Review: Andro Dunos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retrospective: The Flashback series on Dreamcast

With the recent announcement that a true Flashback sequel (imaginatively titled Flashback 2) is heading our way in late 2022, we thought it appropriate to cast our minds back to the recent past and take another look at the officially sanctioned Flashback titles released on the Dreamcast. 

It's not really common knowledge that Flashback was given a full physical release, complete with a hyper fragile PAL case, back in 2017. Well regarded publisher JoshProd was behind this fantastic edition of Delphine Software's sprite based action adventure, and the release was even given a full seal of approval by original creator Paul Cuisset.

We reviewed the game at the time, and gushed at the lovingly crafted package. From the excellent (and authentic) box art and printed disc, to the additional extras lavished upon the Dreamcast remaster, it really was excellent and packed with content.

This included such notable features as a full and uncut intro cinematic (previous console versions featured a cut down intro from the Amiga version), the option to enable pre-rendered cut scenes from the PC release, full voice acting, alternative soundtracks, 16-bit emulated versions, and quick saves using the VMU. 

Furthermore, quality of life improvements came in the form of numerous graphic filters and fully customisable controls. Underneath all the polish though, Flashback for Dreamcast was/is just plain old Flashback...but when 'plain old' Flashback is as good as it is, that's no bad thing.

The release of Flashback on Dreamcast went almost unnoticed by the mainstream gaming press though, and it was quickly forgotten about as the game was subsequently ported to modern platforms such as the Nintendo Switch. Naturally, the Dreamcast is a bit of a niche system these days so that's understandable, but the fact remains that the Dreamcast port of Flashback is as solid as they come and could arguably be viewed as the blueprint for the current gen re-releases that came after it.

What hapenned next was similarly seemingly ignored in the main - the 1995 follow up to Flashback, titled Fade to Black, was also given a fully approved 'official' physical release on Dreamcast. Fade to Black first came to the PC and PlayStation in the mid-nineties to some moderate success, eschewing the prequel's side on, rotoscoped gameplay for a more modern (for the time) leap into 3D. 

Once again assuming the role of main protagonist Conrad B. Hart, players of Fade to Black were thrown into another sci-fi adventure involving the wanton shooting of old foes the Morphs, solving of simplistic puzzles, finding keys and getting hopelessly lost...but this time from a pseudo over-the-shoulder perspective.

Again released by JoshProd and given full approval by the rights holder and designer Delphine Software and Paul Cuisset, Fade to Black on Dreamcast was released in 2018 to very little in the way of fanfare outside of the Dreamcast community. The Dreamcast release, in a similar fashion to the prequel, is a sort of mash-up of the other versions of the game, with the main bulk of the game seemingly based on the PC iteration. 

This is especially evident in the comparatively clean visuals and relative lack of severe pixellation and texture warping associated with a lot of PlayStation titles. Something that sets this game apart from the other indie Dreamcast releases of the era is that it is indeed a fully 3D game, that runs well on the Dreamcast and showcases just how well the Dreamcast might be used for the porting of other classic DOS or Windows games (something that has come to further fruition with the recent release of Postal). 

Controls can take a bit of getting used to, especially since the game employs a Soldier of Fortune style 'hold down a button to access a secondary menu' type system; and you can't manually aim Conrad's sidearm making for some frustrating firefights. Overall though, Fade to Black is a decent third person adventure, albeit one that is very much of its time.

There are a couple of interesting asides about this Dreamcast re-release of Fade to Black that are worthy of note. The first is that the game was originally published by Electronic Arts, an organisation which famously went on to completely ignore the existence of the Dreamcast. Does this make Fade to Black the sole Electronic Arts game to be officially released on Dreamcast, then? 

Also intriguing is a rumour abounds that the Dreamcast game has totally redrawn box art (drawn by Philippe Dessoly, see above) because the original high resolution versions of the Fade to Black artwork are lost to the mists of time. How true that is, I can't be sure, but it makes for a nice bedtime story.

So there we have it. Not one, but two Flashback titles came to the Dreamcast in an official guise. Most people reading this probably already knew this, but for those who didn't...well now you do. Both releases are superb renditions of their respective source material, and are well worth seeking out (go here for Flashback and here for Fade to Black - note these are not affiliate links). 

It's probably worth mentioning here that I am more than a little biased in my views as a huge fan of the series, having owned or played pretty much every single release of Flashback across numerous different plaforms over the years. Of course the Atari Jaguar version is the best (and has the superior variant of the box art), but the Dreamcast version gives it a run for its money. Fight me in the comments.

JoshProd announce 5th wave of Dreamcast releases - 8 games incoming! (updated)

[Updated, originally posted September 2020 and updated February 2021] 

With JoshProd now releasing a video preview of their upcoming games for 2021, we can confidently say that any fears we had about the games running poorly have been addressed, at least for the most part. This article has been edited to reflect that.

The brand new February 2021 trailer can be watched below:

The last few years have seen a surge of new independent releases on the Dreamcast, keeping this 20 year old love affair we have with the console going strong. This year we've already seen Xeno Crisis from Bitmap Bureau - a multi platform, multi directional shooter that we liked quite a lot - and we're not far away from seeing the release of Xenocider from Retro Sumus, another title that is shaping up very well (something we can personally guarantee here at the Yard). The masters of the recent surge of releases, however, is undoubtedly JoshProd/Pixelheart. The French indie publisher has now released over 20 titles on the Dreamcast, and already had us excited for their upcoming release of the very promising looking Arcade Racing Legends, but have now upped the ante once more, with the announcement of a 5th wave of releases - all due (currently) to be released before the end of the year. I don't know about you, but any good news in this year of unpredictable craziness is most welcome.

As with their previous titles, JoshProd like to announce a batch of games at a time, with varying developers, genres and packaging formats. This wave we see 6 titles that cover platforming, fighting and lots of shooting, the return of a popular indie developer and a rather interesting multi-game set. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's have a look at the list of titles announced:

• Alice Sisters (Orionsoft)
• Rocketron (Astro Port)
• Satazius Next (Astro Port)
• Tough Guy (Panda entertainment)
• Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser (Astro Port)
• Wolflame (Astro Port)

As well as these, there's two other new titles coming to the Dreamcast - we'll get on to them later:

• Gigantic Army (Astro Port)
• Zangeki Warp (Astro Port)

Review: Arcade Racing Legends

As the third decade of the 21st century dawns, it's becoming quite clear that we're entering a renaissance of sorts for our beloved little box of dreams. While the masses wax lyrical about their shiny new Xbox 5's and PlayStation Series X's (that's right, yeah?), or relentlessly bore on about ray tracing and load times of 3 nanoseconds, we here at the Junkyard are rightfully far more excited about the impending tsunami of new titles about to wash away all our troubles and restore that blue swirl (red, I suppose, if you prefer) to it's rightful place at the pinnacle of gaming excellence.

Sort of, anyway. 

It's true though that we are spoiled for new content right now. We've got an upcoming Dreamcast games calendar chock full of titles, the likes of such not seen since the time nu-metal was vaguely popular with teenagers with terrible hairstyles and ludicrous length jeans, we can barely go a week without some new-fangled piece of technology to enhance/cannibalise/set it on the path to sentient life, for our Dreamcast getting announced, and we've even got geniuses coming out with ports of post-DC titles from the arcade that we can play on the console too. It feels less like a rose tinted, nostalgia driven website written by Sega fanboys around here now; and more like we're covering some sort of current-gen machine.

The main menu screen you're first presented with.

But I'm blabbering again. We're not here to moan about being too old to keep up to date with latest news today, we'll save that for the podcast. Instead, we're here to take a slightly belated look at the newest addition to the Dreamcast's now substantial indie library - the much anticipated, made for the Dreamcast latest release from JoshProd - Arcade Racing Legends.

Successfully Kickstarted back in 2019, we've been keeping a watchful eye over the development of the title, and had access to some early builds as well. There's a fair few keen racing fans here at the 'Yard, so the prospect of a new, fully 3D racing title for the console, and one promising to bring back some of the blue sky arcade racing pedigree of Sega games of yore, was one that had us positively salivating with hope. 

Scud life. Cough.

JoshProd have been a relentless supporter of the Dreamcast independent scene in recent years, but have so far focused on bringing us ports from other platforms rather than self-developed titles. Indeed, despite what some have said, this isn't the first 3D indie title on the system - JoshProd's own delivery of the Dreamcast port of 4x4 Jam takes that honour. They've got a very interesting lineup of titles on their way to us, and their past output has had some serious hits - Flashback, Another World, The Escapee - as well as a couple of misfires - the disappointing Ganryu for one. But when any developer has the ambition to bring us something completely new - well, we sit up and take note.

Some of the campaign artwork really whetted our appetite for the game

So just what is this new game all about? Well, Arcade Racing Legends wears its inspiration clear for all to see - not least in its title. An old school homage to the golden age of arcade racing games, it gives you a super fast car, exotic track locations and plenty of wink-wink, nudge-nudge references to past Sega titles. In fact, that's probably not quite true - there's little subtle about the inspiration for some of the vehicles here, and that's no bad thing at all. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Preview: Arcade Racing Legends

Announced back in June 2019 and successfully Kickstarted a month later in July, Arcade Racing Legends is a brand new Dreamcast title originally due for release at the end of 2019, but was subsequently delayed until later this year. My Dreamcast Junkyard colleague Mike Phelan wrote a great article documenting the initial project and what it’s all about, so rather than regurgitate that information I’ll direct you here if you want to know the background story for JoshProd and PixelHeart's Arcade Racing Legends.

It’s no secret that I’m a pretty big fan of the racing genre, and nostalgic arcade racers have always been high on my list, so naturally I was quick to back the project in the hope it would turn into a reality. As a backer, one of the most recent perks offered was a downloadable demo, so I grabbed it and thought it would be a great opportunity to let you all know how the game is shaping up.

Graphically, Arcade Racing Legends ticks all the boxes. No, it isn’t a “realistic” setting like you might find in something like Tokyo Highway Challenge but the game screams 90’s arcade racer at you, which is literally the whole point of this release. A bold colourful palette, plenty of variety from one course to the next (there are three available in the demo: Arctic, Desert and Forest), and a lovely garage menu system meant I was very pleased with what my eyeballs were treated to. It certainly looks like a game that could’ve been released back in the day, and a beautiful one at that.

Handling-wise, I was pleasantly surprised. It was my most feared element of Arcade Racing Legends even when I originally backed the project. After watching a few videos of early footage, the car handling looked a bit suspect, but after getting some hands-on time with the demo I was thankful that your car doesn’t constantly feel like you’re driving on ice. It’s still a bit floaty, sure, but the developers seem to have found a good balance here and kept it feeling arcadey without it being too ridiculous. It's actually really enjoyable to play and - for me at least - feels better to play than some original arcade racers.

Available to try in the demo are Career and Time Trial modes. I headed straight to start my Career mode and was presented with a day by day set of challenges as you advance towards turning yourself into a “professional arcade racer”. The challenges do a great job of easing you into the game step by step. On day one, for example, you just have to drive to the goal without any time pressures, just to get a feeling for the car. Day two sees you tackle a different circuit, this time against the clock, in a race to the finish. Day three puts you in the daunting position of not being allowed to use your brake pedal and yet still complete the course within a set time, and so on. It's a nice way of building things up and adding a bit of variety.

Three different cars are available in the demo, all of which have basic tuning options affecting their overall performance on the track. Followers of the Kickstarter will know there are going to be a whole load of different cars in the full release, many of which are based on vehicles from classic Sega arcade driving games like Sega Rally and Crazy Taxi, which is one of my most anticipated things about playing the full version.

The one thing I think really hurts Arcade Racing Legends, from both a gameplay and visual perspective, is that the circuits are all blocked off on both sides by continuous rows of sponsor boards. It very much lessens the experience quite a bit as you’re never in a position where you can run wide, and a mistake is rarely punished as you can just ride along the walls with very little slowdown. It all feels, and looks, just a bit bland and very lazy.

Original screenshots from the Kickstarter showed a few tracks where these sponsor boards did not appear right next to the asphalt or racing surface itself, so I really hope the full release has some wider play areas - I’d go so far as to say it’s the most important thing that PixelHeart need to address between now and the final release. The game won’t have much replayability if it remains as-is, simply because the challenge of learning the layouts of the circuits just isn’t there with the current setup.

Despite this, I’m still really looking forward to the release of Arcade Racing Legends and getting stuck into the Career mode proper when the game does finally get released. The demo did a great job of easing my concerns about the handling, and I just hope they take feedback onboard around those pesky track barriers. If they do, this could be a genuinely enjoyable game to play frequently on Dreamcast in 2020.

For those who missed the original Kickstarter campaign, pre-orders are now available here.

How about you, are you going to pick this up? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter.

Related articles:

• New Dreamcast games coming in 2020
• Preview: Xenocider

BREAKING NEWS: Five new Dreamcast games incoming!

In addition to the announcement that the Kickstarter-funded FX Unit Yuki would be finally making its way to Dreamcast next month, JoshProd and RushOnGame.com have revealed their next batch of Dreamcast indie titles heading our way:

• Armed Seven - a mech-based side-scrolling shooter by Astro Port (2015)
• Finding Teddy - a pixel art point and click adventure by Storybird (2013)
• Magic Pockets - a platform game by the Bitmap Brothers (1991)
• Captain Tomaday - a Neo Geo vertical-scrolling "cute-em-up" by Visco (1999)
• FX Unit Yuki: The Henshin Engine - an old school action platformer (2018)

What a lovely mix of titles. Pre-orders opened today and the games are expected to ship between March 15 and April 30. All of the previous JoshProd titles are also up for grabs, so if you missed any, now is your chance. The promotion will be available on RushOnGame.com until midnight, May 15 2019 and the games are also available from the PixelHeart.eu store.

The Dreamcast Games of 2018

Welp! It’s February already and we haven’t even done a year in review for 2018 yet. Shame on us.

If you recall, 2017 was an unprecedented bumper year for Dreamcast games. There was a total of 27 physical releases last -  er.. the year before - including nine brand new titles, various re-releases and packaging variations. Along with the physical releases, we also got out hands on the previously unpublished game Millennium Racer: Y2K Fighters during 2017 as well. It was going to be hard for 2018 to top this lot.

Just what did the year that heralds the 20th anniversary of our little white box have in store for us? Let's take a stroll back down memory lane through the Dreamcast releases of 2018.

Every Dreamcast release of 2018

Review: Battle Crust

There was undoubtedly a period, not too long ago, when the mention of yet another shoot 'em up for the Dreamcast would have brought a deafening sigh from the community. It seemed that for a time, every single post-mortem indie release was another vertical or horizontal shooter (I hasten to add that I'm not a fan of the term 'shmup,' just as I cringe at the term 'Metroidvania'), and even though the majority of them are pleasant, highly competent examples of the genre, overkill set in. This probably came to head in 2015 with the release of Ghost Blade - a game I personally quite enjoyed, but one which also drew derision and ultimately signalled a hiatus for shooters on the system.

Indeed, the reliance on the shoot 'em up has largely vanished from the indie Dreamcast scene, what with JoshProd stepping up to the plate and releasing a bunch of new titles for the Dreamcast with nary a spaceship in sight. That's about to change though, as the latest wave of releases from the French publisher includes a port of Picorinne Soft's well received retro-styled vertical shooter Battle Crust. The game initially launched on Steam back in 2016 and I must admit that prior to learning of the Dreamcast port, I was totally unaware of its existence.

Of all the games to bring to the Dreamcast, it's a curious choice then. Especially when you look at the other titles that are making up this third wave of new releases from JoshProd: Another World, Fade to Black, Bang Bang Busters and The Escapee. However, variety is the spice of life, and if anything JoshProd is proving that Dreamcast gamers are thirsty for a range of experiences from a range of genres; and now that the tsunami of shooters seems to have slowed to a mere trickle, it's actually refreshing to see a new title of this ilk on the Dreamcast.

Hyperbole aside though, games like Battle Crust live and die on the quality of the experience they provide, so enough with the procrastination - let's see if Battle Crust deserves a place in the Dreamcast's ever-growing indie library, and more importantly, in your collection...

JoshProd Asking Fans To Vote On Next Batch Of Dreamcast Releases

It would appear that video game publisher JoshProd has no intentions of slowing down their release schedule and porting of games to the Dreamcast. The company behind the Dreamcast releases of Flashback, The Escapee, 4x4 Jam, Breakers, Fade to Black, Ganryu and many others currently has a poll running on its Facebook page asking fans to rank order vote for the genre of game they’d like to play sooner.

Here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, we welcome pretty much everything Dreamcast related with open arms, particularly new games appearing on the system; however this development seems especially interesting as a few of the categories pictured are from genres we’ve not seen on the platform since the plug was pulled back in the day.

Fade to Black is now officially a Dreamcast title. Review coming soon.

Feel free to follow the link below to JoshProd’s Facebook page and cast your own vote, and let us know in the comments what you want to see. Here at the 'Yard, we actively encourage wild speculation about which games will come to the Dreamcast next. 3D racer? Another 2D shooter? Survival horror? It seems the choice is in our hands...

Check out the poll on the JoshProd Facebook page. Remember you can also order the latest releases from JoshProd at Videogames New York, Play-Asia, Rush on Game and The Bit Station.

The Latest JoshProd Games Are Shipping Now

Hello everyone, I'm Jennifer. I've written for just about every blog dedicated to the Dreamcast for as long as these kinds of blogs existed. You may recognize me by my nickname Mickey, or as the person who can't stick with an internet handle. At various times, I've used the internet handles ChickenO, CaptainDread, Lopantu, Bender, MetaFox, MapleSyrup, JenniBee, Jenni or just Jennifer. I'm sure I missed a few. Now I continue my quest to write for all of the best Dreamcast blogs by blogging for The Dreamcast Junkyard. I start my journey here with some good news.

The JoshProd Facebook page has posted news that their latest Dreamcast games to be published, known as session 3, have begun shipping from RushOnGame. These games are those that are produced in PAL Dreamcast style cases. The games that are produced in US Dreamcast style cases are sold by VideoGamesNewYork, and are slated to release on the 31st of July. In addition, the games that are produced in Japanese Dreamcast style cases are sold by Play-Asia, and are expected to be released in August.

If you aren't sure which games are in the third session of JoshProd releases, here's a refresher.

Another World HD is the high definition version of Another World, a cinematic action-adventure platformer by Eric Chahi that influenced many other games. It was originally released in 1991 for the Atari ST and Amiga, and then ported to many other systems around the world. One of these platforms was the Dreamcast. It received a version using the RAW interpreter by cyx, which was ported by myself and GPF, and was given the blessing of Eric Chahi to release for free in 2005. However, JoshProd's commercial version outdoes the free version, as it is optimized for high definition televisions.

Flashback 2: Fade to Black is the sequel to Flashback, the cinematic action-adventure which was the pseudo-sequel of Another World and was published by JoshProd on Dreamcast last year. Fade to Black is presented in first-person as opposed to the third-person presentation of the original. Originally released in 1995 on DOS, this game takes place 50 years after Flashback. In the game, an alien race named the Morphs have taken over Earth. The hero from the previous game, Conrad Hart, must once again save Earth from the alien menace.

Dreamcast Release Schedule 2018

As reported in March, JoshProd's next batch of Dreamcast titles will be available soon, and will include the likes of sides-scrolling beat-em-up Okinawa Rush, Flashback sequel Fade to Black, vertical shmup Battle Crust, and 2D Adventure game The Escapee. Unlike previous JoshProd batches, none of these are reprints of previous indie games and all are new ports to the Dreamcast, which is terribly exciting.

According to the French online store Rush On Game, these Dreamcast "Unreleases" will be available to order tomorrow, May 3.

In other "new" game news, JoshProd's first release for 2018 might have slipped you by under the radar. After releasing a PAL style reprint in 2017, a US/J-NTSC style release of Ghost Blade was released on March 23. We originally reported this as an exclusive to Video Games New York store, which was taking pre-orders in February, but the game has since showed up at Play-asia.com (link) and The Bit Station (link).

This is the Japanese cover, which is printed on the flip-side of the manual to the US-style cover.

Okinawa Rush Heads Up New Dreamcast Releases

As recently reported over at Dreamcast News, the latest batch of new Dreamcast releases from Josh Prod have been revealed via some great detective work. These new titles follow in the footsteps of Flashback, 4x4 Jam and Breakers et al which were released throughout 2017, and there are some pretty tantalising titles included. Heading up the lineup is the Kickstarter originated Okinawa Rush, a frantic 2D side scrolling beat 'em up with RPG elements and some outstanding action sequences.

Further to this, we can expect Dreamcast ports of the underrated 3D sequel to Flashback, Fade to Black, obscure Amiga adventure game The Escapee and vertically scrolling shmup Battle Crust. Of all the games in the list, Fade to Black is the one which intrigues me the most, and it'll be interesting to see whether it is a port of the PC release of Conrad Hart's continued struggle against alien invaders, or if it is based on the PlayStation version.

Battle Crust is a vertical shmup first released on Steam in 2015 by Picorinne Soft, a small indie developer based in Japan. It has a similar aesthetic to PC Engine shmups like Armed Formation F and looks like it will fit in rather well with the Dreamcast's existing stable of sublime shooters. We do have access to an early beta version of this Dreamcast release, so we'll let you know how it plays very soon. Finally, there is The Escapee from Invictus Games - a very Flashback-esque 2D adventure with a fantastic intro sequence and some of the most deliciously difficult puzzles ever seen in this genre. I know, because I'm one of the three people on Earth who have played it.

JoshProd are yet to officially announce these releases or the dates that they'll be available to order, although we have spoken to Philippe at JoshProd and it looks like there will be more concrete information in late April 2018. We'll have reviews of all of these titles as and when we can get our hands on them. Exciting times, eh?!

Thoughts? Let us know what you think in the comments, on Twitter or on Facebook.

Source: Dreamcast News / JoshProd

2018 Dreamcast Releases Teased By JoshProd

In 2017, France-based publisher JoshProd gave the Dreamcast scene a shot in the arm with a host of new releases for the system. With titles ranging from PSP ports in the form of 4x4 Jam and bespoke Dreamcast re-masters in the form of Flashback, JoshProd really gave us something to shout about. 2018 will see this trend continue, as several games are set to be unveiled as coming to Sega's console in the next 12 months - some of which we're pretty confident most people have never even heard of, let alone sampled.

In the video below, you'll find some indicators as to the games scheduled to be making the leap to the Dreamcast this year and having played a couple of them we can confirm that 2018 is looking like another bright period for the Dreamcast. You'd better get saving - there are some pretty impressive titles coming our way from a range of genres with shmups, side scrolling adventures, beat 'em ups and 3D racers all represented...

Spot anything here you recognise? Naturally, as soon as the lineup is officially announced and solid release dates are confirmed, we'll be sure to let you know; and we'll do our best to review them as and when we are able.

What do you think? Will you be adding any of these to your collection? Let us know in the comments, in our Facebook group or on Twitter. Follow JoshProd on Facebook too.

Related articles:

• Review: Flashback
• Review: 4x4 Jam
• Review: Ganryu
• Review: Breakers

The Dreamcast Games Of 2017

2017 has been something of a bumper year for Dreamcast releases, what with JoshProd, Orion, Retroguru, Alice Dreams and Senile Team all putting out new software on the system. The range and diversity of these titles has been pretty incredible too - especially when you consider that the Dreamcast was officially disowned by Sega well over a decade ago. 2018 promises even more new additions to the ever-growing library, with Intrepid Izzy, Xenocider, Saber Rider, SLaVE and a bunch of other games we have been sworn to secrecy over all due to hit our favourite little white box.

As we near the year's end, I thought it would be fun to have a little look back over the games that were released for the Dreamcast throughout 2017, and give a bit of kudos to those developers and publishers who continue to support the console with new software. The vast majority of the titles that have come to the Dreamcast in a physical case during 2017 have invariably come with high quality bespoke artwork, authentic packaging and - in some cases - unique extras or inventive aesthetic design. And while it's easy to look at some of the releases and pour scorn on them for being fairly basic in terms of visuals or gameplay, the majority of them have been crafted as labours of love, and not with financial gain in mind. For that, all of the creators should be applauded.

It's worth noting that this list only includes games that have been released for the first time this year, so even though games like Ghost Blade, Alice's Mom's Rescue and Sturmwind were given re-releases, they don't count (although I'll make a note of them at the foot of this article). Furthermore, 2017 marks the first time since Karous in 2007 that official third party support has been bequeathed to the Dreamcast, as even though they were published by JoshProd, Visco's games do qualify as official releases owing to the fact that Visco is listed as a third party T-code publisher (thanks to Scott Marley for that nugget of information). Anyway, let's get down to business and look at - in no particular order - the Dreamcast releases of 2017. Man, it still feels weird typing that sentence...