Upcoming Dreamcast Indie releases - 2021 and beyond!

We're quite lucky to be Dreamcast fans at the moment, living through what feels like a renaissance for the machine -  with Sega giving a little bit of merchandise love to the machine, a proliferation of hardware mods that allow access to older titles, full HDMI support, new controllers, a growing collection of Dreamcast related literature, ports of Atomiswave arcade titles, and an ever impressive indie library. There's a remarkable amount of activity around a machine which is approaching 23 years of age, and we here at the Junkyard are embracing it with a smile on our face, a VMU in our pocket, and a dwindling bank account as we welcome the second coming of our digital dream box. And long may it continue!

The year 2021 is set to be the biggest - by some way - year for indie releases in the systems history though. There is a quite staggering number of titles on their way - more than 30 by some counts - and a fairly large number of those will be in our hands sooner, rather than later. Whilst most of you will have already backed the titles you've seen, there's a good chance some may have slipped you by, or maybe you've just not been aware of the tremendous indie barrage about to assault the console. Fear not, for we're hopefully going to set that straight today.

Before we list all the indie titles on their way, we want to make a couple of observations. This list only includes titles that are set for a physical release. That will preclude some of the homebrew software being developed, and of course won't touch on any ports being developed. We're also not going to include anything which is *only* based on rumours. As you can imagine, we have heard several of these! Furthermore, expect some *big* announcements of titles in the coming months - we can't say anything about them at the moment (we're such teases), but this article will be updated as new titles are announced!

On with the list!

Alice Sisters

Published by JoshProd - set for release early 2021

The first of numerous JoshProd titles in this list, Alice Sisters is a follow up to previous indie platformer Alice's Mom's Rescue, a quite charming little game from prolific previous indie developer Orion. Like the original, this appears to be a 2D platformer, but with the interesting addition of co-op mechanics. Each player guides one of the sisters (or a single player can switch between them) through a promised 28 stages, each using different abilities to combat the games puzzles. 4 game modes are also promised, and screenshots show a charming, colourful world, very much in the style of Orion's previous titles.

A DC release was hinted at in the summer of 2019, but little was revealed for this cross-platform release (a Steam and Mega Drive/Genesis release are also on the cards), but the trailer dropped by JoshProd in February 2021 has the game running and looking as charmingly fun as I hoped it would. I'm looking forward to this one, a proven developer, a genre we've not seen much of, and an intriguing co-op mode which could be very enjoyable indeed.

You can pre-order the PAL version here, the US version here and the Japanese version here.

You can also download the PC version of the game from Orion's itch.io page here.

Andro Dunos 

Published by JoshProd - set for release September 2021

Whilst Pixelheart / JoshProd made a big deal about the release of a brand new sequel, going as far as presenting a special event on Youtube for it's launch, the pending release of the original Andro Dunos went a little under the radar. It's perhaps not surprising though that this early 90's horizontal shooter is making it's way to the Dreamcast. It'd been rumoured for months, the acquisition of Visco's library by the publishers made it an obvious choice, and for many DC players, they've been enjoying the game via emulation for some time anyway. A decent, colourful example of the genre, it's become a minor cult favourite with some fans, and certainly won't be out of place in the plentiful supply of indie shooters the system is home too. There are possibly a few issues regarding how the emulation (presuming it will be played via emulation, like other Neo Geo ports from JoshProd) will work, and it's own sequel is now taking much of the attention away from this release, but it's a welcome addition to the library.

You can pre-order the PAL version here, the US version here and the Japanese version here.

New Dreamcast Indie release review - Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back

It's shaping up to be a momentous year for the Dreamcast's already active indie scene, with (literally) dozens of titles on the horizon. After the unbridled success of titles such as Xenocider and Xeno Crisis (Indie games not beginning with X are available), and some very tasty offerings in the pipeline from JoshProd, Senile Team and Headup Games, there's never been a better time for the scene - and certainly, never a more active one. 

It wasn't a major surprise, then, when yet another title was announced for the console just weeks ago. Erbe Software, a Spanish publisher, started a Kickstarter campaign for a port of a 1990's point and click adventure, Mortadelo y Filemon, itself based off a popular Spanish comic. With a low goal, and the community's ever rabid desire to see more DC games, it sailed past its modest funding target and should be with us sometime later in the year. But this wasn't the first we'd heard of Erbe Software. Back in 2020, they announced a similar, rather unambitious Kickstarter campaign for a port of another 90's point and click adventure - Alcachofa Soft's Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back. This too sailed through its meagre funding target, but little had been heard about it since the campaign. That is, until copies started being received by the modest number of backers, around the time of their latest Kickstarter.

The original PC cover for the game. If only we got this for the Dreamcast version...

Now we at the Junkyard didn't back the game. Whilst we're purveyors of all things 'Dreamcast', we have to admit it did pass us by. But new Dreamcast games, even ports of old PC adventure titles, are never a bad thing. Only, with Drascula, things did seem a little off. First, the original developers Alcachofa Soft had allowed the game to be distributed for a not-for-profit basis some years back. With the wonders of ScummVM, the emulator which makes these classic point and click adventures easier to run on more modern platforms, some Dreamcast owners would, no doubt, have been able to experience the games rather campy, cheesy comedic horror before. 

Now, this isn't unprecedented; Dreamcast owners who've dipped their toes into emulation may have seen a few examples of games being made available via that method some years ago, only for Indie publishers to release them as 'legitimate' releases some time after (Flashback, Captain Tomaday etc. etc.). There's nothing inherently wrong with this - if the rights holders can release the game officially, that's fair enough. But with information so scarce about this release, some did wonder whether this would be a 'bells and whistles' special packaged release, or simply a version of the ScummVM engine running the game. One of these, unfortunately, ended up being the case.

Thanks to friend of the Junkyard Chris Nunn, one of the few people who backed the game on its original campaign, we've managed to grab a hold of the game and...well, we've got some thoughts... 

JoshProd announce 5th wave of Dreamcast releases - 8 games incoming! (updated)

[Updated, originally posted September 2020 and updated February 2021] 

With JoshProd now releasing a video preview of their upcoming games for 2021, we can confidently say that any fears we had about the games running poorly have been addressed, at least for the most part. This article has been edited to reflect that.

The brand new February 2021 trailer can be watched below:

The last few years have seen a surge of new independent releases on the Dreamcast, keeping this 20 year old love affair we have with the console going strong. This year we've already seen Xeno Crisis from Bitmap Bureau - a multi platform, multi directional shooter that we liked quite a lot - and we're not far away from seeing the release of Xenocider from Retro Sumus, another title that is shaping up very well (something we can personally guarantee here at the Yard). The masters of the recent surge of releases, however, is undoubtedly JoshProd/Pixelheart. The French indie publisher has now released over 20 titles on the Dreamcast, and already had us excited for their upcoming release of the very promising looking Arcade Racing Legends, but have now upped the ante once more, with the announcement of a 5th wave of releases - all due (currently) to be released before the end of the year. I don't know about you, but any good news in this year of unpredictable craziness is most welcome.

As with their previous titles, JoshProd like to announce a batch of games at a time, with varying developers, genres and packaging formats. This wave we see 6 titles that cover platforming, fighting and lots of shooting, the return of a popular indie developer and a rather interesting multi-game set. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's have a look at the list of titles announced:

• Alice Sisters (Orionsoft)
• Rocketron (Astro Port)
• Satazius Next (Astro Port)
• Tough Guy (Panda entertainment)
• Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser (Astro Port)
• Wolflame (Astro Port)

As well as these, there's two other new titles coming to the Dreamcast - we'll get on to them later:

• Gigantic Army (Astro Port)
• Zangeki Warp (Astro Port)

Review: Xenocider

Full disclosure: The Dreamcast Junkyard has been reporting on the development of Xenocider pretty much since we learned of its existence, and prior to that we reported on Retro Sumus' previous foray into indie dev, Ameba. Over the years we have built up something of a friendship with Carlos Oliveros and the development team working on Xenocider. However, in the interests of transparency and 'ethics in games journalism,' we will not be giving Xenocider a free pass. This review will be conducted with the same unbiased cantankerousness as you've come to expect here at the Junkyard. With that out of the way, on with the review!

Retro Sumus first appeared on our collective radar way back in November 2014, when the Spain-based indie developer announced a visual novel starring a down at heel detective trying to solve a mysterious, supernatural murder. That game was Ameba, and since it was first introduced to the community it has been put on the back burner. Not because of any kind of internal turmoil, development hell or the game quietly becoming vapourware; but because Retro Sumus turned their attention to another project that was initially going to play second fiddle to Ameba. That side project appeared to hold more appeal to the development team and as they pivoted away from Ameba, the projects switched places with the former going into hibernation and Xenocider - the other game - stepping into the limelight.

Now, almost 7 years later, and after a number of huge revisions and an entire lore being created, Xenocider has finally landed on the Dreamcast. A bespoke, independently developed title, created and sculpted for the best part of a decade to run exclusively on Dreamcast hardware and utilising a game engine built from the ground up. You really couldn't make this up. And now, at long last - and much to the relief of the long-suffering dev team, no doubt - Xenocider is finished. It's real, it exists, it is playable on an actual Dreamcast...and by jove it's glorious.

As my learned colleague Mike Phelan alluded to in his comprehensive Arcade Racing Legends review, it would be quite easy for us Dreamcast fanatics to frothingly praise any and every new game to hit the console as a marvel, a wondrous and near perfect experience, simply by virtue of it being a game released for the Dreamcast. To proclaim everything as amazing, awesome, fantastic (or to use any number of other equally meaningless superlative descriptions) is far too easy these days; to turn a blind eye to a game's shortcoming and to give it a free pass simply 'because it's on Dreamcast.' I am all too aware of this trap, and I refuse to fall down into it. I am a hard man to please and I don't believe in sycophantically announcing every new Dreamcast game as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

With this in mind however, I'm quite confident in saying that Xenocider, for all its faults - which we'll cover later - still manages to elevate itself to the upper echelons of the Dreamcast indie library and sit proudly up there alongside stuff like Xeno Crisis, Alice Dreams Tournament, Leona's Tricky Adventures, Wind & Water Puzzle Battles and Sturmwind. That's because this is a game crafted with obvious love and devotion not only to the Dreamcast, but also with a devilish wink and a nod to other games it clearly takes inspiration from; simultaneously offering a refreshingly original take on the sci-fi shooter genre while presenting the discerning Dreamcast gamer with a hoard of gameplay modes, and as many extra bells and whistles as you'd normally expect to find in a current gen title.

Before we get to the game itself, it's worth mentioning the love and care that has clearly gone into creating the whole Xenocider package. From the excellent bespoke cover art drawn by DC Comics' Agustin Padilla, to the quality of the printed booklet and covers, to the artwork on the game disc itself (and on the bonus music CD if you have the two-disc special edition), everything about Xenocider's physical appearance exudes an air of professional attention to detail that is fantastic to see in an independently developed Dreamcast game; and like the JoshProd, Bitmap Bureau, Yuan Works and Duranik titles which came before it, the faux NTSC or PAL styling of the boxes means Xenocider will slot nicely in alongside its contemporaries on any discerning Dreamcast owner's shelf of indies.

So what of the actual game then? Well Xenocider is essentially an 'into the screen' run and gun shooter much in the style of retro favourites such as Space Harrier and Sin & Punishment. I'm not remiss to use those two titles as comparisons as Retro Sumus themselves have often cited those games as inspirations for Xenocider. Here though, you take on the role of Xara, a cybernetic Oppenheimer - quite literally a destroyer of worlds - who must planet hop through the star system, wiping out all lifeforms in her wake before eliminating an end of level boss...and ultimately the very planet itself. Pretty hairy stuff, we're sure you'll agree, and it's upon learning the main objective of the game that the title starts to make more sense. Furthermore, to reveal quite why all this death-bringing is going on would be to reveal spoilers...so we'll say no more.

The Dreamcast Junkyard's choicest cuts and hottest takes of 2020

OK so I basically nicked this idea from Eurogamer, but I thought it would be good to do a sort of festive wrap up (geddit?) of our most interesting posts, podcast episodes and YouTube videos from the past 12 months. 2020 has been a disgusting year for reasons you really don't need me to spell out here, and for me personally one of great loss, but having this place to spew my creativity out onto has been a huge help when things haven't been so positive.

I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment either, as everyone here at the Junkyard has experienced ups and downs throughout 2020, as I'm sure you have dear reader. At this point I must admit to having forgotten about all the minor hits we scored here at the Junkyard throughout the year, and just how much cool stuff happened within the wider Dreamcast community. From new game releases, to unreleased games being discovered, and all the stuff that went in between. Anyway, cast your eyes below to find links and summaries to some of our choicest cuts from the last 12 months...

Articles

• The Dreamcast games of 2020 - we kicked things off with a look at the plentiful bounty of new titles heading to Sega's final console during 2020. Some of them materialised, some of them have slipped to 2021...but that just means we can rehash this in a few weeks time!
• Fun with Dreamcast Flags - Mike goes all Sheldon Cooper, and takes a look at the ways real world flags are treated when transplanted into Dreamcast games. It's an excellently researched article written with real humour and is actually quite educational.
• Using Google Translate to play NTSC-J games - this was more of an exercise in trying to find something to entertain myself with during a period of intense boredom. Using the Google Translate phone app to play Japanese Dreamcast games. Yep, hard hitting stuff!
• The Mystery of Real Racer IX - Lewis went on a fascinating deep dive trying to uncover the origins of the mysterious Real Racer IX, a game that was shown in a solitary photograph taken at the Tokyo Game Show in 2001. Never heard of Real Racer IX? I suggest you read this excellent article.

• Dreamcast: Year One - we finally took delivery of Andrew Dickinson's Dreamcast: Year One, a book successfully funded on Kickstarter. Featuring retrospective reviews, a breakdown of the Dreamcast's history and interviews with such industry titans as Bernie Stolar, it was worth the wait.
• Dreamcast racers that didn't make the podium - the Dreamcast plays host to some stellar racers, but what about the also-rans? James took a look at some of the Dreamcast's best 'tier 2' racing games in this superb article.
• Heroes of Might & Magic III - earlier in 2020 a playable build of Heroes of Might & Magic III for Dreamcast was finally released from it's prison in the hands of a private collector, thanks to a community fundraiser. Follow up article here. 
• This is a Dreamcast Disc - Tom embarked on another wild goose chase trying to discover the identity of the actor who utters the immortal words you hear when you place a PAL game disc into a stereo. This is part one, with part two to (hopefully) come in 2021.

• All the times a Toyota Celica appeared in a Dreamcast game - believe it or not, the Toyota Celica appears in quite a few Dreamcast games. Tom only realised this after getting one in real life. Here is the fruit of his utterly pointless labour.
• Dreamcast Printer discovered - yes, you realised this was an April Fools...but for a brief period, James' prank bamboozled at least a few of you. Here we look at the 'lost' printer prototype that would have theoretically allowed you to print off your Dreamarena emails and documents stored on a Zip disc.
• Dreamcast Collectors Unite! - a multi-post endeavour from Mike looking at the wondrous and magical Dreamcast items held in the collections of community members. There's some really cool stuff here, be sure to check out part 2, part 3 and part 4 too!
• Punk albums featuring Dreamcast music - Another banger from Mike, during which he takes us on a magical mystery tour of his favourite punk albums which also feature music or samples used in various Dreamcast games. 

• 10 times rappers have referenced the Dreamcast - Lewis dons his massive collection of gold chains and goes for a trip to the shops in his low rider, while simultaneously demonstrating 10 times rappers have referenced Sega's little white box in their slapping tunes.
• EMAP's lost Official Dreamcast Magazine - Andrew delves between the hypothetical pages of the pitched but never produced Official Dreamcast Magazine that was shown to Sega by EMAP. Dennis Publishing famously won the battle to provide the UK's Official Dreamcast Magazine, but this interview with Dave Kelsall of the production team is a fascinating look at what could have been.
• A Dreamcast launch retrospectacle - Brian took a look at all of the Dreamcast's US launch titles in this superb listicle, eventually distilling the list down to reveal his favourite of the bunch.
• The musical excellence of Rez - Martin looks into the audio splendour of Rez, one of the Dreamcast's most iconic yet unusual titles. The music and the visuals combine to create a truly out of this world experience, and this article explores this relationship.

• Atomiswave games come to Dreamcast - anyone who spends enough time wrapped up in the online Dreamcast community will have heard that recent developments have allowed the Dreamcast to run Atomiswave arcade games. Here Tom takes a look at the story, with a follow up article on the games themselves here.
• Simpson's Bug Squad discovered - you already know what this is. A lost Simpson's tech demo was discovered on an old Red Lemon Studios dev kit. We take no credit - that all goes to the lovely folks at Dreamcast Talk. It was nice of Eurogamer, VG247, Engadget, Kotaku et al to give us a mention and a link though!
• After the Fall review - a Quake total conversion that had been in development for an inordinate amount of time, After the Fall was finally delivered by Pip Nayler in 2020. Tom grabbed his super shotgun and went in search of alien scum in this review.
• Xenocider preview - originally slated to release in 2020, Retro Sumus' debut Dreamcast title now looks set to release early in 2021. It looks set to become the first heavy hitter of the year, and our review will be coming soon. For now, check out our preview.

• Xeno Crisis review - Bitmap Bureau's excellent top down indie shooter finally hit the Dreamcast in 2020 and Mike was wowed by the quality of the experience, proclaiming it to be one of the best indie games to grace the platform. Read his comprehensive review here!
• Arcade Racing Legends review - Another comprehensive review from Mike, this time looking at the lastest offering from JoshProd - Arcade Racing Legends. Did it live up to the hype or roll into the pits with a flat tire? Check out the review to find out.
• Flea! a new Dreamcast game appears - a bit of a stealth release for the Dreamcast, this. 2020 saw Flea!, a retro-themed platformer come to the Dreamcast. Mike took a look at this charming game.
• An interview with Tom Charnock - yes, an interview with me, about this blog. We're 15 years old this year, so James thought it would be a good idea to ask me about how it all began. Give it a read if you want.

Podcast episodes & YouTube highlights

Did you know we have a podcast? Well, we do! It's called DreamPod and you can find it on all the major podcatchers. Each episode we shoot the breeze on all things Dreamcast related, and quite often veer way off track, and there's always some lighthearted ribbing involved. Unless your name is James Harvey, where the insults are genuine. We've released quite a few episodes in 2020, no doubt thanks to the enthusiasm to the show exhibited by Andrew, coupled with Lewis's undying devotion to editing. Check them out below!

• DreamPod 70 - The return of Tom, the Junkyard Man
• DreamPod 71 - Capcom on the Dreamcast
• DreamPod 72 - A mysterious case of Dreamcast
• Dreampod 73 - Understanding visual novels and wacky collector's editions
• DreamPod 74 - What if the Dreamcast won?
• DreamPod 75 - 5 Years of DreamPod
• DreamPod 76 - Featuring the Saturn Junkyard Titancast crew
• DreamPod 77 - An interview with Headhunter producer Stefan Holmqvist
• DreamPod 78 - Upcoming 2020 hardware and software releases
• DreamPod 79 - Dreamcast Heaven & Hell: Part 1
• DreamPod 80 - Luke Benstead on DreamPi and Simulant
• DreamPod 81 - Dreamcast Heaven & Hell: Part 2
• DreamPod 82 - Another Dreamcast news round-up
• DreamPod Bonus Episode - Dreamcast Mini
• DreamPod 83 - Spooky stories & horrific games Halloween Special
• DreamPod 84 - Left in Japan: Volume 1
• DreamPod 85 - RadioSEGA WinterFest 2020

We also have a YouTube Channel, which was set up in the mists of time by Aaron 'the Gagaman' Foster, but is now curated by James Jarvis. We've posted quite a few videos up there this year, with some selected highlights listed below for your enjoyment!

• YouTube - Retro Fighters Striker DC hands on
• YouTube - What does the mysterious Sega announcement mean?
• YouTube - Typing of the Dead - working from home edition
• YouTube - A look at Nettou Golf
• YouTube - DreamPod 77 premiere and live chat
• YouTube - Arcade Racing Legends livestream
• YouTube - Let's play some Atomiswave games on Dreamcast
• YouTube - Secret Santa Live!

So there we have it. It's not an exhaustive list of content we've put out this year, and if you search the archives you'll find even more content created simply for the love of the game. It's surprising how much we've actually put out in all honesty, and I'd like to thank all of the team here at The Dreamcast Junkyard for their efforts - Mike Phelan, Lewis Cox, Martin Irwin, James Harvey, Andrew Dickinson, Kev Mason, Mark Williams, James Jarvis, Brian Vines; and of course Jon and the rest of the the long-suffering moderation team over in our Facebook group.

Also a huge thanks to all of you who continue to read, listen to and watch what we create here on our little corner of the internet, and engage with us on Twitter. There's more to come in 2021, including some changes to the way we do certain things, so keep an eye out for those. For now though (sorry DreamcastGuy), keep dreaming!

Review: Flea!

2020. It's not been great, has it? But whilst we all seclude ourselves in our homes, proclaiming how bored we are whilst ignoring our game backlogs, something has been stirring in the Dreamcast Indie scene. The year kicked off with the rather glorious Xeno Crisis - perhaps the finest Indie game yet on the DC, and we've got some delights on their way with the high speed thrills of Arcade Racing Legends from JoshProd, the wonderful Xenocider in all it's 3D glory from Retro Sumus, and Indie masters Senile Team back with the fantastic looking Intrepid Izzy. That's not even mentioning the impending release of Summoning Signals, JoshProd's Indie onslaught with 8(8!) more titles, and almost certainly others that we've simply forgotten to mention! It's a never ceasing cause of amazement for all of us here at the Junkyard that we could see more than a dozen titles added to the library in a matter of months.

It seems though, that even more is on the horizon - including a game which has come as somewhat of a surprise - Flea! which is out now and available from the developers own Etsy page here. A successfully funded Kickstarter project this year, the game was designed for the NES, but has jumped it's way onto our chosen platform, caught us all by surprise, and left us itching to tell you more. I promise that's the last awful Flea pun I'll be making...

Playing as your cute little Flea protagonist Henry, your task is to collect blood from the games 80 levels, blood which is being horded by the greedy King, and is desperately needed by the Refu-fleas. To that end, each unit of blood you collect can, at certain points, be converted to extra lives. It means that very quickly you'll rack up substantial numbers of lives - but that's something you'll most certainly need here. The game creator, Alastair Low (featured on the DCJY before, for the very cool Dungeon Ross), clearly has a fondness for tough NES era platformers, as Flea! is designed with plenty of tricky sections and death is frequent. Luckily, such death is not permanent in Flea's world, for a few seconds later you're back on the hunt for blood at the beginning of the level. Just as quickly as you build the life stock up though, you'll see the numbers going down when you get to one of the games tougher stages.

The game's deaths don't come by way of Uzi wielding parasites or anything so extreme though - here, death will come by way of your continually jumping little critter finding his way into a particularly nasty obstacle. These litter the stages, and whilst only a few syringes seem to be your issue early on, you soon come face to face with other creatures and more extravagant obstacles. Not every creature you meet is a bad guy though - there are plenty of colourful and interesting characters throughout the game to interact with as well.

The game is a tough one to master, in the time honoured 8-bit fashion. However, this toughness doesn't come with unfairness - if you die, it's due to a mistake you've made. Control is generally simple - Henry jumps continually, but you can press the A button to keep his jumps lower (a skill you will require early on in the game), and later on you can dash as well (although I've got to be honest, I've not actually got that far yet! I've never said I'm any good at games...). The main challenge here is to maximise your blood collection whilst navigating the obstacles with well timed jumps. The instant restart of the single screen levels makes any frustration minimal, luckily, but the game does induce a feeling of rage when your life supply dwindles as you fail at a decidedly crafty stage for the umpteenth time - but there's a not insignificant amount of satisfaction when you finally make it. It's a classic risk-reward strategy of gaming of yore, tried and tested, and it works well here, a tribute to the games developer once more.

At times the game does mix things up a little, ditching the single screen approach and going for a forced scrolling platforming experience - a sort of endless runner type affair, only, er, it ends. It shows a little bit of versatility off that makes for a nice change of pace, and again technically, it runs smoothly.  

Visually, it's not going to blow anyone away. It's clearly a NES game, with chunky pixels and bright colours, a look evocative of an age before the Dreamcast, but one which is very much back in fashion. Of course, it looks this way through functionality (being an actual NES game) rather than style alone, but it's competent, cute, fun and cheery. In fact, I'm officially starting a campaign to get Flea! to become the official mascot of the DC indie scene, as I look at his cute little face looking at me from my VMU during the game. The stages vary in their colour schemes - different beasts that the fleas infest - but all have that 8-bit colour and brightness to them, which is very visually appealing. 

There's no denying the games NES roots though. The pixels are colourful, the action is smooth, but this isn't the sort of title that's going to push the hardware. That doesn't matter at all, of course, as the core gameplay is fun and challenging enough to justify itself a place in the library, but we know there will be some out there who will baulk at the idea of a Dreamcast game looking this way. To them, we blow a giant raspberry. Personally, it's a style of game we've not had much of on the console, and I welcome it's arrival. 

I also welcome the chiptune music, so insanely catchy that I found myself humming it to myself on the bus this morning. It perfectly captures the fun, nostalgic retro-ness of the game, and deserves special mention just for that. The packaging is also great - a US style look (despite Lowtek Games being a Scottish based developer), it has a great disc image, and full colour manual (although it's only 2 pages), and the cover is great. For a game none of us were expecting, it's level of professionalism in design was surprising but most welcome. 

The game is available for £30 from Lowtek Games Etsy store, limited to just 200 numbered copies,  and you can find the games creator Alastair on Twitter  so go give him a follow!

 

Peripheral Review: Brook Wingman SD

Disclosure: The Brook Wingman SD was sent to us for review.

The Brook Wingman SD is an interesting device, coming from the powerhouse that is Brook Accessory. I’ve got one of their PCBs in my SEGA Virtua Stick High Grade, which permits its use on multiple formats with ease… and no lag. Brook have quite a catalogue of products, and I believe are building a decent brand name for themselves with quality useful products. 

What is the Wingman SD? In short, it’s a dongle, that allows the gamer to connect a multitude of modern peripherals to their Dreamcast as well as the Sega Saturn (check out Brian's article on The Saturn Junkyard for a look at the Saturn functionality). You can connect your 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch Pro controllers to the Dreamcast for some high quality gaming fun.

There was something a touch surreal pairing my PS3 controller to the DC… but it was incredibly easy to do, and worked extremely well, without any perceived lag. Same goes for the Xbox One controller. The Xbox controllers are often regarded as some of the most ergonomic (and I agree), and using them to play Sega Rally 2, Rez (OK I have that on 360 and PS4), Shenmue, Headhunter, Re-Volt, was really great. The device comes into its own with FPS, though, bringing the DC into the 21st Century proper. Some prefer keyboard and mouse, which you can do on DC, but I am a fan of controllers. And now, Quake, Unreal Tournament, etc… have proper dual analogue support. And wireless!! What a revelation! 

Review: Xeno Crisis

It's hard to know whether even the most optimistic of us would of believed that, more than 15 years after it's inception, the Dreamcast Junkyard would still be reviewing new titles for the console which we all share a passion for. Yet here we are, in a year many of us believed we'd be living on the moon and driving flying cars, still hungering after more releases, and our appetites being sated with a steady supply of some of the finest Indie releases we've ever had. Our childhood fantasies of space-age dwellings and hoverboards, neon lit utopias and colonisation of other planets may not have been met - the steady diet of science fiction fueled expectations of our youth replaced instead with social media, disappointing Sega announcements and a global pandemic - but our consolation prize seems to be an incredibly healthy independent development scene, far removed from the 'yet another Shmup' days of old.

I can only imagine Bitmap Bureau grew up with the same dizzying expectations of our future. For them, the future was clearly 'out there', rather than 'stay at home', and in this new release for the Dreamcast, it seems mankind has indeed ventured away from our terrestrial origins, and made a life for ourselves amongst the stars. Of course, for every Utopian prediction that science-fiction gave us, there was a darker, grimmer dystopia waiting around the corner. For every Star Trek, there's an Aliens, after all. It's safe to say, that the universe that Bitmap Bureau believes mankind will inhabit may have just a touch of the latter - even the title of this new release hints at that. Xeno Crisis - not 'Xeno family picnic' you'll notice, paints a universe in which the Earth's best and brightest must deal with a threat of the extra-terrestrial kind. A distress call is received, and our guys at a research station seem to be dropping like flies due to a serious bit of unwanted alien violence. Step forward Commander Darius and his elite marines, our best hope at beating this off-world menace, now tasked with taking on whatever nasties the galaxy throws at them.

It's a classic sci-fi scenario, one we've probably heard many times before, but there's a reason for it's popularity - we all want to be the saviour of the planet against a horde of ugly, puss-ridden, vomit belching aliens, whilst shooting a completely infeasible amount of ammunition and shouting out Arnie-like quotes in a terrible Austrian accent. It's violent, it's action packed, it's all shouty, sweary and loud, and most of all, it's bloody good fun.

Bitmap Bureau promised to deliver this with Xeno Crisis during a highly successful kickstarter back in 2017, with plans to release the game on various consoles, both current gen and classic, and as well as bringing us glorious 80's action flick silliness, it was going to take a not-inconsiderate amount of inspiration from classic twin stick shooters of old as well. It felt like it was ticking all the right boxes, and now it's the Dreamcast's turn to experience the games delights after various other versions had their time to shine. The important question though, as always, is, well... is it any good?

You're damn right it is...

Xeno Crisis for Dreamcast has gone gold!

Bitmap Bureau have announced via a Kickstarter update that the long-awaited Dreamcast version of their 16-bit styled, Alien-inspired shooter has finally gone gold! This means that the game has been finished and production is due to start imminently; and means it will undoubtedly join the line up of Dreamcast games heading our way in 2020. For the uninitiated, Xeno Crisis was a funded on Kickstarter back in 2018 and the Dreamcast version was added as a stretch goal alongside the standard Mega Drive, Switch, PS4 and Xbox releases; with a NEO-Geo port also on the way.

We've kept an eye on Xeno Crisis ever since it was announced, and several members of the team here at the Junkyard have played the game to death on other formats...but the wait for the Dreamcast version is almost finally over.

Mike Tucker of Bitmap Bureau says in his May 2020 update: 

"We’re sorry that this update has been delayed several times, but these updates often take a few days to put together and we thought we’d push on whilst the development of the Dreamcast version was going well, and the good news is that it has gone gold and has been sent for manufacturing! We’ve tested the gold build thoroughly on all of the Dreamcast variations we have, using a range of controllers and peripherals, and everything seems extremely solid - thanks in particular to Tom Charnock and Mike Phelan of The Dreamcast Junkyard for supplying us with various bits for testing."

- Mike Tucker, Bitmap Bureau

In the name of transparency, the various bits mentioned include an Ascii control pad and a Dreamcast Twin Stick controller, the latter of which can be seen in the video Mike posted on Kickstarter and YouTube:

Personally, I've only played the Switch version of Xeno Crisis so far, and it really is a corking retro style shooter. As alluded to earlier, it does lean heavily on the 'space marines kicking alien ass' tropes laid down in popular works of fiction we probably don't need to name check; and for that it should be applauded. It's a no-nonsense nostalgia trip, which takes you back to when games were hard as nails and there were no save points.

The premise is a simple one - enter the infested base, shoot alien scum in the head, rescue civilians and escape with your life. Power-ups and additional weapons can be collected along the way, and the stats of your chosen marine can be boosted between stages to help level the playing field when taking the fight to the xenomorph hoards and their huge end of level overlords. It's rollicking good fun and is tough as old boots...and that's part of the appeal.

The Dreamcast version in particular looks to make great use of the unique features of the system, with VMU screen logos (above), support for VGA monitors and the aforementioned Twin Stick and Ascii pad compatibility. It looks like we won't have long to wait until Xeno Crisis starts landing in GD-ROM trays around the world, and we'll be sure to give it a thorough play test here at the Junkyard when it hits.

Excited for another new Dreamcast title? Have you played Xeno Crisis on other formats? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

Related articles:

• New Dreamcast games coming in 2020
• Preview: Xenocider
• Preview: Arcade Racing Legends

New Dreamcast Games Coming In 2020

It's 2020 - hurrah! We made it all the way to another decade as a fully functioning species on this so very fragile planet we call home. But enough about that communist nonsense. You came here to read about the greatest home console released in 1998 and then again in 1999, and more specifically new vidya gaemz set to be released on said ageing hardware at the dawn of this new decade. I realise that last sentence is really quite cumbersome and uncomfortable to read, and if I were a proper 'games journo' I'd probably restructure it and make it a bit easier to mentally digest. But I'm not a proper games journo, and besides, if I were I wouldn't be writing about something as idiotic as games; I'd be on social media posting the hottest of takes and having arguments with random people about Star Wars and politics. But I digress.

So here we are then. The Dreamcast has celebrated its twentieth year as a thing (or twenty first, if you happen to live in Japan), and yet we are still looking at even more brand new software releases over the next 12 months. Granted, the steady stream of releases is slowing somewhat, but that the Dreamcast community still has new titles to look forward to is nothing short of amazing. And we aren't talking about homebrew releases either (not that there's anything wrong with homebrew, of course). We're talking proper, boxed retail releases with manuals and cases and discs and everything. Will the Dreamcast enjoy more physical releases than the Nintendo Switch this year? Only time will tell, but here's a hint: it won't. But again, I digress.

Enough of this pointless preamble. Here's a brief run down of all the games we know of (so far) that are heading to a Dreamcast GD-ROM drive near you in 2020...

Xeno Crisis (Bitmap Bureau)
Xeno Crisis wowed gamers on both the Mega Drive and modern platforms when it released in late 2019. Bitmap Bureau's successful Kickstarter campaign resulted in this rather brilliant homage to retro shooters like Smash TV bringing some proper old-skool top-down arcade action back to TV (and Switch) screens, and the Dreamcast version was added as a stretch goal. Luckily, enough people wanted a version for Sega's old warhorse that this became a reality and Xeno Crisis is set to hit the Dreamcast some time in early 2020.

There's no definite release date as yet, but Bitmap Bureau assures us that it is coming along nicely and everything is up and running on actual Dreamcast hardware, and there's even going to be support for the Dreamcast Twin Stick. Which is good news for all nine people who own one. I have played the Switch version of the game and I must say that it is a really enjoyable and polished homage to the shooters of yesteryear, with some great humour and nods to the sci-fi movies it clearly takes inspiration from.

Visit the Bitmap Bureau website for more information.

Arcade Racing Legends (PixelHeart)
The second fully 3D indie racing game to hit the Dreamcast after 2017's rather impressive 4x4 Jam, Arcade Racing Legends looks to pay respects to some of the most iconic vehicles from Sega's arcade heritage and bring them all together in one place. It's a nice idea, and one I'm surprised Sega hasn't capitalised on itself. What this means is that you can pit the iconic vehicles from Daytona (Hornet), Sega Rally (Lancia Delta and Toyota Celica), Scud Race (Porsche), Crazy Taxi (Axel's Cadillac) and other well known franchises against each other across a range of original tracks.

Like most of the other titles listed here, Arcade Racing Legends is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign (my colleague Mike Phelan wrote an impressively detailed article about this here), and while the campaign page states that the game would ship in December 2019, this doesn't appear to have happened just yet. As a big fan of racing games, I'm hopeful that Arcade Racing Legends will live up to the promise, and add a new dimension to the stable of indie titles coming in 2020.

Visit the Arcade Racing Legends Kickstarter campaign for more information.

Intrepid Izzy (Senile Team)
With such iconic titles as Beats of Rage and Rush Rush Rally Racing already in their portfolio, you'd be daft not to have high hopes for Senile Team's latest Dreamcast offering Intrepid Izzy. The action platformer looks like a playable cartoon, with some very clean character designs and inventive gameplay elements. You play as the titular Izzy, ass-kicking her way through a number of 2D platform stages and engaging in light RPG elements. There's also a pretty cool move list implemented, meaning that traditional commands for executing fireballs and special attacks are seamlessly integrated into proceedings.

I've already had the pleasure of playing a demo version of Intrepid Izzy on the Dreamcast, and I really liked what I saw. Tight controls, great visuals, infectious music...all the right ingredients for another Dreamcast success methinks. Senile Team released an update on Kickstarter in late December 2019, in which it was revealed that the game will be entering testing very soon with a PC release to follow. There's no concrete date for the Dreamcast and PS4 versions, but rest assured they will both launch in 2020 and hopefully continue Senile Team's run of excellence on Sega's platform.

Visit the Intrepid Izzy website for more information.

Stampede: The Lost Dreamcast Sheep Herding Sim

Of all the aspects of being a Dreamcast fan, discovering lost and cancelled games is by far the most fascinating to me. Yes, the games we actually got are numerous; and a large proportion of them are pretty darn good, but the merest glimpse at titles that never made it give us a tiny peek into an alternative reality. A reality where the Dreamcast was the commercial success it could have been, and a reality in which all those titles that were unceremoniously shelved received full retail releases.

There are some cancelled games that are widely known about and that have even been released in some form or another. Half-Life, Propeller Arena, Hellgate, Geist Force and PBA Bowling are famous examples; and more recently titles such as Agartha, Deer Avenger and Millennium Racer: Y2K Fighters have shown us that there are still lost games waiting to be discovered. We can now add another to that ever growing list: Stampede.

You'd be forgiven for scratching your head at this point, as Stampede is likely a title you've never heard of. But there's a reason to be excited about this one - Stampede for Dreamcast was running well on Dreamcast hardware when it was cancelled, and now a playable build has found its way into the hands of Xeno Crisis developer Bitmap Bureau. What's even more interesting, is that the guys who make up Bitmap Bureau (developers of the upcoming Xeno Crisis) were part of the development studio that originally worked on Stampede all those years ago.

With this in mind, there's a very real chance that Stampede could finally see the light of day, nearly 20 years after it was canned. But what exactly is Stampede? And why should you care? Read on for the answers, and an exclusive interview with the game's creative director...