Samba de Amigo is that monkey game with the maracas.
What that rather inelegant opening serves to say, is that Samba de Amigo needs no introduction. Not only is it beloved by Dreamcast fans for its colour-soaked rhythm hijinks that made use of the delightful maraca peripheral (which required a significant amount of space to store on your gaming shelves), but it is also well known for a port it received on the Nintendo Wii; one which appeared at the right time to slot neatly into the motion control hype of the seventh console generation.
This Wii port is actually important to our topic today, because it incorporated many of the additions that were introduced as part of the Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000 package, a Japanese-exclusive upgrade for the Dreamcast. While this DC release was never brought to the West, it was still an easy import for many gamers (including DCJY's very own Andrew Dickinson) due to it lacking any significant language barrier to its gameplay.
Photo nicked from Mike's @DreamcastPics account. Sorry, Mike.
This didn't stop hacker dukeblooders from converting Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000 into English, though. The reason I refer to this as a "conversion" is because what has been done here is effectively a similar process to what we've seen previously with community projects that made Space Channel 5: Part 2 or Resident Evil Code: Veronica Kanzenban (Resident Evil Code: Veronica X) accessible to English speakers, by taking content seen in later Western ports (in this case, the Wii port) and inserting it into the Dreamcast version with some kind of wizardry that I will never be able to comprehend.
On dukeblooders' project page on GitHub, they explain that there isn't technically any text in this game, only images. The majority of images and audio were replaced with those from the English Wii versions, although some images had to be reproduced by dukeblooders.
If you want to give this English conversion a go on Dreamcast hardware, you will have to play it on an ODE like a GDEMU or a MODE, as currently it is not able to be burnt onto a CD-R. Otherwise you can still play it via emulator using the Type A controller mode, sans maracas. Just head over to the GitHub page to download the patch, which can easily be applied to an image of the game using Derek Pascarella's Universal Dreamcast Patcher.
I have often heard repeated online that the Dreamcast library was lacking when it came to RPGs... well, I guess that's kind of true, especially in the West. While we received standouts like Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II, along with a few other titles, there's plenty of Dreamcast RPGs that remained relegated to Japan. Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan was one of those titles. Today, however, I come bearing great news, as a translator known as SharkSnack has released a partial translation patch that will allow players to experience the game's first region.
Shiren the Wanderer is a series of roguelike RPG titles by Chunsoft (now Spike Chunsoft) that spawned from the Mystery Dungeon franchise (probably most famous for containing the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series of games!) The first Shiren the Wanderer game was released for the Super Famicom in 1995. The series didn't see a Western release until 2008, when that original game was ported to the Nintendo DS.
The Dreamcast entry, Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan, was released in 2002, and was developed by Neverland. This title provided players with a side-story to the main series that focused on the character Asuka, a close friend of Shiren the Wanderer. Like other titles in the series, Asuka Kenzan features traditional roguelike gameplay. Graphically, the game looks similar to the series' second entry on Nintendo 64 (which also uses a top-down perspective with pseudo-3D looking sprites), but with an added Dreamcast sheen.
Talking to your sidekick, a ferret called Koppa.
SharkSnack started working on their translation of Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan back in May of last year. While it's mostly been a solo effort, they have also had some technical assistance from VincentNL and Derek Pascarella, Ozidual helped look over some of the translation dialogue, and testing was provided by TheKitchenSunk, Harpu and DocHikari.
Speaking with SharkSnack, I was intrigued to know what inspired them to translate this particular game:
"I think Shiren the Wanderer is a charming, underrated series with great gameplay, and Asuka Kenzan is said to be one of the best in the series within the Japanese communities (people still host events and speedrun the PC version of the game on YouTube and Twitch, despite it being such an old game), so I wanted to make it available for players to experience first-hand in English.
"I also hope that it increases interest in the series and people purchase the official releases to support the series, because the Shiren community would like to see a new release. The most recent release is Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate, which released in 2020 for Switch and Steam.
"Prior to this, I also completed a fan translation of Shiren the Wanderer 2: Oni Invasion! Shiren Castle! for Nintendo 64, working as a team with Ozidual."
Someone get that dragon some Antacids!
As stated before, what SharkSnack has released today is a partial translation of the game, a "demo", if you will, that allows players to experience the first region called 'Tenrin'. For players who have previous experience with roguelikes or Mystery Dungeon-style games, SharkSnack reckons the demo could take about three hours to finish. If it's your first time, however, the demo could instead take you upwards of six hours or more. If you get stuck, SharkSnack has been working on a strategy guide that you can use. Regardless of your skillset, though, there's a lot of game to experience here.
SharkSnack elaborated on the overall progress of the translation:
"In terms of overall translation progress, the game is fully translated up to the first end credits (after clearing the second dungeon of the first region, Tenrin). The story continues into a second region called Sairai and there's a lot more game left after that (12 dungeons total), but since none of the dialogue is translated in that region yet, the demo patch is locked to Tenrin areas.
"If players are determined to continue playing, they can load their save on an unpatched version of the game, travel to Sairai, and switch back to the patched game. The reason I locked it like that is to ensure people wouldn't have to start over from the beginning to experience the rest of the game once it's fully translated."
Being turned into an onigiri by a boss… or should I say a “jelly-filled donut”?
If you enjoy what you play, stay tuned for the full patch at some point in the future. We'll be sure to update you when that time comes. SharkSnack also let us know about some other Shiren the Wanderer translations they have in the works:
"I'm also working on fan translations for Shiren the Wanderer 4 Plus for PSP (with Arc Impulse), and Shiren the Wanderer DS2 for Nintendo DS as well, so basically the long term goal is to have most of the Japanese-exclusive Shiren games in English."
Checking the menu inside a dungeon.
To download the patch, just follow this link to the translation's announcement trailer. Check that video's description to find a link to get the patch, and be sure to subscribe to SharkSnack's channel while you're visiting! The patch can easily be applied to an image of the game using Derek Pascarella's Universal Dreamcast Patcher. The v0.16 build can be played on both real hardware and emulator.
Thanks again to SharkSnack for their hard work on this patch, and for providing me with information and screenshots. Let's hope this is the first of many Japanese-exclusive Dreamcast RPGs we get to see translated into English! Will you be playing Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan? Let us know in the comments!
Despite being a Dreamcast super nerd, I must admit I wasn't aware of the Japanese-exclusive "RUN=DIM as Black Soul" until community stalwart Rolly announced that an English fan translation was in the works for it. Today, I am reminded of this game yet again, because late yesterday we learned that that very translation patch had finally been released.
For those unaware, Rolly (along with frequent collaborator RafaMGam) has been involved in many translation projects for some really cool Dreamcast games, such as The Lost Golem, Karous, L.O.L.: Lack of Love, and probably most notably, Blue Submarine No. 6: Time And Tide. Rolly has also been responsible for some translations of DC games into Polish too.
So, back to RUN=DIM as Black Soul. Peculiar name, but it's essentially a turn-based strategy RPG with mechs. It was developed by Yuki Enterprise and published by Idea Factory in 2001. It appears to be part of a wider franchise (Run=DIM) which includes an anime series, as well as titles for the PlayStation 2 and the WonderSwan Color. Those who worked on the translation recommend the game to fans of Front Mission, Rayblade or Super Robot Wars.
Writing about Run=Dim as Black Soul in his A to Z of Dreamcast games guide, fellow Junkyarder Mike explains that the game "has a fairly large amount of Japanese text interspersed with its stat heavy presentation, which is rather daunting, and it's not exactly clear what is going on to anyone who can't understand the language." He finishes his blurb by saying "I just wish I knew what was going on." Well, Mike, today's your lucky day! With this translation patch, Run=Dim is now penetrable for English speakers. I will definitely be giving it a go.
Anyway, enough from me, you can download the translation patch here. The translation is playable on real hardware, ODEs (GDEMU/MODE) and emulation. Thank you to Rolly, RafaMGam and EsperKnight for their hard work and dedication bringing this to us.
I’m partial to a bit of Puyo Puyo. Precise Museum, however, really love Puyo Puyo, as evidenced by the plethora of independent Puyo-related English translations this talented team of megafans have completed over the years. Their translation efforts span multiple different types of Puyo media - games, comics, drama CDs, light novels, and more. The reason we’re talking about them today is because they’ve finally added a Dreamcast release to their catalogue: an English translation of Japan-exclusive Puyo Puyo~n (also known as Puyo Puyo 4).
While the classic gameplay of Puyo Puyo doesn’t require a knowledge of Japanese to be enjoyed, Puyo Puyo~n has a lot of story elements that will be missed out on unless you understand the language. Precise Museum’s translation has finally solved this issue for English speakers, so a big thanks goes out to them for all the work they’ve put into making this project a reality.
Anyway, that’s enough talk from me. Here’s a link to get the translation, which is playable on both real Dreamcast hardware and emulators. Also, the team put together a cool trailer for this project, so check that out below.
SNK's Japanese-exclusive rhythm romp Cool Cool Toon has long been considered a top title for gamers looking for import-friendly Dreamcast games, not only due to how accessible its gameplay is, but also because of how fun and colourful its crazy-looking characters and cel-shaded aesthetics are.
Despite all this, if you're looking to make much sense of the story and can't speak Japanese... well, you're splat out of luck. I guess you could use that Google Translate app, but that's immersion breaking, dammit! Phew. Anyway, Derek Pascarella, who previously brought us English fan translations of Sakura Wars Columns 2 and Rainbow Cotton (along with many others), has announced today that he has an English fan translation patch in the works for Cool Cool Toon.
Also joining Derek on his translation journey is Cargodin (whose previous work on Dreamcast includes the excellent Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream fan translation) and Popomocco. Along with this announcement, Derek has posted some early work-in-progress footage to his YouTube channel, which you can watch below.
To keep track of this project as it progresses, you can follow Derek on Twitter, or keep an eye on the project's Dreamcast Talk forum thread.
Have you played Cool Cool Toon before and are excited for this translation to be released? Let us know in the comments below on our social media pages!
A lot has happened recently. Twitter is considering adding an edit button, NFTs seem to have retreated back into obscurity (phew), Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, and of course, the Dreamcast scene continues to keep our beloved (supposedly dead) console relevant. As the team are busy counting the votes for the The Dreamcast Junkyard Top 200 Dreamcast Games 2022, I thought I'd give y'all a Dreamcast news round up. Hold on to your VMUs, because I'm rounding up a lot of things today.
A tidal WAVE of Dreamcast indie activity
You should all know WAVE Game Studios by now, but if you don't, check out our interview with them to get the scoop on why they're the one to watch in the Dreamcast indie release scene! Then, if reading all about all their previous endeavours wasn't evidence enough, here's all the stuff they've just done recently:
- The first Dreamcast demo disc in 21 Years!
This one's really damn cool. If you're not in the know, SEGA Powered is a cracking Sega-focused magazine that launched earlier this year off the back of a successful Kickstarter campaign. Helmed by Sega gaming mag veterans, every issue that has been released so far have been widely praised by Sega fans everywhere. We had a look at the first issue on the blog a while back, so check that out if you want to learn more.
So we've got a cool new Sega magazine to sink our teeth into, but you know something about the old gaming magazines that we really wish would come back? Cover discs filled to the brim with exciting demos! Well, seeing as the Dreamcast is getting so many new games released for it these days (making it a modern gen console - will box anyone who disagrees), it's only right that an issue of this modern Sega mag would eventually come bundled with some kind of free demo disc featuring tasters of the latest and greatest Dreamcast indie games! The disc will exclusively feature demos of WAVE titles, and will be released with issue 5 of SEGA Powered, due June 2022. It will be be the first Dreamcast demo disc to be released in 21 years! We recommend following the magazine's Twitter account to learn more details as the release gets closer.
- Shadow Gangs is getting a WAVE release!
After a somewhat rocky Kickstarter campaign (that involved the original campaign being cancelled to make way for another with a more reasonable goal), JKM Corp's Shadow Gangs was eventually fully funded. As the game was known to be pretty much near completion, many scratched their heads and asked why Shadow Gangs couldn't just work out a deal with a distributor like WAVE or JoshProd, and skip the Kickstarter all together, but the developers stuck by their campaign.
Well, looks like WAVE are now going to be distributing the game anyway, as announced in a Twitter post posted by WAVE on the 4th of April. This means WAVE will be manufacturing the Kickstarter copies and any future copies that will be sold through WAVE's web store. They've also confirmed that backers will be getting some "super cool extras" with their games, so that's something to look forward to!
- Postal will have local co-op!
WAVE are still on track to release the officially-sanctioned Dreamcast port of Postal on the 2nd of June, and you can still pre-order a copy on their web store. Dan Redfield, the gent responsible for porting the game, revealed at the end of March that he's successfully implemented a 4-player co-op mode into the game's campaign. It's only right that a port of Postal to a console known for its excellent party games would have such a mode!
Translations
Other than the bustling indie scene, another reason for the second wind the Dreamcast is experiencing (at least for us English speakers) are the many translations of Japanese games that have previously been inaccessible to us due to the language barrier. Here's some more!
- Former Managing Director Yukawa's Treasure Hunt has been translated into English!
The Dreamcast game we never knew needed an English translation has finally been translated, thanks to the talents of SnowyAria (who previously translated Seven Mansions: Ghastly Smile). This simple promotional game has you play as former Sega of Japan head Yukawa Hidekazu as he digs up various pieces of Dreamcast-related memorabilia, with the idea being that for a month in 1999, you could submit your victory online to be entered into a raffle to win said memorabilia in real life. Obviously, you can no longer win any prizes, but you can at least experience this odd morsel of Dreamcast history in English now. Go here to get the translation patch, and for some further reading, check out Tom's article on the game here.
Me after playing Spirit of Speed 1937 for five minutes
- New gameplay footage of the Nakoruru translation!
Derek Pascarella's project to translate the visual novel Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me into English started in August of last year. I am working as an editor on the project and all I'll say is that it has been a blast to work on so far! Anyway, Derek has put together a great preview video showcasing a test-build of the translation, which you can find here. You can find out more about everything Derek does by visiting DreamcastForever.com. Watch this space!
The odd stuff!
This is the part of our news round-up where we take a look at some things that verge on the side of kooky or obscure. These are the Dreamcast equivalent of those lighthearted cutaway reports on the real news that show you a Pug that can do a pop shove-it on a skateboard or something. Anyhow...
- The Mega Duck is now playable on the Dreamcast..?
MegaDuck... that's like Rubberduckzilla from that old Oasis advert, right? Nope. It was actually a Game Boy rip off from Hong Kong. It was also released in South America with the equally ludicrous name "Cougar Boy"... You can't make this shit up.
Anyway, the Mega Duck had a not-so-mega library of games (quantity-wise) and the majority of them were developed by Taiwanese company Sachen. When the Mega Duck could no longer be kept afloat (geddit?), Sachen ported a load of its Mega Duck games onto the Game Boy in the form of unlicensed multicarts, presumably to recoup some of their losses. Well, veteran Dreamcast homebrew coder Ian Michael has stripped each individual game from their respective multicarts and packed them all together as a bootable ISO (you need to use DreamShell to boot it) that uses a Game Boy emulator Gnuboy to emulate them. The package contains a total of 21 playable titles. Sadly, Snake Roy is not one of them... Maybe one day.
That is game art only a Mother could love...
Go to this Dreamcast-Talk forum thread for more information and a link to download the Mega Duck ISO. Edit: since I published this article, Derek Pascarella has converted the ISO into a .cdi image, meaning it can now be booted up on ODEs like GDEMU and MODE. The link for this is also in the Dreamcast-Talk forum thread. Thanks Derek!
Now, go fourth and play some Mega Duck on your Dreamcast! Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say...
- You can now cast dreams from the comfort of your very own Dreamcast bed...
Yeah, some company called "MoonLambo" is selling Dreamcast-themed bedding. The company predominately sells clothing featuring a lot of cyberpunk and vaporwave designs, but it looks like they've also branched out into selling home goods. Their trademark infringement-avoiding "Dreams Last" range includes a console duvet cover, VMU pillow cases, and a controller cushion. It's all a bit pricey, with the duvet cover ranging from £73 all the way up to £113 depending on the size you want. I also have no idea if it would even be good quality, as the site looks worryingly similar to one of those dropshipping clothing stores you'd get advertised to you through Instagram-ads, who steal people's designs and print them on crap shirts that shrink after one wash. But if you're a bachelor with a lot of disposable income who thinks a Dreamcast bed would look cool in your pad, then purchase at your own risk.
That's all for now, folks! Which of these news items excites you the most? It's the Mega Duck on Dreamcast, isn't it? Fair enough. Anyway, let us know your second favourite in the comments below!
After a year of development, DerPlayer and PhilYeahz have completed an English translation patch for Japanese-exclusive Dreamcast title Panzer Front!
Developed by Shangri-La and released for the Dreamcast (and PlayStation) in 1999, Panzer Front is a World War II tank simulation game that combines strategy and action gameplay. It allows you to take control of many different WWII-era vehicles, with a number of historic missions available to play through. While the PlayStation version received English localisations and went on to garner itself a quiet but passionate fandom, the Dreamcast version remained only accessible to Japanese speakers. That was until now!
Very cool box art, if I do say so myself.
Check out the project's rather nifty retro-looking webpage here. At the site, you'll find more information about the game, cool resources, and most importantly, the translation patch, along with a patching utility (developed by our pal Derek Pascarella) which you need to use to apply the patch to an existing CDI or GDI of the game. Then throw that file onto your ODE of choice or burn it onto a CD-R and you're off and away blasting the crap out of things with historic military vehicles!
Will you be grabbing this latest English translation? Let us know in the comments!
We're not even a week into 2022 and we've already received not one, but two English fan translations of Japanese Dreamcast games! This community sure works at a rapid pace. Both of the games are vertically scrolling shooters, or 'shmups,' as the cool kids like to say. Let's check ‘em out...
First up is Radirgy, which was originally developed by MileStone, Inc. for the Sega NAOMI arcade platform. It was eventually ported over to the Dreamcast in 2006, exclusively in Japan, years after the West presumed the rest of the world had given up on Sega's swan song console. Radirgy replaces the usually dark, space theming of other shoot-em-ups with a colourful, cel-shaded anime style. With gameplay that verges on bullet hell, and a protagonist that is allergic to radio waves, this one is about as Japanese as they come. Even the box art is slightly odd, simply opting to feature said protagonist pushing her glasses up her nose in that cool way anime people do (should probably go to your local optician and get those adjusted, bud). Check out our Radirgy retrospective here.
An English translation of Radirgy appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the 2nd of January, submitted to RomHacking.net by user wiredcrackpot. The translation is based on the official US Wii release of the game, which wiredcrackpot admits isn't the best translation ever, but it's at least something that can serve to help us non-Japanese speakers understand the bonkers story that is taking place.
You can download the translation patch at RomHacking.net. If you can't be bothered with all that patching stuff, though, you can simply go to the Dreamcast-Talk thread, where you will find an already patched .CDI and .GDI available for download. Burn the game onto a CD-R or throw it on to your GDEMU. Whatever you do, take a moment to speculate what drugs the people over at MileStone were taking when they made Radirgy. We'll have a debate about it next time we talk.
If you are also interested in playing an English translation of Radirgy's darker kind-of sequel, Karous, head here to download that.
Next up is Chaos Field, which was the first game ever developed by MileStone Inc. and was released in 2004 for the Sega NAOMI, with a Dreamcast release following a few months later. Perhaps a more standard shmup affair compared to Radirgy (stylistically, at least), the game consists entirely of boss battles, and has a pretty unique mechanic in which players can flip the environment at will between two parallel worlds.
The Chaos Field translation patch was created by Derek Pascarella, whose work we've previously featured on the Junkyard (multiple times, in fact) and has also appeared on an episode of the Dreampod (check that out here). Inspired by wiredcrackpot's Radirgy patch, Derek started poking around in the code of Chaos Field to find the game actually shipped with about 80% of the text and images already translated into English - it had just been hidden away in the game’s code this entire time! Derek then translated the remaining 20%, and voilà! We now have Chaos Field completely in English, for the first time on Dreamcast.
These projects are a good start to what is hopefully another big year for the Dreamcast community. Have you played any of these shooters before? Are you excited to play them in English? Let us know in the comments below, or by sounding off on our various social media channels.
Oh hi there. It's been a bit of a busy few weeks hasn't it? The petrol thing seems to be over (for now) but that hasn't stopped all manner of interesting things occuring in the world of Dreamcast...and as you'll no doubt be able to tell from the title of this post, I thought it would be convenient to simply put all of these news snippets together into one post here at the Junkyard, so here it is. A bit like that infoburst you used to get at the end of Bad Influence, but in text form. Bad Influence? No? Never mind. So what's been cracking then? Quite a bit actually...
Oh 'eck, Paprium is coming to Dreamcast!
Yes, everyone's favourite 16-bit Kickstarted ode to Streets of Rage, Paprium, is now coming to Dreamcast thanks to a new stretch goal reached as part of the 'next gen' campaign. Developed by Dreamcast stalwarts Watermelon, Paprium was released for the Mega Drive / Genesis back in 2020 to much critical acclaim and an equal amount of backlash for various reasons I won't delve into here. As a side note, I always thought it a bit odd that there was no Dreamcast version as part of the original campaign, synonymous with the console as Watermelon is after the success of Pier Solar.
That puzzlement has now been put to bed though, with the Dreamcast being lovingly included as a stretch goal in the latest resurrection of the original Kickstarter campaign to bring the game to...er...modern consoles. The Dreamcast version will apparently be a little unique according to the blurb on the campaign page, which is never a bad thing:
NEW ADD-ON! PAPRIUM is also coming to the SEGA Dreamcast! 6 years after Pier Solar HD, this is to be the second Dreamcast Release by WM! This version of the game is different, in-between the 16-BIT release and the STEAM/PS4/5 release, it boast some exclusive things and take full advantage of the Dreamcast features such as VMU and a 3 player mode without the need for a multitap (of course)! Please note the game is in 4/3 ratio (just like the 16-BIT edition of the game).
- Paprium Kickstarter
Will Watermelon shit the bed once again with this new release? I really do hope so - we all love a bit of drama. And since I've backed the Dreamcast version, it'll give me something to moan about when it inevitably ships late or gets cancelled. Anyway, check out the Kickstarter campaign here, and get ready to pap. Not even sure what that means. Onwards!
DreamPi creator Luke Benstead is digging Tunnels!
Not actual tunnels, you understand. But I'm sure Luke (aka Kazade) and his development partner David Reichelt are at least as handy with a shovel or a JCB as they are with a Dreamcast. What am I blathering about? You may recall we recently featured news about Simulant, a game engine created with Dreamcast indie development as its raison d'être. As a timely Halloween treat, Luke and David have released a promising Simulant-based demo titled Tunnels which sees players traverse a network of dingy caverns (or, um, tunnels) brandishing what looks like Gordon Freeman's property for protection. Here's a video:
Tunnels is fully playable on stock Dreamcast hardware and it looks like a promising little demo considering how quickly it was put together. From the Simulant development blog:
Tunnels is a mini-demo of the Simulant engine. It's been written over the past three weeks as a demonstration of what Simulant allows you to do in very little time. Both Luke and David have day jobs, and this has been developed in their spare time - probably an hour a day each at most - and a good majority of that time was spent improving Simulant itself!
Along the way flaws were discovered in Simulant and many were fixed, others will be fixed later. Some planned features were dropped due to limited time, but may reappear at some point. In the future we'll use Tunnels as a test bed for new Simulant features, and as a regression test.
Intrepid Izzy: Special Edition is now available to order!
We now turn our attention to another Kickstarter-funded title - Intrepid Izzy from Senile Team. If you missed our review of the exquisite platform-cum-beat 'em up, be sure to check it out here. In short, Lewis thought it was a stellar addition to the Dreamcast's stable of indie titles, and easily one of the best to hit the console, even going as far as to label Izzy as "The King (or Queen?) of Dreamcast indie platformers" - they even put that quote on the back of the box for good measure!
The good (better?) news is that a Special Edition of Intrepid Izzy is now available to pre-order from WAVE Game Studios, and comes with a soundtrack CD and a choice of region (PAL, NTSC-U, NTSC-J) packaging styles.
The initial print run of 750 units [of Intrepid Izzy] sold out almost immediately, prompting a reprint just 28 days after release. The fastest known for an independently released Dreamcast title.
In response to considerable demand for both the game and the music featured therein, WAVE announced that a limited run two-disc Special Edition will be released on November 20, 2021. This version includes an audio CD with the full official soundtrack, and is available in European, North American, and Japanese cover art variants.
- WAVE Game Studios
The fastest selling out indie Dreamcast game, eh? Who knew? Not I. Did you? You do now! Intrepid Izzy: Special Edition launches 20 November 2021. Head over to the WAVE Game Studios website to pre-order it for £34.99. There's also a cool vinyl figure available too, if that's your bag. Actually, buy two and make them fight; with the loser being burned with a magnifying glass.
A new Dreamcast fan translation project - Nakoruru!
Some say he can translate a Japanese Dreamcast game manual without even reading it. Others say he can detect an obscure NTSC-J dating sim hidden at the back of a retro game store from a distance of 40 miles. All we know, is his name is Derek Pascarella. And if you've never seen Top Gear, that reference will go right over your head. If you've been following the Dreamcast fan translation scene for any amount of time, you'll be familiar with the work of Mr Pascarella, who has previously worked on English translations of Dreamcast titles such as Sakura Wars Columns 2 and Neon Genesis Evangelion Typing Project Advanced.
Now he's back with another translation project, Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me, which is a visual novel title set in the Samurai Shodown universe. This isn't actually new news per se, with both MegaVisions and SegaXtreme sharing the original Dreamcast Talk thread back in August 2021. What is new news though, is that our very own Lewis Cox has joined the Nakoruru team as an English language editor, and for this reason alone I wanted to refresh some mention of this intriguing translation project. If you'd like to know more about Derek's past translation efforts, check out DreamPod episode 93 here.
Those pesky Shadow Gangs are kicking bountiful handfuls of ass on Dreamcast!
Oh Shadow Gangs, where for art though Shadow Gangs? Shall I compare thee to a 1990s Sega arcade game featuring a ninja that was then ported to home consoles? So wrote Chaucer, rather anachronistically, back in the mid 1970s after a particularly heavy session on the old crack pipe. Which is quite fitting, seeing as Shadow Gangs is a 1980s themed/inspired side scrolling beat 'em up that people have likened to Shinobi. I haven't played Shadow Gangs myself, but I do recall it being mooted to be heading to the Dreamcast at least as far back as 2016 - possibly even earlier (thanks Dreamcast Today - I knew I hadn't imagined that). The game was released on Steam and other consoles in the fairly recent past however - to generally positive reviews - and now a video has surfaced of a port running on the creaking old Dreamcast. Here you go:
Looks like a fairly accurate rendition to me, and it seems pretty much identical to the video on the Steam page. It appears that another Kickstarter to get Shadow Gangs fully up and running on Dreamcast is on the cards, and we'll no doubt share the news once that project is launched.
SEGA Powered brings SEGA Power back from the dead, with the (unofficial) Power of Sega!
Not exclusively Dreamcast related this one, but I just needed an excuse to type that subheading. Back when I was a wee lad, SEGA Power was one of a number of physical mags I would regularly purchase, and so it was a bit of a no brainer that I would back one-time editor Dean Mortlock's love letter to such an iconic tome. Dean is assisted by Niel Randall (DC-UK), Paul Monaghan (Maximum Power Up) and Marc Jowett (SegaMags), so the knowledge and pedigree is assured.
The teaser issue of SEGA Powered looks like it will hit all the right marks for fans of the magazines of yesteryear, and I for one will be intrigued to see what kind of Dreamcast-related content is included. Check out the Kickstarter campaign and bag a copy of the mag here. Update - the Kickstarter for SEGA Powered has now ended but I am reliably informed that a website for the magazine will be launched so you can buy a copy/subscription even if you missed the campaign.
There's plenty of other Dreamcast related stuff going on around the internet but I thought I would leave it there for the sake of brevity. Oh, and I got a bit sick of typing the word 'Kickstarter,' but I digress. Be sure to check out all of the other wonderful Dreamcast news repositories dotted around the information superhighway for even more interesting little projects bubbling happily away.
We plan to do these round-ups more regularly from now on as it's just a bit more concise than having multiple posts about stuff, so if there's anything you spot that you think we should include in future news posts, let us know in the comments. Cheers!
The ever-busy Derek Pascarella, alongside the same talented team who also worked on Sakura Wars Columns 2, is back with a brand new English fan translation, the cute as heck Rainbow Cotton!
Developed by Success, and released exclusively to Japan in the year 2000, Rainbow Cotton is a 3D rail shooter in a similar vein to Panzer Dragoon and Space Harrier. But instead of playing as dragon riders or space soldier dudes, you take on the role of the titular witch character Cotton, flying and shooting your way through very aesthetically pleasing 3D fantasy stages. While the visuals are an absolute joy to behold, and have been praised highly by many, Rainbow Cotton unfortunately suffers in the gameplay department and has been heavily criticised over the years for frustrating controls and gameplay quirks.
But if there was ever a time to forgive this game for its flaws, it's now, because it's now fully translated into English! That's everything: in-game text, graphics, and even the anime cutscenes that tell the tale of Rainbow Cotton. Now you can understand what's going on properly.
If you fancy a peek behind the curtain of how Derek and his team hack and translate these games, then tune into DreamPod episode 93, which features Derek and his collaborator Burntends as guests. Podcast plugs aside, below are all the relevant links you'll need to learn more, and ultimately play this translation. As always, read the Release Notes before playing, and be sure to thank Derek and his crew for another job well done!
He's only gone and done it again! Derek Pascarella has just released his fourth Dreamcast translation project of 2021. Previous efforts include Sakura Wars Columns 2 and Taxi 2, as well as Neon Genesis Evangelion -Typing E Keikaku-, which today's game is kind of a "sequel" too. That's right, Evangelion fans, dust your Dreamcast keyboard off once more and get typing: an English translation patch for Neon Genesis Evangelion - Typing Project Advanced has just dropped!
There's not been much reason for non-Japanese speaking Dreamcast fans to pick up this pretty impenetrable typing tutor since its release in 2001 (later in the same year as Typing E Kikaku) other than the fact it came bundled with a rather nifty fan and a cloth in a nice pretty box (pictured above). But basically, like its predecessor, it's a lot of fun typing mini-games that are Evangelion-themed - an anime series which is regarded as one of the best ever. And now it's playable to English speakers.
To play the game, Derek has supplied a patched GDI for those using an ODE (such as GDEMU/MODE) and a patched CDI for those who want to burn the game onto a CD-R. Also make sure you take a look through the release notes before you play the game. Links below:
While I'm still here, I just wanted to mention that we had Derek on the latest episode of the DreamPod podcast, along with Sakura Wars Columns 2 co-translator Burntends. It was a great episode, check it out!
This year in Dreamcast has already been one for the books. The indie titles, the Easter eggs, the unearthing of massive franchise entries once thought to be lost. One of the biggest deals for me personally has been the current surge of translation projects gracing our favourite system. Just like House of Pain back in '92, Dreamcast translation fever is in effect, y'all. Outdated Hip-hop references aside, most recently, we've seen many patches released, with plenty more in the works (you can see a megathread of all of the upcoming projects here). One individual in particular, Derek Pascarella, has been particularly busy in the first quarter of this year, releasing translations of Neon Genesis Evangelion -Typing E Keikaku-, and the infamous French-exclusive Taxi 2. While the translations of those games were more of a solo effort on Derek's part, he decided to take it up a notch for his next project, so much so that he had to recruit the talents of a whole team. This brand new patch is an English translation of Japan-exclusive Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2. Derek was kind enough to send me some early builds of the translation prior to the public patch release, so thank you, Derek.
Released in 2000, Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 is the second instalment in a short-lived Columns spin-off series to the Sakura Wars franchise. For those not in the know, Sakura Wars (aka Sakura Taisen) is a Sega franchise that was ridiculously popular in Japan, where it remained exclusive for a very long time. The mainline entries in this series are known for their fantastic steampunk plots set in the Taishō period of Japan (with the plots of later entries finding their way to other countries), as well as a seamless combination of tactical RPG gameplay with visual novel sections, where building up relationships with members of your squad strengthens their morale in battle. If you want to read a bit more about Sakura Wars I've covered it on the blog twice now, with the most recent coverage being on the very good PS4 reboot that was released in April of last year. I've also chatted about it a little on the DreamPod too.
At face value, Sakura Wars Columns (as the game's title was localised by Derek et al.) appears to simply be a Sakura Wars reskin of the classic Sega falling-block puzzler Columns, which probably saw its most prominent success as Sega's flagship puzzle game for the Mega Drive (or Genesis for you Americans!). But Sakura Wars Columns 2 stays true to the roots of its franchise, with story modes available in the game incorporating its signature visual novel/date sim-style gameplay in between blasts of gem stacking puzzle mayhem. All 12 characters of the Imperial Combat Revue's Flower Division have their own dedicated storylines (all of which are extremely charming - as is typical of the writing in Sakura Wars), as well as various strengths and weaknesses when it comes to column stacking. And with a tonne of different modes, unlockables and extra content, it's a really great package. I imagine Japanese gamers who picked this game up back in 2000 weren't disappointed, especially since it contained a network match service that allowed players to face off with each other online. These network capabilities have long since been retired, but let’s hope the release of this translation inspires the awesome peeps over at Dreamcast Live to restore them. Knowing them, they're probably already working on it.
In my last article I talked about how I discovered a trailer for an unreleased horror game for the Dreamcast hidden within a game called Bokomu No Tatsujin. This is an obscure life sim that released with little to no fanfare in early 2002 by the equally unknown Fujicom Co, creators of only one other Dreamcast game: Bomber Hehhe!
I mentioned that I found said trailer by pure accident while poking around in the games files. The reason why I was doing so was because... I was in the middle of translating the game for a laugh?? I should probably explain how this new found hobby came about, despite actually having next to zero knowledge of Japanese!
In DreamPod Episode 86, where we discussed what we'd like to see from the Dreamcast scene in 2021, I was quite vocal about my desire to see more English fan translation patches produced for Dreamcast games. If you're anything like me, you're too lazy to learn Japanese, but absolutely long to play many of the very intriguing text-heavy Japanese Dreamcast releases. I've covered the Evangelion typing tutor translation by Derek Pascarella, and James also wrote a great retrospective on Taxi 2, going over Derek’s patch for that, but today I wanted to shine the spotlight on some completed translation projects that we (perhaps criminally) haven't covered here on the blog before.
Blue Submarine No. 6: -Time and Tide-
Blue Submarine No. 6 started out as a manga that was first published in 1967, with an OVA (essentially a straight-to-video anime) adaptation released in 2000. The story of BS6 is set in a post-apocalyptic future, where the sea levels have risen and flooded most of the land on Earth. What remains is being attacked by half-animal hybrids, which are fought back by humanity's submarine forces, including the titular Blue Submarine No. 6. Time and Tide was developed and published by Sega, and released in December 2000.
This very cool game mixes some excellently-presented visual novel-style sections (that utilise cel-shaded animation to present the game's characters), with 3D underwater segments in the submarine that control really well. While this game is playable without knowing Japanese, it is vital to understanding the plot. Thankfully, over the space of year, a team comprising of Rolly, RafaGam, esperknight and Eyl put together an English translation patch for this awesome game, and released it at the tail-end of 2020, to celebrate the game's 20th anniversary, as well as the 22nd birthday of the Dreamcast console.
All in-game text is now understandable to non-Japanese speakers, anime cutscenes now have English subtitles, and pesky spoken dialogue during submarine missions where the translators couldn't insert subtitles have been overdubbed with English text-to-speech voices. The Blue Submarine No. 6 -Tides of Time- website was also restored and translated into English as part of this project, allowing players to download the game's original DLC to grant bonus items in the shop. To download the patch, check out the project's page on SEGA-SKY.
Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream
Developed by a largely female-orientated development team, Napple Tale released to Japan in October 2000, and was never brought over to the West for... some reason. This colourful adventure combines a 3D hub world with 2.5D platforming stages, complete with an absolutely terrific score by acclaimed composer Yoko Kanno. Similar to Blue Submarine No. 6, Napple Tale is perfectly playable without the need to know Japanese, but its whimsical, fairy-tale inspired story is definitely something worth experiencing.
In October 2019, a team led by translator Cargodin released an English patch online, allowing non-Japanese speakers to experience Napple Tale's story 19 years after the game's initial release. The game's original website was also restored and translated into English, allowing the game's DLC to be downloaded, unlocking a bonus stage called "paffet rally". If you fancy a trip to Napple World in all its English-translated glory, you can download the patch at Romhacking.net.
