Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000 has been Converted into English

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 mode! You mode! We all mode for i-mode!

I want you to take a little trip with me down repressed memory lane. Cast your mind back. It's 2001. Everyone keeps telling you the Dreamcast is dead, but you're not having any of it. There are AAA titles still to come on the horizon, Dreamcast Magazine is still on the newsstand (barely), and you've got an eye on Lik Sang and Play-Asia for some exclusive import goodness. You're a true believer and you're not jumping the Sega ship yet (or ever). 

But you have a problem. You can't stay tethered to your 15" CRT TV and curled up against the warmth of your precious blue swirl baby. You have to leave the house. You have stupid lectures to attend, and that interminable bus ride awaits. If only there was some kind of portable Sega device you could take with you to while away the drudgery of public transport.

You look to your shiny new Neo Geo Pocket Color, but it's just not Sega enough for you today. You look to your forlorn and dust-covered Game Gear lying under a pile of socks in the back corner. Those capacitors have blown and leaked and it's never coming back to life. In desperation, you fish out the VMU from your Dreamcast controller, but the batteries are dead and there's only so much of Voldo's Volleyball minigame you can take. Out of options, you trudge out into the gloom, resigned to your terrible fate. 

Meanwhile, in Japan...

In June 2001, Sharp released a new generation "J-Phone" - the J-SH07. It was the first J-Phone to be compatible with Java applets, and it also came bundled with Ulala from Space Channel 5 as a kind of virtual pet / avatar on the device.

The more you used your phone, the better your "rating" gets, and as a reward, Ulala dances for you and sometimes changes costumes. You could download more Space Channel 5 related goodies from the "Ulala no Channel J" service.

Stunning Samba De Amigo Custom Dreamcast

A beautiful Samba De Amigo themed paint job on a Dreamcast. If I had the skills with paint I'd love to do a custom Dreamcast like this, but alas..

Win a Dreamcast, Courtesy of SEGA

SEGA of America's free stuff Friday is tomorrow, and the Dreamcast is the grand prize! Details are on SEGA's blog, something involving that Twitter thing wins you the goodies. Here's what SEGA is offering up:

Dreamcast Pack
After many requests for a console giveaway, we’re very happy to giveaway a Dreamcast (!) in its original box, nearly unopened, with controller, demos, and VMU (not in video). We also have a copy of Samba De Amigo, including the original Samba novelty maraca! And last, but certainly not least, is a copy of the original Shenmue Limited Edition in it’s original shrinkwrap – perfect for any collector or someone looking to play this classic Sega game.

Note: the maraca is a keychain and is not for gameplay use! That Shenmue LE is pretty cool too, it has the jukebox music CD included. Check out the Dreamcast centric fun in the video below:



If you can figure out that Twitter, enter to win! (Details on the SEGA Blog)

Samba De Amigo: Wii vs Dreamcast

As you may know, Samba De Amigo was released on the Wii last week. It's been eight years since the Dreamcast version came out and now Sega are giving the game a second chance with this remake developed by Gearbox, who you may know as the guys that ported Half Life to the Dreamcast, amongst other things. In case you're wondering why a developer who mainly works on first person shooters like Brothers in Arms are producing a new Samba De Amigo, it's because they begged Sega to do it for the love of the original game and the potential to finally be more than just a hardly known expensive game. Now that I've had the game for a couple days and have given it a good going over, how does it compare to the Dreamcast releases?

Well it's certainly not just a straight port. Gearbox hacve reworked the game from the ground up. It's all familiar but at the same time completely different. The graphics have been given a major overhaul and the presentation is far more expansive. Mind you, this should be expected when the game is a whole eight years apart from the Dreamcast one. Either way you can tell they loved what they were doing as the presentation is stunning and does the classic justice. No slapped together rubbish here. They've even included stages where you dance alongside Sonic in Green Hill Zone and Ulala from Space Channel 5, which is a lovely bit of fan service.

They've added quite a bit of new content too. There is at least 20 new songs on top of what was already available before, and every mini game from the first version and version 2000 are intact along with a couple more new ones. They even have downloadable content on the way with song packs of three for 500 Wii points (about £3/$5). So far the only songs that seem to be missing from what I can tell are all the Sega music that you could download 9for free) in the DC one, and a song called S.O.S which I was stuck on in version 2000. Maybe they'll be downloadable in the near future.

So everything appears to be great so far, but there is one area to this remake where it doesn't quite match the original: the controls. While the Wii remote and the DC maracas are both motion controlled devices, they both work entirely differently, and so Gearbox has had to adjust how the game works to play it. While the DC game worked based on the height you were holding the maracas, the Wii can not currently do that, so instead the game relays on a hard-to-describe tilt positioning type system that sadly isn't quite as accurate or as responsive. You have to completely re-wire your brain to play this new version. At first I really struggled to nail certain poses and going from one height to another quickly but after a bit of tinkering with the input settings and playing through the training parts I figured them out, unlike these guys in this video below by game Reactor who are clearly doing it wrong.

Still, it's not as good, and can sometimes be frustrating at it takes a lot more thought and perfection than the DC one did. From what I've read on forums it seems to vary from person to person: some people have nailed it and are beating superhard, while others cannot get the hang of it at all. It's definitely not as intuitive as before. personally, I've just started working on hard mode but keep getting my arse kicked with D's and E's. The Dreamcast maracas were not perfect by any means (especially in superhard where it often couldn't keep up with you), but it seems the Wii version is a lot harder to get good at. Maybe if they had waited until the Motion Plus attachment comes out next year, we could have got a more accurate and enjoyable game. Oh well, if this one sells good enough we might get a sequel that uses it.

If you mainly play the game as a party game to play with mates though, it's perfectly fine. With the Wii version it's far easier to set up, and you don't need to blow tons of money to get a two player game started. Once you get used to it Easy and Normal are just as good as the DC version, it's only when you start to handle hard upwards it suffers from problems. With the Wii version you also don't get the problem of wires flying up and smacking you in the face as you can play it with two remotes if you want to (although one remote and a nunchuck works just as fine). As for the sensation of holding two bright red maracas: you can get plastic attachments that make it feel like the DC ones again. Many look a bit shit but this pair by Speedlink look the part, and Sega will be releasing their own official maracas in a months time (why not now I don't know.)

So while the new Wii release is worth a look, it's by no means perfect just yet, mainly because as much as Gearbox tried, the Wii remote's technology is currently not quite good enough to recreate what Sega already did all those years ago. Once again proves that they were ahead of their time. Hopefully Sega will do the right thing and give us an update using motion plus in the near future, but that will only happen if people buy this one.

New Samba de Amigo adds familiar character

Pulled from UK Resistance.

Ulala+ Samba de Amigo = Good

They just need to add some more Dreamcast characters and games and I am probably gonna buy a Wii in a few years.

Plus that new House of the Dead game is looking pretty promising as well.

Hands On Samba De Amigo Wii!

This is straight from the excellent Sega Nerds website... It's making me wonder whether I should just go out and buy it right now, instead of saving my hard earned sterlings for Soul Calibur 4. I've got the original DC version, plus two sets of third party maracas. I've also got the PS2 Sega Superstars version. But it looks so great! I might sneak out and get it right now... Is it released in the UK yet? OK, my PC is being really shit and I cannot present this post as I want it... So I'll just post the video...


Online Videos by Veoh.com

(Samba De Amigo) + (German Beer) = Fun.

Since we are posting Samba de Amigo videos.

Oh how those Germans love the Dreamcast...



See! Samba De Amigo is the Best game to play while drinking beer in ANY county!

German Dreamcast site is now open for business! Eat some sausage, drink a Becks and play some Dreamcast!

Samba De Amigo Dancer

I make no apologies for this post. Not strictly Dreamcast? Check! Poor quality video? Check! Father Krishna posting drunkenly with a small amount of hours before he has to turn up for work? Check! It seems to tick all the boxes in my world right now, so I thought I'd subject you all to it.

Now we all know that the Dreamcast was host to a number of great arcade ports, but how often do you get to see the machine that spawned the home console game? Here we have a dance sequence comparable only to Napoleon Dynamite's stunning opus that won Pedro the election, but this time, it's on Samba De Amigo.


I'll throw up the Gagaman(n)'s wicked moves on the Dreamcast port so you can compare the beauty of playing in the arcade, to the excellence of playing it at home.

So there you go, one great game, two formats and the Wii incarnation isn't even in the shops yet.

BTW, the arcade video was first revealed to me by the most excellent Nick 944, over at the Planet Dreamcast Forum. Our youngest commenter and appreciator of all things Dreamcast, the dude deserves a mention. Nick, G-Man(n), Samba De Amigo and the unknown cat who gives it his all in the arcade, we at the Dreamcast Junkyard salute you.

Chin up, the Dreamcast continues to live on through other consoles!

After hearing that horrible rumour about Gamestation destroying most of their retro stock to make more room for modern games, you may need some cheering up, so here's my crack at it: while you won't be able to buy Dreamcast games in any UK chains anymore (excluding the odd second hand shop you may be lucky enough to live close to), Dreamcast games seem to keep invading the current generation of consoles.


Most recently we've had REZ HD and Ikaruga on Xbox Live Arcade, giving HD gamers the chance to play two of the greatest shooters the Dreamcast ever conceived, and news has been released that Namco plan to release the original Dreamcast Soul Calibur on Live Arcade in anticipation for the upcoming forth installment. Have they really made that many already? It only feels like yesterday that Soul Calibur was rocking my world. Oh wait, that because it was, because it's still arguably the best in the series, and playing it on a 32" TV with a VGA cable is still an absolute wonder to look at, despite not being in HD.

On just about every system most recently we were treated to Sega Superstar Tennis, a Virtua Tennis spin off that salutes Sega's history of great characters (and Shadow), particularly the Dreamcast era that gets a huge representation in it with the inclusion of characters and locations from Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, House of the Dead and Samba De Amigo.The game is great fun and already quite cheap to buy if you haven't already. The games developer Sumo Digital seems to know why we love Sega more than Sega itself.

Speaking of Samba De Amigo, the upcoming Wii version of the game was shown off at a recent Nintendo event, along with some wonderful looking screenshots (but sadly no footage yet) and impressions that were mostly positive (except some complaints from people who can't play the game properly). It is looking beautiful and gives you the option to play the game with two remotes instead of a remote and a nunchuck, the first game to even do this on the Wii so far. While there is nothing quite like shaking two big plastic maracas that rattle, this new game will finally give this much over looked classic a second chance and this time it has the potential to be BIG.

Even the handhelds are not safe from the Dreamcast invasion, with a DS sequel to a personal favorite of mine, Bangai-O, on it's way to the DS, and the PSP getting ports of Crazy Taxi and Power Stone.

These alongside Sega Bass Fishing, House of the Dead 2 + 3 Return, Trigger Heart Exelica on Xbox Live and the Milestone Shooting Collection (Chaos Field, Radilgy and Karous) on the Japanese Import Wii, show that the Dreamcast's amazing library of games is spreading across all formats even today, years after the console stopped production. Be happy in the knowledge that those that never played the Dreamcast are only just now catching up with it's greatness, and that we were years ahead of them. =)

Dreamcast Attention Hotting Up...

For those of us who love the Dreamcast Junkyard, Sega's final console never died. But for those gamers in the mainstream, the Dreamcast was written off as a failure, when Sony's PS2 outstripped it in sales and became the dominant console of it's generation.


However, there seems to be a resurgence of interest in our beloved console of late, largely due to it's most comparable current gen system, the Wii. Why comparable? Well, a quick scroll down these very pages will reveal the Gagaman(n)'s most recent post about how the Wii's motion sensor controls were actually pioneered on the Dreamcast, even though Nintendo are loathe to admit it. This post simply serves to show some video of, and links to, the topics Gagaman(n) has already so eloquently flagged up...





Sega are currently referencing some of it's finest Dreamcast games in new releases or actual straight ports of it's back catalogue. Take Sega Superstar Tennis, running on the Virtua Tennis engine, Dreamcast favourites Ulala (from Space Channel 5) Beat (from Jet Set Radio) and Amigo (from Samba De Amigo) will all be playable characters within the game. Lovely! Look at the intro scene for the game in the video above and weep tears of joy.



But Amigo's star continues to rise with the inevitable re-release of Samba De Amigo for the Wii... As suggested some time ago by DCJY's G-Man, this was a no brainer for the Wii, with the Nunchuck and the Wiimote replacing the maracas. Official Nintendo Magazine had the bloody cheek to gush recently (and I quote...) "It's as if this game was made for the Wii!" Deluded fools! Nintendo have no plans to release maraca peripherals either! BAH!

Oh and by the way, did you receive any royalties for this Gagaman(n)? You bloody should have!


Then there's the Wii release of Sega Bass Fishing. According to the most excellent Sega Nerds blog:



"The game will feature four modes - arcade, tournament practice and nature trip; 15 stages, seven of which are brand new with four from the arcade and Dreamcast versions; and finally, you’ll be hunting down four different types of bass - Florida Large Mouth, Red Eye, Small Mouth and Northern Spike Large Mouth." Fishtastic!



Then for all those Wii Zapper fanatics we see the release of House Of The Dead 2 for the Wii with the imaginatively titled "House Of The Dead 2 & 3 Return" (finally I mention something Gagaman(n) hasn't already!) I've got a couple of copies of the original which I still play regularly... I've never completed the game, maybe I'll have more luck with the Wii version!


Apart from recycling my good friend's posts and (hopefully providing you all with some nice video and links) my point is this... The Dreamcast lives on... And who knows? Maybe some of the Wii generation will be inspired to grab themselves a Dreamcast themselves, to see where all these classics came from and experience some of the 200+ other games that graced the little white box... Any publicity for Sega's finest creation must be good!


Now! What if I were to tell you that Sega were (finally) showing some love for the Dreamcast, after cruelly stopping GD-Rom production, closing down the PSO servers and withdrawing technical support... Well according to Sega Nerds, Sega want to make Border Down an official 2008 Dreamcast release! Read on...




"Earlier today we reported that the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis isn’t quite dead yet all these years later a new game will release on our beloved old friend console. Well I’m happy to report that Sega doesn’t think the Dreamcast is dead yet either!
That’s right, Sega have decided that they want to rerelease Border Down on the Dreamcast, The game which is a Shmup (shoot em up) developed by G-rev was originally released on the Sega NAOMI Arcade board and later ported to the Dreamcast.
It appears the game will be available on the Dreamcasts GD-Rom disks and I assume will come in a DVD style case. It will probably be available from Sega Direct and other Japanese Import websites.
The game will be available from January 17th, 2008. At the price of 7,140 yen."


Big thanks to Sega Nerds and The Gagaman(n) for all the information that I so shamelessly plagiarised in this post!

Another Samba De Amigo post?

Looks like the announcement of the Wii Samba De Amigo has brought the fans of the original out of the woodwork, all showing off why this game always has and always will rock your socks off. here's another Youtube video of someone doing essentially the same as I have just done only far more professionally: he has someone filming him for a start, with a better camera that can actually show the TV screen without going all white. I could probably kick his arse at the game though, if that is not the hard mode he is playing, that is..



So are you running about on Ebay looking for this little beauty yet? I'm sure you're getting sick of hearing about it for a full week. XD

DCJY Video Feature: The Samba De Amigo Boxset

While I'm still on a Samba De Amigo high here (the annocement of the new Wii version has made me go back to the game, playing it for a good few hours over the last week) here's a brand new video feature showcasing the contents of the Maraca boxset as well as showing some gameplay (complete with flailing about and shouting at the telly, looking like a right tit. Sorry about the sound quality that is quite a bit of the loud side at times (the mircophone I was using wasn't that great to be honest), and the picture quality isn't up to scratch because my parents have taken the camcorder with them on holiday so I'm using my EyeToy, funnily enough. Turned into another 9 minute video, this, but hopefully it's an enjoyable 9 mintues..

DCJY Feature - Samba De Amigo
Uploaded by DreamcastJunkyard

Lets celebrate Samba De Amigo some more!

Here's a great video review of Samba De Amigo I found on Youtube just recently by PNTgame. What with the Wii version on it's way this Spring, it's probably wise I get back into this to get the feel for it again. It just won't be the same without the rattling red lumps of plastic though! Hopefully someone will put out an attachment for the Wii remotes that transforms them into maracas, and why not? They make plastic swords, golf clubs and just recently even table tennis paddles. The one time we actually WANT a daft plastic attachment and Sega won't give us it? Anyway, enjoy this brilliant review that not only gives you a darn good analysis of how the game plays, but is also bloody funny.



And while we're at it, here's some more Samba De Amigo videos! For anyone with a Wii: Buy this when it comes out. If you don't own a Wii but can't afford the Dreamcast version: Buy a Wii. If you can't wait: throw the £70-odd at it anyway! Unlike most games that sell for crazy money, it's worth it. I mean, just look at how much fun this guy is having!



If your a real cheap sod though, you could also go with the version found in Sega Superstars on the Playstation 2 using the EyeToy. But...it's just not the same, although maybe it's because I'm not as good at it as this guy..


If you want the best possible experience right now though, you need to get the Japanese expansion release Version 2000, as it added a bunch of new stuff to the game play, like shaking both maracas back and forth in different directions and rotating them in a circle. It also has a rather amusing volleyball mini which is best in 2 player, although you'll want to own the first edition of Samba as well for that one has a bunch of mini games of it's own too, the best of which is WHACK A MOLE. What's not to like?


Oh and the maracas? Instead of buying two of the official sets, you could save money by buying the Cha Cha Amigo third-party maracas as your second pair, which you can buy on Play-Asia cheap! Also: They have lights in them that flash when you shake 'em! How cool is that? I still need to get me a pair of those.

Greatest rhythm game I have ever played. Guitar Hero can kiss my arse.

I called it!

I'm sure many of you remember this article I wrote about Dreamcast games that could be re-worked into motion controlled Wii games. Of course, it didn't take that article for anyone else to think that the maraca rhythm game Samba De Amigo would be a perfect match for the Nintendo system: everyone was thinking it. Luckily, it looks like Sega heard us, as they officially confirmed it today.

SEGA GETS SHAKIN’ WITH SAMBA DE AMIGO

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (October 25 2007) - SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. are excited to announce that they are bringing back Samba De Amigo, the Dreamcast classic that helped to create the now-popular rhythm music genre. Created exclusively for the Wii home video game system, this vibrant and addictive new game lets players shake to the beats of a samba-infused soundtrack comprised of popular new songs as well as fan-favorites from the original game.

Playing as the grinning, sombrero-topped monkey, Amigo, players shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk like maracas, in time with the visual beats of the music on-screen. The perfect party game, Samba De Amigo is packed with lively stages and a host of colorful characters. More details about this exciting new title including a full song listing as well as new special features will be revealed over the next few months.

“The Wii’s controllers enable players to enjoy Samba De Amigo’s unique gameplay without having to purchase an expensive peripheral,” said Rick Naylor, Director of Marketing at SEGA. “Between the music, the quirky art style, and the maraca-shaking players, Samba De Amigo is as much fun to watch as it is to play.”

Developed by acclaimed developer, Gearbox Software, Samba De Amigo will be exclusively available for the Wii in spring 2008. For more information, please visit www.sega.com.

There has been rumors about this spreading like wildfire for a while now, but Sega have finally let the cat (or should I say monkey) out of the bag. The one odd part to it is that the Wii version is being developed by Gearbox, who are mainly known for first person shooters, including the unreleased Dreamcast version of Half-Life, funnily enough. They're also developing another game for Sega based on the Aliens franchise. Hmm.

Still, this is great news for everyone who missed out on the original, rather expensive Dreamcast release (and by everyone I mean 99.99% of the worlds' population) and great news for those who did play it but want more of it!

But there's more! Just a few weeks back another Dreamcast game was reveled to be getting a re-make on the Wii! Sega Bass Fishing! Ha! Looks like Sega is starting to show that they still have som,e brains left and are bringing back the great Dreamcast franchises they left for dead! This along with the upcoming X-Box Live releases of Ikaruga and Rez HD, as well as a follow up to Bangai-O on the DS and Seaman 2 on the PS2, shows just how great the Dreamcast line up was as studios are falling over each other to bring them back to life to excite a new generation of gamers.

(P.S to Sega: Now give us ChuChu Rocket as a Wii Ware title, please!)

Tonight We're Gonna Party Like Its 1999...

Whilst browsing the Planet Dreamcast Forum (which I do on a worryingly regular basis), the subject of 'Dreamcast parties' came up. Now for me a party usually involves me drinking copious amounts of alcohol, until I...

a.) Throw up
b.) Get naked
c.) Soil myself (or a combination of all three...)

So as you can imagine I don't get invited out much! However, it would seem that more sober minded types actually invite large groups of friends round then crank up the old Dreamcast.

So, what games could be played at a Dreamcast party? Let's have a look at some party friendly games shall we? (Oh and I'm not suggesting you play these games sober, Fuck no!)

Samba De Amigo: OK! The obvious choice, perhaps. Before the Wii came out, the Dreamcast had taken rhythm based games to a new level. Using a pair of motion sensor maracas and a grinning, on screen dancing monkey, players could shake along to a number of tunes including the Chumbawumba classic "Tub Thumping" or my own favourite, the theme from Rocky. A series of coloured dots fly out from the middle of the screen toward points at the right or left of the screen, based at the top, bottom or middle. The object of the game involves shaking the maracas in sync with the dots and occasionally striking a pose, which matches that of an, on screen, maraca holding, stick man.


Largely heralded as an innovative and definitive Dreamcast game, Samba De Amigo saw a brief re-emergence on the PS2 as part of the Sega Superstars package. And our very own Gagaman(n) has brought a lot of traffic to the 'Yard, by postulating that this could be a perfect game for re-release on the Wii.


Watching your mates wiggling their maracas after a few shandies is very funny! For a comprehensive analysis of this particular title look here... And if you want to have a go yourself, you can buy the game and some third party maracas here...


Space Channel 5: Who could resist the gorgeous Ulala, roving reporter for the orbiting Space Channel 5? And news just in, the planet has been invaded by a fleet of funky (but evil) aliens who are hypnotising and kidnapping its inhabitants, through the medium of dance!Another rhythm game, Space Channel 5 demands you mash buttons and the D pad in the right sequence, as Ulala dances. Ulala shouts out instructions that you have to follow... ("Up, down, up, down, shoot, shoot, shoot!") The pace starts off slow, but as you progress through the levels of the game, the sequence of instructions gets more complicated and frantic.



The real party element comes from trying to remember these sequences whilst your brain becomes slowly more sozzled. The graphics and stylisation of this game are fabulous, but the music is what makes it for me. A soundtrack that could perhaps be described as "Retro-Futuristic Lounge music", plays throughout the game. If you successfully follow Ulala's directions you rescue people, if not, the aliens capture them and the music begins to distort out of tune and tempo... absolutely brilliant! Play through the levels and Michael Jackson turns up as Space Michael, but don't let that put you off...

Soul Calibur: This classic weapon based fighter has oft been celebrated on these hallowed pages, so no need to describe its game-play (See Fideo Friday). Suffice to say, that anyone can pick it up and play like an ass kicking ninja on steroids. And your friends will be so blown away by the graphics that you'll have an immediate conversation starter, about how seriously fucking great the Dreamcast is and how it never should have been beaten in the last gen console wars, by an over-hyped black DVD player from those corporate whores at Sony (Ahem!)

Chu Chu Rocket!: Four controllers, a cacophony of colours and a load of manic mice. Chu Chu Rocket! was developed by Sonic Team as the first Online game for the Dreamcast.

"ChuChu Rocket!'s multiplayer mode revolves around up to four players placing arrows on the level at once, trying to direct mice into their own rockets and cats into other players' rockets. Each player can only have three arrows on-screen at a time and cannot place them on other players' arrows or their own arrows. Although a simple concept, this quickly becomes frantic with the relentless speed of the mice and four players fighting over them." (Says Wikipedia)

What's great about this particular title, is that it's quality, but also the cheapest Dreamcast game you can buy... You'll usually be able to snag it for 99p at Gamestation. I think Sega gave it away with the Dreamcast, but as I was too stupid to get one back then you'll have to confirm that for me...

Who Want's To Be A Millionaire?: If you've seen the show, you'll know what this is, a general knowledge multiple choice quiz, where the player (up to four) can gamble ever increasing amounts of cash as questions get harder... Drinking and quizzes go great together, and it's particularly gratifying to see your mates crash and burn at £500,000 by making a cocky assertion when they could have used a life-line.
Speaking of the lifelines, "Ask the audience" gives you a graph showing the most likely answer, "50:50" cuts the multiple choice answers down from four to two. But the "phone a friend" life line is the funniest part of the game. Eidos picked the most rediculous voice actors ever to pose as your fictional chums, and their voices and accents are unintentionally hilarious. The 'dramatic' pauses intended to build up tension are a pain in the arse though, and the voice of host Chris Tarrant, can really get on your tits after a bit...


Loony Tunes Space Race: I could have chosen Wacky Races, Disney's Magical Racing or South Park Rally for this post, as all three games are based on the Mario Kart model of weapons based racing.


The thing that makes this particular game a little bit better than the rest, however, is that rather than driving a vehicle you fly a rocket! This gives the game a feeling of Wipeout, as you defy gravity around the circuit... In four player mode the game becomes hilarious as you use picked up "Acme Brand" weapons to sabotage your mate's progress. I've played this a few times with friends and its a riot if you've knocked a couple of beers back (are you noticing a recurrent theme here??)


This is just a sample of games that are party friendly... I'm sure you know loads more!

Oh! And as I've mentioned before, the Dreamcast can DJ at your party with its MP3 peripheral and a stereo hook up. Top banana!

Samba De Amigo: Inside Out

After days of bouncing off the walls since I forked out £75 for it, the Samba De Amigo box set arrived this morning, and what a wonderful box set it is. The previous owner of the game had only played it a couple times, so everything was in next to perfect condition. The game itself is, as expected, a real blast and makes the DDR games and it's mat look rather old-hat (although the mat and Space Channel 5 is still a brilliant combination) but rather then just state the obvious with a review and screenshots, I'm going to give you a full run down of what exactly you get in the box.

First thing you notice is the beautiful artwork on the box itself. Unlike most of the Dreamcast boxes which are a minimalist (but still rather cool) blue with huge white text, this box has the characters plastered all over the front and really looks something up on your shelf. I certainly won't be stuffing this in the loft in a hurry.

Open the box up and all this stuff is found inside. All nicely bubble wrapped it was, and everything is pristine, which is nice.

The bright red maracas are the first thing you see upon opening the box. To my surprise they even have a rattle in them, which you can remove with a screwdriver if you wish, and replace in-game with SFX, of which there are loads to unlock. They both have a yellow button on them for menu hopping, but shaking is what these babies are all about.

Now this is the piece which makes the set cost an arm and a leg. This is the sensor device that sits in front of your feet and registers how high the maracas you are holding are. The maracas plug into the back of this, and the whole device plugs into the controller port.

The sensor has Velcro underneath it so it can attach itself to this rather funky mat. Unlike the DDR mat this isn't used for any of the controls, but as a guide of the standing range. It also makes it feel just that more like owning the arcade cabinet.

And here are all the pieces of the controller linked up. It looks a lot more complex than it is, and the wires don't get in the way like you would think they would.

Then of course there's the game itself. The PAL version of the game was, unlike the Japanese and American versions, not released separately from the controller, so you won't find this on it's own. The box art is more minimalist than the NTSC versions too, and for the small case it works better than trying to cram all the characters into such a small space plus, like the PAL Crazy Taxi art, the yellow goes well with the blue case.

Even the controller instruction manual is full of happiness and joy. Just look as this crazy little guy featured in it. His so happy his smile is bigger than his feet.

Ok, so the sombrero, modelled here by a Sonic doll isn't included in he package, but I've owned this sombrero for a while now and I got it back out of the loft for such an occasion. I originally purchased it for a few quid out of a party junk shop for an animation I made once, but since then it's become my official party hat. Along with Afros, I have a funnyobsession with Sombrero's. Plus with this I'm just one step closer to being the mirror of the dancing monkey on the screen. All I need now is more body hair and some daft clothes.

Now, there are many reasons why this is quite possibly the happiest video game ever invented, and if it was released on a current-gen console would be a Blue Skies winner, but here's a short list:

* Music that really makes you want to boogie. No dreary trance pap here.
* Downloadable music from Sonic, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Outrun, Fantasy Zone and After Burner (nab 'em off VMUTool)
* A dancing freaking monkey, who if you play well goes ape-shit bonkers with glee.
* More colours on the screen at any one time then looking through a rainbow.
* A Leopard duo with the names Chumba and Wumba.
* A Reel Big Fish cover of Take on Me.
* Sega trademark engrish up there with Marine Fishing's. SERECT A MUSIIIKK.
* Did I mention the dancing monkey?
* Unlike DDR, it's actually easy to get into.
* Unlike DDR, it's actually fun even if you can't dance for toffee.
* It's exercise that isn't laborious.
* DANCING MONKEY.

This game is in simple terms everything I love about gaming, and everything I love about Sega. They had better make a sequel for the Nintendo Wii, seeing as all you would need is to of the remotes, although even that wouldn't be quite as fun as shaking two blight red plastic rattles. If you have the money to splash out on this (thanks to some successful boot sales a little while back, I did), make sure you do. Put the purchase of this game on your list of things to do before you die. Unless you're a hermit who is too obese to stand up and doesn‘t have a happy cell in your body, you will enjoy every minute of this game.

One last thing: as I always like to do when I get a new piece of kit to use for my Dreamcast, I tested it out on a few other games it wasn't made for to see if I can find some little jewels of gaming. It's happened before. I found out at DCemu forums that Mr. Driller and REZ were supposed to work well for it (as well as Soul Calibur although I still don't have a new copy of that) so those were the first I tried.

Mr. Driller
This game does in fact pretty well with the Maracas. Shaking in the direction you want makes the little pink bloke on the screen drill in that direction, although you have to pretty much do the exact same thing with both maracas to do so, over wise he gets confused and drills in the wrong direction. Takes some getting used to.
MARACA TEST STATUS: Worth a go, I guess.

REZ
I don't own a proper copy of this just yet (you seen how much it goes for on Ebay?), but I used my pirate copy (it's a rare game, so shut it) and unfortunately this game didn't work with it too well at all. For starters you can't navigate through the menu's at all, and in-game even though you can move the cursor about fine, using the maracas to do so is just too slow, plus you can't hold a shake as such to shoot multiple enemies, so it's pretty pointless.
MARACA TEST STATUS: Pedestrian pace, not worth it.

Space Channel 5
Maybe I was expecting too much for this game to work well with the maracas as well, after the grand success of playing the game with a DDR mat, but I had a go anyway. You could shoot fine, but the directions don't work at all.
MARACA TEST STATUS: Ulala had fallen to sleep at the job.

DDR 2nd Mix
Seeing as DDR is just up-down-left-right movement, I had a go at this, seeing as I would have a better chance at the game using my arms then my feet. You can't navigate the menu's with it, and while the down and right can be pulled off perfectly enough, the up and left just don't register at all. Bah, almost had it.
MARACA TEST STATUS: Terrance is missing two legs.

So saly not much success there, although I might try more tomorrow. I'll leave you with this link of a homebrew maraca project I found by accident while searching for Samba De Amigo images the other day: Viva La Samba.