Extremely Angry Dreamcast Fan Hates Simon J and Wants Dreamcast 2. Plus More Dreamcast 2 Videos!

I was hesitant to do a post about this video. It has a ton of misspellings and sub-par editing. Plus the first part does drag on a bit.

Yet the honest feelings of disillusionment and disappointment with Sega really show through. I really don't think that Simon knew what the hell he was getting himself into when he made those remarks about "fanatics" who like the Dreamcast.



Here is some more. A shame really. A bit more editing and it might have fooled more people.





The new Sega "TeraDrive" Dreamcast 2.



I predict a ton of videos like this leading up to 9/9/09.

(I may even make some myself.)

I don't think that most of these people really think that there will be a Dreamcast 2. They are just having some fun.

DCJY Rummage: Rainbow Cotton

I promised I'd try to keep bringing you Rummage videos, and here we are with another new one. Now I have discovered a way to record footage of 60HZ games I will start doing videos of lesser known import titles like this one: Rainbow Cotton, a Japanese only release in which you fly about as a red-head witch hunting for candy with the aid of a bunch of busty fairies.

It's a game that could have been great but is sadly let down a bit but some control flaws. It also perfectly demonstrates how terrible I am at playing at it, as you only get to see three levels and I die a lot. Oh well! Speaking of imports, I today received Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon DX and it is brilliant, another one of those hidden gems there is next to nothing about on this here Internet. Once I've played it more you'll hear more about it.

Play Value looks at the Dreamcast

Not too bad. I disagreed with some points they made. Others were acceptable.

Powerstone was a 2 player game though. It was Powerstone 2 that was 4 player.

In the end I STILL think it was the rampant price slashing during the Dreamcast launch that really screwed stuff up. $250 vs $199? The same amount of people would have bought the Dreamcast for $50 more.

Celebrate the Dreamcast's Birthday!

9 years old today.

Honestly, I did not get the Dreamcast on 9-9-99 but I remember the ads. I do remember playing Soul Calibur with some of my swim teammates during heavy training months. That was the first time I ever saw a Dreamcast and I was enthralled.

In fact I would go on to buy that very same Dreamcast system later on and it would be my very first console system.

The best thing about gaming with the Dreamcast is that I have yet to experience much of what the system has to offer.

Do to the fact that I started my console collection in college I have never had the time to beat many of my favorite Dreamcast games.

Games I have beaten include all of the Resident Evil games, Sword of the Berserk, D2 and many of the fighting games.

Some of the notable games I have not gotten through are House of the Dead 2 (got to the very end a number of times), PSO, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Grind Radio and EGG.

So even though Sega has no official plans to go back into the console business there are plenty of games that I have yet to fully experience.

However, it seems like some fans are looking forward to next year. 9/9/09? I might have to make a video about this.

Retronauts podcast: Dreamcast Special

1up's Retronauts 49th episode of their podcast is a 2 Hour epic focusing (mainly, from about 40 minutes in) on the Dreamcast. Tycho from penny Arcade makes a quest appearance and it's a much listen. Go download it here.

RUMMAGE: Dynamite Cop

Blimey, has it really been a year since I last did a Rummage Video review? Either way, here's a new one for a favorite of mine: Dynamite Cop. I actually started working on this one way back in February/March, but coursework made sure it didn't get worked on for months until just this week where seeing all those Classic game Room videos inspired me to finally finish it off. It may or may not be obvious that the narration throughout was made at completely different times of the year, and while some of it was planned out before hand (like the previous videos), most of it was made up as i went along. Also, this is the longest of my Rummage videos to date: twice as long as any of the others in fact at six and a half minutes. Enjoy!<

Video of Single Player CounterStrike for the Dreamcast

This is still holding my interest.



Depending how skilled the map makers are this could turn out really good.

There is even someone working on making "They Hunger" (a Half Life mod with zombies and monsters) playable on the Dreamcast.

Screwattack and Classic Game Room show their DC love

Screwattack's Video game Vault tends to focus on NES/SNES games, but recently they've gone into a couple Dreamcast games: 18 Wheeler and Space Channel 5, the latter of which is above. I haven't posted the 18 Wheeler one because I can't find myself agreeing that it sucks, because it doesn't. The Space Channel 5 vid is pretty good though, even if it spoils the ending which I'm still no where close to getting near. Oh well.



Elsewhere, the Classic Game Room has returned with a new series on Youtube, which has already featured some quality Dreamcast lovin' in the form of a review for Le mans 24 Hours (one of my personal favorite racers on the system), a THREE PART review of the bat shit mental shooter that is Mars Matrix, and a review of the Dreamcast controller and VMU for good measure.

Mark is doing these on his own now (well, except for his dog who occasionally joins in to nibble on the odd NES controller), but he does an excellent job of showing off what made the Dreamcast so great in these new videos, and taking you back to what owning one back when it released was like. They're all essential viewing especially if you haven't played Le Mans or Mars Matrix before, both of which are rather underrated games. Below is the controller vid and the first part of the Mars Matrix review.

Tilt by Todd Levine.

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/consoles_i_have_known/tilt.php

ILLUSTRATION BY JENNIFER DANIEL

An excellent article from the Morning News.

It details the rise of the off white box and the brief dot-com boom in detail.

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.

Guru Larry's Retro Corner - Shenmue

Do you know where I can find some sailors?

Sega Game Archive Room

http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2008/08/07/the-sega-game-archive/

That's pretty impressive.

It's sad that nobody remembers why such a room was created but it's nice that they are going to let people play the games. Hopefully this will lead people to create some cool games based on past greats. I mean they are making Mega Man 9 in retro format. Why not make some old retro Sega games?

I hope someone is smart enough to look through all those Dreamcast CD-Rs for unreleased games. With all those CD spindles there you KNOW there are some playable releases for titles we never saw.

I would have such a good time in that room. (Then I would try to sneak out with twin sticks under my jacket when I left)

Pulled from Kotaku.

Wind and Water Puzzle Battles Interview

Interview with Yuan-Hsi Chiang: Developer of the World’s Next Dreamcast Game

"Well, it’s a nice console with a dedicated fanbase. When I was younger, I would be extremely grateful when a Super Famicom (SNES) title arrived very late in its life, as it felt more like a tribute than a big commercial project. Many Dreamcast users around the world are really excited about this release! And the market, especially in Japan, is big enough to make it very profitable, which doesn’t hurt one bit!

On a more techie side, the DC is very robust, and supports true 240p RGB, which provides the definite 2D arcade experience. The controller suits the game perfectly, and there are practically no load times. There is also VGA and Arcade Stick support, so you can truly play this game any way you want on DC!"

Via www.siliconera.com


I liked the interview a lot. The guys over at Yuan Works seem to really want to preserve the pixel art that makes retro games so great.

I am also glad to hear that the Japanese market for Dreamcast games is still great enough to generate profit. Hopefully we can see some more games in the future.

Racketboy's List Of Most Valuable Dreamcast Games

The ever wonderful Racketboy continues to service our retro gaming passion with yet another fabulous post about our favourite console. One thing I love about Racket is that he constantly makes consoles such as the Dreamcast and the Saturn look essential in these 360/Wii/PSwhatever times. And as we all know, THEY ARE!!

So you can check out the list of most valuable games here. You can also check out the most relevent Dreamcast games for today here, the games that defined the Dreamcast here, the cheapest Dreamcast games worth your time here.

Oh, and if you are in the mood for a little more Racket browsing, why not check out the best Dreamcast multiplayer/party games here, the sega Dreamcast 2D fighter's library here, the Sega Dreamcast 2D shooters library here, the Dreamcast's essential import list here, the Dreamcast exclusive's list here, and finally the Dreamcast *shudders* ports on other systems here...

We at the Dreamcast Junkyard salute you Racket and applaud your tireless work in keeping our favourite consoles relevent in this ever changing gaming world. Keep up the good work!!!

Oh and BTW, I once had the honour of interviewing the great man for our sister site, The Saturn Junkyard. You can read that post here...

How can you sum up Shenmue?

If you haven't checked out Jonathan "Persona" Kim's webcomic over at GameSetWatch yet you really should...



Also PSO...



Check out his website for more stuff.

Wind and Water Puzzle Battles

A bit of information about the upcoming Dreamcast port of Wind and Water.

Blatantly stolen from the headlines at DCEmu UK http://dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk/

From the Wind and Water website.

"The Dreamcast version will feature a new package design, as well as an extensive manual with new artwork, in both English and Japanese! The final package will resemble closely the pictures you see below:" (Official Site)



It looks like there is gonna be some pretty good packaging for the puzzle game! And it looks like there is going to be VMU support!

Perhaps they could have gone with a DVD case design but the classic CD case looks pretty sweet.

Simon Jeffery Confirms Dreamcast 2, Shenmue 3, and Seaman 2 (on opposite day)

Just remember that this clip was filmed during "opposite day" so everything Mr. Jeffery says is the complete opposite from what he really means!



Wow that's some cold truth there.

"Fanboys" want Shenmue 3? Well, Nintendo doesn't listen to those whiny hardcore gamer peas anymore. So why should Sega listen to Sega fans?

Pulled from Kotaku

Some new Controller bits and bobs.

Got some stuff I've got my hands on as of recent here. First off, a Dreamcast controller I found at a boot sale this weekend which I believe to be rather unusual. For starters it's a bright green. These different coloured controllers are pretty hard to find in the UK as they were onyl sold online, but this is obviously not a European one as it has a orange logo on it, but rather a Japanese one. What makes it's truly unusual though is the little "Millennium 2000" symbol printed on it. Have a closer look.

I looked it up on Dreamcast Gallery, and it looks as though these were made in at least Green and blue, and only sold for a limited time, most likely between December 1999 and January 2000. Even better, the controller is in perfect condition considering it was amongst some guy's standard PAL collection without a box. Only problem now is I have way too many standard DC controllers (a total of 9!) so I'm gonna have to sell off a few. If anyone wants a spare controller or two, I'm selling 3 of them on Ebay right now, as well as a spare fishing controller. I'm holding on to this one though, as at some point I'd like to own one of every colour they did, not including those ridiculously rare patterned ones.

What I especially like about these semi-transparent ones is you can see all the circuitry inside the controller that makes it tick, and if you look closely in that second photo you can see a Sega Logo printed right onto the circuit board. I got a similar black controller a while ago but something tells me it may be fake: there's no Sega logo and the Dreamcast logo font looks different. To solve that issue I took the controller and a official white one apart and part the proper Sega parts in the Black shell, why not?

Meanwhile online I finally decided to purchase a Total Control 3 from Play-Asia, who typically decided to have a 25% off everything sale days after giving them my money. Darn!

So I've been through quite a few of these controller adapters now. First a simple Playstation one, followed by what was supposed to be a PSX and Saturn one but turned out to be PSX and PC keyboards instead, then another Playstation one with a VMU slot that I manged to blow a Dreamcast's controller ports out with (leaving me with a total of 3 dead Dreamcast's out of 5 currently) and finally one with PSX and Saturn but no twin stick compatibility. Bah!

This one however is just for Saturn controllers, but the main reason I bought it was for it's compatibility with Saturn Twin Sticks. You see, Saturn Twin sticks can be bought for about £30 but Dreamcast ones are £50+, but why buy a DC one when you can get the cheaper Saturn one then run it on the Dreamcast as well with a adapter? Is anyone still following this?

So how does it wok with this infamous Virtual On controller? Well, like a charm really, although it hasn't exactly made me any better at the game. Sometimes it seems to confuse a left stick movement to the left as pausing the game but otherwise but that may of just been a dusty connection or something. I also had a go at some other games to see if I could find some magic new control scheme ala the Fishing controller with Virtua Tennis but so far I haven't found anything that really fits the twin stick style. Sadly Bangai-O doesn't let you change all the button mapping, otherwise you could adjust it to have the left stick move the robot and the right to shoot in said direction, which would have been ace. Oh well.

So that's all I have to report as of recent. I still have to sort out those videos I promised you, including a couple new Rummage videos which are about half done.

Bringing the Dream to the kids...

Well it was my friend from the Planet Dreamcast Forums, Sonnyboywilliamson's idea so I kind of feel bad about jumping the gun and beating him to reporting back on the first Dreamcast day that my class have experienced. To cater to numbers I also took in a PS2...

The day started with a Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution tournament. The rule was basically, winner stays on. I started off as my favourite VF character, Kage Maru, confident that I'd have a long run on the top spot, but boy was I wrong... I managed three wins before the most 'challenging' pupil took great delight in unceremoniously dumping me out of the game. A very quiet, well behaved beautiful little girl proved to be the dark horse of the tournament. She notched up eight successive wins as Sarah Bryant, kicking the arses of all the boys who had made her year miserable through their behaviour! Happy days!

The pattern was repeated later in the day on Soul Calibur. DOH! Again, it was the quieter girls who proved to be the martial arts masters. The kids loved the day and we are going to repeat it tomorrow. I might take in Crazy Taxi and Space Channel 5. And then I break up for six lovely weeks! Put that in your pipe and smoke it wage slaves!!!!

The games on offer to the children over the day were:

Dreamcast:Soul Calibur
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Daytona USA 2000

PS2:
VF4 Evolution
PES3
Some Konami Dance Mat game for PS1

Dreamcast vs. Wii

I really liked this video, though I don't actually agree with it's stance. I think that both the 360 and the Wii have a LOT to thank our favourite console for in terms of innovation, but you'd have to be some sort of luddite to think they are inferior systems. Both are great and have a lot to offer current gen gamers, but their roots in Dreamcast soil are glaringly obvious for all to see...

What the above video does very succinctly though, is highlight beautifully what an amazing system the Dreamcast was (is!) I think the fact that the Wii seems to be a platform for Dreamcast re-issues (see last but one post) is not something that damns the Wii, but something that celebrates the Dreamcast.

Hopefully those peeps who are enjoying downloads of Ikaruga on the 360, or loving the re-issue of HOTD2, Sega Bass Fishing, Samba De Amigo etc. on the Wii, might at some point check out eBay and score themselves a Dreamcast for peanuts. Then they will be like me. I got my first Dreamcast three years after it's demise. I've spent the last four years revering it's splendour and buying as many pieces of Dreamcast software and peripherals as my family budget would allow. I've got one Wii, one 360, one PS2 and one Saturn. I've got eight Dreamcasts, (three 'boxed as new') in reserve. I have one next to my 360 and Wii, and in another room one next to my PS2 and Saturn. Guess which console receives the most attention?

Plus I'm waiting for brand new Dreamcast game DUX to be posted through the letterbox as we speak... As gamers, we should reap the benefits of whatever console can satisfy our gaming needs. As Dreamcast lovers we should feel smug to see how the seeds sewn by Sega's last gasp are still reverberating through the current generation. I'm confident that the love shown towards the Dreamcast may well be rewarded. Dreamcast 2 may well become a reality if we all pray hard enough!!

Jet Set Radio Soundtrack

It's not always easy for the team at the DCJY to come up with news for a console that's been 'resting' for the last seven years. My own Dreamcast 'news' since the completion of Gut's Rage has stagnated somewhat. I'm still playing Jet Set Radio, but have become somewhat stuck on the mission of Coin and Cube, finding it hard to wall ride high enough to tag the higher grafitti near the skate park and constantly running out of time or being beaten to a pulp!

Still, I have been lucky enough to obtain the soundtrack to both Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future direct from Japan for under a tenner. This brings my game soundtrack CD collection to three titles. I've got the two titles above plus the soundtrack of Space Channel 5 (which includes remixes of all the tracks you hear in the game.) Now if I could only find a sound track for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, I'd die a happy man...

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

The Dream On Archives @ Dailymotion

You may of noticed in the sidebar I've added a video wall of some sort from the Dailymotion account. This is so you can see all the latest videos uploaded there. What's more, I'm trying to have a quality over quantity thing going on with the video accounts so this week I have put together a complete archive of every Dream On demo video preview they ever did, split into a total of 13 ten minute videos, in chronological order so you can get a rough idea when said games were released.

At time of typing this I have six uploaded with another seven to go. When they are all up there will be over 2 hours worth of Dreamcast footage, from a total of 74 different games! Mind you, for every game that brings back memories of sitting at awe watching them for the first time like Shenmue, there are sleep inducing bore-fests like Sydney 2000, Deep Fighter and WWF Royal Rumble, videos that feel like they go on forever (in fact I would recommend avoiding Part eight completely, it is very boring). Still, this way there doesn't have to be 70-odd videos for each and every trailer, and no one will have to request certain videos from them anymore as they're all here.

Next In plan to upload these to the Youtube account, removing all the separate little ones, just to tidy things up a little. I also plan to do something similar with all those Bleemcast videos, maybe by having a video feature that has small clips of them all rather than ten minutes videos of each. When I get time I also have some Rummage videos to finish off and upload too.

Collection Video! Oh god.

After Caleb made his video showing off all the Dreamcast stuff lying around his house, it inspired me to make a similar video of my own. Of course, that was over a year ago and now I've finally gotten around to it now that for once I don't have Dreamcast stuff waiting in the post, although you'll see a fishing controller in the video I received the day I filmed this.. which I believe was Thursday.
I may not have any of the charm, wit and skill at video blogging as the American Dreamcaster has, but hopefully you'll be able to make out all the mumbly crap that blurts out of my mouth here. I cut it down to just under 10 minutes and added music in a hope that it may be slightly more watchable so er...enjoy?

Just so you know, I have a couple more videos in the works as we speak so er, hopefully they;ll show up at some point if I get around to finishing them. Whoo! And all that.

Jet Set Radio! (or Grind Radio If You'd Prefer...)

Oh my god! Having ponced about all over the next generation, going "Oooohhh! Aren't these graphics lovely?..." and "Wow! These motion controls are really cool!" I've just given Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast a proper play and I'm in love...

Dreamcast June was a little idea I came up with over at one of my favourite hang outs, the PDC Forum. Of course, way back in May it was just a concept. I had no intention of having a Dreamcast only month, but I was painfully aware that my Dreamcast was gathering dust and that with my whopping Dreamcast software collection finally sorted, there were loads of games that I'd spent the Krishna family budget on, that I'd only dipped into, or more criminally never played.

However, after messing about on Crazy Taxi and falling in love with Soul Calibur all over again, playing Manchester United with Sheffield Wednesday (and beating them hands down) on Sega World Wide Soccer 2000 (Euro Edition) and then completing Sword Of The Berserk (Gut's Rage) I realised that Dreamcast June was actually a good idea...

Therefore, I've not touched the Wii or the 360 for over two weeks... All of my unfinished and unexplored games on those consoles remain in that state. I nearly cracked on Monday though, fancying a little dabble on Viking or a little zombie dispatching on Dead Rising...

Or maybe I should have completed No More Heroes? After all I was about to waste the number two assassin... *(note to self... "Were you really? I thought you'd tried to loads of times and kept getting your sorry arse kicked all over the show...)*

But no! My resolve stayed strong and I picked out the original cell shaded epic for my gaming pleasure... Jet Set Radio!

Now here is a game that I've dabbled with in the past. Usually that means completing the tutorial and even once completing the first level, but I never really understood the game or got any good at it.

Well all that's changed. I'm two thirds of the way through Garam's challenge after completing three levels. I'm fucking in love!! What a game! The graphics, the gameplay, the soundtrack!!! Fan-fucking-tastic!!!!

Now if you want to know more about it please click on this link...

For now I'll just state that this has been one of my gaming highlights this year. There is so much Dreamcast goodness that I've only ever played in a half arsed fashion, or more ashamedly, not at all...

Here's a little video to make you all go and play it. Right now! (BTW... What should I play on the Dreamcast next? Answers on a postcard please...)

Jet Set Radio Pub. Jap N°2
Uploaded by objectifsega

DreamOn Demo Disc Hacks

Hello again, remember me? Sorry I have been more or less completely post-less on here and Sega Memories for quite some time, as you may or may not know I have been rather busy the last few months, but here I am again. Anyway,after my one resource of ripping video from Dreamcast games decided to become incompatible with my new telly, I haven't been able to do any Rummage reviews or anything like that for the YouTube account. Now however I have a DVD recorder that I can grab footage with, and best of all it lets me record in NTSC as well so I can record footage of Japanese and American now if I want to. That means I should be bringing some brand new Rummage videos your way, as well as possibly some video features (thinking of making a video that explains the whole Bleemcast thing, for example) in the near future. In case you missed them before, here are the Rummage videos for Bangai-O, Pen Pen, and 18 Wheeler. To think I made all of those in one week and haven't made any in almost a year. Peh.

So to test it out I've put together a video just showing off some hacks I put together last year based on a tutorial up on DreamAgain.fr that gives you access to the menu from one of those PAL Dream On demo discs which you can use as a menu for multiple full games on one CD-R. It's mind bogglingly complex and i went through quite a few CD-R's trying to put together discs where every single game worked like a charm, but I managed to make three 100% successful discs each with 3 or 4 games crammed on. I'm taking screen shots using the DC for PC emulator Chankast (in which I cannot seem to switch the language to English).

First off: "Power Stone Collection", which as the name obviously suggests features both Power Stone games. Because I also had some more room left over I squeezed two small games also by Capcom on the disc for good measure; Cannon Spike and Net De Tennis. Thanks to a rather handy Photoshop PVR texture converter (I.e: the images the Dreamcast runs )I could also open up all the textures of the DreamOn menu and give it a fancy custom look with my own fonts and such. The best thing with this set is all the game's on it feature music that resides on the data side of the disc, so they all have music intact. You see, if the music runs on the audio side of a disc, then you can't stick it on one of these multi-game discs. making these things is complex enough as it is!

Another disc idea was to put both Tokyo Extreme Racer (AKA Tokyo Highway Challenge AKA Shutokou Battle) games onto one disc. I also had some room over here so I stuck a small racing game on there; Team 17's Stunt GP. Unfortunately with Stunt GP the music is CD audio so the game plays with no music but the Tokyo games are fine.

Finally, a disc with a random assortment of games that have just one thing in common: shooting things! I was going to make a whole collection of these 'GAGAPAK's, each with their own theme, but this was the only one that got finished. It contains 4 games: Incoming, Millennium Solider Expendable, Silent Scope and Under Defeat. The latter two games have music but the two rage produced games don't (western developed games tend to rely on CD audio a lot more than Japanese ones, it seems).

For those wondering, I don't intend to release these to the many torrent sites out there, although this is mainly because I don't know how to make this content into a burnable file thingy. I mainly did these for my own amusement (although it became frustration in the end what with all the attempts they took to work) and so i can say I've kind of made something that I can run on a Dreamcast...sort of. Anywhoo, here's the video showing off all the menus to these discs. I think I'll record in Short Play quality next time..

As for more hacking from me? Eh, probably not, although I do have all the files to The Lost Golem here that I might attempt to make a translation out of...

Eh, I probably won't ever get around to it.

Crank Calls Shenmue Style.

Continuing the Shenmue Stuff I have been posting (Hell lets just make this week Shenmue week on the Junkyard).

Maybe this isn't going to be very funny to some of you but I laughed.

Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki makes some phone calls...



Pulled from Kotaku

Some guy attempts to experience Shenmue in real life.

"I went to Yokosuka, more specifically, Dobuita, to the locations where the Sega Dreamcast game Shenmue were based on. Shenmue is one of my top 10 video games of all time, and I was able to discover some of the same locations that were adapted into the game."

He also wants Shenmue 3, but hey, who doesn't?



Ok, I was a bit disappointed. He said right at the beginning of the video he was going to do everything that Ryo did in the game but I saw no quest for vengeance, no forklifts and no martial arts against random gang members.

And no kitten...there was no kitten...

The Gaming Historian takes a look at the Dreamcast - part 1

I think we have all heard this before, but still, it's always fun to watch a new Dreamcast themed video. He does a decent job editing his videos which is more than most can say.

Plus it's always fun to point out all the stuff people get wrong!

For example the graphic he sets up says that the Dreamcast only had 56k modem and did not have broadband capability. Wrong. You could buy a broadband adaptor for the Dreamcast just like you could buy a broadband adaptor for the PS2.

See if you can spot any other errors.



Oh and the other thing that bothered me is that he mentioned Bernie Stolar but didn't mention any of the horrible mistakes he made, including needlessly cutting the initial Dreamcast price in the US by $50. People would have paid the extra $50 and Sega could have got a ton of extra profit. I dunno. Why drop Stolars's hated name if you are not going to discuss any of that stuff?

(Not to mention all the mistakes Stolar made with the Sega Saturn)

The DCJY gets a nod in Retro Gamer Magazine! - Part 2

Remember this? I bet most of you went right away to the near kiosk/book store/other magazine selling place to buy it, didn't you? Unfortunately not all of us have access to it (I remember even Racketboy himself was having some trouble finding a copy of said issue), so for all of you who have been dying to read it here's a shot at the column where the DCJY gets mentioned for your reading pleasure (click for full size, although the full image is not that big, don't forget to put your reading glasses on...).

SOTB:GR Video Review and 'Why The Visuals Aren't That Bad After All...' Clip...

First is a quite funny video review of the excellent (see how fickle I am?) SOTB: Gut's Rage.
Wait for the quite disturbing quote "but at least Tinkerbell had a hot body..." I found it rather amusing!

Next is an example of just how good the visuals get towards the end (SPOILER ALERT!)
Now either the developers were tripping when they wrote this, or I was tripping when I was playing it... (Pesky kids! They've spiked me horlicks with mescaline again...)

Enjoy!!

Sword of The Beserk: Gut's Rage

In order to give it the attention it deserves, I've decided that for the month of June, I'd give myself a break from the Wii and360 and remind myself of how great the Dreamcast is. I started on the 2nd of June and played a few sessions of Crazy Taxi and SWWS 2000 (Euro Edition) to get me in the mood. Then I played a 'ten minute' blast on Soul Calibur, which then got me (as well as my three sons) hooked for a few days, whilst I made my way through Mission Mode and started to unlock all thos lovely art cards, costumes, arenas and weapons...

But enough of going over 'old ground'. What dusky gems and hidden treasures could I find deep in the bowels of my newly ordered Dreamcast collection? What underplayed classics, what gaming marvels might make my Dreamcast June a month to remember?

Having managed to tear myself away from Soul Calibur, I perused my stack of games and finally plumped for a one eyed man with a massive chopper. That's right, the legendary Sword Of the Beserk...

For research purposes, I read this review on Planet Dreamcast, which rather succinctly gave me the background story to the release of the game. (I'd recommend you always check out the PDC games guides if you're going to buy or play a Dreamcast game, they're quite open minded and usually on the money.

Make no mistake, this is a bizarre game if you've never known anything about it's characters (and pretty bizarre even if you do...) But the back story goes something like this... *clears throat and begins reading from PDC review...*

" For those of you intending on buying the game, a little background is necessary, as the game itself provides very little background about its characters. Sword of the Berserk is based on the Japanese manga series Kenpu Denki Berserk, which is drawn by Kentarou Miura and which was serialized by Young Animal Magazine. The comic also enjoyed popularity as an animated series on Japanese TV.

The background story revolves around the adventures of Guts (Gatsu in Japanese), a strong and skilled swordsman who wanders a medieval land on a quest to destroy the members of God Hand, a group of dark angels and demons who destroyed all he ever cared about. Armed with his giant sword DragonSlayer, he searches for them relentlessly.

On the back of his neck is a mysterious brand, which attracts creatures of the night while making him virtually indestructible in combat. This brand, given to him by the God Hand, serves as a tracking device. Eventually the members of God Hand catch up to Guts, and while he puts up a struggle, it is not enough to prevent his lover Casca from being brutally raped before his eyes. While being held down and forced to watch, his right eye is gouged out by one of the restraining demons. This is where the game picks up the story."

Right! Got that? Good!!! I'll carry on. First of all, if you are not a fan of cut scenes (I rather like them) avoid this game at all costs!!! There's over an hour's worth of the little blighters in there. These cut scenes join up the action giving the game a very cinematic feel, and to use a cliche'd phrase, the game is something of an interactive movie.

The story isn't great, but it isn't bad either. Gut's and his entourage, including his Mrs, his naked male fairy 'Puck' (stay with me) and a group of travelling performers arrive in a typical medieval town. Only it's overrun with very freakish looking mutants, who have been effected and taken over by the dreaded Mandragora plant.

Now naturally, the lion faced leader of the village - named Ball Sack - I kid you not!!!!

(Alright it's Balzac) is keen to get the situation under control. He employs Guts to go into the Mandagoran village and steal the living heart of the great Mandragoran tree. Only it's protected by this Nun, see? And she is no way going to let some monocular steroid abuser come in and start battering her Mandragoran offspring....

OK I give up on the story. It's freaky deaky and doesn't make a whole heap of sense. You're either going to love it or hate it. I'd say my affections fall on the love side so far...

The graphics are somewhat, well... rubbish. If you can throw yourself back to 1999 (and I always could before that pesky 360 got in the way...) I guess they're OK, but when you look at the glorious graphics of, say, Soul Calibur, Shenmue, Dead Or Alive 2 or Headhunter, you wonder why some developers settled for second best. They're somewhere between Blue Stinger, Death Crimson OX and Half Life. Still, graphics do not maketh a game, and I have to say that sometimes they do look pretty decent.

In fitting with the cinematic feel of the game, both the musical score and the voice acting are pretty damn good! A criticism of the game is that it's too short. That suits me down to the ground. Half Life proved to me that epic games can grow stale after a while...

Now to the gameplay. It's pretty much a repetitive hack and slash between cut scenes. The control methods are pretty straight forward and each time Guts gets in a good old hit there's a lovely sound and a satisfying spray of blood... He sometimes gets his whopping chopper stuck down a tight back passage though (!) and swinging to no avail is pretty frustrating in a confined area. Guts also seems to have some sort of a crossbow thingy and some bombs of some sort, but although I'm quite far into the game, they've been pretty useless so far.

All in all it's definitely not the worst of Dreamcast games, but it aint up there with the best either. A slightly conservative Krishna rating of 7/10!

Command and Conquer Coming to the DC.

I know you have probably already seen this elsewhere and there really is no reason for me to post this here...

...but I still think it's pretty damn cool.

One of the finest RTS games ever made is coming to the Dreamcast!



Pulled from DC Emu UK.

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=116105

Metal Gear Solid: Dreamcast VS PS2

A side to side comparison of the Bleemcast version of Metal Gear Solid VS the PS2 version Metal Gear Solid. Yeah NOT the original MGS disk running on a PS2. This is the version they recently released in the Metal Gear Solid 3 pack for the PS2...

The Dreamcast version had some blurring of the text but the rest of the comparison will shock you...(Well, it didn't shock me as much as leave me with a smug feeling that's gonna last all day)



And now to get a copy of Bleemcast for Metal Gear Solid. Unlike other bleem offerings you can actually save your game. Of course this takes up a whole VMU dedicated to Playstation saves but thats not really a problem for a guy like me who hase collected like 20 of them.

So while all the current-gen sheep line up to buy MGS4 I will be playing the best game of the series on the best console of all time...

All hail the Undead console!

Treamcast review

I'm pretty sure everyone here knows what a Treamcast is, but in case someone doesn't there's a great article over at Racketboy's that gives you the basics about that rather unique and interesting (and somewhat illegal) clone of our favourite console. It's a pretty interesting read, so even if you have heard of the Treamcast already, or even own one (*looks at Father*), I'd still recommend you take a look.

Donald Duck: Quack Attack

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, another shit-ass PSX-port licensed platformer, isn't it? Well, I'm glad to tell you that, surprisingly, this is not the case with Quack Attack! I shit you not, I'm really enjoying this one. It's not the kind of game you play for hours and hours straight, but when you need a quick fix or something more simple to take a break from more "serious" games, this game is perfect. It basically is a platformer with two kinds of levels, the usual Super Mario-like ones where you start on the left corner of the level and have to make it to the far right, and the Crash Bandicoot-like ones where the camera goes behind your character and you have to move forward. This obviously can cause some issues, like some sections where it's hard to measure distances and you end up missing a jump, but overall the gameplay is really well done and the game is forgiving for the most time, so you won't get too frustrated with it.


This is a rather short experience. You have four areas, each one with four levels and a boss, so basically you can finish it in an afternoon, but as I said before, that's not really how you should play it, and I seriously doubt anyone will, because it can became repetitive real quick if you play more than a handful of levels on a single session. Still, after finishing it there's a lot of replay value. If you manage to recover all of Donald's nephews' lost toys, they reward you by unlocking an extra level (one per area, which means a total of four, which is rather odd since as far as I know Donald only has 3 nephews). Once again these levels are not original, but borrowed from, guess what game, Crash Bandicoot. I'm talking about the chase levels, where you're being chased by some sort of giant, angry enemy and you have to desperately run towards the screen before being eaten, caught or ran-over. Still, we don't see those everyday, so they have their appeal.


Once you beat these levels you unlock an extra challenge, beating all the previous levels in a time-trial, which in time rewards you with an extra costume. As you can see there's more to this game than what meets the eye. Graphics-wise, I got to say I'm impressed with this one. Not that it's something uber-incredible, but for a PSX port it looks really nice! The resolution is way higher and the textures are so detailed that one would think it was programmed for the Dreamcast in the first place! If only all the ports were like this one... (couldn't find decent Dreamcast screens, the above are from the N64 version, and as you can guess, the DC port looks even better)

So, if you're looking for a nice, little game to entertain you for a couple of hours, try this one, I doubt you'll regret it.

(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.

Homebrew Project Dead Sky is Still Alive!

Project Dead Sky is a homebrew RPG that is being created for the Dreamcast and PC. From this update I can see that these guys are pretty serious about making this a reality. The game itself seems to be an interesting mix of RPGs. I would be pleased if they used more gameplay elements from Chrono Trigger.

In any case it will be great to have another RPG on the Dreamcast considering how there were only about a half dozen released on the Dreamcast in the US.

http://thechaosrift.com/

Another Update! This one is a bit dry and only interesting if you like programming (or Mountain Dew). Feel free to check out some of the other videos the team has made.

Dreamcast News for the end of the week.

Only two items today.

#1. There *might* be a remake of Shenmue 1 and 2 on the Wii.

Pulled from Sega Nerds.

Swedish Magazine 'Game Reactor’ has printed a rumor about a remake of the two Dreamcast games on the Wii. Considering the Wii's setup this might actually work out pretty decent. Motion controlled extra content?

I know alot of gamers in the US will want to get their hands on this since the *good* version of Shenmue 2 only came out in Europe. If this does happen and somehow becomes massively popular it could also lead to the development of Shenmue 3. *could*

#2. Every single Japanese Dreamcast game for sale, sealed!

Pulled from Racketboy

Take a look!

“606 games,including all Dorikore reprints, all games in “deluxe version” when they were released as normal AND deluxe versions!” …. “Games are BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED, all CD case sized ones protected with extra plastic bag from dust&stuff!It will take you YEARS of collecting& searching, like me, to find all of them!”

Wow. It's amazing that someone would take the time to collect all these games then turn around and sell them.

So if you happen to have an extra 20 grand lying around collecting dust this might be your lucky day...

First Soul Calibur XBLA screens

As I'm pretty sure you all know, Soul Calibur, the best launch game ever and still one of the best fighting games ever made (if not THE best), is coming to Microsoft's game download service, Xbox Live Arcade. This conversion is enshrouded in some controversy, due to the fact that it's going to lack any sort of online play, making it somewhat redundant. After all, exactly why would we want to play for it if we're not getting anything new? Of course, there's the online leaderboards and the HD graphics, but speaking of those, and as expected, they don't look that much better than the Dreamcast game running on a HD tv through a VGA cable. See for yourself here (they're probably on other sites too, but this was the one I saw them on first, so here it goes), and share your thoughts on this matter.

The definitive Phantasy Star Online experience

Yesterday I was craving for some PSO. Don't know why, maybe it was a sudden attack of nostalgia. Anyway, I just felt like I needed to play the game, even if just for a little bit. The problem was, which version to choose? Would I just play the good ol' PSO, the 2nd Dreamcast I bought back in 2000 (the first was Jet Set Radio), for the 10th time? Or would it be better to hunt down the upgraded PSO Ver.2? After browsing the webz what I accidentally found was that there was a 3rd option, the best of them, the definitive PSO version, Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst, exclusively on the PC.


Yeah, I know, it would be a lot better to be playing it on my Dreamcast, but the game makes up for it. But what exactly makes it the best PSO version of them all? Simple, not only it has all the content from the Dreamcast games (known as Episode 1), but it also has the exclusive content from the Gamecube and Xbox versions (Episode 2), and a whole new Episode IV (Episode III was the spin-off Battle Card Revolution for the GC), which means more levels, monsters, NPC's, items and quests than ever before!


Now, I'm yet to explore most of the new stuff, but I took a peek at one of the new levels (and that level's new enemies), and let me tell you, it rocks! It's the PSO we know and love, but at the same time it's like a new experience. To sum it up, this is a game that every PSO fan should try out, specially since the official Dreamcast online servers were shut-down a long, long time ago.

Behind the scenes with DUX - an interview

Remember my post about an up-coming shmup for the Dreamcast? Racketboy just published an interview with one of the guys behind the game, so if you want to know more about the oddly named DUX, just follow this link.

There's not much we didn't know already, like the fact that it's an horizontal shooter like Last Hope (but supposedly easier) and it's almost finished, with a planned July release and an estimate cost of about 20 euros (you can't buy much with that amount of money nowadays...). Still, this is an interesting read, so if you're even slightly interested in the game, I encourage you to read the whole interview (it's not that long).