Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been Ported to the Sega Dreamcast

Custom artwork by NRU07

Little Jimmy the Dreamcast fan sits in the school cafeteria at lunchtime. All his buddies sitting with him at the lunch table are exchanging enthusiastic stories of their experiences playing their new favourite video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

‘And then I got 6 stars on my wanted level and I was on the run from the military in a golf cart!!!’

Little Jimmy nods and feigns laughter, pretending that he too can relate to all the hilarious tales of virtual carjacking and mass murder that his friends —who really shouldn’t be allowed to play the game for at least seven more years— relay at the lunch table. But Jimmy’s friends all own Sony’s newfangled PlayStation 2 console. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City didn’t release for the Sega Dreamcast. In fact, it seemed there hadn’t been any new releases for the console since his mom bought him NHL 2K2 back in February. 

He holds back tears as he stabs at his mac and cheese with his fork. There, floating in the luminous yellow sauce, the macaroni noodles resemble a broken swirl.

***

Alright, alright. Dumb introductory story aside, the news that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been ported to the Sega Dreamcast and the fact that you can play it today of all days is no April Fools gag. In fact, if you’ve been anywhere near the Dreamcast scene in the last few months, it is highly likely that you already knew it was being worked on, with results being produced at an astonishing rate, especially considering the same talented team —led by developer skmp— only just released their port of Grand Theft Auto 3 (known as "DCA3") back on New Year’s Eve.

The reason we're able to see a port of Vice City only four months later is because the majority of the groundwork was done when porting GTA3 previously, which used reverse-engineered source code from the RE3 project as a base. We caught up with skmp to get the lowdown as to how their new Vice City port came about so fast:

"Vice City uses the same engine (RenderWare) and the codebase is very similar to GTA3. We were able to use our RenderWare backend as is - with a few fixes, as well as most of the repack tools and in general apply changes from [GTA3] to the [Vice City] codebase. The main challenge was the memory usage of animations, as Vice City has much bigger animations that barely fit on memory. We ended up using a slightly more advanced way to compress animations — using hopf coordinates for rotations and delta encoding for the data. We had to separate animation players from animation sequences as players have decompression logic and state now. [...] Apart from that, it has been smooth sailing!"

skmp also mentioned that all of these new optimisations will be backported to DCA3 as well. Moving forwards, that means that him and his team will try to "keep the two codebases in sync", so whenever a fix or an optimisation lands for one, they will make sure it is applied and released for the other.

Credit to SWAT for these screenshots

So, how do you play the best sixth-gen Grand Theft Auto game on Sega's swan song console? (In my opinion, of course. Yes, I know that one mission with the RC helicopter was really awful.) Well, like with the previous port of Grand Theft Auto 3, you'll need to compile your own version from an original PC copy of Vice City that you've purchased. Head over to the project's GitHub page to download the files you need (the “Miami” folder), and if you need some compiling instructions, you can find them here. Once you have the CDI image created, you can finally play Vice City on a Dreamcast that can play burned discs, or if it has an optical drive emulator installed, load the image on your SD card and you'll be committing virtual felonies in no time.

Doom 64 for Dreamcast: Impressions and Developer Interview

See, before I got my Dreamcast in November 1999 I owned a Nintendo 64. I couldn't get a Dreamcast at launch because my dear old mother (God rest her soul) forbade me from owning more than one console at a time. Consoles, she wagered (and therefore games of all types) led to a malady known simply as "brain rot." Her words, not mine. 

Regardless, I tell you this to set the scene of my pre-Dreamcast gaming habits. I wasn't what you'd call a hardcore Nintendo fan, you understand - the Nintendo 64 was actually the first Nintendo system I had owned at that point, having been a devout Saturn apologist immediatley prior and before that one of the 7 people in the UK who owned an Atari Jaguar (Jag reference: check). No, I got a Nintendo 64 because I simply had to have 'the fastest, most powerful games console on Earth,' which was ironic, seeing as that's how Nintendo's platform was officially marketed at one point.

Oooh...a Sonic the Fighters preview? Sold!

In the very early days of the Nintendo 64's existence, it was known as the Ultra 64, which apart from being possibly the sexiest moniker ever to grace a games console, also invited many a developer to prefix their upcoming titles with the word 'ultra.' With this in mind, one of the games that piqued my interest very early on was Ultra Doom. 

By the time the magazines were teasing Ultra Doom, I had already played the original Doom on the PC (a slightly decrepit 386 that even at the time was wheezingly obsolete, what with its Windows 3.1 operating system and lack of CD-Rom drive), and had then sampled Doom's delights/horrors on the Atari Jaguar and the Sega Saturn respectively. But Ultra Doom - which was later renamed Doom 64 - now...that held a certain fascination and morbid curiosity. It was Doom, but not as we knew it. Side note: I was also very much looking forward to the Ultra 64 port of Red Baron, but we'll probably never know what happened to that particular footnote of gaming history. Moving on...

Give GT Interactive a ring on that number bottom left. I dare you.

From the first time I saw those pink plasticine (clay) demons, foreboding sky boxes and brand new levels reproduced in tiny low resolution magazine preview shots, I knew I would one day play Doom 64. Quite simply, it was my destiny. Lo and behold, the prophecy was eventually fulfilled and Doom 64 was a constant inhabitant of my Nintendo 64's cartridge slot once I managed to get hold of a copy in late 1997 or early 1998. I can't quite remember exactly when I got Doom 64 because it was 27-odd years ago...and now I feel the crushing weight of middle age gripping my soul. Thanks for that.

Still banging on about Turok nine months later. Boring!

What I do remember though, is the magazine reviews. The journos of the era, I seem to recall, while not crushingly negative, weren't exactly enamoured with Doom 64: some reviews slagged off the sprite based visuals, puzzle design and complete lack of multiplayer options. Turok Dinosaur Hunter had also been out for a while by the time Doom 64 released, and many reviews were lukewarm on Midway and GT Interactive's Doom update for its reliance on 'old fashioned' visuals and gameplay tropes. 

That didn't bother me, though - I thought Doom 64 was excellent and I can clearly remember being awestruck the first time I saw that darkened corridor in the second level where the neon arrows are painted on the floor and ceiling. It was just mesmerising and fresh to me, especially having played other versions of 'normal' Doom to death. I should also mention at this point that I had also played the PlayStation port of Doom on a friend's console and I loved the colourful lighting...but, y'know, I didn't have a PlayStation. It is what it is.

It's about to kick off. Nice candles though.

By now, you're probably wondering what any of this tripe has got to do with the Dreamcast, and I think you'd be well within your rights to demand a refund of your internet data considering you came here to read about Dreamcast stuff. But here's the bait and switch: Doom 64 is now available on the Dreamcast...and it's possibly the best way to play 1997's Doomiest release in the present year...

Grand Theft Auto 3 for the Dreamcast - DCA3 Alpha Version Now Available

Japanese cover art mock-up courtesy of Dreamcast-Talk user k-do.

Most of you will likely know that a port of Grand Theft Auto III for the Sega Dreamcast has been in the works for some months now. Indeed, those outside the niche Dreamcast scene may have even heard the news given that the project gained coverage across the broader gaming press earlier this year, attracting everything from wide-eyed amazement through to cynical befuddlement. Back then, spectating the porting work was possible because the project was out in the open, with every ounce of progress laid bare for the public to see in real time.

In recent weeks though, this dynamic was lost as those at the heart of the project shifted to working in a behind-the-scenes fashion - most likely to reduce the risk of Rockstar putting the kibosh on the project before it had a chance to bear fruit. As such, we went from hearing near-daily updates, to a radio silence that carried the potential to feed cynical thoughts: where's my freaking GTA 3 already? What are those lazy no-good schlubs doing? Maybe a port wasn't feasible all along! and so on, and so forth. Fortunately though, even with the absence of a cheerleading public, it seems that the rapid pace of development didn't slow down one iota, as today the alpha version of DCA3 (top marks for this pun lads) has been released.

What does it stand for though? Can you do better than 'divine car abduction III'? Let's hear your suggestions in the comments please.

What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that, with a little jiggery pokery, you can compile a version of GTA 3 that will run on your Dreamcast. Given that it is an alpha version, bugs and occasional crashes are to be expected. Nevertheless, many testers have reported running the game for extended periods without issue, and, in my experience, the alpha version looks gorgeous and runs far better than I had expected it might. The controls map quite naturally on to the Dreamcast's regular controller (for the most part), and, perhaps most importantly, those who wish to progress with Claude through the game's infamous gangland story are be able to save progress to a VMU (although using one which is otherwise empty is recommended).

A key reason that you will need to compile your own alpha version, rather than simply download a ready-to-go .CDI or .GDI, is that players are expected to have their own legitimate version of the game. Morals and ethics aside, this is obviously an absolutely essential step to ensure the preservation of the porting project - any moves that have even the slightest whiff of piracy risk incurring the wrath of some extremely well resourced legal teams.

A sight to behold. Not the undecorated walls... GTA 3 on the Dreamcast!

Fortunately, compiling instructions are available. So, as long as you are capable of following these, have bought a copy of GTA 3 for PC (Rockstar offer a digital version with Vice City and San Andreas for a reasonable price), and have a Dreamcast that can play burned discs or has an optical drive emulator installed, then you should be good to go.

It would be wrong to drop this piece of news and not say something about the significance of the release. Really, it's hard to overstate what a monumental achievement the port is. In less than a year, an international crew of enthusiastic developers ('The Gang'), led by the mastermind skmp, have applied their skills to voluntarily deliver one of the defining games of the sixth console generation to the Dreamcast - a game that had begun development on Sega's swansong console, but instead ended up fuelling the stratospheric success of the arch-rival PlayStation 2, shifting 11 million copies for that console alone. 

In the intervening years the possibility of GTA 3 running on the DC has cropped up again and again as a topic of conversation in the scene, whether that be the technical flavour of 'could it be done?' or the alternative history variant of 'what if it had been?' The latter conversation may still plod on forever more, but the former is now totally dead and buried. Evidently, with the right skills and commitment, use of the free development library KallistiOS, and access to reverse-engineered code, it has now been definitively proven that the Dreamcast is more than capable of running this game.

Image created by Brazilian Dreamcast supremo NaiSan.

Of course, what is on offer right now is only an alpha version, but given the team's track record, it seems highly likely that the project will progress on to further iterations that buff out the rough edges. For now, all that's left to do is hear a few words from 'The Gang' themselves...

Halloween 2024 Compilation released for the Sega Dreamcast!

Looking for something to do this Hallows Eve? Perennial Dreamcast developer Ian Micheal and Adam Burrell have got you covered with his latest Dreamcast compilation release, especially for Halloween.

The compilation features a number of spooky themed games from older systems like Castlevania Bloodlines, Splatterhouse 3, Ghostbusters and even a Halloween-themed ROM hack of Sonic The Hedgehog! My personal pick is the long lost Game Boy Color version of Resident Evil - here to play through in full. All together, there are a whopping 20 games to get stuck into and so you'll have plenty to do in between your pumpkin carving.

If you don't feel like gaming, you can also enjoy an animated movie called The Hallow Tree from 1993, or fire up the jukebox to listen to classics like Monster Mash, This is Halloween and Pet Cemetery.

It has to be said that as usual, the presentation of this compilation is impeccable. Ian works wonders with a menu system that makes most modern games bow their heads in shame. 

Available for free download, you can run Ian's gift to the community on a GDEMU or you can burn the CDI to disc. You can find the download link here.

If you like what you see, Ian has made compilations like this before for the Dreamcast - including a Christmas special from 2023 and of course his excellent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, which in all honestly is better than the official collections released recently!

On behalf of the entire Dreamcast community, we'd like to wholeheartedly thank Ian for this free release as well as everything else he's contributed over the years.

PlayStation Emulation, Silent Hill 3, Metal Slug, New Indies and more on Dreamcast! - Dreamcast News Round-Up July 2024

It's 2024, we’re now into July, and the SEGA Dreamcast is still not dead. Critics are baffled. "It was supposed to have been declared dead in 2001, dammit!" - some PlayStation 2 owner, probably. In fact, there's been so much Dreamcast news recently that I've found it hard to keep up with it all, so in an effort to convince you all that I'm still in the loop (perhaps not sanity-wise), I've rounded up all the best items of recent news into one post. So, here's everything that has happened in the world of Dreamcast recently...

Indie and Homebrew

Or "bedroom coders" as people used to apparently say back in the '80s. I wouldn't know, as I literally didn't exist. Anyway, this supremely talented bunch are doing some cool stuff with software on the Dreamcast. Let's take a gander.

A huge breakthrough in Dreamcast development...

Credit: Orc Face Games

A few weekends ago, Ross Kilgariff, the Dundee-based maestro behind the highly anticipated Dreamcast indie HarleQuest and head of Orc Face Games, dropped the Junkyard a DM about a big breakthrough in Dreamcast development which will result in a significant performance upgrade for new games being developed for our beloved platform. Take it away, Ross... 

"We (Orc Face Games) recently hired TapamN to get the HarleQuest! engine running as fast as possible. For those who don't know, he's one of the best programmers in the unofficial Dreamcast scene, with over 20 years of experience and he's helping elevate everyone's understanding of the platform. 

While optimising the code, he found a critical bug in the operating system that's used as a basis for many unofficial projects including HarleQuest!, Simulant Engine, Spiral 3D and more. This operating system, KallistiOS, is a community-driven effort to provide re-usable code that makes Dreamcast development easier for everyone.

The issue is quite technical but I'll try to keep it simple. There's a special kind of memory inside the CPU called the cache. It's way faster than RAM, but also way smaller (only 16KB in the Dreamcast's case). Normally the cache works automatically and doesn't need any special programming - it just stores things you've accessed recently so it's faster to get them next time. However, the Dreamcast's CPU has a special feature called OCRAM that lets you take control of half the cache manually. This can let you get great performance, but you need to actually program it. It's not on auto-pilot anymore. 

The bug is that since November last year, OCRAM mode was being enabled by default in KallistiOS. This meant every game was saying "give me manual control over half of the cache" on startup, then simply not using it - in effect being left with only 8KB of automatic cache instead of the full 16KB. 

As soon as we made the KallistiOS community aware of this they got straight to it and fixed the bug within a few hours. Falco Girgis identified the cause and worked with darc and BBHoodsta to coordinate the fix. The developer responsible for the Doom 64 port (jnmartin84) verified the fix and reported that with this change along with another optimisation, the busiest areas of the game don't chug any more and play much more smoothly. 

On one hand, it's unfortunate that the bug occurred in the first place, but the benefit is that all those cool 3D demos and games we've been seeing recently will be able to pull the latest version of KallistiOS and might get an automatic speed boost. 

Hopefully this is one step closer to seeing more high-quality games on the platform. I have a good feeling about 2025."

Thanks to Ross for letting us in on this big development and for supplying us with an explanation. The future sure is bright for Dreamcast game development! Speaking of Ross, last month he put out the first part of a video series showcasing the results of his "What Dreamcast Gamers Want" survey, which is well worth a watch.

Star Wars: Dream of the Rebellion - Rogue Squadron Inspired Prototype Playable on Dreamcast!

As casual Star Wars fans tie themselves in knots with questions such as "who shot first? Han Solo or Greedo?", homebrew developer Frogbull is asking the real questions. There were three Star Wars games on the Sega Dreamcast; Jedi Power Battles, Demolition, and Episode I: Racer, but why do none of them let you pilot an X-Wing?!?

If you haven't encountered Frogbull before, they are the talented individual who showed off a proof-of-concept back in November of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty running on the Dreamcast, which was actually built using Luke Benstead's Simulant Engine and other homebrew tools. They also showcased similar prototypes of the first Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII running on the Sega Saturn, too. Their mission as a developer is clearly to prove these games can run on these Sega systems that they never got a chance to release on.

Yesterday, Twitter was awash with hype as Frogbull released footage of "Star Wars, Dream of the Rebellion" - a Rogue Squadron-inspired prototype - playing on the Dreamcast, which you can check out below. What's more, unlike previous efforts, Frogbull actually plans to release a playable demo of this project to the public for free in two weeks in the form of a .cdi file, for play on GDEMU, emulator, and I'm sure you’ll even be able to burn it onto a CD-R. Frogbull was generous enough to send me a playable build of it early, and I must say, I'm very impressed.

Once again running on the Simulant Engine, the Dream of the Rebellion demo currently features a single mission referred to as "Star Destroyer Pursuit". On the mission select screen, you can even press Y to hear C-3PO talk about the mission. Frogbull has utilised AI to get C-3PO's voice sounding accurate, and it really does sound good. Along with music and the famous title crawl Star Wars fans know and love, this demo is incredibly polished. 

The gameplay of the mission has you following after the star destroyer in the X-Wing, shooting down approaching TIE fighters, with your goal being to get the best score possible by shooting down as many as you can as accurately as possible. You don't actually control the X-wing's forward movement, instead being limited to moving around the screen. But with the stars moving in the background and the slight movement of the star destroyer at the top of the screen, it really does give off the illusion that you are constantly moving forwards. If you dodge the TIE fighters, seeing their 3D models zoom off screen (as seen below) really is very impressive.

Finally an X-wing on Dreamcast? Who knew it'd take until 2024 to see it happen. Anyhow, if you want to follow Frogbull, you can find them on Twitter, YouTube and Patreon. May the force be with you.

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?

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 Complete Guide to Commercially Released Dreamcast Indie Games

The fact that we're still blathering on about the Dreamcast some 20 odd years after the console's demise is testament to two things - the fact that we're sad little people still holding on to a mere glimmer of nostalgia about our youth as we rapidly approach middle age, and also the fact that the community will just not let this console die. We obviously don't talk about the first of those points much (we don't want to remind ourselves that we're becoming less and less culturally literate with every rotation of this damn rock around the sun), but we do talk about how "alive" the system is all the time. Probably too much, to be honest, as many people like to put the Dreamcast firmly in the "past" folder in their brain, preferring to remember what it was like when it was new and current. This is completely understandable, to view the console solely through a sense of nostalgia especially now that we have so many ways of experiencing the console's library which don't rely on having shelves full of games (or spindles full of CD-Rs). We're in that stage of the console's post-life cycle that has many people who left their video gaming behind when they were young dipping into the console once more, stirring up their memories of happier times, and no doubt probably quite confused as to why some of us never left the machine in the past and have continued to be fascinated by Sega's last great home endeavour to this very day.

Whilst the nostalgia is to be expected, it is the vitality of the current Dreamcast scene which keeps us writing about it. In between the tired posts of social media influencers asking people if they remember Sonic Adventure or Crazy Taxi, there has been an incredibly active scene covering every element of the Dreamcast for years. We have new hardware and controllers, games with online modes re-activated, more translations of Japanese games than I can actually keep track of, books, magazines, an entire series of arcade titles ported to the console, and a strong homebrew community that is creating some astonishing things. And it's that last point that allows me to pivot, finally, towards the point of this article. Alongside homebrew ports of classic titles (as I write this, the recent demo of the Metal Gear Solid 2 port is literally mind blowing) and fun little projects, we've now had 20 years of "proper" retail-released indie titles for the Dreamcast. My aim here is to document all of these in one article. I do love a long article...

I love Dreamcast indie titles. While they are not officially licensed by Sega, there is something very special about receiving a physical version of a game to be played on a console a quarter of a century old. The quality of the Dreamcast indie scene varies, which is to be expected, but even when a game is a bit crappy, I still have a certain sense of respect that it has been released on the console at all. Of course, I am a big weirdo, and will pick up anything you slap a "Dreamcast" label on, but for those who want to be a bit more selective with their hard-earned cash when expanding their Dreamcast library, a subjective view is always useful. In this article I hope to do just that - as well as take a look back at the various versions of the games that were released, where you can pick them up today, and any other interesting things that I can cram in before losing all excitement about writing this already massive article. This will also be constantly updated (hello, future people!) with my views on any new indie release, which will hopefully allow it to be a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in the broad DC indie scene - this will of course sit alongside our regular indie reviews from the entire DCJY team (I can also recommend Laurence's superb roundup of the indie scene in this article, if you want a slightly different perspective). It's also worth checking out our directory of indie developers and publishers, where you'll find direct links to all those involved in the indie scene.

Now, I need to add some context and "rules" here. The scope of this article will not include every single homebrew port or project - the first rule of the article is that it had to have been released physically and could be purchased by anyone. Of course, you can pick up a copy of any of the homebrew ports with nice printed inlays on Etsy - so that's when the second rule comes in: the physical release must have been officially sanctioned by the developer or rights holder. Finally, only full releases will count - so no demos, hacks or mods will be included, although total conversion mods that became standalone games in their own right do count. For the context of this article, only the games that meet the criteria I've just established will be called "indie releases". Will I probably end up breaking these rules to include something that I probably shouldn't? You betcha. Welcome to the wonderful world of "Mike doesn't stick to his own rules". 

Enough of my nonsense (well, enough of this opening bit of nonsense, there's a lot more nonsense that lies ahead, I'm afraid!)  - on with the article!

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!

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!

Seeing this game in action on the Dreamcast is simply mind blowing. It was also really cool to learn that this homebrew prototype build was developed using Luke Benstead's Simulant Engine (with tools from Jayveer and SecaProject). I also loved the tribute at the end of the video to the late Hidekazu Yukawa. Excellent job, Frogbull.

While this prototype build isn't currently available to download to play for yourself, we here at the Junkyard will definitely be keeping an eye on Frogbull's future work. If you want to do so as well, go follow them on Twitter here. They also have a Patreon that you can support here.

Dreamcast: Year Two shipping, HarleQuest! funded, Phantasy Star Collection, Sapphire Hotel - Dreamcast News Round-Up May 2023

Pixel art credit: Xtreme Retro

Spring is now well and truly upon us here in the UK. My central heating has finally been switched off, the nights are drawing out, and the air is alive with the sounds of songbirds, neighbourhood kids, and the obnoxiously loud engines of boy racers. The departure of winter typically does wonders for my mood, but this year my nerves are uncharacteristically shot to pieces as my boyhood football club is flirting with the prospect of imminent relegation. Rather than spend another afternoon anxiously inspecting the league table and fixtures list once again though, I thought I’d try to distract myself by penning a DCJY news round-up. The Dreamcast scene continues to bloom, delivering a bountiful harvest all year round, and there are some vigorous green shoots sprouting up too which are likely to bear fruit later in the year. So, dear readers, settle down, get comfy, and feast your eyes upon all the latest from the world of the Dreamcast.

Homebrew Happenings

The Dreamcast has long been blessed with a dedicated cast of coders who love nothing more than cooking up homebrew offerings of all shapes and sizes. The degree to which homebrew efforts have extended the console’s software library and capabilities is truly remarkable and the selfless souls who deliver these goods deserve our thanks (thank you!).

Lately it seems that Ian Michael’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection has become a trend-setter, as several other ‘collection’ type projects are now in the works. First of all is Ian’s own follow-up, a Phantasy Star collection, which allows the classic Master System, Game Gear and Mega Drive titles to be played on the Dreamcast in seamless fashion, complete with a menu system that pulls everything together, and extras such as separately playable soundtracks and videos. Sega produced a package of this sort for the Saturn, but its release was limited to Japan. If Ian’s previous work is anything to go by, then we anticipate that this follow-up will be well worth your attention.

Cover image for Ian Michael's Phantasy Star Collection created by 'caruse'.

Shindougo has joined Ian in flaunting their chops in the DC homebrew collection space too, releasing Castlevania and The Simpsons collections in December and April respectively. Neither of these franchises ever saw official representation on the Dreamcast - exclusive titles were in development, but never made it past their fledgling stages. Leaked builds of both are available but are pretty bare bones. Those who want to scratch that itch they’ve been having for a Castlevania or Simpsons experience on their little white box should check out Shindougo’s releases, both of which are available via the links posted above. Video demonstrations of these collections have also helpfully been produced by friend of the Yard, gamesreup.

Hydro Thunder working in VGA mode, as shown by Derek Pascarella (ateam).

Another homebrew project of a different ilk has also surfaced in recent weeks. Dreamcasters who have (justifiably) clung to VGA as their preferred video output option will be pleased to hear that TapamN appears to have delivered a method for playing virtually any DC game via VGA. Until now there have been a few dozen games that have stubbornly resisted efforts to force them into outputting VGA, but thanks to the elbow grease of TapamN, a comprehensive solution seems to be at hand. TapamN first demonstrated the new patching method in action with Bangai-O. A frenzy of further contributions have quickly followed from others within the community demonstrating that the method works for games such as Airforce Delta, Deadly Skies, and Hydro Thunder. A full list of the VGA patches created by TapamN are available on the console mods wiki.

Online Optimisations

Putting your Dreamcast’s modem to work really should be mandatory. If you aren’t swimming in the warm crystal-clear waters of the console’s online capacities then you are missing out - especially so, given that the experiences available keep expanding.

Hey hey hey, it's time to upload some CRAZY replays. Crazy Taxi 2 website screenshot courtesy of Xiden.

In mid-April, Xiden announced that the replay upload function of the Crazy Taxi 2 website has been revived. Now, as if it were 2001, that means you can upload replays of your lucrative fare-maximising runs, and find out how paltry they are in comparison to those of your compatriot taxi drivers by downloading their replays. Baggy jeans are recommended for the fully immersive turn-of-the-millennium experience. All you need to know can be found in Xiden’s Dreamcast-Talk post.

In other online news, Johne, a stalwart of Brazil’s DC online community, has launched a Dreamcast Now Android phone app. Dreamcast Now, of course, being the website that provides a live summary of who is currently online on their Dreamcast and what game they are playing. With the app, users are able to set a variety of notifications for different events, including when designated friends have come online, and when favourite games have currently active players.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection heads to Dreamcast

Image credit: k-do / Dreamquest

For those few people who frequent this blog who are not also members of the awesome Dreamcast-Talk forums, allow me to say this: you are missing a trick. See, so many interesting and cool Dreamcast-related projects are borne out of those hallowed threads that it's actually pretty hard to keep up; and I start this post in a such a manner that I might give full and unadulterated credit where it is due. To wit: this is a tale which starts life over at the aforementioned forum - Dreamcast coding legend Ian Micheal is porting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection to the Dreamcast. Sort of.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection released on current gen systems in the recent past and is essentially a potted history of the heroes in a half shells' Konami-developed titles from the late 1980s through to the mid 1990s. Perhaps a little disgruntled that this trip through the halcyon days of the Turtles' domination of arcades and home consoles isn't officially Dreamcast-bound, Ian Micheal has turned his considerable talents to cramming a handful of 8 and 16-bit Turtles titles onto a Dreamcast disc, complete with a proper front end selection screen, music, VMU compatibility and even a few original Dreamcast-specific extras for good measure.

It's still a work in progress and while the project will fetaure SNES, NES, Megadrive and Gameboy titles, Ian has expressed that Gameboy Advance games will not be included due to the Dreamcast's ability to emulate said system being lacklustre: "No GBA games - please don't ask again! I don't want crap running. Not even I can make a GBA emulator worth a shit run well enough..." And to be fair - he's not wrong. Quality over quantity and all that.

No word yet on when The Cowabunga Collection will release on Dreamcast, but like the Technodrome, we'll be keeping one massive mechanical eye on the Dreamcast-Talk thread, and so should you. You can also find more videos of different Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games from the collection running on Dreamcast over at Ian Micheal's YouTube Channel.

Somebody got Cuphead playing on a Sega Dreamcast?

Yeah, you saw the title correctly. Studio MDHR's hard-as-nails indie sensation Cuphead... on Dreamcast! Well, kind of. 

This project came completely out of nowhere, posted to GitHub by user Aionmagan three days ago, and seemed to fall under everybody's radars (including mine). That was until Dreamcast-Talk forum user kremiso happened upon it yesterday and posted a thread about it.

What Aionmagan has created is a prototype of what Cuphead on the Dreamcast could be like. You control Cuphead and you can jump, dash and shoot as one of the game's bosses, Goopy Le Grande, hops around on screen. You can't kill the boss or go any further than this single screen, but the graphics look great and animation is fluid. It's basic, but it's still a really great proof-of-concept and we look forward to seeing more.

Aionmagan uploaded some footage to YouTube of them playing their prototype, so check that out below:

Click here to go to the GitHub page for this project, where you'll find links to this playable prototype in .CDI format, meaning you can easily throw it onto your GDEMU (or you might be able to burn it onto a CD-R - I've not tested that yet). Aionmagan has also uploaded the source code for the prototype, and in the comments of his YouTube upload has also stated that he is welcoming contributions if anyone wants to help with development.

Are you a Cuphead fan? Would you love to see this prototype developed further? Sound off in the comments below!

A Dreamcast port of Postal appears!

Back in 2016 Postal developer Running With Scissors released the source code for their blood-soaked isometric shooter. Alongside this release, an appeal was made for a developer to step forward and create a Dreamcast port, should anyone be so inclined. Fast forward to December 2021 and a beta version of Postal for Dreamcast has now been released.

Coming from developer Dan Redfield, with a little help from fellow Dreamcast developer Ian Michael and members of the Simulant Engine Discord and Dreamcast-Talk forum, Postal for Dreamcast is free to download and play on actual hardware...and it runs really well.

Before booting this beta, I had never previously played Postal. I was familiar with the game's rather unsavory premise, reputation and legacy (and the fact that there's an Uwe Boll movie based on the franchise), but I was pretty much going in blind. What I discovered though, is a fairly playable isometric shooter with a definite leaning towards the 'mindless running around with the trigger held down' gameplay style. And gore. Lots of gore. And shooting. And explosions. 

The Dreamcast port, as stated, is a beta; and the intro does say to expect crashes, although I didn't experience any personally (I'm using a GDEMU enabled console with a DCHDMI fitted). Controls are well mapped to the Dreamcast controller and other than when the screen is absolutley filled with characters running around in terror (understandable, considering the nature of the game), there's hardly any noticeable slowdown or hitching. Here's some gameplay I grabbed while playing the first three levels (badly):

Thanks to Dan Redfield and the other community members who contributed to yet another Dreamcast release. The full version of Postal for Dreamcast is pencilled in for an early 2022 release and we'll no doubt have a full review of the game once it lands.

Dowload the Dreamcast Postal beta here, and be sure to follow both Dan Redfield on Twitter here and Running With Scissors on Twitter here.

Driving Strikers announced for Dreamcast!

In a rather unexpected announcement, Luke Benstead and David Reichelt have premiered their upcoming homebrew Dreamcast game Driving Strikers to the world, via a short reveal trailer on YouTube.

Made with the Simulant engine over a period of just six weeks, Driving Strikers very much looks like something Rocket League fans will enjoy when the demo becomes available. As you'll see from the trailer below, the gameplay shows teams of two cars battling to score more goals than the other.

I spoke to Luke briefly to find out what Driving Strikers was all about: "The demo has a single stadium and fixed teams and it's 1-4 local multiplayer. You can choose which side to play for and decide whatever mixture of real players and AI you'd like! You can boost and jump, and matches are currently fixed at 3 minutes for the demo."

This is just the beginning for Driving Strikers however, as the team have more exciting things planned for the full release: "When we expand the demo into a full game we hope to have various game modes and options". Something to look forward to in the first half of next year, for sure!

With the help of other community members, Luke expects the demo will be available to download before Christmas, so Dreamcast gamers can plug in four controllers and settle those family disputes from Christmas dinner with a friendly match or two.

The game looks great and as you can see from the visuals, the stage available has a distinctive festive theme - this really is an early Christmas present to the community and we couldn't be more thankful! Driving Strikers looks like another fantastic example of what Simulant can do after the recent Tunnels demo, and hopefully we'll see plenty more homebrew games take advantage of the engine in the future.

You can watch the full YouTube reveal trailer below:

As soon as we have the download link for the CDI of the Driving Strikers demo, we'll update this article. Thoughts? Follow Luke on Twitter here and be sure to let us know in the comments!

Yeah Yeah Beebiss II now available for Dreamcast

If the title Yeah Yeah Beebiss I means anything to you, you'll love this little news snippet. If you're wondering what the hell I'm blathering about, the mystery of Yeah Yeah Beebiss I is a totally fascinating trip down a rabbit hole of copyright traps, misunderstood language translations, fabrications of the truth...or all of the above. 

In a nutshell, it's the story of a strange Nintendo Entertainment System game which is considered to represent one of the greatest gaming mysteries of all time, and which prompted a years long search for a title that many people were convinced didn't exist. I would implore anyone with even a passing interest in this flavour of gaming oddness to visit YouTube and watch any of the amazing videos on the topic, including this one from LSuperSonicQ, or this one from All Things Lost which does a damn fine job of explaining the whole saga as well as offering a solution to the mystery.

In a rather excellent twist on this strange tale, YouTuber and retro gaming tinkerer John Riggs has released a 'sequel' to Yeah Yeah Beebiss I - titled Yeah Yeah Beebiss II - for both the NES and the Dreamcast. As announced over on his Twitter account, you can purchase a limited edition copy for the Dreamcast by visiting John's store here. 

There's not a great deal of info on the game available at the time of writing, with only a single screenshot released; but once John releases a video on it (or one of us here at the Junkyard manages to get hold of a copy) we'll update this news piece or post a full review. To be honest, it would be a brilliant meta twist if this whole thing is a complete hoax and Yeah Yeah Beebiss II turns out to be just as mysterious and nonexistant as the prequel. It's more likely that Yeah Yeah Beebiss II does exist though (is there such a thing as being too meta?), and it's great to have yet another new title released for the Dreamcast.

Check out the Yeah Yeah Beebiss II store page here, and visit John Riggs' YouTube channel here.

Update - looks like it's now sold out for Dreamcast, which makes the title of this post fake news. Sorry folks :/ 

Update 2 - Yeah Yeah Beebis II will now be published by UK publisher WAVE Game Studios and is available for pre-order now, priced at £24.99. It is expected to ship in January 2022, which is awesome!