10th Anniversary Competition Bonus Stage - Winners!

Once again, massive thanks to Play-Asia.com for supplying us with the prizes for this, our final 10th anniversary competition; and thanks to everyone who entered. The VMU images seem to have flummoxed most of you (it wasn't meant to be easy!), but that said most of you got the vast majority of them right. So well done. Before we announce the winners, here are the answers:

How many did you get right? In truth, nobody got them all 100% correct but as stated in the original post, if that happened, the entrants with the next best number of correct answers would be crowned winners and recieve a prize. And so here they are:

1st Prize Winners: Mike Lodato & Alex Young

Runners Up: Yu Kajima, Ricardo Almeida & Anna Frohling

Well done to you all, and thanks again to Play-Asia.com for supplying us with copies of Dux and ReDux. Winners will also get a copy of our DCJY Collectors Guide. We hope you enjoyed the competition, and remember: keep dreaming!

Pier Solar Sega Dreamcast Version First Look

Here's a quick look at Pier Solar on the Sega Dreamcast! As you can see the pixels are all there, but I never found out how to hunt those evil bunny rabbits. Next time they'll get what's coming to them...

Apologies for the wonky sound. My Snowball mic is on the way out. Time to get a better setup.

Rez Infinite Coming To PS4

Rez is one of the Dreamcast's most iconic titles and the blend of trippy visuals and great music mean it is still a favourite with many gamers. The game has been re-released several times since the Dreamcast original in 2001, with PlayStation 2 and HD remakes but now Tetsuya Mizaguchi's musical shooter is heading to the PlayStation 4 with full 1080 HD visuals and VR support. Check out IGN's video below of the Rez Infinite reveal at the recent PlayStation Experience press conference.

It is quite ironic that after all this time, we are still seeing titles that started on the Dreamcast being brought to a new audience in 2015. You can read more about Rez Infinite at the PlayStation Europe blog here. Also, thanks to Ted for the heads up on this.

Official Dreamcast Keyring

Last week I received a small package and inside was a random Dreamcast-related item I bought off eBay. I wasn't totally sure what it was, but after I made this video (and also contacted the seller), it became apparent that it is in fact a somewhat rare, and totally official Dreamcast branded keyring that was given exclusively to staff of Sega Europe back in the day. The seller is an ex-employee and had been using it as a keyring up until the day they decided to flog it. I've never seen a keyring of this design, hence my bafflement at the thing once it appeared in the mail, but I thought it might be cool to share some images of it. The main body is made of solid metal (I'm not sure what type) and is quite weighty, and the wire has unscrewable ends that allow you to loop it through your keys. As I said, I've never seen a keyring of this design before, and certainly not one that's branded with the Dreamcast logo (it appears to be engraved onto the metal). Do you have one of these? Do you know anything more about it? Let us know in the comments!

An Open Letter To Discotek Media

Dear Discotek Media,

Congratulations on securing the rights to release Hi☆sCoool! SeHa Girls on physical media in North America (and by default, the rest of Western civilisation). As self-confessed Sega fans, we are eagerly awaiting this release and look forward to the extra content and interviews you will be including alongside the full 13 episode series.

We suspect you guys and gals may also be big Sega fans yourselves, as many of the older series you've published have ties to classic Sega titles as well, such as Fist of the North Star, Golgo 13: The Professional, and Super Dimension Century Orguss. There is certainly a lot of scope for overlap between the Sega and Anime fandoms and markets.


Fist of the North Star (aka Hokuto no Ken) was released as
Black Belt in Western markets. 

This is why we are penning this open letter. There is an exciting opportunity for you to capitalise on the recent “Dreamcast Renaissance.” No less than six new independently published games were released this year, two successful kickstarter campaigns funded additional games for the coming years, and the phenomenal success of Shenmue III took everyone by surprise and elevated Sega and Dreamcast nostalgia back into the mainstream consciousness. The Dreamcast is once again hot property and its star will only continue to rise.

DreamPod - Episode 20

iTunes
Stitcher
Buzzsprout
UK Podcast Directory

Massive thanks to Carlos for taking part in this episode. For further information on Xenocider and AMEBA, be sure to visit Retro Sumus' official website, Twitter and Facebook. You can also check out Dreamcast.es here and read all about Retro Barcelona here. Enjoy amigos!

MSR Alpha Gameplay Footage

A few posts ago we looked at the newly-discovered alpha version of Bizarre Creations' exemplary Dreamcast driving sim Metropolis Street Racer. James, the owner of the GD kindly sent me some gameplay footage of this November 1999 alpha which he recorded from his TV, and so I set about creating a little video showing some of the more interesting aspects.

Below you will find the fruits of our combined efforts, and the video highlights some interesting things from this early version of MSR that are missing from the final build. For instance, the 'lens flare' effect from the vehicle brake lights and the real-world shop front textures. Other things such as the audio placeholders, the real-life recordings of actual radio stations (complete with traffic updates for the M4 and British Telecom adverts) and a very early recording of Live Your Life as sung by Richard Jaques in what sounds like a broom cupboard. Anyway, enjoy the video.

A Quick Look At Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu

Of all the popular American sports, ice hockey is probably my favourite. I know other countries (including the UK) play ice hockey and have domestic leagues, but for me the NHL is the go-to for fast, ice-based violence/fun; and the similarities it shares with soccer make it quite easy for me to enjoy. There are two teams, two goals, two goalkeepers, and a thing that needs to be put past said 'keeper to score a point. Simple.

At the other end of the spectrum, NFL - or American Football - is the least penetrable to me. To my stupid foreign eyes it looks like a chaotic mishmash of rugby and Gaelic football, two other sports I have very little interest in. Sandwiched betwixt these extremes like two slabs of pastrami are basketball and baseball. Basketball is alright, but it just seems like the teams take it in turn to score (yawn), and baseball is just rounders with a bigger bat and 90,000 screaming drunks lining the field (probably). Oh, and there was a film starring Kevin Costner about it once. I think it was called The Postman. But I digress.

T3's Sega Dreamcast Anniversary Special

November 27th 1998 marked the Japanese release of the Dreamcast. It was a momentous occasion, and while not on the same level of notoriety as the bat-shit crazy European launch that featured drunken cameos from Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Verne Troyer, it's still an important event. 

As it's November 27th 2015, the 17th birthday of the Dreamcast, T3.com has featured the story as one of its main articles. In the name of transparency, I must admit that it was written by me and the process involved the laying out of most of my peripherals and random Dreamcast components all over the living room table so they could be photographed (much to the annoyance of my girlfriend), but thanks must go to Rob Jones for asking me to write a feature for such a prestigious website. If you don't know, T3 is one of the world's foremost technology and gadget magazines and websites and is published by Future Publishing. You can find the article here.

16ths: The Dreamcast Start-Up Theme

Hey! I started doing YouTube videos just this past year, and one of the series I do is about short pieces in video game music. The Dreamcast's boot tune is one such piece. Even though some older systems had musical start-ups, most of the others weren't as good - certainly, they probably didn't have the same caliber of composer. Anyway, prologue aside, here's the video:

Sega Central Features The DCJY Collectors Guide

Sega Central is Sega Europe's regular YouTube series in which presenter Dan gives details of competitions and shares Sega-centric news and developments. The latest episode offers viewers the chance to win some great Sega-related prizes and also looks briefly at the upcoming Warhammer: Night Goblins, but by far the best bit - to us anyway - is that the Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide gets a mention! Fame, fortune and stardom...at last! Well, almost. The video is below, but remember you can also purchase the Guide (which also doubles up as an incredible Christmas present, I hasten to add) by moving your mouse pointer thingy and clicking here.

Massive thanks to the lovely people at Sega Europe for the shout out, make sure you go and subscribe to the YouTube channel after reading this! Meanwhile, I'm off to go and have the Sega logo tattooed onto my forehead.

We See In Pixels

This week I was privileged enough to guest on the brilliant We See In Pixels podcast. While the normal state of play on the podcast is to focus on modern gaming news and releases, regular hosts Mike, Jas and Amy do occasionally discuss retro games and systems. As the Dreamcast is enjoying something of a renaissance at present, I was asked if I'd like to appear on the show and wax lyrical about our favourite white box of tricks, and naturally I said yes! Being a regular listener of the podcast anyway, it was something of an honour to be asked to guest host, and in turn I'd be honoured if you'd take the time to go and have a listen to We See In Pixels Episode 24: The Dreamcast...cast.

You can also find and subscribe to We See In Pixels on iTunes here.

A Quick Look At The Dreamconnector

For some reason, the notion of using peripherals designed for another console with the Dreamcast has always fascinated me. Much like emulation, it's the idea of tricking the hardware into doing something it wasn't intended to do. Stupid machine. Look at it, doing my bidding. Oh how I laugh at the stupidity of machines. And, until Skynet gains self awareness and smites me for my hubris I shall continue with my arrogant taunting. To this end I recently purchased the Dreamconnector, a cool little device hailing from China that promises to allow the user the God-like power to trick the idiot Dreamcast into accepting Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, PC PS/2 keyboards and even steering wheels as legitimate input devices.

Who's 'thinking' now? Eh?! And as I stand here in my pants screaming hysterically at an inanimate console, I find myself and return to a reality in which I'm aware that a device called Total Control also exists, but as far as I know it doesn't allow for the use of a PS/2 keyboard as well as controllers.

10th Anniversary Competition: Bonus Stage - In Association With Play-Asia.com

***Competition Now Closed***

Earlier in 2015 we celebrated the Junkyard's 10th year in existence with a series of three competitions in which entrants could win a limited edition Dreamcast Collection vinyl record. These were supplied by our good friends at Sega Europe and the triumvirate of triumphant winners produced the goods when it mattered. Competition 1 was won by James Steel for his awesome Dreamcast montage, competition 2 was won by Ricardo Almeida for guessing all the games, and competition 3 was won by João Borba for his outstanding time attack performance in Sega Rally 2. Rounds of applause were initiated, party poppers were pulled and everyone had a jolly old time. Huzzah!

The thing is, the actual 10th anniversary of this hallowed blog occurs on the 7th of December and we thought it was worth celebrating the momentous occasion with another competition. A bonus stage, if you will. And so, with the help of online super store Play-Asia.com, we are very excited to announce that we're wheeling out the bunting for one last time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Dreamcast Junkyard 10th Anniversary Competition: Bonus Stage!

Once again, massive thanks to Play-Asia.com for supplying the prizes for this celebration of all things Dreamcast. If you're not familiar with Play-Asia.com then you must have been living under a particularly large rock for the last decade, as they are probably the number one retailer (and now publisher) of new, independent Dreamcast games anywhere on the planet. Want proof? Go here and look at the selection on offer. Not only that, but Play-Asia.com is regarded as one of the best sources for Japanese games and merchandise across a whole range of other systems too, not just the Dreamcast.

The Gagaman's London Gaming Market Haul

So last weekend I went to the first ever London Gaming Market. Run by the same people who bring you the wonderful Play Expo further up north, it was nice to finally have an event like this nearer my way. I haven't got any photos to share of the event unfortunately but there was two reasons for this:

• It was quite a small venue
• It was very very very crowded

Literally the second the doors opened till near the end when I left around 2pm it was shoulder to shoulder, you could barely move in there! I was afraid it was gonna be like a mad rush to grab bargains with everyone tearing each others eyes out, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Unlike other busy conventions I've been to like EGX and MCM Expo, a majority of people all desperate to have a browse here were polite and courteous and weren't shoving in. I don't think I have both said and heard 'sorry' more times than I had here, heh!

There are photos on the Facebook page for the event, photographed by Alan Chang. You might even spot me in a couple of them!

Dreamcast wise there was quite a lot on offer at the stores, with a good selection of PAL, American and Japanese game and a few nice boxed systems and accessories like the Mr. Yukawa box console and a boxed arcade stick. I wouldn't say I spotted much in the way of rare games per say, certainly not anything from my most wanted list, but I still managed to spend quite a bit of money in total on a few curiosities.

One thing that is great about the Dreamcast is there is still a lot of games that can be picked up for less than a tenner, of which every game I grabbed were around that price. I particularly wanted to grab a few American games as they don't come up quite as often, and postage from America is usually too expensive. I bought a majority of my games from Console Passion, who had the biggest selection and some of the fairest prices.

Here was my total haul, though considering where we are you're only interested in the Dreamcast games right? I've given each game I picked up a go so here's my first impressions on all of them, after the jump!

The Dreamcast 2016 Calendar

Tokyo Game Show 2015 seemed to feature quite bit of retro tat, some of which was Dreamcast-branded. Remember those hideous shoes? Exactly. Some of the stuff on sale was decidedly less garish though - the Dreamcast desk calendar for example. Regular reader and all-round good egg Ross (he who sent me the Twin Stick from Japan) happened to bag one of these lesser-spotted calendars and overcame extreme technological difficulties over in the Land of the Rising Sun (that is, no internet connection at home. Luddite) to scan and email me the various monthly 'pages' that make up the 128-bits of the year 2016. Or something. Oh, and before you start foaming all over your keyboard I know the Dreamcast is technically 32-bit. Anyway, here's the calendar in all it's glory:

In case you're wondering, the game featured on January's page is Otsukare! Guru Guru Onsen - a Japan-only collection of online mini-games like Trumps, Mahjong and Shougi (a type of Japanese chess). These calendars have appeared on eBay for quite astronomical sums in recent weeks, but Ross assures me they were on sale for ¥700 - which is about £3.75 in real money. Beware of eBay crooks!

Who Dat? Dreamcast: Not the Console - the Anime Lady!

Did anyone here watch the anime SEGA Hard Girls last year? It was a short lived 13-episode series of only 11 minutes a pop, and starred the Mega Drive, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast as school girls attending a Sega high school where they are warped into games like Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio and Virtua Fighter to earn medals. It's a very odd premise, and I'm really surprised that in this day and age, and so long after Sega stopped making consoles that they would make something like this. That said, it is so full of in-jokes for hardcore Sega fans it's hard not to like.

This video by friend of mine DiGi Valentine is a review/analysis of sorts of the character that represents the Dreamcast, detailing her design, personality and importance to the anime series. DiGi does a particularly good job of explaining her ditzy, zany attidtude attributed to the fact that she has a built in modem like the console. If you liked the video, go to DiGi's channel to see more character reviews including plenty of other Dreamcast icons such as Ryo from Shenmue, several Street Fighters and even Big the Cat.