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