Lets celebrate Samba De Amigo some more!

Here's a great video review of Samba De Amigo I found on Youtube just recently by PNTgame. What with the Wii version on it's way this Spring, it's probably wise I get back into this to get the feel for it again. It just won't be the same without the rattling red lumps of plastic though! Hopefully someone will put out an attachment for the Wii remotes that transforms them into maracas, and why not? They make plastic swords, golf clubs and just recently even table tennis paddles. The one time we actually WANT a daft plastic attachment and Sega won't give us it? Anyway, enjoy this brilliant review that not only gives you a darn good analysis of how the game plays, but is also bloody funny.



And while we're at it, here's some more Samba De Amigo videos! For anyone with a Wii: Buy this when it comes out. If you don't own a Wii but can't afford the Dreamcast version: Buy a Wii. If you can't wait: throw the £70-odd at it anyway! Unlike most games that sell for crazy money, it's worth it. I mean, just look at how much fun this guy is having!



If your a real cheap sod though, you could also go with the version found in Sega Superstars on the Playstation 2 using the EyeToy. But...it's just not the same, although maybe it's because I'm not as good at it as this guy..


If you want the best possible experience right now though, you need to get the Japanese expansion release Version 2000, as it added a bunch of new stuff to the game play, like shaking both maracas back and forth in different directions and rotating them in a circle. It also has a rather amusing volleyball mini which is best in 2 player, although you'll want to own the first edition of Samba as well for that one has a bunch of mini games of it's own too, the best of which is WHACK A MOLE. What's not to like?


Oh and the maracas? Instead of buying two of the official sets, you could save money by buying the Cha Cha Amigo third-party maracas as your second pair, which you can buy on Play-Asia cheap! Also: They have lights in them that flash when you shake 'em! How cool is that? I still need to get me a pair of those.

Greatest rhythm game I have ever played. Guitar Hero can kiss my arse.

I called it!

I'm sure many of you remember this article I wrote about Dreamcast games that could be re-worked into motion controlled Wii games. Of course, it didn't take that article for anyone else to think that the maraca rhythm game Samba De Amigo would be a perfect match for the Nintendo system: everyone was thinking it. Luckily, it looks like Sega heard us, as they officially confirmed it today.

SEGA GETS SHAKIN’ WITH SAMBA DE AMIGO

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (October 25 2007) - SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. are excited to announce that they are bringing back Samba De Amigo, the Dreamcast classic that helped to create the now-popular rhythm music genre. Created exclusively for the Wii home video game system, this vibrant and addictive new game lets players shake to the beats of a samba-infused soundtrack comprised of popular new songs as well as fan-favorites from the original game.

Playing as the grinning, sombrero-topped monkey, Amigo, players shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk like maracas, in time with the visual beats of the music on-screen. The perfect party game, Samba De Amigo is packed with lively stages and a host of colorful characters. More details about this exciting new title including a full song listing as well as new special features will be revealed over the next few months.

“The Wii’s controllers enable players to enjoy Samba De Amigo’s unique gameplay without having to purchase an expensive peripheral,” said Rick Naylor, Director of Marketing at SEGA. “Between the music, the quirky art style, and the maraca-shaking players, Samba De Amigo is as much fun to watch as it is to play.”

Developed by acclaimed developer, Gearbox Software, Samba De Amigo will be exclusively available for the Wii in spring 2008. For more information, please visit www.sega.com.

There has been rumors about this spreading like wildfire for a while now, but Sega have finally let the cat (or should I say monkey) out of the bag. The one odd part to it is that the Wii version is being developed by Gearbox, who are mainly known for first person shooters, including the unreleased Dreamcast version of Half-Life, funnily enough. They're also developing another game for Sega based on the Aliens franchise. Hmm.

Still, this is great news for everyone who missed out on the original, rather expensive Dreamcast release (and by everyone I mean 99.99% of the worlds' population) and great news for those who did play it but want more of it!

But there's more! Just a few weeks back another Dreamcast game was reveled to be getting a re-make on the Wii! Sega Bass Fishing! Ha! Looks like Sega is starting to show that they still have som,e brains left and are bringing back the great Dreamcast franchises they left for dead! This along with the upcoming X-Box Live releases of Ikaruga and Rez HD, as well as a follow up to Bangai-O on the DS and Seaman 2 on the PS2, shows just how great the Dreamcast line up was as studios are falling over each other to bring them back to life to excite a new generation of gamers.

(P.S to Sega: Now give us ChuChu Rocket as a Wii Ware title, please!)

Get into the Halloween Mood with DC Evolution!

DCEvolution.net, home of the finest free Hombrew Dreamcast games and apps, has created a Halloween themed Dreamcast E-book/activity CD.

Scary stories, pictures, audio and other such cool stuff abound in this CD image which can be used in both the Dreamcast and your PC. The PC version is also an excellent source for scary text fonts for use in Halloween party invitations.

Get it here:

Found at: DCemuUK Forums.

Some cool Dreamcast review videos from The Classic Game Room

You know what? Looking back the '90s were pretty damn cool. There was actually good music on the radio all the time. We had kick ass Sega consoles to play video games on. My taste in clothing and personal hygiene were seen as "cool" and "Grunge" rather than "being a scruffy looking SOB". For a very brief time the Internet was cool as well. This was before vast amounts of idiots knew how to invade EVERY SINGLE decent chat room and message board. And of course the late '90s were the time of the Dreamcast (back before it became undead). This was also the time of the Classic Game Room. The first retro video game review Internet show.

Before the dot-com bubble burst this show reviewed the latest and greatest video games. You can learn more about the show at their website.

Anyways, they reviewed video games in a minimalist style that was sometimes insane, but always fun to watch. Here are a selection of some of their reviews of Dreamcast titles. You can learn something about the games, but please take these with a grain of salt. They were meant to be for entertainment. For Gods sakes they gave "Gundam" a higher rating than "Virtual On"!!! But still, enjoy...















...Did I also post these because I am too busy to make my own review video? Yes.

Cool intro video for "Dynamite Dreams"

And the hits keep coming!

ANOTHER new game coming out for the Dreamcast.

If you have played the demo for Alice Dreams you will recognize this game. I think it started out as a mini-game for AD and got more and more popular. In any case it is gonna get released in 2008.
Holy crap this video is sweet.



Wow! VMU Support! There are actually modes where using the VMU is a big part of the game. FINALLY!

Hmm. Bombs, Mazes, 4 players, and sweet looking graphics.



F34r Teh b()mbz

Cryptic Allusion Presents: "Donk: Samurai Duck"

Do you like ducks?

Do you also find Samurai interesting?

How about side scrolling video games? Do you enjoy those?

Don't you wish there was some way you could have all those things in one Dreamcast game?

Well friends you are in luck! Here is the first video out for "Donk" a new game coming out for the Dreamcast! From Cryptic Allusion, the same people who brought us "Feet of Fury". www.cagames.com

It's an early video, but I think it looks pretty good so far.



It's scheduled to be released in time for Christmas this year.

Fear the spinning samurai duck jump attack.

New Controller!

Recently I have been playing a lot of fighting games on my Genesis, Sega CD and Saturn consoles. The various incarnations of the Sega six button controller work very well for those games.

As sexy as the standard Dreamcast controller is, it just doesn't seem work on the same level for 2D fighting games like Capcom vs SNK. Don't get me wrong, for games like Power Sword and Soul Calibur it's perfect and for most other genres I would rather have a Dreamcast controller. But after some gameplay on different pads it's tough to go from breaking fools with a Saturn slim six button to a Dreamcast controller with only 4.

So to deal with this issue I have been looking around in local game shops in NY State for solution.

This weekend I hit PAY-DIRT...

The ASCII Pad, the capcom special edition one. It had already been opened so my desire to keep things NRFB didn't get in my way of taking it out and trying it out.

Notice all the non-English writing on the box? Yeah I was afraid that it wouldn't work in my American Dreamcast. I had never tried to use any Japanese hardware... But it worked AWESOME.

I really enjoyed using this controller with Capcom VS SNK. Cammy kicked much computer controller player's ass.

How kick ass is this controller? Very. It's got built in rumble and everything.

In any case it also came with some cards detailing the special moves for all the Capcom characters. Kanji? I can't read it! NOOOOOOO!!!!! The art is still cool.

Overall this is a pretty cool collectible and I am glad I picked it up.

Dreamcast Zip Drive

Currently appearing on eBay and flagged up by our very own Nick944 on the Planet Dreamcast Forum, this oh so rare thing of beauty is the prototype Dreamcast Zip Drive.

The description on the eBay sale goes like this...

"The Zip Drive extension box was designed for the Sega Dreamcast. There is a physical connection that joins the setup game console with the extension box. This was the only prototype in the world. It never made it to manufacturing since Sega had cancelled their hardware gaming console business plans The original purpose of the extension box was to save game scores to the Zip media and load additional players characters into the Dreamcast games. This is a rare collectible item for the serious gamer connoisseur."

With a current bid of $1631.02, this is one expensive little collectible... If I was filthy rich I'd be bidding for it right now, as I'm not however, I guess I'll just dream about it. Thanks Nick for bringing it to our attention!

Another Dreamcast First?

The Virtual Console on the Wii is rather nice, isn't it? I especially like it for N64 games as I never owned one of those and the games look better than they did on the original console. Legal emulation seems to be the way to go if companies don't want people emulating games behind their backs, although I think they might be over pricing some of the games..

But did you know Sega actually experimented with a similar idea in Japan for the Dreamcast? Yeah, either did I, but I bumped into this video on Youtube, where the descriptions reads:

"Dream Library was video game download service for Dreamcast.(Similar to Virtual Console for Wii.) It was possible to play by downloading the games of MegaDrive(Genesis) and PC Engine(TurboGrafx-16).Only five trial versions that can play for 15 minutes by using Dream Passport 3(web browser software for DC) can play now."

Judging by the video (which demonstrates 5 Mega Drive games including Ghouls N Ghosts, which shows they must of had some third party agreements on this other than Hudson), it runs on the same emulator as the American release Sega Smash pack, which played and looked perfectly fine but has shit sound emulation, making the games sound a lot worse than they actually were. No TurboGrafx games are shown so my guess is they never got around to emulation for that (otherwise there would of been a leak). I like the idea of a free 15 minute trial version though, Nintendo should probably set something up like that themselves.



I can't think of any earlier cases of consoles letting you download emulated back catalogs of older systems like this (Sega Channel doesn't count as that was for downloading games for the same system). Looks like this would of been another one of those things Sega could have expanded on if the Dreamcast kept going. Another "what if", if you like.

Resident Evil 2

Oh my gosh! I'm sitting here, with that rare feeling of satisfaction that one can only get from the completion of a videogame that you have loved every minute of... The fact that I'd amassed (a not too respectable), 36 hours, 35 minutes and 4 seconds to do so (on the easiest option) is testimony to the old adage, "Time flies when you're having fun..."

Let's put things into perspective... I had reached what I can only describe as 'gaming impotence' recently; despite having nine consoles to play on, and a plethora of unplayed and unfinished games to choose from... Plus the, as yet, untapped potential of my Wii, but nothing was doing it for me...

Then came a sustained period of sobriety, which as you may or may not know, is unusual for the Father... In a rare moment of clarity I knew what game I should be playing, and what console I should be playing it on... I dispatched one of the gingers upstairs to fetch RE2 for the Dreamcast. Since playing RE4 and RE: Code Veronica, plus RE1 in various guises (with varying degrees of success) the franchise had become a firm favourite. I'd had RE2 for years, and besides, I needed to gen up on the whole Umbrella saga before my most anticipated Wii release, Umbrella Chronicles...

From the moment I popped into that little white box of dreams, it was "love at first bite". Now, for those of you who've played the RE franchise chronologically, your first introduction to Leon. S. Kennedy and Ada Wong will have been in RE2... But I started at the most recent and worked my way backwards. Meeting Leon, Ada and Claire Redfield in RE2, was like meeting an old group of friends... and they were all in the same game! (Plus Leon looked so dashing in his Raccoon City Police uniform! (LOL!)

Now, for those of you in the know, RE2 was ported to the Dreamcast from the PS1. At the time (and indeed since) people were unhappy to receive inferior ports which despite some polishing, did not utilise the full graphical potential of the Dreamcast. This might be an issue for some, but not for me... You see, as someone who can still be 'wowed' by graphics on the Saturn, these graphics looked pretty hot! They were pretty much somewhere between the quality of the Saturn original and RE:Code Veronica...

Oh! But the best was yet to come! You see as a feature of the Dreamcast release, the player was given the option of the 'Arrange Game', where you can play as a Rookie... This option allows you access to more type writer ribbons (save potential) and both a machine gun and rocket launcher with unlimited ammo... Hoo-fucking-ray!!!

Now I know that will appall some of you more experienced and skilled gamers, I expect you'll accuse me of cheating... but for me it was like Christmas come early! It meant that I could gain access to the excellent storyline, characters and cut scenes, without the infuriating prospect of the frustration of playing for hours and then dying before a save point, or having to fight insanely tough bosses with the equivalent firepower of a pea shooter! The whole experience has been sublime from start to finish...

Now, my Dreamcast horror survival options are many, I've got Blue Stinger (with official strategy guide), Half Life (with official strategy guide!), RE 3 Nemesis, Ill Bleed and finally... Da da... D fucking 2!!!!

All these lovely titles to cram in before November the 3oth when Umbrella Chronicles comes out and I remember why I bought a Wii in the first place! Any way my lovelies, its late and I'm still reeling from an unexpected (free) trip to Old Trafford, where I saw the mighty MUFC knocked out of the Carling Cup by minnows Coventry City FC! Happy Days!!



So I'll love you and leave you, but expect another Shenmue post from me soon! This is FK signing off...

Good Night Dear Children, Wherever You Are...

I've revived Sega Freaks, now 'Sega Memories'.

Just to let you guys here know, I've decided to revive my old Sega Blog project, under the new name of Sega Memories. Having a rummage in my loft, sorting out all the odd Sonic stuff I collected as a kid inspired me to bring it back. Before I felt the blog didn't have a key focus, like how the Junkyard family of blogs each focus on a Sega console, and I think that's why I ended up leaving it behind. Now, the blog will mainly focus on the non-gaming side of my Sega obsession: the culture, music, merchandise, advertising...anything. If you missed my articles about Sega World, the Sega Tour Bus, Sega Trading cards and that Educational film starring Outrun, they're all back up. New articles will be up soon! End Plug!

"Amercian Dreamcast" Lets go buy a Dreamcast 9-9-99

I will admit it. I openly wept while watching this.

Oh Dreamcast! How could Sega stop supporting you?!?!?!?!!?

Ah well. That Dreamcast he bought 8 years ago lives on...in undeath.

Corn on the cob cat? How about Dreamcast cat?

Just found this last night on Youtube. I have a perfect excuse for posting this!

Someone make a GIF out of this ammediantly!

D2 Video Review. Rummage! American Style!

My first attempt at a game review video and it shows.

I didn't cover everything I wanted to and the voice-over sucked. Plus the video game footage is poor quality.

Points I couldn't get in:

1. The music in this game was kick ass.

2. The ending movie in this game has a timer showing how much time has passed since 2000. Or I suppose if you played the game in 1999, how long until the new millennium.

3. This game was protested in America by feminist groups, which makes NO sense since it has a female protagonist facing down the ultimate evil all by herself. There is a cut scene where an insane dude shoots a helpless woman IN THE FACE, so it was a pretty intense game. But there really wasn't any anything blatantly misogynistic. Except for the tentacle oral rape of course. But I am sure that monster would have done that to any victim regardless of gender.

4. I wasn't clear on the whole "bootleg" version thing. Due to the insane amount of FMVs in this game copied versions are mostly scaled down graphically and don't look as good as the real thing. Hands down D2 is the most difficult Dreamcast game to copy. Which means you should be like me and get a real copy.

I hope you get the general point. I really liked the game.

X-box Live arcade gets some updated Dreamcast goodness.

See that picture?

The cat represents the X-box 360.

The corn represents Dreamcast games like Rez and Ikaruga.

As you can see the X-box 360 is really enjoying the Dreamcast goodness. And I am sure gamers will too.

...Ok fine. I just wanted an excuse to post that .gif. But really a HD edition of Rez and an updated version of Ikaruga are being released on X-box Live. Rejoice.

-Articles linked from Kotaku.

EDIT: Racketboy has a much better article up about this that I somehow missed before. Go. Read. It.

Btw: One of these games (Rez) was mentioned in an article that Gagaman(n) wrote awhile back. Of course he said it should be remade for the Wii, not the 360. Still I think 1/2 points should be awarded.

9-9-99...was yesterday.

It seems me of all people forgot what yesterday was! Only the 8th anniversary of the Dreamcast's American launch! Of course, I won't be celebrating till October 14th, when it was launched in the UK, but this is the day many people class as the Dreamcast Birthday, even though it was out in Japan in November of 1998, which makes it NINE years old for those guys. Just a reminder of how good the American launch line up was though, which we'll probably end up doing every year. I found this rather helpful guide which even has the average scores for each game, from the blog Modern Geek.

Aerowings	69
Airforce Delta	65
Blue Stinger	71
CART - Flag to Flag	64
Expendable	61
House of the Dead	78
Hydro Thunder	80
Monaco Grand Prix	70
Mortal Kombat Gold	55
NFL 2K	91
NFL Blitz 2000	80
PenPen TriIcelon	64
Power Stone	84
Ready 2 Rumble	84
Sonic Adventure	87
Soul Calibur	97
TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat	60
Tokyo Xtreme Racer	71
Trickstyle	72

Average:	73.8
Top 5:	88.6
# of games scoring 80%+:	7
Number of games:	19

That's the officially proven best launch line up for any console...ever. The Japanese launch in comparison was pathetic. It had everything: sports games that sell like hot cakes and were actually good, the best fighting game of all time, and Sonic the god dam Hedgehog. If that's not evidence that there is something wrong with A) the gaming industry and/or B) the general public when a console with a day one line up like that still manages to be a commercial flop. Still, there's no point crying over it (really, there isn't), all the more great gaming for us real gamers who saw a good thing when it happened.

I must admit the Dreamcast has taken a bit of a back seat in my house recently. In the last 2 weeks I've blown quite a bit of money on three other systems: a GP2X (homebrew handheld that can play of emulated stuff, which is ace), and most ironically both a Playstation 2 (great deal: sliver slim model with 14 games and a bunch of other stuff for £55) and an X-Box (with 3 games and a Crazy Taxi like yellow and red sticker-job that is not as tacky as it sounds for £20). This doesn't mean I've forgotten about my all time favorite system though: while buying a accessory for my GP2X at Play Asia I also decided to purchase Last Hope, which is currently being sold for just £15 there. Redspot Games deserve all the money they can get for supporting the Dreamcast all these years later.

At this time of celebration though, Sega have ecided to remind us that they are soon to stop supporting the Dreamcast for good by cancelling their repairing service. This is Sega, who we have all seen plummet ever since they quit making games for the DC, hammering the final nail into the coffin.



But remember, the Dreamcast is an UNDEAD console. It will punch it's way out of that coffin Kill Bill Vol.2 style and eat the flesh of all the Sega execs that did it wrong! The Dreamcast is a reminder of what Sega used to be about, before they became about nothing but rushed-out-the-door Sonic games and movie licenses. This was Sega at their creative peak, and a golden era for gaming. Gaming hasn't been quite as exciting since.

Ok, so it may be a day late, but there's my little tribute. I'll finish it off with a probably rather obvious Youtube embodiment...

Dreamcast Hangover.

I am feeling a bit blue this morning.

You see I was celebrating the Dreamcast's birthday last night with a few rounds on the off-white box.

Yep. In North America 9-9-99 only meant one thing...the Dreamcast (and stocking up on canned goods and bottled water for no good reason *Y2K*). And now so many years later the Dreamcast is still a wonderful gaming device enjoyed by many.

Yet this auspicious occasion was marred by this article that reminds us of of the sad truth that soon Sega will no longer support it's greatest creation. You should still read that Kotaku article though, the comments people listed below it are a testament to how great the Dreamcast truly is.

So go to Sega's website while you can if you need to grab a manual for the Dreamcast or a Sega Dreamcast game (Scroll down to the bottom of the manual's page). Or consider sending in your Dreamcast in to Sega to be fixed if it's a limited edition one.

I currently have 4 Dreamcast's in the house. One mint condition one hooked up to my VGA adaptor at my computer desk. My Sega Sports limited edition is in secure storage in my closet. Down cellar I have Dreamcast that has been professional repaired and a beater Dreamcast that I use the most. The only thing that has ever gone wrong with any of them was the control board blowing up the F1 fuse in my beater model. But a quick fix and that Dreamcast is still going strong. If you make sure that they are on a cool hard none-carpeted surface Dreamcast consoles can keep working for a long time... But it would be nice if I could send in my Dreamcasts to Sega to get professionally repaired after this month is over. Too bad.

Still it's not all bad news. While I was at a game store recently a young gamer who looked about 14 years old was buying Dreamcast games. I heard him tell the store clerk that he had only recently got a Dreamcast and that it was his favorite console. It's nice to know that the system keeps getting new fans even as Sega keeps trying to pull the plug on it.

But Sega can't end the Dreamcast. It has a life of it's own and it will never die.

All hail the undead console. All hail the Dreamcast.