Sega Katana & Dreamcast Marketing Videos Discovered

Sega recently hit the headlines when an internal video was discovered that showed what it was like to be a tester during the 1990s. This is Sega Test wasn't really intended for public consumption, but it gave us a rare glimpse of the inner workings of the company when it was still a force to be reckoned with. Another video has now been discovered, and while it's not really in the same vein as the one detailed above, it does give us a very early taste of what was to come from the Dreamcast.

As described by Assembler Games forum member Coolmod, this Katana footage was discovered when he was given a bunch of VHS tapes. Upon viewing the tapes to digitise them, they yielded some pretty amazing tech demos and marketing material from the dawn of the Dreamcast era.

The most interesting footage comes from the tape labelled 'Sega Katana Demo TRT: 3:25 4/24/98':

This now-digitised footage shows some concepts for what looks like a Scud Race-esque racing game engine, and several other tech demos which could possibly have gone on to be the inspiration for titles such as Virtual On and Sea Man. Another video detailed at the forum here also shows a collection of adverts and news spots from US television. Why these were archived as 'internal' is a bit of a mystery as these news shows were clearly broadcast, but these discoveries show there's still more to be found when it comes to the Dreamcast.

Thanks to Coolmod for allowing us to share this video.

A Quick Look at Dolphin Blue

Just like our previous article exploring the history of the Sega Driving Simulator, this began as a sub-section of the upcoming part 4 in our 'Expanding the Dreamcast Collection' series regarding the next in the line of arcade systems to share similar hardware to the Dreamcast; the Atomiswave system. People often ask me…wait - who am kidding…let me start again. In my imagination, people often ask me to name the 'exclusive killer app' for each of the systems in the Dreamcast family and I usually struggle, but with Atomiswave, an answer is easy to produce; not only is this the best Atomiswave game, but this could well very be the single best exclusive across the entire Dreamcast family of arcade hardware. Read on to find out more.

I’m a big fan of Metal Slug but like many of you out there, I found the series got a wee bit stale after the third game. Not to say that subsequent games were bad or anything, just that…well, I couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà vu, and have always preferred the purity of the original game without all the zombies, mummies, aliens and transformation nonsense. Dolphin Blue fills the void left in the wake of the Metal Slug series’ change in direction, and then some.

Even before merging with Sega, Sammy had a close relationship with Sega.
Atomiswave and the Guilty Gear series are heavily associated with both companies. 

The game was one of the last Sammy developed before the merger with Sega in 2004. Despite this, it feels incredibly Sega-like for lack of a better term; blue skies, upbeat catchy tunes, cute spunky characters with plenty of 'tude and even an appearance from Sega’s very own Ecco the Dolphin…Ok, well that last part I may have just pulled out of my arse, but many of the gameplay mechanics do revolve around a certain bad ass cetacean chum.

A Different Type of Football: NFL on Dreamcast

With the Euros just around the corner (for our American readers, that refers to a soccer competition, not piles of European cash...although both definitions have some validity), and with our finger on the pulse of the public as always at the Junkyard, what better time to look at one of the worlds most beloved sporting activities than now?

Actually though, the Dreamcast's 'round ball' football output is particularly laughable. I mean, there are only so many articles you can read which basically state they're all crap, with the familiar "oh why couldn't we be blessed with a PES or FIFA?" thread running through them. Instead, allow me to take you on a tour of the very best examples of a sport played in one country, whose very name makes no sense to those raised passing a ball around a muddy field at school lunchtime. Allow me to present, on the eve of the European Soccer Championships 2016...The Dreamcast Junkyard's ultimate guide to American hand egg, American carry-the-rugby-ball American football!

The England defence was no match for the Italian striker...

Unlike many of my compatriots, I do follow the noble sport of American football (henceforth to be referred to as 'football'), and when I'm not following my beloved New York Yankee Men or the fearsome Denver Buffalo Bill Packer Patriots, there's nothing I like more than to indulge in a bit of rugby-for-cowards in digital form (last joke, honestly). And my word - doesn't the Dreamcast have a solid line up of games representing the sport? A total of 8 titles replicate NFL on Sega's little-machine-that-could and whilst the quality varies, US gamers could at least take solace that none of them was quite as poor as 90 Minutes and it's butchering of our beloved Association Football code...right?

DreamPod - Episode 33: Elysian Shadows

[iTunes][Stitcher][Buzzsprout][UK Podcast Directory][YouTube]

Music in this episode comes from Elemental Gimmick Gear. You can find Elysian Shadows on YouTube here, and the 'anti-Falco' jpeg image discussed can be found here. As ever, thanks to all of our Patreon backers for supporting the podcast - our campaign page can be found here. Be sure to follow Elysian Shadows on Twitter, Facebook and the official Elysian Shadows website. 

If you like what you've heard on this episode, it would mean the world to us if you could leave us an iTunes review of any denomination! Thanks.

Six of the Best: eBay Round-Up W/E 5th June 2016

There's been a lot of negative news swirling around the Dreamcast community this week, what with certain projects imploding and certain Kickstarters being cancelled...so allow us to change the topic slightly. Starting this week, we'll be presenting a round up of some of the more interesting items we've spotted on eBay, and giving links in one handy list. Obviously these items aren't linked to us directly, but the 'have you seen this on eBay?' posts in the DCJY Facebook group do get people talking and so we thought it might make a good bi-weekly feature here at the 'Yard.

Please note that the eBay site used will be relevant to the member of the team writing the round-up, so UK-based members will be using the UK site, US-based the US site and so on. Without further ado, let's take a look at some of the most interesting Dreamcast-related items spotted this week...

Xenocider Kickstarter Cancelled

Well, this sucks monstrous amounts of putrid ass. News has reached us that Retro Sumus' awesome-looking Sin & Punishment/Space Harrier clone has been cancelled with six days to go on the Kickstarter project. Pretty much everyone here at the Junkyard backed the game in some form or another so this is a bitter pill to swallow, but we're sure this isn't the end for Xenocider. A similar fate befell Leona's Tricky Adventures and after a round of alternative crowd funding, and we all know how that story ended (read our massive review of the final game here). Here's the rather somber update from Kickstarter:

"Hey guys. This won't take many of you by surprise, but we think it's safe to assume we won't be reaching the funding goal in the remaining 6 days...

We are cancelling the campaign today. We will keep working on Xenocider, on alternative ways of making it happen, because we love our project and are deeply proud of what we were (and still are) intending to create.

Those of you who were fans or followers of Retro Sumus already know we like keeping you guys informed of what we're up to. We have no plans of changing that. This is only a good bye for now. We will be back, and we will be better.

Above all, thank you. We deeply appreciate every single one of your pledges, comments, messages, tweets and suggestions. The Dreamcast scene is still amazing, and exciting, and we are proud to be a part of it. And we would like to thank every backer, journalist and developer who gave us a hand. You all know who you are :)

Thank you so much for your support."

- Carlos Oliveros, Retro Sumus

On a personal level this really disappoints me because I know first hand how passionate Carlos, Chui and the rest of the Retro Sumus team are having spoken with them many times, and I even agreed to appear in the Kickstarter video such was my faith in the quality of this game. However, all is not lost and we do hope Retro Sumus bounce back with an alternative way of getting Xenocider off the ground (no pun intended) and into Dreamcast consoles around the world. Furthermore, I think the world needs to be able to shoot me in the face for all the bollocks I come out with on this blog!

Don't worry if you donated to make this a nightmarish reality - all donations will be refunded when I can remember my PayPal password!

Initial source: Sega Nerds

Dreamcast 2 'Project Dream' Shuts Down

You may recall that in late 2015 the internet was on fire with rumours of the possibility of a Dreamcast 2 being looked at by Sega. Various outlets reported on the story but we chose to distance ourselves from Project Dream as it became known, as there wasn't a lot of factual evidence to back up claims of meetings with Sega and the proposals being considered.

That said, a sizable change.org petition was submitted to Sega, and several videos showing concept designs of both the console and the proposed UI were shared online...but when it came to the crunch nothing concrete really materialised. It looks as though our fears have now been confirmed though, and as much as we'd like to see a new system from Sega or Project Dream, this particular dream appears to be over. The Project Dream website has been taken down, while the popular Project Dream Facebook group has been deleted and users are now met with the following message:

"The project has been taken offline. This is due to a schism within the team caused by inefficient and amateurish conduct resulting in members being removed and others leaving the team. In light of such unprofessional behavior and an embarrassing lack of progress, seasoned members of the gaming industry have chosen to distance themselves from the project. I too am stepping away from Project Dream. Please note the Twitter account @Project_DreamDC is no longer associated with this group."

 - Project Dream Facebook Group

Whether or not this really does mean the end for Project Dream remains to be seen, but I have been contacted by a source close to the team who told me that the claims of a 'schism' are indeed true, and that various members resorted to in-fighting and conflicts of direction. This in turn lead to a rift between the core members of Project Dream, a rift which has resulted in the events described herein.

We'll keep an eye on Project Dream and let you know if anything changes going forward. For now though, it looks like the dream of a new system from Sega will remain just that.

Update: after we published this story, we received a flurry of messages and tweets stating that Project Dream would recover and would forge ahead regardless of the setbacks detailed above. However, it appears that this is no longer the case and any ambiguity has been settled by Project Dream on Twitter with the following announcements: