Colin McRae Rally 2.0 Revealed

Colin McRae Rally 2.0 for Dreamcast is a game that vanished from release schedules faster than Lord Lucan disappeared after his children's nanny was bludgeoned to death. As a massive fan of driving games, and rally games in particular, when it was canned I really did feel dejected. The PlayStation Colin McRae games are still some of my favourites in the genre (we don't talk about DiRT: Showdown) and the thought of being able to enjoy a graphically superior port with added gameplay modes excited me no end.

Alas, Codemasters decided that work on the game would be cancelled and with that the dream of a proper rally simulation on the Dreamcast died. Widely thought to be a 'lost' Dreamcast game, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 for Dreamcast has been the stuff of forum rumours ever since, but I am thrilled to announce I have had the pleasure of sampling the game...and I took footage to prove it. It's in no way complete (around 30%) and there's not a lot to it - just one track and some options (plus it requires a specific VMU to run) - but it is playable and apart from some slowdown is every bit as good as you would expect.

Developer Interview: Alice Dreams Tournament

Alice Dreams Tournament hit its Kickstarter goal in little more than a day, and it isn't really a surprise. This homage to local multi-player games of yesteryear has outstanding 2D visuals, a multitude of inventive game modes and a brand new use for the humble VMU. The Dreamcast Junkyard backed the project almost immediately and we look forward to being able to play (and review) Alice Dreams Tournament when it launches. In the meantime however, we caught up with lead programmer Julien Desquenne to ask a few questions about the history of the game, the Bomberman series and (naturally) if he knows the identity of the legendary Dreamcast barber...

The likeness is uncanny!

DCJY: Could you tell us a little bit about who makes up the Alice Dreams Tournament team and how you got together? 

Julien Desquenne: Our team consists of Nicolas Pochet the graphic designer and me, Julien Desquenne the programmer.  We met in 2003. In fact, I began to program a platform game and I was looking for a graphic designer to help me on the graphic parts. I really wanted to realize this game on Dreamcast. So I posted my research of a graphist on a Dreamcast French forum (dcreload.fr) and Nicolas replied very quickly and introduced me to his drawings. I was very impressed by his artistic talent and we decided to work on a common project.

Dreamcast Partners Club Welcome Pack (With English Translation)

The Dreamcast Partners Club was a Japan-only membership club that Sega offered to subscribers, and gave Dreamcast owners access to exclusive content. This content was mainly delivered in the form of the Dreamcast Express demo discs, but also allowed members to collect Dream Point Bank credits that could be exchanged for swirl-branded trinkets, peripherals and the teeth of long-dead warrior kings. Here in Europe, we never got the option to join the Partners Club (and neither did US gamers), so it remains something of an unknown chapter in Dreamcast folklore to many.

This bank is more trustworthy than most.

Thanks to a reader called James though, we can now show you what you would have received in the post as a welcome to the Dreamcast Partners Club had you taken the plunge and signed up. It's mainly the usual stuff you'd expect - membership cards and welcome letters and the like, but there's also a copy of that bizarre Yukawa puzzle game and an intriguing VHS tape. James has promised to get the tape digitised and uploaded to YouTube asap so that we can share it here, but in the meantime cast your peepers over the rest of this intriguing letterbox spam Dreamcast paraphernalia...

Will a Dreamcast Lightgun Work on a Sega Game Gear Screen?

It was a very important question.  So I put it to the test.

Review: Fruit'Y

We recently reported that a new puzzler, Fruit'Y had been released for the Dreamcast and that it was available as a fully boxed game with a nice printed disc. The fact that it retails at €2.99 meant that it was an instant purchase for me, and it only took a couple of days to arrive in a nice padded envelope all the way from mainland Europe. After Ghost Blade and Volgarr the Viking, this is the third newly-released game I've had the pleasure of popping into one of my Dreamcasts this year, so let's take a closer look at what the fuss is all about.

Fruit'Y is actually a freeware game that is available to download from the Retroguru website, but I decided to visit the Dragon Box shop and buy a physical copy because (as mentioned) it's a new game for less than the price of a Pot Noodle multi-pack. And I'm pretty sure that playing Fruit'Y won't give me extreme constipation followed by a bout of violent, explosive diarrhoea...although this is yet to be confirmed.

The Games That Never Were: Episode 5

We've featured every episode of Pcwzrd13's The Games That Never Were here at the Junkyard, and this weekend saw the release of the long-awaited fifth instalment. The series (as you'd expect from the name) takes a look at Dreamcast games that were teased but never found their way onto the system with a full release.

Episode 5 continues the trend, and investigates some pretty intriguing cancelled games. This time the series casts an eye over such gems as Promethian Designs' Picassio, PC favourite Outcast, Quark from Quantic Dreams, Dee Dee Planet from Dori Dock and Spiral Nightmare from Sega.

Thanks again to Pcwzrd13 for putting this awesome series together and offering us yet another glimpse of some titles that could have made the Dreamcast's library even more impressive than it already is. You can read more about the series (and watch the other episodes) here and here. 

Be sure to subscribe to Pcwzrd13's YouTube channel if you haven't already!

Play Expo Manchester 2015 Recap

So Play Expo Manchester came and went in something of a blur. It was fantastic to finally attend an event and bring the Dreamcast to the masses of gaming fans who maybe never owned one or are too young to even remember it. Not only that, it was brilliant to be able to speak to people who listen to the DreamPod and who are active members of the many Dreamcast forums, communities and Facebook groups (including our own!) around the web.

The DCJY Team - Tom, Gaz, Rob and Martin

We didn't have a massive presence at Play Expo - as a relatively small concern we were allotted two tables on the periphery of the Re:Play retro gaming section, but we still managed to attract a lot of traffic. We had two CRT TVs, a giant VGA-enabled LCD and a proper VGA monitor. Hooked up to the LCD we had a powerful sound system that really enhanced the experience for those people who got to try out Rez.

Midsummer: Duranik's New Dreamcast Game?

I feel like a bit of a click-baiter writing this because it's not really a story. It's the kind of non-news that tabloids wheel out on a particularly slow day, where the only thing they have to report is a missing cat in a sleepy village somewhere. Or when supermarkets start charging 5p for a carrier bag.

As reported over at Dreamcast News, the next Deamcast game from Sturmwind developer Duranik could well have had its name - or at least a codename - leaked/teased: Midsummer. It's a curious moniker, and doesn't really hint at what type of game it may turn out to be (although that said Sturmwind doesn't make much sense taken on its own, either), indeed the story of how it was discovered is actually more intriguing.

Duranik are also well known for supporting the Atari Lynx (and Sturmwind started life on the Jaguar CD, fact fans) and it transpires that their recent release Alpine Games featured a QR code on the back of the box. Scanning this QR code takes inquisitive users to a website where a bizarre Aztec-style mask smiles menacingly out, while a line of text reads 'follow the line.' The url gives it away though, as you'll see if you follow this link.

And that's it. There really is no more to this story. And that's why I feel like a click-baiter. Coming up next: This Local Woman Makes £450 A Day - Click Here To Find Out How!

Thanks to Pcwzrd13 for the heads up on this.

Get Back Online With DreamPi

Online functionality was one of the the main selling points of the Dreamcast, but in the here and now, playing online-enabled games with Sega's final system is something that is out of reach for many a gamer. There are lots of Dreamcast games that are still playable via the internet and new dedicated servers are popping up all the time, but unless you have a broadband adopter or some other more convoluted means to get your console connected to the internet, offline gaming is your lot.

It seems that a clever guy called Luke Benstead has other ideas though, and has created a rather impressive little Raspberry Pi-based device called DreamPi. What does this creation do? Well, it allows the Dreamcast to connect to the internet using the dial-up modem so you can play games online again. Without a dial-up ISP or a Dreamcast broadband adaptor.

DreamPi is a piece of software I've written combined with a standard set of hardware which allows the SEGA Dreamcast to connect to the internet without a dial-up ISP

- Luke Benstead

DreamPod - Episode 16

iTunes
Stitcher
Buzzsprout
UK Podcast Directory

Make sure you check out Fruit'Y, Saber Rider, Volgarr the Viking, Alice Dreams Tournament, Ghost Blade and the DreamConn after listening to this awesome episode! If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a review on iTunes.

New Dreamcast Puzzler Fruit'Y Available Now

It seems like every week we're getting new Dreamcast games these days. We've only just gotten over the sudden arrival of Volgarr The Viking and here we are with yet another new title to get stuck in to. Fruit'Y comes from Retroguru, an indie developer with another Dreamcast puzzler already in their catalogue - Xump. Fruit'Y is a fairly simple-looking game in which you must match the pattern of fruits arranged on a board, and from the release trailer (below) and website looks to be a fairly interesting little game with over 100 levels of increasingly difficult challenges.

The best bit about this new release is that it only costs €2.99/£2.21/$3.36 (plus shipping) and comes on a printed disc in a DVD style case. I've already placed my order so will be giving my thoughts on it when it arrives, but in the meantime here's the release trailer:

It's a really good time to be a Dreamcast owner right now, and it only seems to be getting better. You can grab Fruit'Y here and read more about it at the official Retroguru website.

Source: Dreamcast Today

The Gods Of Olympus

The Olympics. Whether you revel in the excitement of the world’s greatest athletes coming together every four years for a festival of sport; or are already planning a way to escape the non-stop coverage of an overly corporate 2 weeks of men and women hitting balls with sticks or running around in circles, there's no denying that it and gaming have strong ties. Whilst the games have never set the world alight, many a bedroom has been host to a bout of wrist-aching joystick waggling as school friends attempt to show that they are indeed faster over the digital 100m. From Daley Thompson sponsored joystick breakers on the 8-bits, through pad breaking exploits on the Mega Drive and SNES, right through to 90's gaming icons battling it out in strangely mismatched sporting events on the latest Nintendo consoles, the Olympics and Gaming have been bedfellows for some time.

They all bought PS2s at launch. The lamenting went on for years...

The DC didn't escape its own little role in Olympic video gaming, and with Rio 2016 fast approaching, it's time to look back at the trio of Olympics themed games that hit Sega's little box of dreams, and perhaps take time to look at just what the console could deliver when it came to re-creating the Olympic spectacle. 

Review: Ghost Blade - Standard Review

Release date: September 27, 2015

Developer:  Hucast

Genre: Shmup (Vertical scrolling)

Current retail: £30 (Play-Asia.com)

In the second installment of our special two-part Ghost Blade review, the Junkyard takes a look at the game from the perspective of a genre enthusiast. The Novice Review can be found here.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way up top. I am not a shmup wizard. I like the shmup genre and, since the early 1990s, I have played a lot of them. However, while I consider myself relatively in-scene, I am not TASBot and I cannot one-credit Radiant Silvergun or Ikaruga. I like shmups because they were a core genre of my childhood and today, despite the golden era of arcade shooters being over, I still get a small buzz every time I begin a run. I think, simply put, they help me feel young again.

Good, that now said, let’s move into the detail of the review.

Ghost Blade is an easy game. If you are a gamer with even modest shmup skills, then you will have little difficulty beating the game on standard. Within a couple of day's play, I had familiarised myself with the selection of bullet patterns on offer, run the three ships in the hanger and despite being frustrated at times - we will get to that later - reached the end boss almost anti-climatically. The thing is though - none of that bothers me in the slightest and, if I’m being honest, the never ending cycle of debate about whether a shmup is ‘hard enough’ or ‘bullet hell enough’ is just boring to me now.

DreamConn V2.0 Video Review

I was going to do a standard written review of Chis Daioglou's DreamConn V2.0 wireless controller, but I just thought it'd be a bit difficult to convey how awesome it is with words alone. There are only so many times you can copy and paste lists of features and post pictures, so I thought a proper video review was required. Furthermore a video review is much harder for other, more 'mainstream' outlets to lift almost verbatim and pass off as their own work. Below you will find the fruits of my - and Chris's - labours. Enjoy the video.

If you like what you've seen, you can purchase a DreamConn here.

Xbox One Platformer Volgarr The Viking Now On DC

This one slipped in under the radar didn't it? While we were all busy playing Ghost Blade and looking forward to Elysian Shadows, Hypertension and AMEBA, Marc Hall was beavering away porting Xbox One and Steam platformer Volgarr The Viking to Sega's little white box of tricks. I must admit that before learning of this port I wasn't familiar with Volgarr, but from what I've read it is a game that garnered almost universal critical acclaim upon launch in 2013. And yes, you read that right - Volgarr The Viking is an Xbox One and Steam game. Now on the Dreamcast. Pretty impressive stuff.

As stated in the 'Read First or Die' section from the Dreamcast port's website, Marc Hall was allowed access to the game's assets and source code by the original developer Crazy Viking Studios. What this means is that while it is not an official release, the port does have the blessing of the creator so it's all above board. The best bit about all of this? The game is totally free and available to download and burn to a CD-R right flipping now!

Dead Or Alive 2: Final Hits Dreamcast (Updated)

Fan-made mods are just a part of life when it comes to PC gaming, but on consoles - and especially the Dreamcast - they are fairly uncommon. Enter aptly-named modder Green Ranger who has taken it upon himself to heavily modify Tecmo's superb 3D fighter Dead Or Alive 2 and create DOA2: Final.

This project is the result of several years' worth of work and pulls together two previous mods to the game (DOA2 Special Edition and DOA2 Ultimate Edition), and adds lots of new features. These new additions are mainly visual - new character costumes and designs, plus additional character dialogue which allows for new single player storylines. The story in DOA2 was pretty confusing in the first place, so maybe this new narrative will help to make things a little clearer. Here's a full run down of the new features and character costumes added to DOA2: Final:

• New Title Screen that reads - DEAD OR ALIVE 2: FINAL
• Stage Slideshow during Title Screen sequence has been altered
• New music throughout the game - Stages, Training Mode, Mode Select Screen and Ending Credits have new music
• Character dialogue changed extensively to give some fighters new storylines, and also dialogue changed in general to sound less confusing when interacting with characters.
• New/edited costumes for nearly every fighter (costumes from my previous mods were tweaked/updated for this release) 
• DOA3 character stances for Zack and Genfu
• Bass & Tina's storyline now have a new Tina Poster on the brick wall and in Bass' room
• Stage layouts differ for various characters in Story Mode - nice way to spice things up!
• Bigger Dummy file in CDI image to allow for faster load times
• In Versus & Watch Mode the Aerial Garden is automatically night, press R-trigger to access daytime Aerial Garden

Review: Ghost Blade - Novice Review

Release date: September 27, 2015

Developer:  Hucast

Genre: Shmup (Vertical scrolling)

Current retail: £30 (Play-Asia.com)

This is first installment of our two-part review of Hucast's Ghost Blade, from the perspective of a casual shmup player. Part two, which is by a seasoned shmup player and appropriately titled the 'Standard Review' on account of Ghost Blade's two difficulty levels, can be found here.

It's finally here! Hucast's long-awaited vertical shmup has finally shipped, and represents another chapter in the Dreamcast's long and distinguished career as a console that just will not die. Here, in 2015 is a brand new game, complete with a manual and a DVD-style case that would not look out of place nestled amongst the other hi-def indie gems in any current gen system's library. But let's not jump the gun (ghost?). You may have noticed that this review is subtitled 'Novice Review.' That isn't because I'm only reviewing the novice mode found within Ghost Blade (more on that later); it's because I am a self-confessed layman when it comes to shmups. Sure, I've played pretty much all of the shooters on the Dreamcast and have sampled the delights of many a Taito and Irem shmup of yesteryear...but I'm not what you would call an 'expert' on the genre. In truth - I enjoy, but generally suck ass at shmups and so I will be offering my thoughts on this latest Dreamcast release as a complete neutral. I'll be explaining what Ghost Blade does well, what it does badly, how it sounds and how it plays for someone with a moderate level of experience with this type of title.

The genre is incredibly deep and has a massive following online and as such I don't want to pretend to be more knowledgeable than I am; furthermore I don't want to insult the intelligence or experience of those gamers who have poured hours and hours into other shooters, memorising bullet patterns and tactics in order to clinch an elusive high score. What I will do is give my opinion on Ghost Blade and Ghost Blade alone. An honest layman's opinion, if you will.

Fear not though, as another member of the team with slightly more experience than I will be laying down his thoughts for your delectation in part two of our review - imaginatively titled the 'Standard Review' in the coming days. See what we did there? Before you answer that particular rhetorical question, remember that high quality comedy was never guaranteed when you clicked on whichever Google/Twitter/Facebook/Pornhub link brought you to this review. What I mean to say is, if you have a Neo Geo MVS cartridge for a heart and/or brain you may want to wait for that review...but for the time being let's get this show on the road.