Get A Free Copy Of The Dreamcast Collectors Guide

Seeing as we're no longer allowed to sell The DCJY Ultimate Collectors Guide, we're now giving it away for free at Sega Europe's request. All we ask is that you pay for the postage/shipping costs via the donate button below. There are limited numbers of these things so as soon as they're all gone, the donate button will be removed.

If you'd like to know more about the outlawing of this totally heinous publication, have a look at the previous articles here and here. Also, massive thanks to Junkyard reader Simon who randomly donated yesterday to help with purchasing of envelopes to send these things out - what a legend. Give him a follow on Twitter if you get a moment (@Stellaking_Si).

Recommended shipping costs depending on your location are as follows:

UK: £3
Europe: £7
USA: £9
Anywhere else: £10

If you'd like to donate more to help us with the DreamPod hosting or Mumble server costs, please feel free - as it is, I pay for it all out of my own pocket (although there's no obligation, naturally). Hit the button below, enter your address details as a message and the book will be shipped. Please allow a few days for me to send it out as I'm in the middle of moving house!

Thanks all, and keep dreaming!

Update
That's it - they're all gone! Done. Finito. Thanks to everyone who donated, your book will be sent out in the next few days. Keep it safe - it's part of a limited run and a piece of history!

If you didn't manage to get a physical version, don't worry as the latest PDF version is also available to download here.

Dreamarena Authentication Cracked, Quake III Arena & Toy Racer To Be Playable Online Via Dial-Up

 

If you're a European Dreamcast owner and had a system back in the day, you'll no doubt be familiar with Dreamarena. For those who don't know, Dreamarena was the online portal that PAL Dreamcasts would connect to when you wanted to go online; and many games used the service to authenticate your details when you wanted to play multiplayer games via the 33k modem attached like a disgusting carbuncle to the European system. I have fond memories of Dreamarena as it was the first thing I saw whenever I wanted to go online and browse the internet looking for cheats and...erm...the latest news from the international stock markets. Yeah, stock markets. Um.

Was it the Bismarck? Couldn't help myself, sorry.

One thing I don't have fond memories of is that horrendous 'disconnected' sound that used to play as soon as the connection dropped out. That, and the ominous noise of my mother booming up the stairs to see if I was online without permission again. Anyway, that's all irrelevant - this post is about the awesome news that many people (including me) never thought they'd hear: Dreamarena authentication has been cracked and will allow you to once again hook your Dreamcast up to your phone line and, using nothing more than the bundled dial-up modem, play both Quake III Arena and Toy Racer with other people. This isn't an April Fools.

The DCJY Ultimate Guide Fiasco Continues...

You may recall in late 2015 we launched the physical version of The Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide. It was really well received by members of the Dreamcast community around the world and was seen as a valuable resource for collectors and those who wanted to explore the Japanese library a little further (it has a handy accessibility guide for non-Japanese speakers). Sadly, Sega Europe's legal team requested that we remove the resource from sale because it wasn't an officially licensed product, and naturally we complied.

Since then, we have redesigned the book's cover slightly to include the labels '100% unofficial,' 'fan made' and wording to the effect that it isn't endorsed by Sega in any way. We thought that would be enough to allow us to distribute this book online once again, but apparently not. In the name of transparency, here's the most recent communication from Sega Europe's legal department:

Four SD Reader Indie Gems

Dreamshell and its uses are well documented on various sites around the internet, and for me it represents one of the most interesting facets of the Dreamcast. If you aren't familiar, Dreamshell lets you boot the console into a PC-like Unix GUI and allows for the loading of various applications. Dreamshell can be burnt to a CD-R (or installed into the BIOS of the Dreamcast if you really want to) and then used alongside an SD reader to access all manner of fantastic homebrew and indie software. I did have a look at Dreamshell in the recent past, but with this post I just wanted to give some exposure to games that have been kicking around for a while but that you may have missed.

None of these games are particularly new, but if you're a recent adopter of a Dreamcast or have only recently decided to dip your toe into the world of homebrew games for Sega's final system, this article may be of interest to you. Possibly even more so if you also happen to own an SD card reader, as these games are all readily availible in ISO format and can be played simply by dropping the files onto the SD card and then executed through the Dreamshell loader interface. The internet is a fast-moving place and people join the Dreamcast community all the time, learning of the many uses for the console that Sega never intended. With this post, I really just wanted to give a mention to the games that are out there, but that rarely get a mention when people discuss this awesome machine.

DreamPod - Episode 29

iTunes
Stitcher
Buzzsprout
UK Podcast Directory

The Asahi tweet discussed on the podcast.

Interlude music in DreamPod 29 is from Cosmic Smash. You can find info on the VMU version of Flappy Bird here, the Greedy Goblin Con charity event article is here, and the Stone Age Gamer story here. Also, you can find the [TERMINAL] story here; and the exposé on the brand new Dreamcast shooter (as yet unnamed) is here. As ever - if you like what you hear, please consider leaving us a review on iTunes.

A Quick Look At Railroad Tycoon II

For the past month I've been working in a town some 35 miles from where I live. It's not a massive distance by any means, and I really didn't think that commuting from one major conurbation on the south coast of England to another would be an issue when I took up the offer of employment. A quick car journey every day - easy right? Well no, actually.

Because the road network in this part of England is an absolute joke and roadworks on the Roman routes that make up the main arteries are an almost constant fixture (and last for months/years at a time), I have been forced to use rail travel for the past five weeks. I initially thought it would be quite good to get the train to and from work because it would give me time I would have otherwise spent stuck in a traffic jam to do other stuff - read a book, play on my Vita or listen to/edit podcasts.

The original Reservoir Dogs.

For the most part this has actually been the case, but on many, many occasions the trains have either been late, too crowded to find a seat on, or have been totally cancelled with no explanation. Naturally, this has lead to me grumbling on social media about how pathetic our train services are, but it got me thinking: how hard is it to run a train network and keep everything going smoothly? Thanks to the awesome power of the Dreamcast, I have the very tools at my disposal to find out in a measured and scientific manner. Ladies and gents, the train now approaching platform 3 is Railroad Tycoon II...

Dreamcast 2: Arcade Version - Expanding the Dreamcast Collection: Part 3 - Naomi 2

The Dreamcast Junkyard is finally breaking its silence on the topic of the Dreamcast 2… well, sort of. The Naomi is often described as the arcade version of the Dreamcast, and the true successor to the Naomi was of course the Naomi 2, thereby making the Naomi 2 the arcade version of the Dreamcast 2! Yes? Get it...? Am I right? AM I RIGHT? Well, OK, that was pretty shameless click bait, but you're here now anyway, so why not let us tell you a bit more about the third system in the Dreamcast arcade family.

In part 3, we’ll be covering one of the other systems in the Dreamcast family, the Naomi 2. Much of the information from part 1 (such as how to play Naomi games) applies, so if you haven’t already, then I suggest reading that before making a start here. In part 2 we took a look at the Hikaru system, and while not essential to understanding this article, feel free to take a look back for a complete perspective of the family.

Part 1 – The Naomi Connection
Part 2 – The Hikaru 7

1. Naomi 2 Overview
2. Some Naomi 2 Exclusives
3. Naomi 2 Home Ports
4. The Dreamcast's Virtua Fighter 4 Passport VF.NET and History/VF4 Disks
5. Naomi 2 Games List

OK, back now? Great let’s get started.

Naomi 2 Overview
It’s often incorrectly stated that the Naomi 2 was released in the year 2000, but this seems to be another mistake brought around by poor translations of Japanese. According to Famitsu magazine, the Naomi 2 was first unveiled at the 38th JAMMA trade show towards the end of September 2000 along with Virtua Fighter 4 (then known as VF-X), Wild Riders, Club Karts, Virtua Striker 3 and the new Naomi/ Naomi 2 GD-ROM drive add-on.