Sturmwind, Where are you?

Sturmy-sturmy-wind, where are you?

We want to play you really badly.

You're apparently out but you're still not here,

why have you gone so silent?

I have a had a lot of respect for redspotgames, there releases have also been beautifully presented and arrived without a hitch in the past, and releasing games for a dead console must be a daring and tricky process. Games like Wind & Water: Puzzle Battles and Rush Rush Rally Racing couldn't have been published better, they were professionally printed and sit next to all my official Dreamcast games proudly, helped by the fact that they were also fantastic games, and I'm sure Sturmwind is equally brilliant. 

However, the handling of Sturmwind's release has been something of a complete misfire. Redspotgames Facebook page is flooded with comments from fans still waiting for the arrival of the game. People who paid out extra for special delivery recently have not even received their tracking numbers. The worst part of all this is redspotgames have been deadly silent ever since the launch day of April the 24th. Not a single tweet, Facebook update or comment has been uttered from the company in two weeks.

Many are probably starting to think that the game does not even exist in fully printed form at this rate, and I wouldn't blame them for thinking that as since the launch there has been no evidence from redspotgames to prove as such. Whenever Hucast or NG:Dev Team release a new game, we see photos of the print run all over their Facebook and website. In this case, nothing.

It does exist, however. Here is a photo of the special edition along with a huge pile of them behind it. This photo was found on eBay, where it currently has an asking price of just over £100.There are several other buy it nows on there too that also have the game, but again for beyond the retail price.

Better yet here is an actual unboxing of the limited edition and direct gameplay footage from pinkbullets.com. This video was only uploaded yesterday however, so there is still hope yet. Play-asia also have both versions of the game up for order, though they currently have no stock of the limited edition.

So what is going on? Much like many other I pre-ordered this game back in late 2011 and they have had my money, but it sure is taking a long time to show up for anyone, compared to previous releases from redspotgames. I want a raise of hands...who actually owns it?

This is a real shame because this game looks like it could by by far and beyond the greatest indie Dreamcast game yet, and really I just wanna play it.

The Ghost Blade teaser trailer!

Wow, the Dreamcast indie game scene is on fire lately! We now have gameplay footage from an early alpha build of Hucast's The Ghost Blade. The video features stage 4 including it's boss, and apparently more videos are on the way soon. Graphics are very nice indeed, though that sea animation looks a bit funky, but that's being worked on apparently. Also there is now both regular and special editions of the game to preorder at hucast.com, with the regular edition at 32 Euros and the special edition, limited to 1000 copies, which adds a soundtrack CD and different cover art is 50 Euros. They also still have the collector's edition with the soundtrack and super play DVD for the hardcore collectors.

Sturmwind releases tomorrow, launch trailer!

The long awaited Sturmwind from Redspotgames is the second new Dreamcast game of 2013 to release, or the first if you decide not to count Dux 1.5 as a brand new game, launching tomorrow! To hype us up there is a brand new trailer above, showing levels and bosses yet seen anywhere, and it's looking incredible. Looking forward to receiving this soon and will be bringing you a video of said arrival with an unboxing of the special edition and a first impressions look, direct feed this time, none of that pointing a camera at the screen stuff!

Dux 1.5 is shipping! Unless you pledged to the ReDux kickstarter..

Hucast Games revealed today that Dux 1.5 begins shipping out tomorrow, earlier than planned, so if you pre-ordered this expect your copy in the mail soon! If you pledged enough for Redux: Dark Matters on kickstarter to get that game with this one, apparently Hucast will not be shipping Dux 1.5 until Redux is out, as they are in a bundle box set I assume. A bit of a weird snag there; anyone that pledged any amount on the kickstarter gets discounts on the hucast store on everything so in theory I could buy it now at a discount, but I already technically bought it with Redux, but I guess I can wait for them both to arrive together, although a release date for ReDux is yet to be confirmed.

Well this is unexpected.

I have just been brought to attention something quite surreal by GavvieUK on Twitter. From the British Library website:

From 6 April 2013, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library and Trinity College Dublin, gained powers to archive the entire UK web, along with e-journals, e-books and other formats.

To mark the passing of the new regulations, curators and other experts from all the participating libraries chose the 100 Websites which they judge will be essential reading for future generations researching our life and times in 2013.

What has any of the above got to do with the Dreamcast Junkyard? Scroll down to near the bottom of their top 100 list of website and er...we're on it.

The Dreamcast Junkyard - Blog dedicated to the community of gamers who continue to play Dreamcast games online, despite the fact they were officially discontinued in 2002

There is only two gaming related website listed in this top 100, the other being Nintendo Life. The list is mostly made up of websites like Ebay, Twitter, Facebook and UK sites like Daily Mash, Moonpig, the official website of Stephen Hawking, the BBC and lots of political and official government websites.

...I'm quite speechless. We are even mentioned in a BBC News article about it! Um....wow.

Dux 1.5 Trailer: Release date April 22nd

Looks like our first Dreamcast game of 2013 to ready to escape into the wild, though in this case it's not an entirely new game. Much like Last Hope: Pink Bullets, Dux 1.5 is a revision of, well...Dux, which came out back in 2009, and has made changes to make the game more balanced with adjustments to various gameplay elements, bug fixes and enemy patterns, instant re-spawn instead or re-loading from a check point, a new soundtrack and 'custom controls' which I assume means you can customize anything to any button.

The good news is if you already own the original Dux you can get your hands on this new edition. I;m not entirely sure how you go about claiming one but this is mentioned on hucast.com so if you log in from there and contact them they will let you know I would imagine. Also if you pledged to the Redux kickstarter you can get a discount on anything from their store, and if you pledged enough for Redux you will get Dux 1.5 as well.

The game has been revealed to be on it's way at the end of this month, the 22nd of April, although there is still no release date for Redux as of yet. As for wherever kickstarter pledgers will get this on street date or will have to wait till Redux is out, I'm just asked Hucast about that on Twitter..

Either way when this pops through the mail I will bring you a video including side by side comparisons with the 2009 release. I was pretty darn awful at Dux, so hopefully the changes will help go towards me getting further in it! :P

1500+ subscribers on Youtube? About time I posted something!

The Dreamcast Junkyard Youtube channel has been dormant for about 9 months now, since my Gunlord inside out video, and with over 1500 subscribers still about, it's about time I updated it! So here's a quick video about all the games announced to be releasing for the Dreamcast this year, which I will be featuring on the channel as soon as they arrive in the post, starting with Sturmwind at the end of April.

For this year of new content I thought it was about time I gave the channel a new lick of paint. I updated the channel design and in the video there is a new intro featuring that Dee Cee mascot I designed a while back. I'm also thinking about something for the 15th anniversary of the Dreamcast consoles Japanese release, but it's too early to say just yet. I did leave a clue though.

Remembering Kenji Eno

Last month a gaming legend passed away. Kenji Eno is not a household name but his influence on games is massive, creating unique works that have such a unique and mysterious feel to them.

Sega fans will know him best for games like D and Enemy Zero on the Saturn and D2 on the Dreamcast. He also created Real Sound: Kaze no Regret, a game on both the Saturn and Dreamcast that was a audio only adventure, so even blind people could play it. The man was also a musician and composed tracks for Sega Rally 2.

Here is a fantastic article over at Gamasutra about his career and influence. Also, a Dreamcast fan e-mailed me an interview with Kenji Eno discussing D2, scanned from an issue of Gamersrepublic. Check it out below.

Finally here's a video review Caleb did way back in 2007 of D2.

 

Sturmwind finally has a release date: April 24th!

Redspotgames announced on their Facebook page that Sturmwind now has a release date of April 24th. I pre-ordered this such a long time ago now, so I hope the wait has been worth it! Here's the press release in all it's cheesy glory!

We are under attack: Sturmwind pilots, fall in for saving the world in April 2013!

Antritt zur Weltenrettung!

The fierce enemy‘s troops have already reached our world‘s doorsteps and we are running out of time! Our reconnaissance drones have detected 16 promising locations for our search of „Mother“, the planet of our living ancestors. 

After several development steps by Duranik and redspotgames the launch date for your mission is clear. Sturmwind pilots, your all-dominant mission will begin on April 24th 2013. All documents will be sent to you until this very date.

Fight over 20 boss enemies in 16 levels. In addition to the so-called “Award Trophy System”, there will also be an internet highscore list in which your performance can compete against each other worldwide.

Your wings of steel are now our last resort. Stay ready for further instructions. Over and out.

This release date is for both the regular and limited editions. When the limited edition arrives I will be bringing you a unboxing and first impressions video! For the mean while, there is a preview article at That Darn Pixel that recently popped up, check them out! Also make sure to visit the Redspotgames Facebook for more details of the games development.

Leona's Tricky Adventures: a new Dreamcast Kickstarter!

What's this? Another Dreamcast game project up on Kickstarter? Why yes it is! I just got e-mailed about this one a couple hours ago. Here is what Silvana had to say on the project:

"The comic-artists M.Musal/B.Samuel, game music

legend Chris Huelsbeck and also Fabian Del Priore 

helped us to create a truly beautiful, explorative

puzzle game. Dreamcast (and Amiga) is our first

target platform as a tribute to where the inspiration

came from.

Help us to fund our Kickstarter campaign - this will

also give us the chance to integrate Dreamcast support

in our Kha SDK, which will make Dreamcast development

much more accessible for everybody since we know there

are thousands of Dreamcast- and Amiga-Fans out there

who are very disappointed that their consoles are not

continued by mismanagement."

UPDATE: The Kickstarter has been cancelled, and funding for this game is now going to take place via Paypal/credit card pledges at their website at this link, although on that page the pledges are for a PC version, go to this page to pre order the Dreamcast version with a standard version for 25 Euros as well as options for all the bonus stuff including the soundtrack, t-shirts and more from the kickstarter also still available. This way they can get funding without a target amount as such and can still get the game produced. 

Take Notes

Looks like Sega just can't resist teasing us with trinkets and other Dreamcast-related paraphernalia that we'll never see in the West (well, certainly not in Europe anyway). The latest offering? Only a Dreamcast-inspired laptop:

This range of console-flavoured laptops is currently only planned for release in Japan, and the full list includes Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast-themed lids as well as a standard blue 'Sega' one. According to CVG, the machines (known as the 'Sega Note PC') will come in several different configurations (the high-end model will feature a 2.40Ghz i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 1GB of graphics memory, as well as a Blu-ray burner), and those sexual lids are interchangeable meaning you won't have to fork out four times for the whole set.

I probably won't be swapping my Macbook for one, but it'd definitely earn you a few Kudos points if you whipped one out in a lecture or a coffee shop.

Reports of a 32X-inspired external Zip drive are unconfirmed.

The Ghost Blade Announced! Neo XYX Trailer!

Hucast, while busy on the kickstarted Redux: Dark Matters, has ended up announcing another Dreamcast shooter! The Ghost Blade is a TATE style vertical shooter, so if they time it' release right we might get two at the same time, the other being Neo XYX from NG: Dev Team!

They have a deluxe special edition up for pre-order right now, which contains the game, an artbook, a soundtrack CD and a superplay DVD! It's quite pricey at 80 Euro, but a cheaper regular edition to due to be put up for pre-order soon. If you do want this one though they only have just over 100 copies left so be quick!

Going back to Neo XYX, NG:Dev Team has released a trailer of the game. I get a proper Toaplan feel from it, in particular games like Truxton, which is a-ok by me! This game is due out in June, and is up for pre-order on both limited and regular editions.

At this rate we are going to get hopefully SIX Dreamcast games this year: Sturmwind (eventually), NEO XYX, Redux: Dark Matters, DUX 1.5 and Pier Solar! Phew!

Bitsocket celebrates #DCember, reviews project Justice

Bitsocket, an excellent Youtube gaming show if you haven't seen it already, has started a Dreamcast themed month on their channel (or half a month I guess) called #DCember (now why had I never thought of that one?) and have kicked it off with a review of Project Justice: Rival Schools 2, a proper underrated Capcom fighter that is still only available on the Dreamcast today. With any luck we will see more Dreamcast love from them throughout the month!

EDIT: Turns out #DCember was kicked off by the blog Midnight Resistance, who have a whole bunch of Dreamcast related articles you should check out here. They talk about Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Virtua Tennis 2, Soul Calibur and Confidential Mission.

Gunlord named game of the year by Classic Game Room

Mark of Classic Game Room has named indie Dreamcast game Gunlord the game of the year! Check out the video above to see an increasingly drunken Mark go through his list of favorite games before deciding that the Dreamcast is still very much alive. Was it the beer? The SEGA fan in him? Who knows. But the DCJY salutes Classic Game Room!

Missed Out On The Pier Solar Kickstarter? Don't Worry!

If you weren't able to get to the kickstarter in time but still want a copy of Pier Solar for the Dreamcast then you are in luck!

Watermelon Co. is selling preorders for the regular edition of the Dreamcast version on their website (scheduled to be released 5/13).

http://www.magicalgamefactory.com/en/factory/shop/

Pier Solar Dreamcast Game Fully Funded!

Watermelon's kickstarter has been fully funded!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/573261866/pier-solar-hd-an-rpg-for-xbox360-pc-mac-linux-and

There WILL be a new Dreamcast RPG!

Huzzah!

More details about stretch goals will be coming out tomorrow.

I'll never be able to look at a Dreamcast controller the same way again..

To most people, this photo above is just a Dreamcast controller. To those who have been playing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which just released on the PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii U recently, and has played that game quite far in, it probably means a extra bit more.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, and do not mind being spoiled probably the coolest unlockable in a Sega game for about a decade, and also need a solid piece of evidence why you as a Sega fan must own this game, check out the video after the jump..

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Zeit Geist

If you've looked at the comments for the previous post, there's a chance you've already copied and pasted the link to the following Youtube video. If you haven't, then get ready for a rather thorough analysis of the recently released (and unfinished) Geist Force. The Gagaman(n) did a post on the subject of this lost gem not too long ago, but I think the more exposure this newly released beta gets, the better. Geist Force is a game that really intrigued me when I saw it previewed in the games mags of the era - who wouldn't have wanted to see a Lylat Wars/Star Wing type game running on the brand spanking new Dreamcast hardware?

A reader by the name of DCeric has put together this rather cool video examining the various unfinished stages that make up Geist Force, and also looks at some of the debug levels that exist. Enjoy.

Dedication & Aberration

As I may have mentioned in some recent posts, the level of enthusiasm displayed by most of the Dreamcast community never ceases to amaze me. Even now, in 2012, there are multiple hand-helds, console mods and emulators popping up all the time, and the level of commitment to our favourite defunct system should be championed. To illustrate my point, I was recently (well, not that recently actually...I completely forgot to post about this but hopefully this will make amends) contacted by a DCJY reader known only as 'Aaron' who has, rather impressively, designed and built his very own bespoke DC arcade cabinet. Wanna see? Boom:



How awesome is that? According to it's talented creator, the unit is 47" tall and has a 17" LCD monitor strapped in. Aaron - the DCJY salutes the fruits of your labour...which was clearly actual labour, and not just clicking around on eBay after one too many beers as I am want to do on many a cold, lonely winter evening. Sigh.

On the subject of eBay and display cabinets, I have noticed quite a number of them popping up for auction - you know, the ones they used to have in GAME and EB back when the DC was en vogue? Weird coincidence or blood curdling conspiracy? You decide.

I finally saw the Angry Video Game Nerd movie trailer last night. Urgh. To use his own phrase against him: what was he thinking? I'm not gonna lie - it looks terrible. I think James Rolfe's AVGN reviews are fucking legendary and I was intrigued by the notion of a movie about the character...but just viewing the trailer made me slightly sad. What's with the stupid aliens and zombies and cliched army shit? Why couldn't it just have been a Napoleon Dynamite-esque tale of a nerd who loves talking shit about games in his basement? I realise the amount of work that must've gone into it, and that the whole project was funded by donations...but is this really what those fans who pledged money really wanted to see? More importantly, can the AVGN ever recover from this:


Again...you decide.

Art (Spin) Attack

Ever fancied owning a piece of game art? A hand-drawn portrait of Super Magnetic Neo perhaps? Or what about an original oil on canvas rendition of a scene from Crazy Taxi? Eh? Well, if you have - your luck is in. Well, sort of. Before anyone beats me to it, yes, I stole this story off the BBC News website, and to be fair it's only very weakly linked to anything to do with the Dreamcast...but the feature's title is Sonic and Lara: Video game concept art sold for charity, so I guess it's relevant. If you can't already guess from the aforementioned headline, there's going to be an auction of gaming concept art held at (well, after) the London Games Festival Art Exhibition. Here's one of the Sonic concept sketches that's up for auction:

Framed and signed by Yuji Uekawa. This'd look good in anyone's living room.

The range of stuff up for sale is pretty impressive, and covers all genres and platforms - the Arkham City stuff is particularly good, although not all of the art up for sale is of such a high standard: be warned Moshi Monsters do feature. From what I can tell from the website, the actual exhibition is over - they're just auctioning off the art in batches now. Be interesting to see what the Sonic art goes for. Might even make a bid myself, even more so if it's at £1.78 with 30 seconds to go. Ebay skills, don't fail me now!

Let's get back up to speed! News! News! News!

Yikes, looks like the Junkyard of Dreamcast has started gathering dust and there has been quite a bit of Dreamcast news lately! Apologies on my part for having seen said news but not having time to type it all up here, time for a catch up!

For starters: Oh hey two new Dreamcast games were announced recently! First off is the latest from our friends at NG:DEV TEAM.. NEO XYX!

This will be a TATE scrolling shooter, with six stages and bosses, and like all their other games will be appearing on both Neo Geo and Dreamcast! There is only one, off screen teaser video of the game which you can check out below.

Pesonally I can't get enough of these classic style scrolling shooters, but I can imagine some people would want something different from the indie Dreamcast scene once in a while, so how about an RPG?

Those in the Sega fandom may of already heard of Pier Solar: it was the most ambitious indie effort on the Mega Drive/Genesis, a huge classic style RPG that was sold in very limited supply and now goes for three figure prices. Well Watermelon Co. have set up a kickstarter for a HD remake, which they plan to release on PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox Live Arcade and, most excitedly for us...the Dreamcast!

The graphics are being redone in high definition and while the Dreamcast is obviously not a HD console (by todays standards anyway), that version will be getting the same new graphics at 480p with VGA support. The disc will also include the original Mega Drive version too for those who missed out on the original (like me) and love the sprite art!

With 22 days to go the kickstarter is already 64% of the way and if you want to grab this game for your Dreamcast a $49 pledge will get you the standard edition, available in any Dreamcast region style packaging you choose to match up (PAL, US or Japan) with your shelf of games, and a $125 pledge will get you a collectors edition full of extra goodies in a big box set!

So er...how about those games still due? In the case of ReDux: Dark Matters, the other Dreamcast game that debuted on Kickstarter: it is apparently almost complete. According to the twitter account, anyway.

As for Sturmwind? Hmm, well, Redspotgames have not updated us about the status of that game since June, where they have a big Q&A about why the game is so delayed and the complications that have caused it's current 'TBA' date. It's a tad frustrating, but looking forward to the game when it's eventally released none the less. I just hope they update us on this soon.

UPDATE: According to Duranik's Facebook page the release date should be revealed in a few days as they are currently in the pre production test run. There is a new preview about the game here.

Immortals. Well, almost.

Well hello! Some good news arrived in my inbox today. It’s not really Dreamcast related, but it’s related to this, the hallowed Dreamcast Junkyard, so by tenuous association I suppose it is Dreamcast related. Kind of. Enough preamble though! Basically, a few months ago I got wind of a project being undertaken by the British Library, a project called the UK Web Archive which is trying to archive websites which may, in years to come, provide a valuable snapshot of life in the UK during the ‘digital revolution.’ Now, I know that we here at the DCJY are an international line-up, but I reckon with our blue-toned hues and PAL-centric banter, we are as good a games-related entry into the Video Games heritage category as anyone, what with our own irreverent brand of humour-tinged yet informative drivel. Cough. So anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the UK Web Archive accepted my nomination for the DCJY to be inducted into their...er...archive, and as such we shall live on forever like Gods of the interweb. More info? Of course! Go here.

The real reason for today’s post isn’t the immortalisation of our favourite Dreamcast portal though, oh no. It’s because I've got some new shit to drop off into the gaping chasm that is the ‘Yard. Four new games, to be precise. Here:

Midway’s Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1

Midway. Remember them? Ah...halcyon days. Hydro Thunder, the San Francisco Rush series, Cruis’n USA...actually, forget the last one. And San Francisco Rush (although Rush 2 & 2049 weren't bad). Hydro Thunder was balls out awesome though. But before all that outrageousness, Midway was a powerhouse that released some of the most important games of the 1980s. And with Midway’s Arcade Hits Volume 1, you can play them all...well, 6 of them, on your god-damned Dreamcast! The games themselves (Defender, Defender 2, Robotron, Joust, Sinistar and Bubbles) are all pretty well emulated (I’d imagine, having never played the arcade versions of any of them), and Defender 2 in particular is a pretty fun game. I used to have Defender 2000 on the Jaguar so I knew how it played...and it’s still great even today. Bit infuriating at times...but not as infuriating as Flashback. The game that made me throw my only Jaguar joypad at the wall and smash it to smithereens, which then resulted in me having to order a new pad from some US mail order company and wait a month for it to get delivered. Damn you, Flashback. Damn you Conrad Hart and your inability to fucking roll under a barrier when I tell you too. 

Check out the particles on that! Particles!

Going back to Midway’s Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1 though, there is one criticism I have with it: the presentation. I don’t mean with the actual games themselves – I expected them to look like ass compared to the average ‘proper’ DC game...but my God the menus are awful! I seem to recall Namco Museum on PSX having some kind of 3D arcade that you walked around in first person, and you could select which game you wanted to play by approaching the cabinet (am I imagining that?!), but here you just get a static screen showing an insultingly low-res bitmap of the arcade machines in a row. You just have to move the ‘highlight’ between the machines and press start. Jesus Midway – talk about bargain basement production values! If there was anyone still working for Midway I’d probably send them a strongly-worded letter about that. But yeah, the games themselves are all perfectly acceptable if you’re after some nostalgia. Apparently there’s a second edition of Midway’s Greatest Arcade Hits that includes Paperboy and Spy Hunter. Intriguing. Rumours of a third edition featuring War Gods and WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game are, thankfully, unconfirmed.

NFL Blitz 2000

Keeping with the Midway theme, the next game is the rather bizarre NFL Blitz 2000. A strange re-imagining of American football, where the rules have been tweaked (I think/hope) to allow for a more surreal experience. I don’t know the first thing about American football other than it’s a bit like rugby and all the payers dress like they’re in Legion of Doom...and they don’t really kick the ball with their feet very much. There’s something called ‘first and down’ (so I hear) and it stops every 20 seconds for a time-out. I've seen plenty of really good films about American football – that one with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Scorpion King in it was rather good, as was the one about the guy who gets shot on the pitch...or are they the same film? I can’t remember. Speaking of American sports I don’t have a clue about but made a good movie, I watched Money Ball the other day. Jonah Hill doesn't do anything funny in it and Brad Pit isn't playing Tyler Durden, but it’s a good film. I reckon if the real-life version of NFL was like Blitz, I’d be more inclined to seek out and watch a few games – it’s full of over-the-top tackles, flaming footballs and ridiculous...er...football. Probably one for people who know how the game actually works, but still fairly entertaining if you persist with it.

See - 3rd and 21. Makes total sense.

NFL Quarterback Club

Urgh. More American football. But without the flaming balls. From what I can tell, NFL Quarterback club is simply a conversion of the N64 game of the same name, but because the graphics have hardly been updated (just hi-res-ified), it actually looks worse. Acclaim did some pretty impressive stuff with the N64 hardware (just look at All Star Baseball, Turok and the Extreme G series*), but all they've done with NFL QBC is take the N64 game, remove the fuzz and add a bit of extra commentary. And it shows – the graphics, while sharp, are horrible. And again, while I reiterate my complete ignorance when it comes to American football, I know what a good game looks like. Look at NFL 2K – it looks incredible compared to Quarterback Club. I can’t really comment on how it plays as a simulation of the actual sport because (yet again...sorry) I find it impenetrable...but the aesthetics appal me. Be gone, NFL Quarterback Club.

Charlie, I know how you feel

Kiss Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child

A first person shooter in which you play as members of the metal band Kiss. Is there anything more to say? I think Father K reviewed this little oddity a few years back, but what the hell – here’s another look at it. The story is pretty stupid and the manual features several introductory chapters that explain everything...but it’s a cringe inducing trip to cliché-ville in which your band arrives at a club to find it deserted...and some demon has spawned a ‘Nightmare Child’...and you have to stop it by wandering around punching and shooting demons in the face. You play as the different members of Kiss and get to do all this whilst rocking out to actual Kiss music, which is nice if you like that sort of thing. I'm more of a Motion City Soundtrack kinda guy myself, but I don’t think they released Motion City Soundtrack Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child in this dimension or any other, so I'm left wanting. Probably wouldn't feature demons either – it’d just have you wandering around punching and shooting pretentious students in ‘cool’ clothes. The graphics aren't bad in Psycho Circus and the frame rate licks along at a decent and consistent speed...it’s just that the whole game is a little boring. 

Better ring DIY SOS

The environments are a little sparse and the range of weapons is pretty limited, and compared to other DC shooters it feels a little flat (especially next to say, Outtrigger or Soldier of Fortune), but yeah – there’s nothing massively offensive about the game as a whole. Interestingly, on page 5 of the manual there’s a little diagram of a joystick called the ‘Panther XL,’ but I‘d never heard of such a device. Upon Googling it though, it appears that there was such a monstrous thing actually constructed and available to buy:

"The Wii U Tablet Controller ain't got shit...on me"

How I’d never heard of this thing, I don’t know. I looks a little cumbersome, but Take 2 Interactive obviously thought that it may improve the average gamer’s Kiss Psycho Circus experience enough to include it in the manual, and who am I to argue? Nobody, that’s who. Maybe if I had a Panther XL, I’d be raving about how great Kiss Psycho Circus is, instead of just nodding, smiling politely and then moving on to find something more interesting to do. Like make a cup of tea. Which is what I'm off to do now.

* I know these games were actually developed by Iguana...but Acclaim/Iguana...same difference.

NullDC...On Your Phone

We've all seen the Treamcast and the other unofficial portable Dreamcasts created by very talented gamers with perhaps a little too much free time on their hands. They're pretty nifty little(ish) contraptions in the main - I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to play Spirit of Speed or Championship Surfer on a crowded train?! Sadly, the electrical engineering skills required to fashion such a device were not bequeathed unto us all, fellow Dreamcasters. For instance, I recently tried to replace the fuse in the vacuum cleaner's plug and ended up setting the curtains alight (long story, only 3% factual). But wait! What's this? Somebody has come to our aid! No longer do you need a doctorate in soldering in order to take your Dreamcast experience out of the dingy bedsit you call home:



That's right - now (or at least sometime soon) you can play DC games on your Android device! As you can see from the video, this new incarnation of the NullDC emulator for Android is in an early stage of development, but I still think it's pretty impressive. If they can sort out the frame rate issues, then this looks like a very interesting little app. Sadly, this particular Dreamcaster won't be able to experience it first hand due to the fact that I have a BlackBerry phone and tablet thingy, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Retro Core gets their mitts on Geist Force

Retro Core (The video series from Segagaga Domain) has received it's copy of the much anticipated release of the Geist Force playable ported build, and shows us all of it's contents in this 22 minute video. As the length of the video suggests, this game is in a very early state and only has some basics to check out. The first level is more or less complete with enemies and a boss, the second is fine up until the boss when it glitches you back to the start of the level, and the rest of the levels are more or less just some scenery and an eventual smack into a invisible wall. Those expecting this to be a full or even close to beta game will be a bit disappointed, but it's still quite something to see this running at all on retail standard Dreamcasts.

13th Anniversary of 9/9/99

13 years since the Dreamcast launched in America. On October 14th it will be the same anniversary for when us Euros got it, and on November 27th, it will be the 14th Anniversary of when it launched in Japan. To think in just over a years time the Dreamcast will have been a purchasable item for 15 years. That's pretty crazy, and makes me feel a bit old.

Sadly, I won't be able to do a Dreamcast livestream marathon today, simply because I'm not at home. However if I get time to I will make sure I do one marathon this year, wherever I'll do it on the PAL launch anniversary or the Japanese one I'm not sure yet, but will let you know when I do.

If you really wanna check out a livestream of Dreamcast games today, there will be one run by Blazehedgehog in about 9 hours from now over at Let's LIVE Videogame. He has a list up of games he owns and intends to play there. There is also going to be a 12 hours marathon over at Cornerb0y's twitch.tv account too, and I am sure there are bound to be others going on over the next day or so (if you are doing one, let us know and we'll edit the link into this post).

Pcwzrd13 did a livestream yesterday, which you can watch a back up of here, if you want your Dreamcast livestream gaming right NOW.

I didn't want to go without doing anything for the anniversary, though, so I do have something for you guys.

This is Dee Cee. I designed this character some time back to replace my stealing borrowing of Casko the Dreamcast girl for future Dreamcast Junkyard videos, and have today finally got around to drawing the character in Illustrator and building it up in Flash so it's animate-able. Did a quick idle animation thing for Dee Cee below!

Hopefully I'll find a video use for Dee Cee in the near future. maybe I should make a orange variant as well, now I think about it. Update: here we are, for the American and Japanese Dreamcasters:

Under Defeat HD - review

You're probably familiar with Under Defeat. Back when it was released it was hauled as the last Dreamcast game (how silly does that sound nowadays) and it was a pretty good one at that. You may know of my passion for shoot-em-ups, or shmups for short, and Under Defeat is actually in my Top 3 of favourite shmups from all time, along with the classic DoDonPachi and the Shikigami no Shiro series (of which the 2nd game I played for the first time on the Dreamcast).

Now, back to 2012, the game saw an HD re-release not too long ago. At the time I thought of posting something about it, but then decided to wait until I actually have played it. Well, that time is now, so here are my thoughts on it. For the time being the game is only available in Japan, and the Xbox 360 version is region-locked, so I had to go with the PS3. The game also came in regular and limited editions, but I can't elaborate on that  since I just got the regular one.

There are two game modes. Arcade is basically the Dreamcast version (which in itself was actually a home port from the arcade original). You can adjust the difficulty settings and number of continues (of which you only have 2 at the beginning, but earn more as you spend time playing), but other than that it's pretty bare bones. The game runs at a higher resolution, which makes for a smoother picture, but is otherwise unchanged, to the point that it frequently slows down when the action becomes too hectic. Now, I understand that purists might like that, but for me it's just annoying, and there's really no excuse for having slowdown on a Dreamcast game running on a current gen console.

The other game mode is called New Order and is one of the main reasons for getting this version. Since shmups are usually made for vertical screens, and most people won't be willing to turn their TV's sideways (the option's still there for the hardcore among you), these games can look somewhat awkward, occupying less than half of the screen. New Order was made with that in mind, and is basically a 16:9 version of the main game, filling the whole screen. I'm not sure how they did that, don't know if they actually remade the stages to fit the new aspect ratio or just zoomed in a lot. I can say that this game felt more challenging, but other than that I'm no expert to point out all of the differences from the original game.



The other reason for getting this HD version is the option for playing with a new control method, using both analog sticks. In the original game you could turn your helicopter at an angle, shooting the enemies while avoiding their fire, and I don't need to explain that this maneuver was absolutely essential to master in order to make some progress. The way this was done was by moving the helicopter to the side and keeping the fire button pressed, which would then lock the helicopter in that position, allowing you to move freely. Although practical, at times it just wasn't good enough, and so they came up with a more intuitive control scheme.

You can now control the ship with the left analog stick and the fire direction with the right one. Basically think Geometry Wars or Smash TV, although you can only tilt the chopper so much, not in full 360º like in those games. Now, I have to say that this system isn't perfect either. Since we can't fire freely but only in a few pre-set angles, it takes some getting used to the the analog stick's equivalent of those angles (it's somewhat hard to explain, I hope you're getting it), and because we have to keep the stick pressed in a direction to actually fire, it can become tiresome after a while. Still, overall I think it makes the game more intuitive and easy, so it's still a good addition.

Other than that there's practice modes, both for arcade and new order, and a gallery where you can unlock artwork from the game. It isn't a lot for a game that retailed at around $70/€50+, and I think that we really could use some more extra material. So, is it worth? To put it simply, no. The new game mode is sort of fun, and the new control scheme does add something to the old gameplay, but for the price and the hassle of importing it, it's only for the true lovers of shmups. Fortunately Rising Star Games, a company known for publishing a lot of niche Japanese games, just announced that they're going to publish it in Europe, and I think the US too (not 100% sure on this one), so if they release it at a reduced price, maybe then it'll be worth considering. Until then, if you already have the Dreamcast version, you're not missing out on much.

Geist Force is out

This one almost slipped by! Remember Geist Force? This game has already been talked about here in the 'Yard from time to time, usually when the theme is unreleased games, and the last post about it, dating back to last year, is actually about the blessed day when the guys over at assemblergames got their hands on a playable version of the game and promised to release it for free.

Time moved on and the game never got released, ending up forgotten by most people, but lo and behold, it finally resurfaced and in better shape then ever! It looks like the game was developed for Dreamcast hardware that wasn't final yet, so it couldn't actually run off the retail hardware we all have. That's why it took so long to come out, as the guys behind this release actually had to change a lot of the code in order for the game to be playable.



Now, from what I understand, it seems that in order to pay for their hard work, and the beautiful reproduction discs that we see in the video, you actually had to pay for one of these, and they made a somewhat limited run, making it extra hard to get. But I really hope that they, or someone out there, end up releasing the game for free, so that all of us Dreamcast fans can enjoy another piece of gaming history.

Senile Team releases a free Dreamcast game called Polyko

Senile Team, the folks behind Rush Rush Rally Racing, have ported an indie game by the super long name of "Polyko's Super Jelly Bean Quest in The Sketchbook of Illusion" to the Dreamcast. How much does it cost? Nothing, it's free! Where can you get it? Right here! The game is a simple platformer starring an artist named Polyko who has been magically transported into his sketchbook. The goal is to collect 31 jelly beans. There is no way to die, so no fear of falling into an abyss or having your head ripped off by a zombie. You can play the full game online here, or better yet burn it to a disc and play it on your Dreamcast. The cd image even contains printable covers, so it'll fit in on your indie Dreamcast games shelf. Enjoy!

Sleeping Dogs - Shenmue Parody on Youtube

Classic Game Room reviews Gunlord

He promised and he delivered, here's CGR's opinion on the latest game from NG:Dev.



Looks good! Personally I have yet to play it, but I'll definitely give it a try when I get the chance.

Mass Collect

How do. Thought it was about time for my bi-annual post here at the 'Yard. To be fair, I've been fairly busy trying to nail Liara in Mass Effect 3 for the last few weeks, so you can appreciate that I've had stuff to be getting on with...but since I've now sealed the deal and the thrill of the chase has evaporated, I thought I'd donate a few minutes to the DCJY and the ongoing fight to keep the Dreamcast firmly implanted in the psyche of, well, the inhabitants of the multiverse.

In my absence, I've been dipping in and out of our old ally eBay and purchased a whole slew of new games and will be casting judgement on them right here, over then next few weeks (hopefully...!). In the meantime though, I thought I'd share with you one of the more interesting and unusual DC-related items I've recently inducted into the 'Yard.

Now, I don't know if any of the other members of the team have a) got one of these; or b) mentioned it in a past post, but if they have - apologies. It's just that I don't recall anyone showcasing this:

An egg.

The contents of the egg. Which came first?

Size comparison.

Yep - it's a miniature 'Sega History Collection' Dreamcast console...and it's awesome. It's part of series of miniatures that I imagine were only released in Japan (isn't all the cool shit Japan-only?!), and it comes in a little plastic egg. Pop it open and you're treated to a superbly detailed mini console, complete with perfectly modelled joypad, VMUs (with lids that come off!), and a GD-Rom (Space Channel 5 in this case - I'm not sure if they differed or they all had the same game). The level of intricacy is staggering - right down to the opening console lid and removable modem. And as it's an early NTSC model, it's even got the liquid cooling system inside.

So yeah - it's the ultimate in Dreamcast geekery (well, besides that jacket I've still got stuffed in a cupboard somewhere. Oh, and the Dreamcast towel I STILL use in the gym - note to self: wash it), and it's quite a unique item. Nice.

I've also stumbled upon a fairly brilliant DC-related thingy this week. It's a mobile phone 'app' available on the Google Play store called 'DreamCollection,' and it's basically a kind of database of DC games that allows you to tick off the games that you own. It's such a simple idea, but really cool - and it's free! Perfect for tightwads like yours truly who also happen to be obsessive about Dreamcast. It's a bit like Pokemon. But with Dreamcast games. That you can't fight against each other...so not really like Pokemon at all. But I wouldn't know that because I've never played a Pokemon game. Not once. Even though my avatar image is a character from Pokemon. Fuck it: here's a really shitty picture I tried to take of my mobile's screen for illustrative purposes:

Huawei. Not quite a retina display, but does the job.

You can't really see much, but it's quite well put together and features little pictures of the games' covers and allows you to select whether you have a complete version of a game, or just the disk, booklet or case. The only minor issue for us PAL Dreamcasters is that it's geared towards US collectors...but it's still a pretty nice addition to the Android Market (and I think it's available for iPhone too). Go here for further info.

Right, I'm off to see Liara in her quarters.

Err. On second thoughts...maybe Garrus instead.

Some DC Racing Goodness from Classic Game Room

Classic Game Room, still the most constantly updated video review channel that's actually good, has been doing quite a handful of videos as of late of Dreamcast games, in particular it's many racing games.

First up, Metropolis Street Racer! This was without a doubt one of those games you were either sucked into for months, or like me just didn't get time to dedicate to it so just cheated by finding a complete save file to muck about in it.

Next up..Speed Devils! I think he is mostly right about it being a bit on the dull side, but it's still kind of fun and has plenty to do in it. Of course there are much better racers on the system but if you have played all the best already this is one of the better of the rest, as it were.

Finally the most recent is this one for Daytona USA 2001. I have to agree with what he says about the controls: they are very twitchy and a bit tricky to get used to compared to the Saturn and DLC versions of the game, but it's still well worth owning for all the extras and whatnot. Also at the end of this video we are teased that Classic game Room will soon be reviewing more indie games such as Last Hope and Gunlord!

Gunlord and Redux Promo Art!

Just purchased Gunlord and want to see the artwork from the front cover in it's entirety without logos, screenshots and text in the way? Well you're in luck as the artists who contributed to the games wonderful packaging have uploaded the full pieces on their DeviantArt accounts!

Halil Ural was responsible for the front cover art for both the standard and limited editions of Gunlord, which you can see below. Click on them to go see them in their full glory!

Gonzalo Ordóñez Arias, well known for his role as part of the UDON crew, also provided this stunning piece that is found as a two page spread in the Gunlord manual.

As a bonus, Gonzalo has also uploaded this (new to me) Redux: Dark Matters artwork!

DCJY InsideOut: Gunlord Limited Edition

Here is a unboxing and first impressions video of the first new Dreamcast game of 2012 Gunlord, the limited edition version with the extra soundtrack disc! This might be the most beautifully presented release NG:DEV TEAM have done to date, with lots of stinning artwork all over it. The game is great fun too, the first level is really quite large and can take up to around 20 minutes if you explore it fully.

Since making this video yesterday morning when it arrived i have played it some more and got up to the boss of the 3rd level. The 2nd and 3rd levels were not quite as long or as large as the 1st unless I;m missing the alternative routes and the 2nd stage was a rather kick arse (but also kinda short and easy) scrolling shooter stage!

So first impressions are very good! Look forward to playing it some more!

Gunlord release date!

Just got an e-mail from NG.DEV.TAm about the release date for Gunlord! There are also reprints of Fast Striker and Last Hope pink Bullets on the way, in case you missed out on those before. Here's what the e-mail said.

finally after a long wait we can announce the official release dates for the Dreamcast versions of Gunlord.

Newcomer Bundle DC      21.06.2012
Gunlord DC Limited Edition  21.06.2012
Gunlord DC Double Bundle  21.06.2012
Gunlord DC Regular Edition 21.06.2012

The collector's edition needs a few days more time due to more complex packaging and printing. The three movie size posters of the CE are shipped separately a week or two later rolled in tubes.

Gunlord DC "Dragon Box" Collector's Edition [CE]  25.06.2012

Reprints:

Fast Striker 1.5 DC Regular Edition [Reprint]    19.06.2012
Last Hope Soundtrack Bundle      19.06.2012
Last Hope Pink Bullets DC [Reprint]      19.06.2012

 Looks like Gunlord will be the first 2012 release for the Dreamcast in gamers hands! Looking forward to it!

Sturmwind features in latest Retro Core

Retro Core is one of my personal favourite web shows about video games and is produced by Yakumo, the same man behind the excellent website Segagaga Domain. For the latest episode he has something special for us Dreamcast fans: a exclusive preview of upcoming redspotgames release Sturmwind! We get around 10 minutes of gameplay footage here, so if you were still on the fence about pre ordering this game, now we have plenty of footage to get a gist of what it will be like!

Personal opinion: I think it looks stunning and appears to be quite a fun mix of elements from all sorts of shmups like Gradius, Thunder Force and R Type. The production values are are simply unprecedented for an indie dreamcast game. I can't wait to get my mitts on this!