Nomad Service Resumed

How do. Whilst it’s true that since my last (proper) update (the last one was shite – I know) I’ve bought more Dreamcast games than were released in total for the pile of decomposing hog remains that is the Tiger Game.com, my ‘working’ erm ‘life’ has been quite ‘hectic,’ and as such my Junkyard related duties have been neglected somewhat. However, this will be rectified posthaste. How so? By telling you what the fuck I’ve been spending the equivalent of a good piss-up on over the last few weeks, that’s how! Well, I say ‘good’ piss-up. What I actually mean is ‘good’ if you’re a ketamin addled, illiterate 16 year old abortion of a child from Salford. Y’see – the total sum of money spent on expanding my already burgeoning archive of Dreamcast games is roughly the same as the amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance that the average hoodie-wearing scrote blows on White Lightning or Pulse Cider over the course of a weekend. So, for those unfamiliar with the rampant social decay in inner-city modern day Britain: about 20 quid. But anyway – The Dreamcast Junkyard is an impartial source of information and as such, all previous comments on chavs, cider, dole and Salford are null and void.

In a revolutionary overhaul of the way I bleat Labrador shit about what I’ve recently bought, I’ve decided to dedicate individual posts to said games. Not only does this allow me to update (almost) daily – it also allows me to wax lyrical in more depth about the game in question, blowing away the notion that maybe, just maybe, I haven’t actually bought the game but merely lifted gameplay details from Wikipedia, bastardized the article and offered it up as my own experience. As a side note, I’d also like to point out that this has never happened in the past. On this site, at least…

The Nomad Soul

PC ports. Bizarre creatures that were touted as being commonplace in the early days of our favourite console’s life. Hidden & Dangerous, Monaco GP2, Incoming…all PC ports. All wank, I hasten to add. But what of The Nomad Soul? A game developed in part by none other than Ziggy Stardust himself. The PC version was quite well received by the gaming press if I remember rightly, so a DC conversion seemed on the cards from the off considering the Windows CE…er…stuff inside the Dreamcast. Quite weird bearing in mind it’s hardly the kind of thing console gamers usually want to play. For that, read Poke-fucking-mon. Or Need For Speed: Underground 9 - Sponsored by Road & Smack (your be-atch up) Magazine.

Giggidy Giggidy - Allll Riiiight!

So, Nomad Soul. You play – strangely – yourself. Yourself invited by a dude called Kay’l (snigger!) to inhabit his body and basically take over his existence in order to discover why his life’s gone to shit in recent weeks. Geez - If I could’ve done that circa August 2003, there’s a strong possibility I’d be approx 87% happier in life right now. The difference between me, circa August 2003, and Kay’l though is that he’s a cop residing in the futuristic alien city of Omikron and I was an unemployed bum living in a gun-crime ridden district of Manchester.

Upon answering Kay'l’s call for help – simply by turning your Dreamcast on, I might add – you are told virtually nothing except that his world is under threat and that you are the only one who can help. Not to put you on the spot or anything. After that, you’re thrust into Kay’l’s 3D, fully explorable world. Forget that the world into which you are ‘thrust’ is a dystopian, segregated, fog ridden metropolis and you’ll be fine. Welcome to the city of Omikron. A city that runs to the dulcet tunes of David Bowie and is encapsulated by an enormous crystal dome – minus Richard O’Brien – that protects its inhabitants from the harsh winter blowing a gale outside. Well, probably more than a gale, but you get the (world destroying) idea.

So, you’re in a foreign body, no idea what the crack is and you’re in a strange alien city. First thing I’d do is hit the bars, check the manhood and then pull a bird - but for the sake of videogame coherence, you are instructed to seek out Kay’l's apartment in order to piece together what it is you’re meant to be doing. From here, you discover that Kay’l is a member of the fuzz (that is, a police officer), disappeared a week ago whilst on duty with his partner, his partner has since turned up brown bread (dead) and that he’s a prime suspect for the murder. Oh, and he’s been assaulted by a demon. Cue much running about trying to find out what happened to your partner, quite why you’ve become Derek Acorah, completing side missions and shagging Kay’l’s missus. Rock on!

Shit jokes and innuendo aside, The Nomad Soul is quite a unique game on the Dreamcast. It’s a sort of paranormal detective story with you cast as the detective. You start with no knowledge of where you are, but through clever use of the in-game computer system (known as the ‘Sneak’) you can piece together a coherent idea of what’s going on and what’s required of you. At heart, The Nomad Soul is a 3D third person adventure but in certain situations the perspective switches – sometimes to first person for shooting sections; and sometimes to side-on for the fighting sections. Shenmue Lite? You bet your ass.

You start the game in a sort of Blade Runner-esque cityscape full of police droids and impolite citizens, but rest assured that the game progresses out of the futuristic squalor. This is because Omikron is quartered into different sections that have their own cultures and technological styles, all of which are completely sealed off from the others to control population. Inevitably, you will get to venture into these alien environs and you’ll also get to migrate bodies – hence the name The Nomad Soul. In an effort not to destroy the storyline for those who have yet to sample the delights of the game, I will desist from revealing all.

Basically, The Nomad Soul is a kick-ass action RPG with slight frame rate issues and crap first person shoot ‘em up sections. Its story is original and the music is supplied by David Bowie. Anything else…? Oh yeah – you get around by calling cabs called Sliders. You can’t actually drive them, they’re controlled by the CPU. Which is a bit shit, hence:

85%

Verdict: The Nomad Soul ROCKS!

Next up? The slightly less impressive Dino Crisis…

Scraping the Barrell

I realise it’s been a while since my last post here at the Junkyard – but fear not! The recent blizzard of clear and blue plastic cases that has been battering my letterbox like a weather-based version of Ricky Hatton will put paid to this dearth of updates over the next few days. In the meantime, I thought you may (or more likely may not) like to see this:

In a maelstrom of ventricle-ceasing boredom, I borrowed – and subsequently only watched half of – possibly the shittest Adam Sandler film (EVER) off a mate last week. It’s called Punch Drunk Love, and even though the DVD box says it’s “Fucking Awesome, you twatting cunt” (sic), it’s actually a load of bollocks about a socially inept cluster fuck who is afraid of (amongst other things) getting intimate with a woman. Yep – it really is that good. Anyhow, the reason I bring this celluloid bowel movement to your collective attention is this: It’s got a Dreamcast in it!

Spotted a DC in a film? Want to share it with the world? Don’t bother – this is just a shite filler until I can be arsed to write about my new stuff.

NB – To the mate who entered my domain, saw my Dreamcast and ran over to it with childlike glee screaming “Wow! Is that an N64?!” – have a word with yourself.

Shopping for a Dreamcast in 2008

Someone needed a Dreamcast and made the trip down to the local swapmeet.

They find a re-packed Dreamcast for $60. With the Wild Thornberries video game! (They knew that it wasn't a game for the Dreamcast. They were just making fun of it. But they really didn't know what a RFU adaptor was...oh these kids today.)

My favorite quotes.

"Why do you want a Dreamcast?"

"Because the PS3 sucks."



This mirrors alot of my experiences with buying Dreamcast stuff. (It's mostly Russian or French and not Spainish being spoken though) You have to go to these places though. You never know what you can find. And, sadly, they are about the only place to find older games in some areas with no independent video game stores that carry retro stuff.

And people are ALWAYS trying to include the wrong system/games in a bundle. WTF? Is it so hard to tell a Dreamcast game from a PS1 game or computer software? Read the side label people!

I should document my next trip to a local flea-market to find Dreamcast stuff.

People still want the Dreamcast though. That is clear.

I just got the unreleased K-Project for my Dreamcast and I have been playing some Expendable as well. Damn Expendable is a fun little game. Pick it up and play a round if you haven't.

Arcade Goodness

This post has been written by Portugese Gaming Guru and Saturn Junkyard correspondent Nebachadnezzar over that his most excellent website Nebachadnezzar's Place of Awesomeness.

But being a diamond geezer, he's let me reproduce it here! Enjoy!

"Featuring several well-know characters from various Capcom titles (only one character was created exclusively for this game), this is pure arcade goodness that plays somewhat like the cult hit Smash TV. Using an overhead camera, you're put in levels that basically consists of just a small area filled with bad guys. After you wipe them out, the "semi-boss" comes and after him the real boss of the stage shows up. You beat the fucker and move on, simple as that.

The downside is that the game is painfully short, ending in (depending on your skills and difficulty level) 20 minutes/half an hour, if not less.Once you beat it for the first time, an artwork gallery shows up, but that's about it. There's no secret characters (actually there is, but they don't need to be unlocked, you just have to figure out how to play with them, and it's worth since we're talking about Megaman and Bulleta from the Darkstalkers series), secret stages or additional play modes.

There's a 2-player mode and nothing else, all you have left to do is beat records or play with all the characters (they play somewhat different, specially when it comes to the special attacks).But despite that this is a great game. The gameplay is solid and as fun as an arcade game gets. It would be better with a dual analog controller, but still the Dreamcast pad gets the job done. Also the graphics are really great, I wonder how this game looks when hooked up to an HDTV through a VGA cable...

Overall this is a great game that I recommend to all you arcade action fans out there.After beating this game (several times), I thought it was time for a more traditional shmup experience, and the first game that came to my mind (don't know exactly why) was Zero Gunner 2, also on the Dreamcast. But wait, that's 2, what about ZG1? The bad thing is, 1 was an arcade game only, there's no console port. The good thing is, it runs almost perfectly using the Model 2 emulator I talked about sometime ago in the Saturn Junkyard!It actually runs even better, since you can play it in full screen mode at a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. That's as much as my monitor can handle!

Talking about gameplay, it plays mostly like any other vertical smhup, the bullet hell variety, except for the fact that you can lock-on to enemies and then move freely around them, even to the point of turning your chooper 180º and shooting down instead of up!This really contributes to differentiate it from the countless other shmups we see and play everyday and it was probably the idea behind the most excellent Under Defeat, one of the last official Dreamcast releases. Other than that, the progression is also interesting. From the main menu you can choose to play every single level in a row, but you can also select from the Europe, Asia and USA "campaigns", each with their own set of 5 levels to beat.

This is great for an arcade game, since you can try the 3 different scenarios at your own will, without having to beat one to have access to the other.The downside is it's difficulty. Yes, it's an arcade game, and at least using an emulator you won't end up broke, but still it could be a little easier at times. Anyway, as long as you're patient and don't forget to add more credits, this is a pretty good shooter to spend an hour or so with. Not to mention you can get both the game and the emulator on the web for free! What are you waiting for? Go grab it now! As always, if anyone needs links or help configuring the emulator, just ask.PS: I just found out that both Cannon Spike and Zero Gunner were developed by the same company, Psikyo. Funny, uh?"