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

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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.

DreamConn Wireless Controller Version 2.0

Several weeks ago we had a brief look at the DreamConn wireless controller that popped up on eBay, and after much deliberation came to the conclusion that it looked like a great bit of kit. Featuring an impressive level of homebrew technology and reverse engineering, the DreamConn took an original stock Dreamcast controller and added Bluetooth technology and virtual VMUs amongst other things. Fast forward to the present and the creator of the DreamConn, Chris Diaoglou has produced an updated version with many more features and a lower price point: DreamConn Version 2.0.

Version 2.0 has a whole host of improvements over previous iterations of the DreamConn, the most impressive being the vastly improved battery life - from around 3hrs in V1.0 to 10-14hrs in V2.0. Furthermore, the charging port has been changed from a micro USB to a 3.5mm jack (with a cable included as part of the package). Elsewhere, the LED has been upgraded so that it will now glow red when the battery is low.

DreamPod - Episode 15

My Brother, My Brother and Me Podcast Talks About the Dreamcast

Shenmue III 'Slacker Backer' Opens

As you're (probably) no doubt aware, Shenmue III became the most successful Kickstarter project in the history of the site when it launched a few months ago. Yu Suzuki's third instalment of the much-loved series received over $6m from almost 70,000 backers, but many have questioned if this is enough to fund such an ambitious plan to bring closure to Ryo Hazuki's quest to lay the smackdown on that bastard Lan Di. Regardless, Ys Net have re-opened the Kickstarter with the oddly titled 'Slacker Backer' funding period that will last for three months up until the end of December 2015. As stated in the update on the Shenmue III Kickstarter page, this will allow for extra funding to go towards stretch goals and the like:

The Slacker Backer period will continue through December 31st. While the full game will be completed as promised with the use of the funding collected on Kickstarter, any additional funding collected here will go towards reaching the Stretch Goals to make the game even bigger and deeper.The three month window was set to allow a long enough time to for everyone who wants to support Shenmue III to do so, but short enough to keep the release date on track.

 - Shenmue III Kickstarter

If you were late to the party and want to get in on the Shenmue III action, head over there now and have a look at the various stretch goals and ways to donate. Lan Di is due one hell of an ass kicking and together we can all help Ryo deliver the final boot to his smug face.