TR Fight Stick Opens 'Dreamcase' Metal Shell Pre-Orders

Cast your mind back to November 2018 and you may recall an article here at the Junkyard about a custom Dreamcast shell being designed by TR Fight Stick. Fast forward to February 2020 and you can now pre-order said custom shell. Named Dreamcase, the case allows you to take the innards from your favourite console and plonk them inside a metal prison that claims to keep the contents at a perfect operating temperature courtesy of a silent fan.

It's worth bearing in mind that your Dreamcast needs to have been modded with a GDEMU or similar device before stuffing it inside the Dreamcase, as there's no way to play GDs once the shell replacement has been completed. Well, without taking the lid off again...which defeats the object somewhat.

The design will probably divide opinion as it makes the Dreamcast look more like a small form PC than an actual Dreamcast, but for those who want to give their console the ultimate visual makeover, this could be just what you are looking for. Some of the info listed on the TR Fight Stick website includes:

• Blue Backlight (Homogeneous)
• Compatible with GDEMU and DCHDMI
• New Technology DC 12V Mini Power Supply
• Extender PCB for SD-Card 
• Game Swap Button for GDEMU
• Compatible with 56K Modem and DreamPİ
• 40MM Silent Fan ( Noctua Supported ) 
• Not Supporting original GD-ROM nor USB-GDROM 
• Metal Sticker with Serial Number for Each Case

It looks as though TR Fight Stick will need pre-order numbers to reach 100 units before they can go ahead with mass production (each unit costs $149.99 plus shipping and comes without a power supply), so time will tell if there is enough demand for the Dreamcase to become a reality. Check out the Dreamcase at the TR Fight Stick website.

Credit for this news snippet goes to my DCJY colleague Martin, who discovered this while Googling for Fight Stick parts. So what do you think? Will you be taking the plunge and splashing out 150 big ones? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

Daytona USA back Online, Dreamcast: Year Three, Samba De Amigo in VR, and more! - Dreamcast News Round-Up July 2023

Summer is here... not that you'd know in the UK, though, because it's been raining nonstop for two weeks straight. At least the forecast for new developments in the Dreamcast community is looking promising, so much so that I thought I'd round it all up for you in this handy post. There's an overarching theme of homebrew wizardry this month, whether that be in the form of new software or hacking old software, so be sure to thank all the talented individuals mentioned for their hard work.

Dreamcast: Year Three announced!

This piece of news is one I have no shame plugging first! Last month saw the release of Dreamcast: Year Two, a book edited by Andrew Dickinson that features many written collaborations from The Dreamcast Junkyard team and others in the Dreamcast community. Well, for those who were wondering, Andrew confirmed in a tweet that Dreamcast: Year Three is coming, revealing its awesome cover, illustrated by KinkySketch, as well as saying to "expect a [Kickstarter] campaign mid-2024". The plan with this one will be to launch the campaign with much of the content already produced to avoid long waiting times for backers.

For more information on The Dreamcast Junkyard's book releases, check out our dedicated section on the website.

Debug Indie Sampler, Vol. 3

Wave Game Studios have already given away two great demo samplers, each featuring snippets of the latest and greatest in Dreamcast indie games and homebrew. Anyway, here's a heads-up to say that Debug Indie Sampler, Vol. 3 has gone up on Wave's store for pre-order, and as before, the only ask if that you pay for shipping. None of the demos have been confirmed yet (as represented by the anonymous coloured squares on the cover below), but Wave have said that "[we] won't be disappointed". Exciting! The sampler is limited to 2,000 copies and won't be reprinted, so make sure you go and grab one!

This modern art is getting out of hand...

Reinvigorating the games of old...

While you sleep, talented hackers in the Dreamcast community toil away, tweaking the inner workings of your favourite Dreamcast games to make them more accessible in various ways. You may never have knew you needed hacks like the ones discussed below until this article, so let us know if they went straight onto your GDEMU or a CD-R after reading.

VGA Dreams

This follows on from a topic brought up in Lozz’s last Dreamcast News Round-Up. TapamN has been doing some amazing work making a whole load of Dreamcast games compatible with VGA output. A bugbear of many a DC fan is the seemingly random assortment of games that don’t natively work with this oft preferred method of video output, so what TapamN is doing is a godsend. 

The most recent title to receive TapamN's VGA treatment is the The King of Fighters '99 - Evolution, the Japan-exclusive Dreamcast remake/port of The King of Fighters '99. Here's to enjoying Neo Geo-quality bouts in beautiful VGA on the best console ever made.

The King of Fighters '99 - Evolution working in VGA mode, as shown by Derek Pascarella (ateam).

Also hacked to work with VGA is survival horror title Seven Mansions - Ghastly Smile, another Japan-exclusive game that received an English fan translation thanks to SnowyAria and MrNobody back in 2019. This one is particularly handy, as I'm pretty sure it was the only fan translated game available for the console that lacked VGA compatibility, so this hack is a great addition to GDEMUs everywhere.

A full list of the VGA patches that are available and where to download them can be found on the console mods wiki. With these most recent additions, the number of Dreamcast games that remain incompatible stands at a surprisingly slim 24. 

New Projects Archive Dreamcast DLC & VMU Files

We're big fans of digital preservation here at the Junkyard (we've even been preserved ourselves, by The British Library no less), and hopefully with all of these articles, podcasts and other such nonsense we're helping the legacy of the Dreamcast survive in our own little way. Others with far more technical nous are going a step further though, and are creating online repositories for Dreamcast-related digital files that could very well slide into obscurity and vanish altogether in time.

Not a digital archive.

I've touched on the subject of digital preservation several times in the past here, and it's a topic I'm very passionate about - I even worked for the UK National Archives in the field back in 2013. This gave me a great insight into the very real issue of preserving digital files and bespoke media formats and the Dreamcast is a console with its fair share of these. Happily, two separate projects have been brought to my attention that aim to address the somewhat scattered nature of Dreamcast digital files and bring them together in one (well, two) definitive libraries that are open and free for all Dreamcast fans to access.

Sites like Blue Swirl list fan-made VMU games.

The first aims to preserve DLC files for all manner of games; while the other is dedicated to archiving VMU mini-games. And while there are many sites currently online (or accessible via Wayback Machine) that offer similar services already; many offer incomplete lists, are plagued with broken links or only offer homebrew and fan-made mini-games.

Dreamcast Collectors Unite! Exploring your collections - Part 3

We put the call out for collectors willing to show off their collections, and the responses have come thick and fast. After showing off our first 5 contributors earlier in the week, we're back again for part 3 of the Dreamcast Collector's Unite! series, with 4 more fans of the Dreamcast letting us take a peek at their cherished collections.

So take a seat, grab yourself your favourite beverage (in a Dreamcast mug, of course) and come with us as we explore the collections of 4 wise men who go by the names of Adam, Brandon, James and Mike.

Adam

Hello fellow Dreamer! Tell us a little about yourself!

My name is Adam, better known on YouTube under "TechnicalCakeMix". I'm a Brit who has found himself in the United States for... reasons? I think?

You obviously have a love for the Dreamcast; when did that start?

For years I've been a fan of Cammy White, from Street Fighter - and as it turns out, she has a spin-off game of her own, called "Cannon Spike" that was exclusively on Dreamcast. While living in the homeland, I never found it for a reasonable price, and so sadly it never came to fruition - cut forward to 2014, the year I moved to the United States, and my now wife (then fiancee) gave me a huge surprise with a gift of not only my own Dreamcast console, but also a copy of Cannon Spike. From there, the rest as they say, is history.

So your current collection – can you give a brief description of what you have, what you collect (i.e. games only, games and console variants etc.) and what your 'end goal' is, if you have one?

I have around thirty games so far in my collection, which does not sound like a lot - however I've been focusing mainly on the higher $$ titles and the harder to find items before the market inevitably explodes. My eventual goal is to get as close as I can to 100% of the NA library, and also get some region exclusive oddities (some of which like Frame Gride, I already own). I've also been on the hunt for promotional merchandise, as well as oddities from the era.

A Brief History Of ChuChu Rocket! In Your Pocket

ChuChu Rocket! is a puzzle game that is undoubtedly a product of a struggling Sega. Imaginative, innovative, insane - one of the many one-of-a-kind experiments that was thrown at a wall in the Sega headquarters in the hopes that something would eventually stick and save the Dreamcast once and for all. Maybe this attempt to stand out was what led Sonic Team to create not just one of the most memorable puzzle games on the Sega Dreamcast, but one of the best and most memorable puzzle games ever made.

For the uninitiated, the premise of ChuChu Rocket! is simple. You place directional arrows on a checker board to guide mice (the titular ChuChus) to rocket ships, all whilst making sure they don't get eaten by giant orange cats that look like they are perpetually tripping on acid.

The guiding brainless animals to safety thing had been done eight years prior by DMA Design's Lemmings, but Sonic Team managed to take the concept and push it to the brink of madness whilst also throwing in a bonkers multiplayer mode and online play (that's still available today thanks to DreamPi). It serves as a high quality break for any Dreamcast fan who has sunk hours into deeper experiences like Shenmue or Phantasy Star Online who just wants to play something simple whilst also having an absolutely cracking time.

These days, with smart phones being in everyone's pockets, puzzle games that are easy to pick up and play function as perfect time wasters on a morning commute or even when we just can't be bothered to do anything else. Sadly, as I'm sure many of us can all agree, the vast majority of smartphone puzzlers are trite, micro-transaction ridden nonsense. But what if we could take a stellar puzzler like ChuChu Rocket! and play that in the palm of our hand instead? That would make perfect sense, right? Well it turns out that Sega did see ChuChu's portable potential...

Retrospective: Stunt GP

Way back in the mists of time, I took a look at the various radio controlled car racing titles on the Dreamcast. It may surprise you that there are no less than three different games featuring such toy vehicles battling for supremacy on miniature circuits in the Dreamcast's library; with Toy Racer and ReVolt complementing Stunt GP in the virtual toy box. This time though, I'm turning my attention squarely on Stunt GP, as it is a game I am very fond of and which doesn't really get a lot of time in the limelight. That's about to change though, as we navigate the plastic highways and byways of Team17's often overlooked foray into the international sport of bashing radio controlled vehicles around a deserted car park.

Released exclusively in PAL territories, Stunt GP joins titles like Giant Killers and Headhunter on the list of games that were never officially released in the rest of the world, and as such I wonder just how many people even know the game had ever seen a Dreamcast release. Stunt GP did receive a PC release and a later PlayStation 2 port, but the Dreamcast game is something of an oddity especially when you consider that Team17 released its other Dreamcast titles worldwide. 

Of course, the Wakefield-based developer is better known for its Worms franchise on Sega's little white box; with Worms World Party still being regularly played online via the magic of DreamPi. It's also worth noting that while Team17 developed Stunt GP, the game was published by Eon Digital Entertainment. Doing a bit of Googling, it appears that Stunt GP was due to be published worldwide by Hasbro but for some reason the deal fell through and Eon stepped in. I'd love to know more about why an NTSC release never happened, and who knows - maybe somebody reading this can shed some light on that particular mystery.

Either way, coupled with the lukewarm reception for the more widely-known PlayStation 2 variant, this PAL exclusivity is potentially the biggest reason for Stunt GP's relative lack of visibility on the Dreamcast. To my eyes, this is a great shame because - in my humble opinion - Stunt GP is actually one of the most enjoyable 'kart' style racers on the system.

Digital Artists Create Jet Set Radio Tags For New York Yami-Ichi 'Internet Black Market'

The second self-styled Internet Yami-Ichi was held in New York on the 6th November 2016, and was a celebration of all things 'internet-ish.' For those not in the know, The Internet Yami-Ichi in NY2 was a sort of flea market where creators of predominantly digital art and crafts gathered to sell their wares, and to me at least looks like a really cool and intriguing concept. From the official website:

The Internet Yami-Ichi (Internet Black Market) is a flea market which deals "Internet-ish" things, face-to-face, in actual space. Both flea markets and the Internet are fanatical and chaotic mixes of the amazing and useless.  In the Internet Yami-Ichi both the wills and desires which brought us to create the Internet, and the wills and desires we picked up are salvaged to be shared in a social space.

Everything from art based on popular memes to the more bizarre aspects of internet folklore are on display for visitors to the free event to purchase, with many items created as one-offs solely for this gathering. The reason we're reporting on this event (apart from the fact that it sounds really cool) is that a collective of digital artists got together to create something truly special for Internet Yami-Ichi in NY2: a VMU full of bespoke graffiti tags for use in Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast.

Guest Article: Future Proofing Your Dreamcast

In the second of a series of guest articles from our man in Japan Ross O'Reilly, we'll be looking at how you can pimp your Dreamcast to within an inch of it's life and enjoy most (well, some) of the lovely features a modern games system benefits from. HD output, bountiful storage and online capabilities are all things we take for granted these days and with a bit of knowledge and a fat wallet you can enjoy the same with a Dreamcast right now. Let it be known that I have neither of the aforementioned. Ross, over to you.

So, you want the so called 'Dreamcast 2' (don't get me started on that!), you want a HD Dreamcast, right? You want the ability to play Dreamcast games online? Download DC software and run it on original hardware? Play with a wireless DC controller?

Well, what if I were to tell you that all of those features are available to you right now, today.
Yes, I apologise if I sound patronising to those of you who are regular readers and keep up with Dreamcast developments, but I'm here to tell you anyway, that all of those features and more are available to you already...just so long as you have deep enough pockets to shell out on the numerous devices required.

Let's start from the top...

Cross Platform Online Multiplayer Added To Doom For Dreamcast

Not content with dragging large swathes of the Dreamcast's official library back online with Ooga Booga, POD 2, NFL 2K and Monaco Online (to name but a few), all-round programming genius Shuouma has turned his attention to an unofficial Dreamcast release and managed to bring it online for the first time. That game is DCDoom, an unofficial port of id's seminal first person shooter, and now Dreamcast owners can play cross platform with PC owners. Sounds pretty awesome, right?

Naturally, the pool of gamers still playing multiplayer Doom is quite small these days, and even smaller if you factor in the number of people who own a Dreamcast, a DreamPi and a copy of DCDoom...but still, the fact that this is an option is pretty interesting. Shuouma has confirmed that cross platform gaming works, stating:

"I looked at this and I have now added modem support for DCDoom. I have also tested to play
from my DC after dialup against my Linux machine running SDL Doom. Works fine. So the network-code is working. People just need to be careful when setting up the network variables."

- Shuouma

It's worth noting that you will need a specially modded version of DCDoom which Shuouma says will be released soon as a downloadable CDI file. We'll update this article when it's available and we've tested it out ourselves, but in the meantime you can find out more about this fascinating project by visiting the DC-Talk forum thread on the topic here. Thank's to Luiz Nai for the heads up on this.

Source: Dreamcast Talk

Guest Article: Sega Should Resurrect The Dreamcast Brand

You many be familiar with the name Luke Benstead. He's the guy responsible for creating the DreamPi - the Raspberry Pi based device that is enabling Dreamcast owners to get back online around the world. We've covered Luke's work extensively here at the Junkyard, he appeared as a guest on an episode of DreamPod and he wrote a previous guest article for us. In this new guest article though, Luke takes a look at what it would take to resurrect the Dreamcast brand...

Recently, it was the 17th anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast in the US and the occasion caused Twitter and Faceback to fill with birthday greetings for the console that refuses to die. If you're reading this you are probably well aware of the stubborn and ever-growing 'Dreamcast Scene,' but if this is news to you then I'll give you a quick overview. 

Dreamcast trended on Twitter briefly on 9/9/2016

After Sega stopped supporting their last home console, homebrew developers made tools to create games for it, and every year more and more games created by indie developers are released. On top of that, the Dreamcast continues to gain more and more online multiplayer games as aspiring geniuses reverse engineer the old game servers. Just in the past year alone, Chu Chu Rocket, Toy Racer (dial up), PAL Quake III Arena and The Next Tetris, have returned from the dead. On the horizon is Alien Front Online, and there are sure to be more to come. There are weekly game nights scheduled for both the US and UK, and well over 100 people now regularly play online. Which is quite some achievement considering you have to actually do some soldering to get the dial-up Dreamcast to connect in a fibre-optic world. 

In summary, the Dreamcast isn't dead, it's alive and well. Sure it doesn't compete with current gen consoles but no other console in history has had as much community support. Which brings me onto the main topic of the article; Sega should bring the Dreamcast back. 

Hardware Review: GD-ROM & Compact Flash Modded Dreamcast

Technology fails. It's as simple as that. With the passage of time, and daily wear and tear, eventually even the most robust equipment will suffer a breakdown. We can do plenty to prevent this atrophy, but inevitably, anything that employs moving parts will break. As Dreamcast owners, we're probably all too aware of the various failures that can besiege our favourite console, and the list of potential faults is long. Power boards, main boards, controller boards...pretty much everything in a Dreamcast is prone to the ravages of time, and public enemy number one is undoubtedly the GD-ROM drive. More than any other component as the Dreamcast rapidly approaches its twentieth anniversary, the main, bespoke optical drive that is a key component to enjoying those brightly hued games of yore is becoming a weak link. Raise your hand if you've ever put a game in a Dreamcast only to be met with the dreaded 'please insert game disc' message.

The catalyst for many a clenched fist and jaw

To remedy this, there are several devices on the market that allow users to negate the need for a GD-ROM drive; and in many cases they allow for the complete surgical removal of the optical drive in favour of solid state storage for games and other applications. The two most popular variants currently available are the GDEMU and the USB-GDROM.

GDEMU

USB-GDROM

These two devices require complete removal of a Dreamcast's optical drive and offer the option of using either an SD card or USB flash drive respectively from which to boot Dreamcast ISO files. There are also further alternatives that employ the use of a traditional hard drive, but these are not as popular or widespread as either of the two options mentioned above.

Internal HDD mod (courtesy of Pcwzrd)

Both GDEMU and USB-GDROM are great alternatives to the ailing GD-ROM drive - with both offering minimal loading times and enhanced curation of game files. Both also employ proprietary software for operation and boast almost 100% compatibility with games in the Dreamcast library. With the Compact Flash and other alternatives, DreamShell (the open source OS created by DC-SWAT) is employed, and while this benefits from being customisable, it doesn't offer the near full compatibiltiy enjoyed by GDEMU and USB-GDROM. That said, DreamShell is in a constant state of flux, with new updates always being worked on, so in the future full library compatibility is more than possible. In the meantime, here's a handy list of Dreamcast games that will work with DreamShell, courtesy of Pcwzrd of Dreamcast Live fame. The crux of the matter is this though: all of the other options for eschewing optical media listed here require the removal of the GD-ROM drive.

So, what to do? How can you have the best of both worlds? The solution is combining the convenience and enhancements that come with solid state storage, with the ability to still use a standard game GD (or CD) if the need arises. Enter the latest modification on the market that hits both these targets with quite some accuracy: the Compact Flash Dreamcast. Coming from Austrian modder Jan, this Dreamcast keeps the standard GD-ROM drive intact and perfectly functional, but also adds a fairly discreet CF card slot on the right hand side and a BIOS switch on the rear. This switch allows for the console to be booted in either 'standard' mode where the console is just a normal retail unit able to read disc-based games; or to be booted in DreamShell mode, where the CF card is interrogated and any game files on the card are presented in a rather nice menu using aesthetically appealing icons. There's plenty of other functionality too, but first, let's take a look at the hardware and just why Jan chose to use Compact Flash in this modification...

The Original Blockbuster: Tetris On Dreamcast

Tetris. Even just typing that word brings the classic Tetris music pouring into my brain, accompanied by images of falling Tetriminos and the monochrome hue of a classic Gameboy screen. Alexey Pajitnov's groundbreaking puzzle game will forever be linked to Nintendo's classic handheld system simply because for many gamers, it was the first time they experienced the infuriatingly addictive gameplay of Tetris. Many an hour was spent by this gamer hunched over that lurid green and black screen, desperately trying to angle the console in the fading light of the evening to get the best view of those infernal, infuriating, infinitely falling blocks. If ever there was a gaming equivalent of an ear worm, Tetris is most certainly it.

Tetris has a long and storied history that begins in the early 1980s, but once Pajitnov's program found its way out of the labs of Moscow's Academy of Science, it landed and multiplied its way across pretty much every platform on Earth. Naturally, the first users to experience the game were computer users, followed by Commodore 64, Atari ST and Amiga gamers. But once Tetris was captured and re-purposed for pure entertainment machines, the blueprints for complete global domination were signed and sealed, and the Gameboy represented a delivery method with maximum yield.

Since those early days, Tetris has found its way onto countless platforms - and not just ones designed for gaming. Calculators, iPods, phones and even oscilloscopes have played host to variants of Tetris as the relatively simple nature of the game requires very little in the way of computational horsepower. If it's got a screen, an input device and a circuit board inside, the chances are it can play a version of Tetris. Naturally, computers and consoles have evolved over time, but the key components of Tetris have not. With flagrant disregard for anything as po-faced as Moore's Law, Tetris has remained almost unchanged in it's simplicity ever since that day in 1984 when it left Moscow and entranced the world, simultaneously rewriting the book on puzzle games as it went. If ever there was a perfect example of the old adage 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it,' then Tetris is surely it.

Driving Strikers: it's online! - an interview with Luke 'Kazade' Benstead

Last December, Reality Jump delivered to the Dreamcast community a gift on Christmas Eve in the form of the first playable Driving Strikers demo. In the months that have followed, the game has been further developed and expanded into what is now the first ever indie Dreamcast release to support online multiplayer gaming!

Whilst the game isn’t ready for a final release yet (that will be in early 2023), Reality Jump have just released a new demo which includes much tighter controls and online multiplayer for everyone to try out.

Following this latest demo release, I caught up with programming wizard Luke 'Kazade' Benstead to get all the juicy details on what promises to be by far the most ambitious indie release to date.

DCJY: Hi Luke, thanks for chatting to us again! So, what inspired you to first start work on Driving Strikers?

Luke Benstead: Last October, Dave Reichelt and I worked on a Halloween demo called 'Tunnels' - we thought it would be a nice little thing to put together to demonstrate the capabilities of my Simulant game engine, and Halloween was also an immovable deadline so it gave us something to focus on.

Following the release of Tunnels, we looked at the calendar and figured that a Christmas demo would be great. We threw together some ideas and Dave suggested a 2.5D Rocket League-style game. So we frantically spent November and early December 2021 putting together a quick and dirty multiplayer game.

I think as we approached Christmas we started discussing making it a full game, which is why we released it as 'Driving Strikers: Holiday Edition' - with the idea to follow up with a full game in early 2022…that obviously didn’t happen.

The Dreamcast Junkyard's choicest cuts and hottest takes of 2023

Well, here we are again. A whole 12 months since the last time we did one of these yearly roundup articles, and 10 months since I decided to retire from the Junkyard for the sake of my fragile sanity. Going against my better judgement, I thought it would be nice to pop in to the 'Yard at this special time of year to look back in anger with fondness at some of the highlights of 2023, published by the hard-working and dedicated team of nerds who keep this place going in earnest. Even with the AI-powered threat of the Dead Internet™ and Big Gaming Websites™ slowly terraforming the entire World Wide Web into a sanitised, homogenous wasteland of black text on white backgrounds and carefully prepared press bullshots, The Dreamcast Junkyard is still here showing that little niche blogs can survive in the present era. But, y'know, that's not to say if some conglomerate wants to buy us out for a few million quid we wouldn't listen to offers. Of course, I jest...cough.

Now, back to that actual topic at hand. The dystopian nightmare that is/was the year 2023AD. It's been...interesting. So much new Dreamcast news to report on, new releases to salivate uncontrollably over, and original features that simply wouldn't write themselves without the aid of an advanced large language model and a few clever prompts. Yes, the humble Dreamcast has had quite the year, and so without further ado, I present to you a concise(ish) whistle-stop tour de force of the choicest cuts and hottest takes published here over the last 365(ish) days.

Are ya ready? Here we go...

Reviews

• Not actually a Dreamcast release, but a title heavily influenced by Jet Set/Grind Radio, Lewis laced up his roller blades, donned his finest DayGlo lycra and tackled Team Reptile's excellent homage Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Reports of lycra chaffage are wholly unfounded, refuted and are to be quashed immediatley.
• Taking a pinch of inspiration from Rocket League, the first online-enabled retail release in nigh on 20 years arrived on Dreamcast in 2023. As expected, Lozz buckled up, checked his mirrors, signalled and then manouvred into battle in Luke Benstead and David Reichelt's indie hit Driving Strikers.

• Another game heavily influenced by a much-loved Dreamcast original, Cosmic Smash homage C-Smash VRS from RapidEyeMovers and Wood & Wolf was given a thorough going over by a VR-helmeted Brian. Rumours that he destroyed his living room while jumping around in said VR helmet are wholly unfounded, refuted and are to be quashed immediately.
• After Tom checked out the Dreamcast re-release of Visco's 1992 Neo-Geo title Andro Dunos (brought to us by JoshProd and PixelHeart), Lozz entered the very same (heavily sanitised) cockpit to take on the challenge presented by Andro Dunos II.

• Our colleague Andrew Dickinson wrote a book once - did he mention that? Well, guess what - he wrote a sequel to it and it was released this year. Dreamcast: Year Two featured many contributions from across the Dreamcast community and Lewis was on hand to leaf through it. Will there be a Dreamcast: Year Three? Will Andrew mention he wrote a book again? Answers on a postcard.
• Mike kicked off his Dreamcast-themed loafers, donned his velvet smoking jacket (probably) and delved betwixt the pages of Fusion Retro Books' Dreamcast-themed special edition, the snappily titled Fusion Dreamcast Magazine.

• Mike also cast a critical eye over two indie releases this year, with PRO's physical release of Wolfenstein 3D mod Witching Hour and Lowtek Games' semi-sequel to Flea!, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, both getting the Phelan treatment. Which sounds way more ominous than I thought it would now I've typed that sequence of words out.
• Drunk on nostalgia while waiting for some form of Crazy Taxi reboot to appear (it'll never happen), Brian hailed down Cassius John-Adams' Fifth Element-inspired Crazy Taxi homage MiLE HiGH TAXi - a game which presumably also took at least some naming inspiration from psychedelic Saturn k-hole NiGHTS into Dreams.

Features and News

• A highly skilled Dreamcast developer who goes by the name Frogbull decided they wanted to see PlayStation 2 stalwart Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty running on Sega's superior hardware. So they went out and created a proof of concept demo. No, we aren't making this up, and Lewis was on hand to investigate.
• Tom noticed that it was high time he delved back into the Atomiswave library that was recently made playable on Dreamcast, with a look at Sammy's lesser-spotted Need for Speed: Underground rip-off homage Faster Than Speed.

• 2023 represented a major milestone in the history of the Dreamcast - 25 years of existence. To mark the occasion, Brian revisited the Japanese release of the console, and even looked at the four launch titles on offer, particularly zooming in on one of the more maligned of the four - Godzilla Generations.
• Y'know, it wasn't always like this. Not very long ago, just before your time, right before the towers fell, circa '99, this was catalogues, travel blogs, a chat room or two. And loads of random Dreamcast-themed fan sites. To illustrate, and take a look at what became of our brothers and sisters in arms, Lozz sampled a load of other online Dreamcast resources that were founded after the Dreamcast was discontinued (some even before the Junkyard started)...and where they are now. Thanks to Bo Burnham for this guest entry.

• Back in 2022, Tom lamented over the lost Dreamcast boxing game Title Defense. With the help of Dreamcast community legend PC Wizard, he managed to track down and speak to someone who was heavily involved with said game's development and ultimate demise, and uncover the true story of why Title Defense never came to the Dreamcast. Spoiler alert: it never existed.
• Apparently modern Sega isn't simply a hollow shell and shadow of its former self, and this year teased reboots of two of its most popular Dreamcast franchises. So you can disregard the previous comment about Crazy Taxi never coming back. Because it is, along with Jet Set/Grind Radio. Hopefully not as mobile games, but only time will tell. As ever, Lewis was on hand to take a look at the teaser trailer.

• Long time Junkyard contributor Aaron "The Gagaman" Foster checked in earlier this year with a rather fascinating investigation into the smallest Dreamcast games. Not small in stature, but in file size. No, it's actually more interesting than you'd think. Honest.
• How many versions of The Typing of the Dead are you aware of? Apart from the Dreamcast release of this zombie-themed Mavis Beacon homage, you might be surprised to know that there were numerous spinoffs and ports to both computers and other console platforms. Want to know more? Of course you do, so be sure to check out Lewis' superb dissection of The Typing of the Dead's weird and wonderful ports.

• Many Dreamcast releases were originally promoted via the arcane medium of the humble flyer or leaflet, and in this excellent deep dive into one of the more esoteric aspects of Dreamcast lore, Lozz investigated the myriad flyers and leaflets now preserved online for all and sundry to gawp at.
• If you've been online for as long as most of us have, and have been trawling the Dreamcast-flavoured underbelly of the internet for an equally terrifying stretch of time, you'll have undoubtedly come across heavily compressed images of Dreamcast consoles modded to resemble the Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube and Sony PlayStation 2. Ever wondered where these curiosities came from, or what became of them? Enter contributor Dark, who investigated the origins and fate of these mysterious variations of the Dreamcast.

• Tom took time out from shaking his fist at a cloud, put some clothes on and ventured out of his delapidated shack; and then took a train to London to experience C-Smash VRS and interact with some real life humans. Read his report on the launch event here, and then scratch your head in bemusement at the final paragraph where he annouces his retirement from the Junkyard...while you simultaneously read these very words which are being written by him on a keyboard right now.
• Contributor Oliver Luddy announced his debut at the Junkyard by checking out the various iterations of steering wheel peripherals with which Dreamcast users can control onscreen vehicles. Some are good, others are not so good. But how will you know which is which without checking out Oliver's Dreamcast Steering Wheels - An Overview?

Credit: The Sega Guru

• Dreamcast indie royalty and wombat appreciator Ian Micheal fully inserted himself into something commonly known as 'Christmas spirit' by releasing his latest creation - a compendium of Christmas-themed games for the Dreamcast. Featuring rom hacks and ports of games from a multitude of genres, the Dreamcast Christmas Collection is also notable for featuring covers of various festive songs which are sung by Ian himself. Ian, your talents are clearly wasted on indie dev.
• The DreamPod crew asked our listeners to share their favourite Christmas Dreamcast memories from years gone by, and boy did they not disappoint. In this festive roundup which served as a companion piece to DreamPod episode 125 for RadioSEGA's WinterFest, Lozz packages them all up for your reading pleasure, while nursing a hangover inevitably brought on by enjoying too many Creamcast ales.

• Bet you didn't know Radirgy/Radilgy received a spinoff on the Nintendo 3DS. Well, it did, and in his deep dive, Lewis discovers that not all is rosy in this particular entry's cel-shaded garden. To be fair, the clue is in the title of the feature: Radirgy De Gojaru! - Radirgy's Terrible 3DS Spinoff.
• It's been a good few years at this point since Retro-Bit teased their wireless Dreamcast controllers. While wireless controllers for the Dreamcast have been available for quite some time thanks to the work of Chris Diaoglou, the Retro-Bit ones are officially sanctioned by Sega and were spotted "in the wild" a few months ago in 2023.

• Fresh from his recent foray into the world of Dreamcast soccer management blockbuster Giant Killers, Kev decided it was high time to turn his attention to American sports games. More specifically, the unusual Japanese releases of NFL 2K1 and NBA 2K1. What makes these two titles so notable? Well, it's the fact that they received special “bible” editions. Want to know what any of that means? Then check out Kev's feature on the Sega Sports 2K1 Bible Editions. Note: God and/or Jesus are not involved. Sorry.
• Sticking with Kev for a moment, he also investigated the experience of playing a range of games with the Dreamcast Arcade Stick (see what I did there?), but the twist here is that they aren't games that any normal person would actually want to play with an Arcade Stick, but which are fully compatible. The things we do in the name of science, eh? You can read about Kev's highly empirical findings in his feature here.
• Last but by no means least, and after a whole year, many hours of work and hundreds of contributions, The Dreamcast Junkyard's refreshed Top 200 Dreamcast Games 2023 was finally unveiled to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the system. This really was a Herculean effort from all of those involved, and the final list throws up some very interesting placings in the definitive ranking as voted for by you - the loyal readers of t'Junkyard.

English Translations

This year saw even more Japan-only titles translated into English by the dedicated Dreamcast fan translation community. There are many talented people involved in this niche within a niche (with a special nod to the likes of Derek "God" Pascarella, VincentNL, SharkSnack, Rolly, RafaMGam, TheKitchenSunk, Harpu, Ozidual, DocHikari, dukeblooders, Marshal Wong, Duralumin, James Tocchio/GGDreamcast, Yuvi, Cargodin, rio de popmocco and TapamN, to name but a few).

Some of the most notable titles to receive an English language translation were covered by Lewis here at The Dreamcast Junkyard, with one of them even being worked on by him (Nakoruru). Check 'em out:

• Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan
• Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000
• Rent-A-Hero No. 1
• Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me
• Cool Cool Toon
• Under Defeat
• Trizeal

Interviews and Podcasts

• Daytona USA 2001 was brought back online in 2023, restoring much of the original multiplayer experience that was enjoyed by Dreamcast owners in Japan and the USA back in the day. The bulk of the work to bring the game back online was completed by developer ioncannon, and Lozz was on hand to get all the details on this excellent resurrection project.
• On episode 126 of our podcast DreamPod, Lewis and Kev welcomed Nick Thorpe, Retro Gamer Magazine Features Editor. The conversation covered a wide range of topics, including how Nick's career in games media started and progressed, some contentious entries in the 2023 Top 200, Nick's memories of the Dreamcast launch and favourite games, and how he would get hooked on playing the Dreamcast demo pod in order to get his Sonic Adventure fix, much to the frustration of the other kids.

• Seasoned games journalist Chris Scullion joined Kev and Mike for episode 121 of the DreamPod, during which Chris detailed the process of writing his latest book The Dreamcast Encylopedia, his memories of the Dreamcast, and some of his favourite titles. Mike mentioned that he is also writing a book. Andrew wrote a book once, too. Not sure if he's ever mentioned that.
• Episode 120 of the DreamPod saw Andrew and Lewis welcome YouTuber Dreamcast Enjoyer (aka Dominic) to the podcast, during which they spoke about a range of topics, from the Dreamcast's “cosiest” games to Dominic's foray into the world of YouTube.

• Regular hosts Lozz and James welcomed guests Harvey (aka Pizza Hotline) and Holsten to episode 118 of the DreamPod to discuss the burgeoning online gaming scene, which has had something of a resurgence on the Dreamcast thanks to DreamPi. If you ever wondered how to go about getting your Dreamcast online, and which online games are worth your time, then this is the episode for you!
• Harlequest developer Ross Kilgariff joined Lewis and Lozz on episode 115 of the DreamPod, during which the jolly trio discussed all things indie dev, Kickstarter and of course Harlequest - a brand new 3D platformer heading to Dreamcast in the not too distant future.
• Of course, you can find all of the other episodes of The Dreamcast Junkyard DreamPod on all of your favourite podcatchers, so be sure to give us a review and a rating if you can be bothered. We'll love you forever if you do. It doesn't even have to be positive. I left a one star review myself on all the ones I'm on, for example. Can't stand the sound of my own voice.

Community Collaborations

• Mike and Lewis were special guests on episode 377 of the excellent podcast The Retro Hour, chatting all things Dreamcast and Dreamcast Junkyard. Turns out the episode Mike and Lewis appeared on was one of The Retro Hour's most popular episodes of the year...who'd have thunk it?

• We also appeared as guests once again on RadioSEGA's WinterFest 2023, sharing fuzzy memories of Dreamcast Christmases past for the 125th episode of the DreamPod, joined this time by none other than Patrick Traynor of Sega Saturn, SHIRO! fame. WinterFest is an institution within the Sega community at this point, so as ever we thank the team at RadioSEGA for having us.
• Lewis was invited to appear on episode 201 of The SEGA Lounge podcast by venerable host David "KC" Luis, where he spoke about his own personal history with the Dreamcast and gave a little glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes at the Junkyard (hint: it's organised chaos).

What's next?

I'm pretty confident that the Dreamcast scene will continue to go from strength to strength in 2024, and no doubt the fine team manning The Dreamcast Junkyard will be on hand to offer a familiar torrent of news, features, reviews, previews, podcasts and interviews. If you haven't already, please go and give The 'Yard a follow on Twitter, or join our lovely Discord community so you don't miss anything.

I'll return at the same time next year to post my annual round-up of other people's hard work; but until then, I wish you all a very happy 2024 and give you my thanks - as ever - for continuing to support the Dreamcast, the Dreamcast community at large, all the indie devs doing amazing stuff, and of course this very blog. Ciao for now!