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. 

Review: Andro Dunos II

Ok, let's get this clear from the off. Any developer that has the gumption to produce a shoot-em-up for the Dreamcast has their work cut out. The console was blessed with such a phenomenal array of shmups, from the seminal Ikaruga (2002) to the idiosyncratic Radirgy (2006), that creating something that will stand out is a gargantuan undertaking. 

Around a dozen indie contenders have attempted this feat over the preceding two decades, and, although each has its charms, in my eyes there have only been a couple that truly cut the mustard. Fortunately, with Andro Dunos II, it seems we may have another indie shmup that can go toe-to-toe with the big-hitting NAOMI-based official releases (or, at the very least, put up a commendable fight).

Developed by Picorinne Soft and published by JoshProd/PixelHeart, this side-scrolling shmup is a contemporary sequel to Visco's 1992 Neo-Geo arcade game - a title which also appeared on the Dreamcast last year (our review of which is available here). In terms of fundamental game design, there is nothing revolutionary present. The task assigned to players is the same as it has been for decades: direct your ship through a succession of stages, shoot enemies, dodge incoming fire and rack up as high a score as possible. And of course, each of the seven stages closes out with a mammoth boss fight. A simple formula then, but one which Andro Dunos II executes very well in a number of respects.

Firstly, the fundamental gameplay mechanics are solid. When using the regular Dreamcast controller, the controls are intuitive, responsive, and your ship glides around the screen at an ideal pace: not so fast to make things uncontrollably twitchy, and not so slow that dodging incoming fire seems unreasonably hard. Just as important is the fact that enemy projectiles are easily distinguishable, and your hit box, while a little chunky, is perfectly serviceable. These may seem like pretty mundane basics but are prerequisites for a fun shmup experience. In essence, you need to be able to feel that defeat is down to user-error rather than poor game design, which is thankfully the case here.

Secondly, while the core activity of guiding a ship through levels filled with enemies is par for the course, Andro Dunos II does feature several elements that give it some depth and replayability. For starters, there are four weapon types with distinct characteristics at your disposal. Flitting between these quickly to suit your surroundings, combined with choosing how to allocate upgrades between levels, brings a problem-solving element into play and means that you can attempt different strategies over numerous runs. The varied designs of the levels, and in particular the presence of impermeable terrain that periodically encroaches onto your screen, as well as enemies that move and attack in a wide range of ways, only amplifies this. Dexterity and accuracy of movement within the immediate field of fire remain vital of course, but your choice of weapon, tactical deployment of the 'super shot' and overall ship placement are also important here. When you manage to master these aspects, Andro Dunos II is highly rewarding. The wide variability in difficulty settings should offer something suitable for most players too, and the unlockable boss rush mode offers a decent reward for those who make it through the seven regular stages.

Thirdly (is that even a word!?!), the game's aesthetics and audio pull together nicely to forge a vibrant up-beat atmosphere. The graphics are certainly not pushing the limits of the Dreamcast's hardware, but the Neo-Geo-style sprites and layered backgrounds are superbly drawn and take you on a journey through a broad range of scenarios without the game losing its cohesiveness. The synth-heavy electro-rock soundtrack complements the gameplay well too without becoming repetitive.

Of course, all of these positives would count for naught if the game didn't run well. Slowdown and frame-rate drops, amongst many other types of bugs, aren't unknown drawbacks for shmups on the Dreamcast, but thankfully they are nowhere to be seen here. In my experience, Andro Dunos II was buttery smooth and looked gorgeous over a VGA output. Videophiles may well have some gripes, but I imagine average players (like myself) will be satisfied with the presentation. The extensive two minute loading time before the game's main menu seemed foreboding at first, but, if intentional, is actually a clever move as it means that loading is brief between levels. The trade off is well worth it, and in any case, gives you just enough time to brew a cuppa (or scroll the DCJY Discord channels).

Although the Dreamcast version has arrived a year later than its initial outings on more contemporary platforms like the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4, Andro Dunos II immediately piqued my interest more than some other recent Dreamcast releases as it is actually something new.

Sadly the same can't be said of the game's clichéd premise: saving the earth from an alien race. I wasn't exactly expecting Franz Kafka, but surely it wouldn't hurt to open our horizons up a little wider here? Just as there are heaps of gifted programmers in the Dreamcast scene, I'd bet there are also plenty of creative writers who could contribute something a little more stimulating. 

C-Smash VRS Review: A Cosmic Revival in ReVRie

Past works are lost when they stop conversing with the present. Honoring old games requires us to continue engaging with them, of course, but the onus is also on them to reciprocate. To enrich their legacy, revivals and follow-ups must do more than pander to us old fucks who were already there for them. They must also find relevance with new generations of players and creators who may be inspired to shepherd their ideas into the future. Or else let them die. Celebrating those experiences can mean reinterpreting and recontextualizing them, if not reinventing them altogether.

In this essay, I will—

And so it goes for Cosmic Smash, Sega Rosso’s modest game of intergalactic, block-breaking racquetball. The NAOMI title saw limited distribution in Japanese and European arcades in 2001, plus a stint on Japanese Dreamcasts. Following an initial run in obscurity, it has since rallied a cult following – that is, assuming the Junkyard community’s Top 200 rankings weren’t fraudulent.

At #64 overall, Cosmic Smash was voted the #5 ranked Japanese exclusive and the #1 game about swatting balls around a shipping container.

For many fans – including the creative teams at RapidEyeMovers and Wolf & Wood – Cosmic Smash’s resonance endures. Unearthing the license from under the sofa cushions at Sega’s IP lawyers’ offices (I imagine), they have developed C-Smash VRS, an unlikely reimagining of Rosso’s space station sportsball.

I’ve long respected Cosmic Smash for its melding of Rez-ish vibes and Virtua Tennish feel, but I’ve always felt detached from its primary hook. In virtual reality, though? Immersing players in the kineticism of physically swinging paddles at balls at walls in space makes immediate sense. Titles like Sparc, Holoball, and Proton Pulse have also poked at the edges of this concept in VR, albeit with mixed success. At the very least, they’ve helped buoy cyber squash as an accredited genre.

Meanwhile, the recent wave of Sega-inspired remakes/sequels/homages has set ample precedent on the nostalgic front. Yet, in the rising sea of Sega-likes, it’s easy to float adrift. Many rehash the most superficial aspects of their inspirations but fundamentally misunderstand — or fail to coherently capture — the core of why folks love them in the first place. This keeps them from fully evoking or advancing those concepts, or replicating their magic in any meaningful way.

Refreshingly, C-Smash VRS is deliberate and confident in its homage, and it wastes little time laying a foundation of its own.

VRS shares Cosmic Smash’s premise in all its minimalist glory. It has you rally a ball against a wall of blocks/panels to clear them within a time limit. As you progress, the configurations grow more layered and complex, and glimpses of puzzle elements begin to emerge. Some panels will move in patterns. Unbreakable panels will obstruct portions of the field. Special panels will clear adjacent rows, freeze panels in motion, or extend your time limit. Over time, successful hits will recharge your Power Smash ability, which can clear stacks of panels in a single shot.

The racket work feels remarkably natural. Its nuanced tracking and physics afford a wide gamut of shots, shanks, and whiffs. If you’re experienced at real-life racket sports, a few of the principles you’ve learned – like squaring yourself for forehands and backhands, anticipating timing and trajectories, etc. – will certainly help you here. If you suck at such sports in real life, though, then the learning curve will be a bit steeper. Either way, it is innately intuitive and rewarding to learn.

For their part, the PSVR2’s Sense controllers never struggle to keep up. In the game and real life, I flail in parity. And whenever I fuck up, it’s just about always my fault. The technology – or VRS’s exceptional implementation of it – simply works. That I never have to think about it is probably the best compliment I could give.

There are drawbacks, however. VRS binds several actions to the other controller, with limited options for button mapping. A Force-pull gesture serves the ball towards you, crouching helps reach low-bouncing balls, and the analog stick moves you horizontally along the baseline. It would be great to be able to remap all of these actions as needed, especially to a single controller.

Interestingly, VRS also helps me appreciate aspects of Cosmic Smash I had taken for granted. In its shift to first-person, it loses the flair of its wireframe avatar and all the cool shit they could do: The leaping volleys. The wall jumps. The aerial flips. The unlimited trick shots. The stylish replays. The celebratory flexing. They’re necessary omissions, but I underestimated their collective contribution to the original’s vibrancy and charm. Realistically, C-Smash VRS is feasible because it eschews those verbs, and players prone to motion sickness will be thankful for their absence. In that sense, VRS helps celebrate Cosmic Smash by contrast of its own sacrifices.

As with the original game, VRS’s style is integral to its substance. It preserves its clean, minimalist aesthetics and adds new flourishes of its own. It depicts a similarly optimistic future where humankind has channeled its ambitions into interstellar sports courts. VRS then expands on its setting with livelier and less claustrophobic arenas. Windows have now been installed, unveiling orbiting planets, little space guys, and other nuggets of world(s)building.

In its scope, C-Smash VRS is laser-focused on the minimum viable product, for better or worse. It practically flaunts its simplicity in its pair of solo modes. Among them is Challenge, where you progress through dozens of stages under a strict, continuous time limit to clear as many as you can as quickly as you can (i.e. Cosmic Smash). Alternatively, Zen mode works the same except failing stages doesn’t end your run and you can replay them as desired to improve your times and rankings. If that motivates you, you’ll get substantially more out of VRS’ solo-play. If not, you may be done with it after a run or two.

Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me - Samurai Shodown Spin-Off for Dreamcast Translated into English!

After nearly two years of hard work, I am absolutely elated to inform you that a team consisting of Derek Pascarella, Duralumin, Marshal Wong and myself have completed our English translation of Nakoruru: Ano Hito kara no Okurimono for the Sega Dreamcast, and today you will be able to play it.

Being a fan favourite character of SNK’s beloved Samurai Shodown fighting franchise (known as Samurai Spirits in Japan), it’s only natural that Nakoruru would get her own spin-off game. SNK granted developer Inter-Let's the privilege of crafting a story that explored her character in finer detail, with the result being Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me (as we’ve decided to dub it), a Japan-exclusive visual novel game released for Windows in 2001, with an improved Dreamcast version releasing a year later in 2002. To take a source material known for its intense arcade fighting thrills and adapt it into a quiet, heartfelt text-based adventure was definitely intriguing, so much so that it made us want to produce an English translation almost two decades later! 

To translate the game into English was no small feat, however. With over 12,000 lines of text, our translation of Nakoruru was going to take us more than a year to produce. But it honestly feels like that time has flown by, because the more we worked on translating the scripts, the more we fell in love with the game's plot and characters.

Mikato meets Nakoruru for the first time.

The game’s story is told from the perspective of seven-year-old Mikato, an orphan who is taken in by the people of the snowy village Kamui Kotan. She is selected by the village's chief to serve as assistant to the shrine maiden Nakoruru, somebody the people of Kamui Kotan admire for her strength, dependability, and outward positivity. Mikato soon realises, however, that deep down, Nakoruru is harbouring an intense sorrow. 

While Nakoruru is based in the world of Samurai Shodown, it can be played without any prior knowledge of the franchise, but if you are a Shodown fan, there are quite a few playful references to other characters in the franchise sprinkled throughout the game's script.

Nakoruru's childhood friends Yantamu and Manari.

The gameplay of Nakoruru is simple, and familiar to those who have played a visual novel before. Advance the story with a button press, and occasionally make choices, some of which greatly affect the game’s narrative.

Also included throughout the story are several basic but charming mini-games. These include quizzes, fishing, dodging enemy attacks, playing music, and more. 

While Nakoruru may lack the 3D graphics and arcade action many associate with the Dreamcast, it still boasts gorgeous, crisp, hand-drawn 2D artwork, and its beautiful coming-of-age storyline will pull at your heart strings as it deals with topics of friendship, loss and insecurity. The Dreamcast received over 100 visual novel titles in Japan, and in terms of quality, Nakoruru is up there with the best the system has to offer. For those new to the visual novel genre, you can learn more about them in this fantastic video by Bowl of Lentils.

Combat training mini-game where you dodge left or right to escape attacks.

We adopted an assembly line process to translate the game’s script. First, dialogue for an individual scene would be translated by Marshal and Duralumin, then the editors - both myself and Derek, would check over the translations for any spelling or grammatical errors, but primarily to ensure they read as naturally as possible in English. Once the script edits were complete, Derek would insert them back into the game. Working together and seeing the story come to life, and by our own making, was incredibly rewarding. 

Making an important decision in the heat of combat.  

But our translation would have been for nothing if it wasn’t for Derek’s hacking wizardry. The Dreamcast is still in an immature state when it comes to debugging and hacking, unlike other systems, such as PlayStation, which is more streamlined. A project like this for the Dreamcast required a slew of different tools to achieve. Along the way, Derek had to make many tweaks to the game so it worked with our translation, such as modifying mini-games, ensuring the character’s voice audio persisted across multiple textboxes, reallocating where RAM data was written to make room for larger text data, and more. But the biggest challenge Derek faced was implementing a half-width font (as Japanese characters are wider than English ones), which took him months, but felt incredible when he finally pulled it off. The end result of Derek's hard work is fantastic-looking English text displayed in game.

Let’s take a look at Dreamcast: Year Two

Back in July 2020, Dreamcast: Year Two - the sequel to Andrew Dickinson's Dreamcast: Year One book - went to Kickstarter and smashed its funding goal within 64 hours. It took a while to get finished, but is now complete, printed, and gradually making its way out to backers. As somebody who was involved in the creation of this book, I'm really excited for everybody to get their hands on what has been created here.

And with that, I must now insert my obligatory 'conflict of interest' disclaimer. Unlike the first book in this series, which Tom reviewed on the blog upon its release, Dreamcast: Year Two has full involvement from The Dreamcast Junkyard, and even sports our branding on its back cover. When we interviewed Andrew for our podcast, the DreamPod, little did we know it would be the start of a great friendship, and that he'd eventually go on to join The Dreamcast Junkyard team himself. Because of this, you will also find written content from Junkyard members Brian Vines, Kev Mason, James Harvey, Lewis Cox (me!), Mark Williams, Mike Phelan and Tom Charnock in this book. Myself and Tom also assisted with editing and proof reading. Oh, and we all backed the project too. With all of that in mind, this article will not be a review, but merely a "look" at Andrew's new book.

If you would like to have a peek behind the curtain to hear more about the process of this book's creation and the Kickstarter, I recommend you listen to Andrew's recent appearance on The Sega Lounge podcast.

Dreamcast: Year Two and the accompanying DCY Zine.

So, the book. Just like its predecessor, Dreamcast: Year Two again uses the format originally created by Sandeep Rai for his PS Vita: Year One book (with his blessing, of course!) This time, the book covers the events that occurred in the world of Dreamcast between April 1st 2000 and March 31st 2001. This includes the console's cancellation, the advent of online gaming, the appearance of many notable games, and much more. All of this is presented alongside the excellent art of illustrator Dan Tiller, whose colourful style, with its many paint splatter effects, is a stark contrast to the very clean artwork of Dreamcast: Year One. Andrew explains that there was a clear rationale for this design choice: "I wanted something a bit messier, to show how messy the second year [of Dreamcast] was. It was really colourful and bright and amazing, but it was also the end of the Dreamcast and things were going wrong!" He also went for a predominantly blue theming over Year One's orange, ‘cause European blue swirl for life, yo.  

Other than the Junkyard team, the book also contains writing from members of the wider community such as Retro Faith, the Dreamcast Years crew, and Dreamcast Hub, as well as a great piece from the creator of the 'Years' book format, Sandeep Rai.

After some introductory pages (including a foreword by the Junkyard’s founder Tom Charnock!), the book begins with a detailed breakdown of the events of Year Two, written by Andrew. First, he covers why many consider it to be the Dreamcast's "golden year", before hitting us with the one-two punch of reality that in the grand scheme of things, the Dreamcast wasn't doing quite as well as we thought. Not only was there the looming threat of the PlayStation 2, but poor attempts from Sega to quash rumours that the future was looking grim for the Dreamcast and that Sega were to become a third-party developer wasn't doing much to reassure fans. 

Andrew then takes us back to that devastating moment when the news of the Dreamcast's discontinuation reached the masses, and reflects on how fans at the time handled the news, excellently summed up using Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' five stages of grief model. This analogy-based chapter is definitely one of my favourite pieces of writing I've read from Andrew. Well done, sir.

This segment is then followed by a collection of interviews. One of Dreamcast: Year One's strongest suits was its interviews, and the interviews in Dreamcast: Year Two are excellent too. The selection of interviewees is nicely varied, each hailing from a different creative background, but with an appreciation for the Dreamcast in common. The interviewees are as follows:

• Corey Marshall (voice actor, English voice of Ryo Hazuki in Shenmue)
• Darren Jones (Retro Gamer magazine editor-in-chief)
• Adam Koralik (YouTube Creator)
• John Linneman (YouTube Creator, Digital Foundry)
• Iain Lee (TV Presenter, Channel 4's Thumb Bandits)
• Forbes Longden (Dreamcast Today founder)
• Mickaël Pointier (developer, V-Rally 2's Dreamcast port). 

It was particularly interesting to hear many of these guys reflect on their memories of first hearing the news of the Dreamcast's cancellation. Even more harrowing than that news, however, is Adam's story about losing a red Code: Veronica Dreamcast controller at airport customs. That tale is going to haunt me for a while...

After the interviews come some longer form articles covering a range of topics. These articles are a new addition for Dreamcast: Year Two and fit naturally within the page order. Dreamcast and Saturn Junkyarder Brian Vines' piece "Beyond Saturn" explores the many ways in which the Dreamcast picked up where its ill-fated older brother, the Saturn, left off. Brian's article is followed by Sandeep Rai's, in which he waxes lyrical about the Dreamcast's many excellent Capcom fighters. After this, Retro Faith provides some great insight into the origins of online gaming, and how the Dreamcast introduced this now hugely popular feature to a generation of console gamers. Finally, our very own Mike Phelan talks about the Dreamcast's many weird and wonderful peripherals (there's a lot).

Driving Strikers: The First Online Dreamcast Game in 20 Years Is Up for Pre-order!

The Sega Dreamcast is alive and well, my friends, and today's announcement not only solidifies that fact, but also marries together two of the most unstoppable forces of the Dreamcast's modern day indie scene: new software and online play. Upon its release next month on July 24th, Driving Strikers will be the first Dreamcast game release to support online multiplayer in 20 years.

Developed by Reality Jump (a team made up of Luke Benstead and Dave Reichelt), Driving Strikers is a 3D action-sports game where up to four players zoom around an arena in cars playing a giant game of football. The gameplay has obviously drawn comparisons to Rocket league, although the perspective is top-down rather than following your car from behind. Also Rocket League can't go online on the Dreamcast, so sucks to be that game. 

Anyhow, considering Luke developed DreamPi, a popular means to get your Dreamcast online, it was only natural that one of the games he'd eventually go onto develop would include online play. You will be able to enjoy Driving Strikers' gameplay in person or over the internet with full modem and broadband adapter compatibility. It also supports cross-play between Dreamcast, Windows, and even Linux!

Blue skies... definitely Dreamcast.

Wave Game Studios are in charge of Driving Strikers’ physical release, and as we've always said here at the Junkyard, their quality is consistent and can be trusted. Now up for pre-order, the release is available in three styles, all indicative of official Dreamcast box styles: European blue, American white and Japanese orange. A cool addition from Wave on the game’s artwork is the "online gaming" banner and "online multiplayer" oval as seen on original European and American Dreamcast releases, respectively. 

For a limited time, the game is being sold for an early-bird price of £19.99 (full price £29.99), so go grab it at this cut price while you still can from the Wave Game Studios store! There is also a digital version available for those who are rocking an ODE like GDEMU in their Dreamcast.

If you're interested in learning more about Driving Strikers' development, give our interview with Luke Benstead a read. Also, if you've stumbled upon this article and are asking "What? You can play the Dreamcast online in 2023?", check out Dreamcast Live's connection guide to get started!

Are you excited for Driving Strikers? Will you be playing it online when it's released? Let us know in the comments below or via one of our many social media channels.

Shenmue-Inspired "Forklift Racer" Coming to Steam

 And it is exactly what you think it is.

Source: Forklift Racer's Steam page

Directly inspired by that game with the monotone stalker kid and the kung fu QTEs, indie dev Team Wulinshu has recently unveiled Forklift Racer, a beat-for-beat homage to Ryo’s extracurricular jobsite pastime. After rolling out updates for the game over the last couple of months, the game's Steam store page is now live.

Forklift Racer (if you can see it)

In a recently-revealed trailer, racers roll through industrial courses lifted directly from familiar depictions of Yokosuka Harbor and Hong Kong. Forklift Racer promises a relatively fleshed-out racing experience featuring single player and 8-player online multiplayer modes, modernized physics, post-race replays, forklift customization, capsule toy turbo boosting, extremely dark warehouse interiors, and a work-in-progress HUD. So, if you ever wanted to know how Shenmue’s racing minigame would play out with friends and more forgiving collisions, Forklift Racer promises to do precisely that.

Now this is Forklift Rac(er)ing!

Forklift Racer is set to release on Windows and Linux/SteamOS but there are no specific launch date or pricing details just yet. You can wishlist the game on its Steam page and follow that and Team Wulinshu’s Twitter profile for future updates.

The Fork and the Furious

New Dreamcast-Compatible ODE "Phøde" Announced!

In case the term "ODE" is something new to you, it's an initialism for "optical drive/disc emulator", which serves to replace something like a CD-ROM or, in the case of the Dreamcast, a GD-ROM drive with a board that allows one to use flash storage to hold disc images, such as an SD card. Existing ODE solutions for the Dreamcast include GDEMU, USB-GDROM, and MODE. The latest offering to be announced is Phøde by Fixel.

For those unaware, Fixel is a hardware engineer who successfully launched a brand-new 3DO ODE in 2022, giving fans of the console an alternative to MNEMO's 3DO USB devices, and packed with even more features.

While Fixel is still working on polishing up the next firmware release for his 3DO ODE, he's also been hard at work giving love to a slew of other consoles, some of which had previously never had an ODE solution at all.

For example, his DMC88 for the FM Towns Marty went up for pre-order recently, as well as one for NEC's ill-fated PC Engine successor, the PC-FX. Heck, he's even about to ship an IDE Emulator, not to mention a "digital mod" kit (similar to PixelFX's DCDigital, PS1Digital, etc.) for the 3DO and Neo Geo!

In addition to the exciting new hardware listed above, perhaps his most interesting announcement thus far is something of a universal ODE, named Phøde, the initial version of which will target the following consoles:

• Sega Dreamcast VA0, VA1, and VA2
• Philips CD-i consoles with solder on board
• Sega Saturn (20 and 21 pin variants)
• Playstation PU7, PU8 (2 variants), and PU18 (with more variants later)
• Sega CD 1, CD2, XEye, CDX console variants
• Mystery mechanism (will be revealed in June)
• Mystery feline (will be revealed in June)
• Mystery friend (will be revealed in June)

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, the madman known as Fixel (or sometimes "Felix") is currently R&D'ing what may turn out to be more than just a MODE-killer. And those "mystery" consoles? Well, the principles of detection tell me "feline" refers to the Jaguar CD, while "friend" hints at the Amiga CD32. Meanwhile, "mechanism" just might be alluding to a certain Engine and its CD counterpart.

The Phøde project (pronounced FOE-deh) seems to have begun with a desire to finally give CD-i fans the ODE they've so long craved. However, after some time and research, Fixel seems to have continued studying numerous other consoles, eventually realizing he could broaden the scope and support of this new ODE well beyond Philips' quirky home multimedia system.

If I may, I'd like to help level-set expectations and feature/functionality timelines for readers out there. While Fixel is an extremely talented (and dedicated) hardware and software engineer, his Phøde project will rely in part on beta testers to help identify bugs, as well as to give feedback on features and overall user-experience. In fact, you can even sign up to be a beta tester yourself by following the link on the Phøde order page.

What does this mean for the end consumer? When the device ships (currently estimated for late September 2023), it may not have been put through its full paces on each respective console that it supports. Likewise, it may not have each and every feature users are looking for, although Fixel's volunteer beta-tester program aims to close all those gaps.

Is it possible that the Phøde will ship in a highly polished state? Absolutely! In fact, I more-or-less expect that to be the case. However, with any new ODE, there's always growing pains as edge-cases and niche issues are sorted out. It's worth noting for the record (and for some context) that Fixel's 3DO ODEs shipped to users in a nearly perfect state of software/firmware operation.

At present, the following features and functions are likely to be there day-one on the Dreamcast.

• Full boot/fast boot of disc images (i.e., with or without full cycle of BIOS/license sequence).
• Disc image queueing (i.e., ability to virtually swap discs at any time).
• VMU read/write for purposes of backing up and restoring save files.
• Adjustment of data-read speeds and seek-time emulation, thus letting users mimic original GD-ROM behavior/performance to ensure compatibility, or pushing ODE to its limits for better performance with things like Atomiswave conversions.
• Disc image support for CDI, TOSEC-style GDI, and Redump-style CUE/BIN.

Dreamcast owners out there looking for a drop-in, ready-to-go solution that's as mature as its competitors may want to monitor feedback from the initial Phøde batch. Those like myself who view this as something of a hobbyist device for a short period (while it's perfected) will find in the Phøde a stellar product with excellent post-sales support provided by Fixel, as well as a thriving Discord community where all of his projects can be discussed, troubleshooted, and even improved upon.

Although I myself am nothing of a hardware engineer, I've personally spoken with Fixel on a number of occasions to discuss some of the common problems, shortcomings, and "gotchas" with existing ODEs for both the Saturn and Dreamcast. In most cases, said hurdles have long since been overcome, especially when you consider that devices like GDEMU and USB-GDROM have been on the market for years. However, there's still room for improvement across the board.

In my opinion, GDEMU, USB-GDROM, and MODE all offer something out-of-the-box that their competitors don't. That said, wouldn't it be great to see a new challenger enter the ring and serve as the end-all be-all?

Only time will tell how the Phøde fares, though personally, I'm quite optimistic. Is Phøde something that interests you? Leave a comment below or let us know on social media!

If you'd like to follow Fixel and his work, you can do so in the following places.

• Twitter - https://twitter.com/flxel
• Online Shop - https://3do.dev/collections/all
• Discord (see "FIXEL'S WORK" section) - https://discord.com/invite/kMFmdNsHMx

Review: Tapeworm Disco Puzzle

2022 began much as 2021 ended - with a bumper crop of healthy Dreamcast indie games for us all to enjoy. It seems the answer to the question "what did you do in lockdown" for many in the scene was "make a new Dreamcast game" and you know what? If the only positive thing to come out of that whole ordeal was more Dreamcast games, then that’s a small win for us here at the Junkyard. Give us more indie games! 

In January 2022, one Tapeworm Disco Puzzle arrived at the Junkyard headquarters. I say "headquarters", it's actually just a wooden shed in the New Forest that we initiate new members in, using a combination of audio-visual psychological warfare techniques, a pair of secateurs, a copy of Spirit of Speed 1937 and a signed picture of Peter Moore. I may have said too much. Forget you read that. Anyway, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle is one I'd been looking forward too for some time, as it was announced as a "spin-off sequel" to Lowtek Games' title Flea! which had released a couple of years earlier. I previously reviewed Flea! here on the blog and thought it was rather good. Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, just like its predecessor, is an 8-bit title that, whilst limited technically due to its Nintendo Entertainment System origins, packs a whole lot of game and bags of charm onto its disc.

Much like the Dreamcast version of Flea! I reviewed previously, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle is a NES game that has been ported to the Dreamcast. Lowtek games originally ran a Kickstarter for the title back in December 2020, which was successful funded - probably thanks in no small part to the positive reception that Flea! had garnered previously. A Dreamcast and a PC port were also listed alongside the NES cartridge as part of this initial campaign, and it finally made its way out to backers within a little over a year's time, which is a quick turnaround time by Kickstarter standards.

If you've ever played Lowtek Game's first outing Flea! (which is probably a fair few of you now, since its re-release by WAVE Game Studios), you'll be familiar with the colourful pixel world that designer Alastair Low has created. A world of greedy, blood-hoarding monarchs, "refu-fleas" and undeniably cute, hopping heroes; it was a credit that for such a simple title, it created a genuinely charming little in-game universe. This world is expanded upon in Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, in a rather odd way. Your main character this time is the tapeworm, proprietor of the local night club where all the fleas like to hang out. Problem is, something strange is happening to his parasitical patrons, so as well as making sure there's plenty of banging party tunes and enough blood to go around, you'll have to try and work out just what is going on. Along the way, you'll come across some other club-owning worms, as well as all manner of other denizens of this surprisingly well-crafted mini-universe that Alastair has created.

Whilst inhabiting the same universe as Flea!, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle - as its name may suggest - takes an altogether different approach when it comes to gameplay. This is a grid-based puzzle title, in which you must collect musical notes and blood with your tapeworm. Our hero, however, is limited in size, so to collect all the elements, you need to work out the best way to navigate the stage, as well as collecting tapes which will increase your worm's length (ahem...) which will allow you to reach areas that you'd otherwise be unable to. It sounds simple - and to be fair, the core concept here is - but the game quickly throws all manner of different elements in. Wormholes see our hero popping up in other areas of the stage, fleas will often be present in stages (the only way to collect blood) and it's your task to assist them, buttons need to be covered by your extended worm body to open doors, and there's plenty of bad guys spread throughout the stages too, which you'll need to avoid contact with.

Let’s take a look at the Sega Sports 2K1 Bible Editions

An actual book on the coffee table.

The Sega Sports 2K series is probably a lesser discussed set of games here on the Junkyard blog due to our predominantly UK-centric staff. The series formed a key part of the install base and marketing of the US Dreamcast campaign, and at least when I was active on the Dreamcast Junkyard Facebook group, it felt like every other week one of the 2K games would be cited as a favourite or a key memory of new members from the US side of the Sega sphere.

Whilst some of the 2K titles did get a European release, it's the Japan-exclusive 2K1 “Bible” releases that I am looking at here, and to be honest this is more of an accompanying article for the below YouTube video that looks at them in greater focus.

In short, these Bible releases are a re-packaging of both NBA 2K1 and NFL 2K1 that include not only a copy of the game, but a lovely printed booklet explaining not just the actual game, but the sports and their respective teams. The booklets themselves are rather large (especially that of NFL 2K1), which explains the "Bible" naming. At least from what I can discern from the loose amount of camera phone-based translations, these accompanying tomes are much more in-depth than you'd probably expect.

The booklets themselves both follow roughly the same layout: starting with instructions on how to actually play the games, before leading straight into set plays, formations and information breakdowns about the respective sports. As I mention in the video, my knowledge of basketball pretty much starts and ends with things I've learnt from either NBA Jam or the original Space Jam movie. However, as I’m much more au fait with NFL, I can appreciate how useful this guide - or at least an English variant - might have been at the time of release as it was around then that I was getting back into the NFL as a student in my early 20s.

Anyway, check out my video below:

If you don’t feel like listening to my droll “raised by Scottish people in the East Midlands before living in Sheffield for 20 years” tone (and who would blame you) then feast your eyes on these hastily taken snaps below instead.

The NBA 2K1 game and Bible packaged together.

The NFL 2K1 game and Bible packaged together.

Both Bible Editions side by side (kind of).

The "NBA Data Bank" section of the NBA 2K1 Bible.

Information on Miami Heat and their starting line up.

Information on San Antonio Spurs and their starting line up.

A glossary of basketball terms.

Different types of NFL plays.

Baltimore Ravens players.

Cleveland Browns players.

Seattle Seahawks players.

Were you aware of the Bible versions of NBA 2K1 and NFL 2K1? Would you have liked to have seen an English version of these booklets for the Western releases of these games? Let us know in the YouTube video comments or the comments section below!