouts, or unique neighborhood aesthetics, there’s little to distinguish one trip from the next. Each trip is approached more or less the same way, and Mile High’s fare loop dissolves into an amorphous, unmemorable haze long before the timer runs out.

Let’s take a look at Fusion DC Magazine

All of the old school Dreamcast fans, those who have been appreciating Sega's last great punt at home gaming hardware since the late 90s, are starting to get old. It's true. Long gone are the days where we all hung round the streets in our baggy jeans, listening to crap nu metal through our minidisc players and still hung on to some level of optimism about what the new century would bring us - as long as we survived the millennium bug that is. A lot has happened since then.. so, so much. We probably should have realised that it was going to go downhill when Sega pulled out of the hardware business. The blue sky glory of Sega would soon be replaced with the greys and browns of a new century of gaming dreariness. That sense of optimism we felt? Yeah, that didn't go well either. The world has slowly turned into an unknowing parody of itself; a slow march towards a Romero-esque zombie world full of hopelessness, greed and hypocrisy. 

Thing is - it's probably not that way at all. But when you're in your late teens, everything seems optimistic, and when you reach the age we're all at now - many of us facing the prospect of no birthday badge ever having a number lower than '4' starting it off - all the teenagers are scary, and loud, and stupid, and the world is just one long reminder that 'it's not like the old days'. We still play games, sure, but we're not quite as sharp as we used to be, the reflexes aren't quite where they were anymore, and inevitably, someone a quarter of your age will beat you at a game, shout in your face that you're a loser, and 'Mad World' by Gary Jules will play slowly in your mind as you realise you're now past it. We can reminisce about games, sure; fill our twitter feeds with pictures of games from a quarter of a century ago, but playing them? If we get ten minutes to ourselves, and if we haven't got to battle with some ridiculous technological issue which stops us from just playing the damn things, then sure, yeah, maybe. But it's doubtful, isn't it? We'd much rather just grab a cup of tea, put on some slippers and read a good book before drifting off for a nice nap. Don't scream at your monitor (or phone, or VR device or, I don't know, some other new fangled nonsense) at me in apoplectic rage; not only would that not do your blood pressure any good, but you know it's true. We're old now. 

"Back in my day, the creators of Sonic made game consoles too..."

It's quite lucky then, that in the last few years we've seen a steady influx of Dreamcast literary content be released. Was the first the Dreamcast Junkyard's own Ultimate Collectors Guide? (Jesus, you really had to get that plug in didn't you? - Lewis) Probably. I'd look it up, but to be honest, it's getting dark and I'm getting a little sleepy. Regardless, we've since had a whole flurry of cool new books, magazines and guides, with many more on the way. The superb Dreamcast Years book from DCJY's own Andrew Dickinson, the Collected Works book released a few years ago; Chris Scullion's upcoming Dreamcast encyclopaedia; not to mention various pieces of Dreamcast nostalgia written in magazines and books. We're really at that time where Dreamcast fans are now well adjusted adults (some of us), and serious things, written on paper and meant to be read like serious adults, are now produced to cater for us. 

The latest of these, at least the latest to arrive at the 'yard, is a little magazine called Fusion DC, a special edition issue from the long running Fusion Retro Books (who have produced a lot of really good retro gaming-based books and magazines), and guest edited by a well known member of the Dreamcast community, Retro Faith. This slim 50 page mini-magazine may be small enough to fit in a pocket (on a pair of cargo trousers, at least), but is a professionally put together and full colour publication that is a welcome addition to any Dreamcast fans collection. It was put up for sale on Fusion's web store at a very reasonable £3.99, although I managed to pick a copy up for just £2.50 (at time of writing, there's less than single figures of these remaining, so grab one while you still can).

Sporting a cover on which the Dreamcast has been reimagined as the Millennium Falcon, with VMUs serving as X-wing support through the Death Star trench run (admittedly, a slightly odd design choice, but it does look cool as heck), the magazine packs a lot of content into its pages. Retro Faith has been producing some top quality content for some years now, and her passion and love for the console are evident throughout. In fact, it's fair to say that the majority of the content within the magazine comes from Retro Faith alone. There's her pick of top 5 DC fighting games; an in-depth look at Phantasy Star Online (with some contributions from DCJY's own James Jarvis), a short guide to Dreamcast peripherals, and an interview with friends of the Yard, Retro Sumus, developers of the excellent indie release Xenocider. As is always the case with Faith's writing, it is professionally written but still exudes an obvious passion for the subject matter. The magazine also looks great, with plenty of screenshots, full page visuals and clean layout.

It's not just Retro Faith who has a hand in the mag though, and there are other contributors that will be familiar to retro gaming fans in the UK. Andrew Fisher is well known for writing for numerous retro publications and websites, including Retro Gamer magazine, and his contribution here is a fascinating look at the Naomi arcade board. Nicholas McDonald takes a loving look at the Sakura Wars series, whilst Sega Powered and (upcoming indie mag) Debug writer Marc Jowett takes a look at Shenmue and its influence on then open world genre of games that came after it.

There's a couple of other bits here, including a look at a couple of Dreamcast gaming failures (MoHo!), but there isn't a massive amount of content to speak about - this is after all a magazine of only 50-odd pages! What is here, however, is enjoyable and of a professional quality.

It appears that this magazine may have been produced in limited quantities in 2022, as part of their 'Backerkit' page for the launch of their Christmas annuals, which may explain why this one passed us by at the time. It's a shame this went under the radar, as there are many DC fans out there who would no doubt have happily added this to their collection - here's hoping that this may, however, be only the first Dreamcast related endeavour from Retro Fusion Books.

Did you manage to get a copy of Fusion DC? Have you enjoyed Fusion’s magazines in the past? Let us know in the comments below or via our social media channels…

Review: Andro Dunos

I did consider labelling this post as a 'retrospective' as opposed to a 'review,' and that's because Andro Dunos is not a new game for the Dreamcast. It's not a new game, period. Indeed, this latest release physical for the venerable old console represents something of an enigma in that it's an officially sanctioned release of a game that was previously released a long time ago in an unofficial guise. Are you confused yet? I know I am. But allow me to attempt to unpack this little conundrum.

See, Andro Dunos is a Visco developed side (and occasionally vertical) scrolling shooter that was originally released for the Neo-Geo AES and MVS platforms back in 1992, and which was subsequently made available for the Dreamcast using the Neo4All emulator in the mid 2000s. Indeed, you may have even seen (or possibly own) a copy of the lesser-spotted physical release of Andro Dunos that was previously available, which was essentially a printed CD-R containing Neo4All and an Andro Dunos rom file, presented in a rather nice folded cardboard sleeve. There was a similar Neo Drift Out release too, if memory serves (found them!)...but I digress.

As far as I can tell, this latest iteration of Andro Dunos for Dreamcast is almost identical to the aforementioned (it even displays the Neo4All icon on the VMU screen), albeit with a few subtle differences; the main one being that this is an officially sanctioned physical release with full license from Visco Games and limited to just 2000 copies, all of which come with a rather nice certificate of authenticity and a choice of PAL or NTSC jewel cases, professionally printed manual and case inlays, and the same type of top quality printed CD that you would expect from veteran Dreamcast publishers JoshProd and PixelHeart.

Just taking a moment to appreciate the physical presentation of Andro Dunos (I went for the PAL cased version as the NTSC flavours are not yet - at the time of writing - available), it's really quite hard to fault the level of care that has gone into the package. As mentioned above, you get a nice (if slightly threadbare) instruction manual, some excellent original box art, a little holographic sticker on the back of the box denoting which of the 2000 numbered copies you have acquired (mine is 0332 - what's yours?), and then there's a signed cardboard insert vouching for the authenticity of the copy in your possession. It's a nice touch, I must admit.

But what of the game Andro Dunos itself? Well, it's a pretty bare bones affair in all truth. Set against the backdrop of an alien invasion of Earth, players are thrust into the cockpit of the Yellow Cherry fighter ship and tasked with battling through 8 levels of increasingly more difficult enemies, many of whom seemingly only exist to waft onto the screen, fire a shot and then either exit or propel themselves at your ship, kamikaze style. Naturally, you are armed with a complement of weapons systems which are actually quite similar to those seen in Sturmwind, and these are used to blast your way through the unending swarms of baddies and the numerous multi-staged end of level bosses.

I never played the original Andro Dunos back in 1992, simply because I didn't own a Neo-Geo. I did have a school friend who professed to own one of SNK's mythical systems, but when I went to his house to see/play on it, he claimed his mother had thrown it in the bin because - and I quote - "she didn't know what it was." Because that's something that happens in reality, Chris. You know who you are. 

The upshot of these blatant school boy lies, is that the Dreamcast release of Andro Dunos is my first real experience playing it, and when compared to the other shooters available on the platform, it leaves me a little cold.

The Dreamcast Junkyard's choicest cuts and hottest takes of 2022

Well, another whole year has come and gone, and we're all a little older and a little wiser. All a little bit more wrinkly and decrepit. All a bit more wizened and broken. All a bit more...I think you get the idea. Anyway, as has become something of a custom here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, we thought it would be totally radical (dude) to round up the majority of the content we've posted here over the last 12 months; so you don't have to navigate the archive using that unweildy little sidebar thing.

Huge thanks must go to all the people who have continued to create content that we report on, and of course to those who have agreed to guest on our podcast. Thanks also to the team members who write the features, the news posts and the reviews; and of course thank you to you - our readers - who continue to visit the Junkyard year in, year out.

For your reading pleasure, presented below in a digestable list are some highlights from 2022. Not everything we've published is included, but if you're reading this on the desktop version of the blog you'll find the aforementioned unweildy little sidebar archive just down there on the right, from which you can find everything from not just 2022, but from the last 18 years of The Dreamcast Junkyard...

Shadow Gangs

Reviews

• Ghoul Grind: Night of the Necromancer - Mike cast a critical eye over Woog Worx's interesting retro-styled, auto-scrolling, Halloween-themed platform adventure, and was particularly impressed with just how well executed the whole affair was.
• Postal - Lozz suited up and dove in to Dan Redfield and WAVE Game Studios' Dreamcast fantastic release of Running With Scissors' blood-soaked 90s shooter, and was pretty impressed with what he saw. Twin Stick controls and complete DLC included on the disc were particular highlights.

Yeah Yeah Beebiss II

• Yeah Yeah Beebiss II - In 2022 the Dreamcast played host to a port of a sequel to a game that never actually existed. That port was the simple yet enjoyable Yeah Yeah Beebiss II and Tom found that while the game was quite basic in design, it was also quite a fun little title.
• Shadow Gangs - Showcasing just how diverse the range of new Dreamcast releases were in 2022, Lozz took a look at the visually impressive side scrolling brawler Shadow Gangs. While the aesthetics were a highlight, the game's difficulty level was seen as a slight negative.

Virtua Sriker 2 ver 2000.1

Retrospectives

• Virtua Striker 2 - When is a football game not a football game? When it's Virtua Striker 2 of course! Tom took to the pitch in Sega's arcade football fest to see if Virtua Striker 2 holds up.
• The Flashback series on Dreamcast - The Dreamcast has now recieved officially sanctioned ports of both Flashback and sequel Fade to Black. We joined Conrad B. Hart to see how well these ports fared on the Dreamcast.
• Nettou Golf - Kev switched off Giant Killers, donned his most hideous golfing attire and interrupted a good walk when he investigated Nettou Golf, an NTSC-J title which he found to be surprisingly good fun.

Maximum Speed

• 90 Minutes: Sega Championship Football - 90 Minutes represents one of the most turgid footballing experiences one can find on Dreamcast; however the NTSC-J version (titled J.League Spectacle Soccer) is one of the very best to grace a GD-ROM drive. How so? Find out in Tom's retrospective!
• Maximum Speed - The Atomiswave played host to a number of interesting games that were never ported to other platforms, and Maximum Speed is one such title. A sort of Daytona-lite that features stock and open wheel vehicles, and some of the most annoying sound effects you're ever likely to hear.

Flyer for Premier Eleven

Features and News

• The Hunt for Premier Eleven - Premier Eleven is often seen as the greatest football game the Dreamcast never got. By 'often,' we mean 'by us.' This elusive Atomiswave title does exist in very limited numbers out in the wild, but so far it remains undumped. Join us on this most whirlwindy of investigations.
• Brave Little Abacus - Lewis went down the rabbit hole of discovering why this celebrated band used a Dreamcast during their live shows, and even managed to bag an interview with Brave Little Abacus frontman Adam Demirjian, who explained the reasoning behind it, as well as his general admiration for the console.
• Dreamcast translation projects - The Dreamcast English translation scene appears to be going from strength to strength, and so our resident translations specialist Lewis brought us news on projects involving such NTSC-J titles as Radirgy, Chaos Field, Panzer Front, Puyo Puyo~n, Cool Cool Toon and RUN=DIM as Black Soul.

RUN=DIM as Black Soul

• The Dreamcast indie scene enters a 'Golden Age' - Lozz took a deep dive into the indie scene on the Dreamcast, as more and more games are released and new publishers enter the Dreamarena (sorry).
• Where are they now? - ODM's '100+ New Games' - The Official UK Dreamcast Magazine famously printed a '100+ New Games' feature in the July 2000 issue, and so Andrew decided to delve into the history books to find out what happened to them all. Did all of these games materialise...or was it all just pie in the sky?
• VM2 'next-gen VMU' from Chris Daioglou - Serial Dreamcast peripheral upgrader Chris Daioglou returned in 2022 with a vision for a next-gen VMU. Titled VM2, the project was launched on Indiegogo and smashed its funding goal. Read about it here.

RIP Mr Yukawa

• A farewell to Hidekazu Yukawa - News of former SEGA Japan Managing Director Hidekazu Yukawa's passing was reported in June 2022, after the great man died in June 2021 aged 78. Here, Lewis respectfully paid tribute to his legacy, and detailed every time Mr Yukawa appeared in a Dreamcast game. Rest in peace Mr Yukawa, gone but not forgotten.
• Gauntlet Giveaway! - Midway's Gauntlet Legends offered a pretty sweet deal to anyone who bought the game - send in proof of purchase and receive a set of pewter miniatures based on characters from the game. Through a series of bizarre events, Tom ended up with a set of these miniatures and here's what he thought of them.
• The 'All About Dreamcast' VCD - Lozz managed to bag himself a copy of a Chinese-language VCD sold in Hong Kong and Taiwan titled 'All About Dreamcast,' and being the dutiful digital preservationist that he is, then went and ripped it and uploaded the contents to YouTube.

SEGA Spud Dive

• Is video of the Sega Spud Dive lost media? - The Sega Spud Dive was a publicity stunt that involved people swimming through vats of mashed potatoes to win Dreamcast related prizes, and we've covered it several times here. However, there doesn't appear to be any video of the events...which is odd considering the numerous film crews in attendance.
• Remute Generations - A music CD with exclusive Dreamcast functionality and visuals created by Duranik? Yes please! Here, Tom took a look (and a listen) to Remute's latest release - Generations.
• Title Defense: Dreamcast's lost boxing sim - Title Defense was intended to be a more simulation-based alternative to Ready 2 Rumble, but sadly it was never released. That didn't stop the game being featured quite regularly in magazines of the era. Tom took a look at what could have been, had Climax not shelved this intriguing title before it could muster a defense. See what I did there?

[lock-on] Volume 003

• [lock-on] Volume 003 Dreamcast special - [lock-on] Volume 003 offered a veritable smorgasbord of Dreamcast content, some of which was created by the very people who write the guff on this blog. Once the disclosure was out of the way, Tom took a look between the pages and offered a wholly unbiased opinion.
• Dee Dee Planet playable online - Dee Dee Planet was a pseudo sequel to ChuChu Rocket! that would offer online gaming to Dreamcast owners. Sadly, it was never released. That was until the Dreamcast community got hold of it, released it and added online functionality in 2022. Most impressive.
• Dreamcast Mini: Hopes and Prospects - The promise of a 'Dreamcast Mini' has been doing the rounds online for years, but how would it work, really? Would Sega even be able to turn a profit from such an expensive endevour? Lozz threw caution to the wind and offered his thoughts.

RIP Bernie Stolar

• Show Report: Nottingham Video Games Expo - The Junkyard Crew took a rare trip out into the real world to take part in NottsVGE, where we met some industry legends, drank some beer, played some games and generally had a thoroughly nice time.
• TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection lands on Dreamcast - Dreamcast coding legend Ian Micheal decided that he wasn't overly impressed with Konami's decision to skip the Dreamcast when it came ot releasing TNMT: The Cowabunga Collection. So he went ahead and created his own version...which is arguably better than Konami's. So there.
• Bernie Stolar sadly passes away - The late Bernie Stolar is credited as being the father of the Dreamcast, and it was with great sadness that we learned of his passing in June 2022, aged 75. In this rather sombre news update, we paid our respects to the gaming industry giant. Rest in peace Bernie Stolar, who will forever be remembered as the force behind the creation of the Dreamcast.

Dreamcast Gold Ingot from RetrOldTech

• There's gold in them there Dreamcasts! -  Lewis took a look at the tongue-in-cheek offering of a gold bar made from reclaimed precious metals out of Dreamcast consoles. Clearly a prank novelty item from RetrOldTech, but one we couldn't help but applaud for its downright weirdness.
• Dashy no Blast demo released - Talented indie developer Voxel surprised us all with the release of playable Halloween-themed demo Dashy no Blast in October 2022. Playing like a better version of Cannon Spike, this promising demo hit all the right notes.
• Cuphead on the Dreamcast?! - Developer Aionmagan created this rather nifty proof of concept Cuphead demo for the Dreamcast back in June. While it is very limited in scope (it's basically one screen), it proved that the Dreamcast could cope with Studio MDHR's amazing animations, if nothing else.

Dreamcast magazines for preservation

• Dreamcast Magazines: Appreciation and Preservation - Lozz presented this rather well researched appeal for Dreamcast magazine preservation, taking a look at the various periodicals that catered for the platform and asking for Dreamcast owners to plunder their attics and cupboards for missing issues.
• RetroAchievements adds Dreamcast support - Ross popped up after a lengthy hiatus to report on RetroAchievements adding Dreamcast games to its database of supported titles. For those uninitiated, RetroAchievements basically adds trophies to games from all manner of classic systems, so having Dreamcast added was a pretty big deal.
• Using AI art to create Dreamcast images from hell - On a particularly boring day back in May, Tom decided to see what would happen if he prompted an AI image generator with terms like 'Dreamcast' and 'Jet Set Radio.' This article was the result. You're welcome.

Sonic Adventure

• Sonic Adventureland: A Roller Coaster of Love - Brian bought a ticket and took a ride through Sonic Adventure's numerous roller coaster themed Action Stages, reminiscing about some of the real life theme parks he'd also visited along the way.
• SEGA Powered issue 5 - Issue 5 of SEGA Powered magazine was fairly heavy on the  Dreamcast content, and naturally we thought it would be nice to have a flick through its pages here at the Junkyard.
• Hermes: Limited Edition - Lewis finally managed to snag a copy of the excellent indie title Hermes, and it was a copy of the rather nice limited edition which came bundled with a special Hermes-branded VMU.
• Spring News Round-up - A lot of Dreamcast news happened during the month of April, and Lewis was on hand to document the creation of a Dreamcast bedding set, the release of a Mega Duck emulator and a bunch of new indie games.

Interviews

• Driving Strikers - Jaz tracked down and chatted with Luke 'Kazade' Benstead to discuss the concept behind the upcoming online-enabled Rocket League style title for Dreamcast, Driving Strikers.
• Video Game History Foundation - wasn't really sure where to put this one so I settled on including it here. Tom and Brian joined Frank Cifaldi and Kelsey Lewin from the Video Game History Foundation's History Hour podcast to discuss the US and European launches of the Dreamcast, and also the history of this very blog.

DreamPod episodes

If you're a regular listener to our podcast, then you'll know that we occasionally have special guests on the show to discuss their own history with the Dreamcast. Below are some of the highlights from the past year, however all of our regular 'news' episodes can also be found at Buzzsprout here.

• In DreamPod 103, we welcomed writer, producer and director Jörg Tittel, who previously wrote for the Official US Dreamcast Magazine. In this wide ranging chat, Jorg discussed how he got involved in writing for the magazine, and how his friendship with the late Shinya Nishigaki resulted in a cameo appearance in Illbleed.
• DreamPod 106 saw us welcome WAVE Game Studios' Daniel Crocker and SEGA Powered editor Dean Mortlock. In this episode we chatted about how WAVE Game Studios was formed and how they have taken the Dreamcast scene by storm; and we also discussed Dean's history in magazine publishing, from his time at SEGA Power through to his latest venture SEGA Powered.
• Shenmue Dojo were our honoured guests on DreamPod 108, with James Brown and Matt Oliver joining us to discuss all things Shenmue. From the origins of Shenmue Dojo, to the release of Shenmue World, thoughts on the cancellation of the Shenmue animated series, and even a Shenmue quiz, if you're a fan of Yu Suzuki's magnum opus, this episode will be right up your street.
• DreamPod 109 was tinged with both sadness and joy, as while it was a characteristically enjoyable romp through the year 2002 with the team from Dreamcast Years, it also marked the very last episode of the DCY Podcast (well, unless you backed the physical minidisc release of the actual final, final episode as part of the Dreamcast: Year Two book).
• Our guests for DreamPod 111 were Dan 'The Mega' Driver and James 'The Segaholic' McGhie, who together are known as The SEGAGuys. In this episode, we chatted about Dan and James' entry into the world of Sega, their own podcast and YouTube channel, hypothetical Dreamcast sequels and of course there was a Sega-themed quiz.
• In DreamPod 112 we were lucky enough to be joined by former SEGA Europe marketing director Giles Thomas, who spoke to us about how he was handed the task of launching the Dreamcast in Europe. From his time at MTV and VH1 music channels to joining Sega and overseeing the marketing campaign across the continent, Giles offered us a goldmine of interesting tales from the early days of the Dreamcast. 

"Cupcake anyone?"

Videos

• Giant Killers series - I felt it was only right to include this here simply due to the sheer amount of love Kev (pictured above, replete with his stash of cupcakes) has poured into this series. Yes, if you find yourself yearning to watch a middle-aged man from Northamptonshire play through season after arduous season of Dreamcast football management sim Giant Killers, then you are in for a treat. Head over to our YouTube channel and feast your eyes and ears on Kev's superlative series. Don't bother looking at any of the other recent stuff as it's pretty much all embedded in the articles featured above. I just wanted to give Kev some recognition for this labour of love. And mention his cupcakes again.

What's next?

Naturally, we can't predict the future. However what we can do is commit to continuing the same level of slightly obsessive coverage of any and all noteworthy Dreamcast related news happenings, and a steady stream of new podcast episodes, news, reviews and features over the next 12 months. Everything we produce here is done purely for a love of the topic, none of us do this as a regular job - we are simply a rag tag band of  hobbyists (if that's the right term). If you'd like to support us though, you can do so by visiting our 'Buy me a Coffee' page here.

You can also continue to follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook group, join our Discord, subscribe on YouTube or simply leave us a nice (or horrible) review over on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you may get your podcasts). It all helps and is hugely appreciated. Here's to another great year of Dreamcast related goodness.

Retrospective: 90 Minutes: Sega Championship Football

The final rendition of the beautiful game to be released on the Dreamcast, 90 Minutes: Sega Championship Football was a title that many Dreamcast owners - me included - had quiet optimism for. We had already seen the likes of UEFA Striker; the Silicon Dreams World League Soccer based revival of the Sega Worldwide Soccer franchise; and the 'it's football Jim, but not as we know it' shenanigans of Virtua Striker 2 all come and go with not much in the way of fanfare. 

90 Minutes represented one final throw of the dice for a platform that didn't have a FIFA or a PES, but one which also had its logo plastered all over the football highlights every weekend as players from Arsenal, Sampdoria, St Etienne and Deportivo were banging in the goals. It was quite an odd juxtaposition that a games console that was trying to elbow its way into football culture (see also the Dreamcast Beach Football Challenge) didn't really have a killer app in the genre.

90 Minutes was going to change all that though. See, the big guns were on the case now with Smilebit, the same studio behind the incredible Jet Set/Grind Radio entering the chat. FIFA? PES? Ha! Sega is back and they're bringing their own ball. Anticipation was high for 90 Minutes, and it was only natural that with such pedigree in the driving seat that many were expecting Smilebit's first foray into football to play a blinder. Sadly, upon release it became painfully clear that rather than being a contender, 90 Minutes was little more than an embarrassing own goal.

On the face of it, 90 Minutes seems to have everything you could possibly want from a football game: decent visuals, a multitude of play modes, a pseudo-official license (player names, but not clubs) and the promise of a new game engine created from the ground up for the Dreamcast by one of Sega's most revered first party studios. Upon firing 90 Minutes up, all of the above seem to start slotting into place. The menus are practically bursting with modes and options; everything you would expect is present and correct. Want to create your own club with its own strip? Head out onto the training pitch to practice your drills? Select national squads? Tinker with gameplay speed and sound effects options? You can do all of this and more, all the while traversing some pretty well laid out menu screens as inoffensive background muzak soothes the lugholes.

So you've selected your teams, messed about with formations and substitutes, chosen one of the five beautifully rendered stadia to play in, and your choice of weather and time of day. So far, so good. And then you head out onto the pitch and the whole house of digital cards comes crashing down.

Let's take a look at Generations - the Dreamcast compatible music album from Remute

As recently reported here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, the latest album from electronic artist Remute - titled Generations - is a little bit special. That's because, as well as coming with two free balloons, it features MIL-CD functionality. What this means is that if you pop the compact disc into a compatible Dreamcast console (later systems had MIL-CD compatibility removed, so check your system before buying), then you'll be able to enjoy some lovely visuals which accompany the audio tracks.

Rather interestingly, these visuals are created by none other than Duranik - the mastermind behind stellar shmup Sturmwind. This isn't really a music review as such, as I'm not really qualified to give an informed opinion on whether the particular tracks on Generations are instant classics (I'm more of a Jimmy Eat World fan to be honest); however what I listened to was definitley the type of thing I was expecting when I learned of Remute's preferred genre. 

Let's just say that all the tracks are definitley of the 'electronic' persuasion, and most certainly the type of music someone of advancing years might tut/tsk at before uttering something along the lines of "the music was better in my day" or "kids don't half listen to some rubbish these days" and hobbling away as fast as their walking stick can carry them.

Regardless, the trippy visuals match the 15 electronic choons perfectly and are rendered in real time by the Dreamcast. It's worth mentioning that you can't really do anything but look at the visuals as they play in the background during each of the tracks, so don't expect to actually be able to 'play' anything - this is a music CD and not a game afterall, and the Dreamcast features are simply an added extra. 

Some of the tracks and visuals are more engaging than others, with the Tempest inspired 'Versions,' Asteroids-esque 'The Known Unknown,' and the Sturmwind flavoured 'Tentacle Love' being particular favourites of mine. Anyway, here's a very brief video showing some of what you can expect should you slap Generations in your MIL-CD compatible console:

It appears that the visuals simply repeat during the music and aren't really 'generated' by the tracks or are influenced by them (the big heart on the screen during 'One Heart' does beat in time with the music, but I suspect that the visual is hard coded to do that rather than being reactive); however they're a varied bunch of vignettes, and if perchance you happened to find yourself in an altered state of mind while watching, could possibly become quite mesmerising. If...er...you get my drift.

Top marks to Remute for trying something new and interesting with this latest release, but as it stands Generations is probably a purchase recommended only for the Dreamcast completionists out there; or those who have a particular interest in electronic music. If you're a Dreamcast completionist who also enjoys electronic music then Generations is a must buy...but if you don't fit into either of those camps, then I fear this is little more than a curio you may only really put in a Dreamcast once or twice in order to see the (admittedly excellent) visuals for yourself.

If you're not perturbed and still want to sample this impressive and intriguing release (and get your free balloons while you're at it!), then you can purchase Generations from Remute here. At the time of writing the album is priced at €24.99.

Have you also bought Generations? If so, are you enjoying your free balloons? Let us know down there in the comments!