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Sega Dreamcast - Appreciation and Emulation Thread

Nikodemos

Member
I've been playing Evolution and, while a decent enough console JRPG for its era, the difference in complexity (even with contemporary stuff like Grandia II) is all too evident. There's no way to save in dungeons, except for a quicksave right at the end of a floor. If you wad it up while exploring, you're pretty much SoL. And your inventory size is extremely limited. I'm on the 6th floor of the Heaven Ruins and can't carry anymore, despite not having a great deal many items. Speaking of which, what should I dump first to make more room? Useless equipment? Supranumerary health items? One-shot special weaponry? What can I adequately monetize back in town (apart for the actual treasures)?
 

baphomet

Member
This post over at retrocollect might interest you guys:
How To Attach A Hard Drive To The Sega Dreamcast & Load Games Via Dreamshell

Unfortunately the title is a little misleading as there isn't actually steps yet, but it looks like things are going in the right direction. Useful for me as one of my Dreamcast's has a dead laser motor. Hopefully it's a lot easier to install when they get it right and done :)

Very awesome. Can't wait to try this out in one of my spare dreamcasts.
 
I've been playing Evolution and, while a decent enough console JRPG for its era, the difference in complexity (even with contemporary stuff like Grandia II) is all too evident. There's no way to save in dungeons, except for a quicksave right at the end of a floor. If you wad it up while exploring, you're pretty much SoL. And your inventory size is extremely limited. I'm on the 6th floor of the Heaven Ruins and can't carry anymore, despite not having a great deal many items. Speaking of which, what should I dump first to make more room? Useless equipment? Supranumerary health items? One-shot special weaponry? What can I adequately monetize back in town (apart for the actual treasures)?

I really want to play this sometime. My local place has had it for $6 for a few weeks, but it's missing the instructions. Sucks seeing it every time I go and geting all excited, then realize it's missing instructions.
 

Nikodemos

Member
Well, you can get an electronic copy of the manual from Replacement Docs. But even without instructions, it's pretty easy to play. There are no button/trigger combos and the combat is purely turn-, rather than sequential or timed phase based. Remember to always try and run into enemies as they have their back turned, to get the attack initiative.
 

Timu

Member
Just ordered this:
41VEFt3HdhL.jpg

May come next week, but oh well, this shows what I can expect with this cable:
 

Supast4r

Junior Member
I remember when I popped in Sonic Adventure for the first time and ran though it when I was a kid. Even though the game has numerous flaws, I can still appreciate it for what it is worth. I love the Sega Dreamcast and I plan on starting a collection when I get older.
 
I remember when I popped in Sonic Adventure for the first time and ran though it when I was a kid. Even though the game has numerous flaws, I can still appreciate it for what it is worth. I love the Sega Dreamcast and I plan on starting a collection when I get older.

I just find it odd how quickly the medias opinion changes when the Gamecube version came out. Maybe it was the usual hype riding for clicks/subscriptions?
 

Timu

Member
I just tried my VGA cable on my HDTV...it works and I hope my Avermedia accepts it. Also, it looks sharp.=p
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
So, which of the unofficial, post-mortem DC games are worth picking up? I kinda want to give some of them a shot. So far, my shopping list looks something like:

Gunlord
Neo XYX
Sturmwind
Last Hope: Pink Bullets
ReDUX


Is that it, or should I add some stuff? Or, maybe I should remove some of those.

Help me!
 

Teknoman

Member
Gunlord is the only one that looks worth it imo...which i'm still looking for myself heh. On a side note, it would be nice if there was an MVS cart instead of an AES cart for that.
 

Timu

Member
After trying it out on some games I must say I love these VGA cables and I'm glad I bought them, can't believe it took all these years to actually try them out as I'll never go back to anything less(composite, s-video).
 

Trojan X

Banned
The most mind blowing QTE in existence... The Anti QTE

qte-1-1041428hri7o.jpg


I love Shenmue 2

That scene was frigging fantastic. Yes, like everyone, I failed twice on that scene from the first time I reached to it.

I'm enjoying all the Dreamcast love in this thread.
 
So, which of the unofficial, post-mortem DC games are worth picking up? I kinda want to give some of them a shot. So far, my shopping list looks something like:

Gunlord
Neo XYX
Sturmwind
Last Hope: Pink Bullets
ReDUX


Is that it, or should I add some stuff? Or, maybe I should remove some of those.

Help me!

I really want to try XYX. I love that Toaplan / early Cave aesthetic. Apparently the yoko mode is kinda butt on the DC port, so be aware if you don't have the capability to turn your monitor sideways.

Redux looks meh. I'd replace it with Fast Striker.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I really want to try XYX. I love that Toaplan / early Cave aesthetic. Apparently the yoko mode is kinda butt on the DC port, so be aware if you don't have the capability to turn your monitor sideways.

Redux looks really lame. I'd replace it with Fast Striker.

Fast Striker's sound took it off the list. The sound effects are nonsense (that's the only way to describe them) and the music is some generic trance that makes no sense. Thus, it is a true Euroshmup.
 
I really don't know a ton about Dreamcast, but I've got a question, how come some of the games have a white spine and some have a black spine?

They changed up the box art later in the console's life for branding purposes. A similar thing happened to other systems like Genesis and Playstation 3.
 
So, which of the unofficial, post-mortem DC games are worth picking up? I kinda want to give some of them a shot. So far, my shopping list looks something like:

Gunlord
Neo XYX
Sturmwind
Last Hope: Pink Bullets
ReDUX


Is that it, or should I add some stuff? Or, maybe I should remove some of those.

Help me!

Gunlord and Sturmwind are probably the best two Dreamcast indies ever.

Last Hope and Neo XYX are mediocre.

Redux is trash.
 
I don't want to play whatever other game, I want to play Power Stone. It's not about being super technical (though you can get really, REALLY good at it), it's just a lot of fun and there's nothing else out there quite like it. You can pick up objects like chairs or tables or you can vault them and toss them behind you, or you can just push them towards the other player. You can jump off walls, grab on to poles, and cling to the ceiling. You can homing attack off walls and poles, diagonal jump kick, air grab, ground pound, etc. At any given time you have a wealth of options available to you, all dependent on the stage and what is nearby, and they're all cool. That whole game is almost totally gone from the sequel.

Power Stone 2 was simplified way too much, added really jarring characters that don't mesh well into the game at all, and has the environment hurt and kill you probably more often than other players. It's like every level is fucking poké floats.

I wanted a refinement and an evolution of what made the first game special and we didn't get that at all. We got a completely different game type that has very, very little to do with the first game that I loved. That made me sad. I'm sure there are some positive aspects to the game. They should've just made some Capcom All-Stars Melee/Brawl type game and made a real sequel to Power Stone.


Forever bitter that Smash Bros gets so much representation but PowerStone doesn't. I've never met someone who could play it worth a damn.
 
So, which of the unofficial, post-mortem DC games are worth picking up? I kinda want to give some of them a shot. So far, my shopping list looks something like:

Gunlord
Neo XYX
Sturmwind
Last Hope: Pink Bullets
ReDUX


Is that it, or should I add some stuff? Or, maybe I should remove some of those.

Help me!

I give an absolute recommendation for Sturmwind. A truly fantastic game and absolutely worth a purchase!
 

Mzo

Member
Forever bitter that Smash Bros gets so much representation but PowerStone doesn't. I've never met someone who could play it worth a damn.

One PAX East I ended up meeting with and playing Power Stone with three friends: one local, one from another state and one from Canada. We were probably the only four people there who knew how to play Power Stone well. It was a lot of fun.

Finding people that know what they're doing in that game is incredibly rare.
 

IrishNinja

Member
damn televators, congrats on tracking down a kuro! they stopped making those a while back, id love to find one though. hope it's in good shape!
 

televator

Member
?? Oh, not the plasma TV, Irish. I mean the VGA box. Its basically a Hanzo without the scanliner. Though I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. Hehe.
 

Timu

Member
I got sidetracked with the PS2 collection so I forgot to post some screens here, will get to it soon hopefully.
 

SHL23

Banned
k so i found my dreamcast with 40 some games. cant find the video cable though. thinking about getting a vga cable off ebay. does it matter which one i get or will they all be the same quality?
 
could you tell me what kinda modes it has? and if there's command training? do you both own the jp version?

Arcade, Vs., Random, Survival, Training, Options, Internet.

Training is just a basic training mode. No command training, as far as I know.

Random mode just seems to be Arcade mode but with random character selections outside of the final stage. I think the Internet option is just to go to the website.

I don't know of any differences between the Japanese and PAL versions. Both are 100% in English. I'm not even sure that the PAL version changed Honey's name to Candy like the first game and Fighters Megamix did.

Edit:
Training mode options:
Cancel (returns to gameplay)
Select (returns to character select screen)
CPU Rank (changes the CPU difficulty, ranges from G to SuperA)
Armor Recovery (No, Player, CPU, All)
Dead (On lets you K.O. the opponent, Off keeps the health bar from diminishing)
Set Up (Accepts settings)
Controller (changes controller settings)
Menu (returns to the main menu)
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
Arcade, Vs., Random, Survival, Training, Options, Internet.

Training is just a basic training mode. No command training, as far as I know.

Random mode just seems to be Arcade mode but with random character selections outside of the final stage. I think the Internet option is just to go to the website.

I don't know of any differences between the Japanese and PAL versions. Both are 100% in English. I'm not even sure that the PAL version changed Honey's name to Candy like the first game and Fighters Megamix did.

Edit:
Training mode options:
Cancel (returns to gameplay)
Select (returns to character select screen)
CPU Rank (changes the CPU difficulty, ranges from G to SuperA)
Armor Recovery (No, Player, CPU, All)
Dead (On lets you K.O. the opponent, Off keeps the health bar from diminishing)
Set Up (Accepts settings)
Controller (changes controller settings)
Menu (returns to the main menu)
awesome, thanks! a little disappointed with the training mode, but I was with VF3tb, too - though not developed by am2 the fighters Megamix training options were nice for their time.

i think I'll pick this up soon. I like the PAL art better - does it run at 50hz or whatever? if there's reason to just get the jp version I'll do that.
 

Timu

Member
k so i found my dreamcast with 40 some games. cant find the video cable though. thinking about getting a vga cable off ebay. does it matter which one i get or will they all be the same quality?
They all should have similar quality, and VGA is worth it, I've been using one as well.
 
Picked this up today:


Was all excited. Got home and realized it's missing disc 1. Fucking lame. The instructions were in it too and I wasn't paying enough attention and didn't notice a disc was actually supposed to go in that spot. Gonna have to return it obviously.
 

BIGWORM

Member
Picked this up today:



Was all excited. Got home and realized it's missing disc 1. Fucking lame. The instructions were in it too and I wasn't paying enough attention and didn't notice a disc was actually supposed to go in that spot. Gonna have to return it obviously.

...how the hell do you sell a game missing a disc!?
 
...how the hell do you sell a game missing a disc!?

Some of those big sized cases just have an instruction manual, not more discs. It also had discs 2, 3, and the extra one. So, I'm sure whoever bought it saw a disc labeled disc 3, saw that there were three discs, and didn't pay any more attention.

Shouldn't have happened obviously, but I picked it up and looked at it and walked out of there without noticing so I can't get too upset that an employee there did the same thing.

It actually wasn't on the floor yet, it was behind the counter. They let me go back there and look at what they had 'cause there were stacks of games not out yet. Before they are put on the floor the discs are taken out and put in sleeves behind the counter ala gamestop. I'm sure whoever would have gone to take the discs out would have noticed. But, I got to it first.

They'll take it back no problem so no big deal.
 

frontovik

Banned
I'm surprised that flipping a dreamcast upside down actually allows it to load certain games. I had difficulty loading Shenmue until I flipped the console and it finally worked.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I'm surprised that flipping a dreamcast upside down actually allows it to load certain games. I had difficulty loading Shenmue until I flipped the console and it finally worked.
The connector beneath the CD closing mechanism has probably been pushed slightly apart somehow, especially if the most common problem you're running into is random resets to the system menu. If you open up the system and add a few layers of tape to the part of the lid that makes contact with the switch, you might be able to fix it. I think this is safer than running the system upside down.
 

BIGWORM

Member
Some of those big sized cases just have an instruction manual, not more discs. It also had discs 2, 3, and the extra one. So, I'm sure whoever bought it saw a disc labeled disc 3, saw that there were three discs, and didn't pay any more attention.

Shouldn't have happened obviously, but I picked it up and looked at it and walked out of there without noticing so I can't get too upset that an employee there did the same thing.

It actually wasn't on the floor yet, it was behind the counter. They let me go back there and look at what they had 'cause there were stacks of games not out yet. Before they are put on the floor the discs are taken out and put in sleeves behind the counter ala gamestop. I'm sure whoever would have gone to take the discs out would have noticed. But, I got to it first.

They'll take it back no problem so no big deal.

True. Wasn't the extra disc like a web browser plus some item extras or something like that?
 
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