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Sega Dreamcast - Appreciation and Emulation Thread

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
Dynamite Cop was made for arcade and SoR was made for home consoles, and I think there's a corresponding difference in the difficulty curve and the philosphy behind the difficulty balancing (eat your quarters vs. provide a challenge).

So, don't feel bad.

I theorize that there are a lot of classic games like this that people claim to really like and even recommend (all based on a kind of theoretical admiration) but don't actually take off the shelf and play.
It's more that everything feels crazy stiff and I can't really get most of the special moves out. Even stuff like P+K doesn't seem to execute correctly
 

StevieWhite

Member
It has a wonky contoo scheme, that's for sure. What has been said about the difficulty curve is true too. A lot of Dreamcast arcade ports woefully suffer from this - brutally unturned coin op difficulty.
 
It has a wonky contoo scheme, that's for sure. What has been said about the difficulty curve is true too. A lot of Dreamcast arcade ports woefully suffer from this - brutally unturned coin op difficulty.

'Untuned' - yeah, good choice of terms. I'm not a arcade conversion purist vis a vis difficulty. Try to keep the graphics and sound, yes, but tune the difficulty if it needs it and by all means throw in some extra content if you can manage it. And some arcade games (Metal Slug 1, Strider) don't need to be easier! But a lot do...
 

StevieWhite

Member
Yes. I experienced this recently when playing Zombie Revenge (see my post last page). A lot of reviews at the time decried it as being impossible. Sega just took a lot of Naomi games and quick ported them. They are fantastic ports, but they are downright brutal. I found the game fun when replaying (it's definitely worth revisiting)... but at the time I purchased it in 99, I remember thinking that I paid 50 bucks for an unduly challenging game that I could have beat for under 10 bucks in the arcade.
 
Yes. I experienced this recently when playing Zombie Revenge (see my post last page). A lot of reviews at the time decried it as being impossible. Sega just took a lot of Naomi games and quick ported them. They are fantastic ports, but they are downright brutal. I found the game fun when replaying (it's definitely worth revisiting)... but at the time I purchased it in 99, I remember thinking that I paid 50 bucks for an unduly challenging game that I could have beat for under 10 bucks in the arcade.

I need to check out your ZR video.
 

KC-Slater

Member
It's more that everything feels crazy stiff and I can't really get most of the special moves out. Even stuff like P+K doesn't seem to execute correctly

The arcade used analogue movement controls and the Dreamcast port is digital-only. The same is the case Virtua Striker 2. It's harder to accurately aim/move.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I decided to put my broadband adapter to use and have been ripping my collection to my PC myself. I'm poking around and tinkering with what I can, and I'm probably going to make a custom MvC2 mix for an upcoming tournament that I'll be streaming in January.

Right now I'm thumbing through the music folder for De La Jet Set Radio, and it's cool to see what they did in order to both string all of the music together and also fit everything on the disc. Each song is chopped into different files. Any major part of the melody that can be looped on its own gets its own file; some songs have 1 file for the main melody and others have 3 or more. Each and every transition between two songs has its own file. Each transition between the song and the radio intermissions has its own file. Different kinds of radio static and other intermissions have their own files. You can mix and match a lot of these so that everything flows and loops pretty nicely, even in combinations that are never used in the game.

EDIT: US version of the game has a song on the disc that I've never heard in-game...
 
I decided to put my broadband adapter to use and have been ripping my collection to my PC myself. I'm poking around and tinkering with what I can, and I'm probably going to make a custom MvC2 mix for an upcoming tournament that I'll be streaming in January.

Right now I'm thumbing through the music folder for De La Jet Set Radio, and it's cool to see what they did in order to both string all of the music together and also fit everything on the disc. Each song is chopped into different files. Any major part of the melody that can be looped on its own gets its own file; some songs have 1 file for the main melody and others have 3 or more. Each and every transition between two songs has its own file. Each transition between the song and the radio intermissions has its own file. Different kinds of radio static and other intermissions have their own files. You can mix and match a lot of these so that everything flows and loops pretty nicely, even in combinations that are never used in the game.

EDIT: US version of the game has a song on the disc that I've never heard in-game...

Wow, that's some cool stuff I never know that about DLJSR
 
So I threw together a little video on Zombie Revenge... thought you guys might enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/xYEfw16NBZE

Hoped to get a little better capture quality, but I'm still basically happy with the result. Thinking about doing a soundboard for this game too.

Good video, and this is a very good game too. Zombie Revenge is definitely under-rated, and lots of fun! Really the only flaw is the difficulty, and you CAN get more continues for original mode, though you do so through getting lots of points in the VMU minigames, of all things. Yes, really.
 

StevieWhite

Member
Thanks for watching! Yeah, the difficulty is probably what kept Zombie Revenge from being too fondly remembered. Once you get the hang of the blocking mechanic, some of the boss battles become a little more tolerable. As run and block are mapped to the same button, though, that's a real pain to do. I also find that the difficulty settings don't really seem to matter much... the game is brutal on all levels.

They really nailed the gunplay though. Would have liked to see Sega take another shot at the Dynamite Cop series with ZR's shooting mechanics.

Also, in case anyone ever wants it, here's the MP3 for "There's No Time"

http://www.subspacebc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Theresnotime.mp3
 

UMGAWA

Member
So, playing away on the last disc of Shenmue, finish my first real day of forklift simulator, game stalls on a loading screen.

No drive "noise", it's just spinning..

Restart the machine after inspecting the disc, which is clear of any blemishes.

Complete the day again... Loading screen of doom.

Curse the machine.

I've never been so frustrated. (first world)

Calmly replace the disc with disc 1 of Shenmue 2. All is good.
 

Teknoman

Member
So, playing away on the last disc of Shenmue, finish my first real day of forklift simulator, game stalls on a loading screen.

No drive "noise", it's just spinning..

Restart the machine after inspecting the disc, which is clear of any blemishes.

Complete the day again... Loading screen of doom.

Curse the machine.

I've never been so frustrated. (first world)

Calmly replace the disc with disc 1 of Shenmue 2. All is good.


Wait...so...what happened?
 

UMGAWA

Member
Wait...so...what happened?

I've left the ending of Shenmue and the RIDICULOUS forklift section a distant memory and begun the second game in the series.

This dreamcast reads and plays everything, well, everything except the last disc of shenmue.
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
forklift doesn't happen til disc 3? hm. anyway, forklift job is way better than moving crates in shenmue 2
 
forklift doesn't happen til disc 3? hm. anyway, forklift job is way better than moving crates in shenmue 2

This is probably because the crate job (and the even more tedious book carrying job) was place near the start of Shenmue 2 before things got going plot-wise, which threw off the pacing and made me give up on it initially.

I was okay with the forklift job but didn't like that the full workday took up most of your free time. I wanted to spend some of my earnings on capsule toys and the arcade but you only had a few hours of game time to do anything by the end of the day.
 

Teknoman

Member
This arrived today too:

1zzKHeb.jpg
 

Teknoman

Member
Holy crap, I did not know about this. Looks really cool, but the website says that the DC version is sold out. And $56 is a bit much for me now, is it actually worth it as a game?

Well I'm in xenogears right now, so I'm probably won't get to it till later.

EDIT: Did Sega ever make an official S-Video cable?
 

IrishNinja

Member
damn, so Pier on DC finally happened....i imagine some lost faith, haha. wonder how it looks/sounds in comparison?

got my genesis reprint earlier this year, but god knows my investor copy of Project Y still doesn't even have a proper name yet
 

Teknoman

Member
damn, so Pier on DC finally happened....i imagine some lost faith, haha. wonder how it looks/sounds in comparison?

got my genesis reprint earlier this year, but god knows my investor copy of Project Y still doesn't even have a proper name yet

I like the 16 bit graphics plus Pcm soundtrack combo. The HD mode looks kinda off imo.
 

StevieWhite

Member
I like the 16 bit graphics plus Pcm soundtrack combo. The HD mode looks kinda off imo.

I agree... I don't know if I see the point of playing Pier Solar other than on a Genesis/Megadrive. There, it was a fantastic example of the system being pushed hard. On other platforms, its just a 16 bit RPG with slightly improved graphics.
 

Young Magus

Junior Member
Yo picked up another one of these bad boys...this time a jp unit along with the following:

Street Fighter 3: Double Impact AND Third Strike

Capcom Vs. SNK 2

Garou:MOTW

and KOF 99:DM, with LB2 on the way.

Ordered up the hanzo along with it and it arrived the other day. If only I knew DM and LB2 had troble with VGA, I would've gotten KOF 02 instead........;-;.
 

IrishNinja

Member
I like the 16 bit graphics plus Pcm soundtrack combo. The HD mode looks kinda off imo.

I agree... I don't know if I see the point of playing Pier Solar other than on a Genesis/Megadrive. There, it was a fantastic example of the system being pushed hard. On other platforms, its just a 16 bit RPG with slightly improved graphics.

Aw damn, kind've expected something like that but was hopeful they did more for the format with all that time...ah well
 

entremet

Member
Zombie's Revenge gets overlooked if we're talking about Sega brawlers. Love that game. Glad it was brought up.

Got horrible reviews too. For shame.
 

Teknoman

Member
Aw damn, kind've expected something like that but was hopeful they did more for the format with all that time...ah well

Unless its something they did with the VMU, its probably just like the Sega CD soundtrack version paired with original game (with option to do the HD version graphics). Figured if I was going to buy it and the Genesis one wasnt an option, why not chip in the kickstarter for the DC version. Of course I think they reprinted the Genesis cart soon after the kickstarter finished anyway lol.
 

Timu

Member
*sigh* My Dreamcast VGA Tomee cable has audio buzzing...man, I'm gonna need new cables before I start recording games with it.
 

Glowsquid

Member
Does any Gaffer have experience shopping for DC s-video cables? Which 3rd-party cable is the least crappy/unreliable? (looks like pretty much every aftermarket cables have mixed at-best reviews, and the official ones are very rare).

My TV has no VGA input so setting up a VGA box is more of an headache than what I'm willing to deal with, and one of my favourite DC (airforce delta) apparently doesn't work in VGA mode anyway.
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
If only I knew DM and LB2 had troble with VGA, I would've gotten KOF 02 instead........;-;.
if youve got a wii theres an arcade perfect conversion of LB2 on the virtual console for $9. you shoild sell your DC copy and get some 3D fighters! :)
 

Theonik

Member
Does any Gaffer have experience shopping for DC s-video cables? Which 3rd-party cable is the least crappy/unreliable? (looks like pretty much every aftermarket cables have mixed at-best reviews, and the official ones are very rare).

My TV has no VGA input so setting up a VGA box is more of an headache than what I'm willing to deal with, and one of my favourite DC (airforce delta) apparently doesn't work in VGA mode anyway.
If you're going third party you are at the mercy of your seller usually. Just look at feedback there and go on eBay. Alternatively, the VGA box comes with both Composite and S-Video Output.
 

Tain

Member
I theorize that there are a lot of classic games like this that people claim to really like and even recommend (all based on a kind of theoretical admiration) but don't actually take off the shelf and play.

Sure, but I don't think that Dynamite Deka (haven't played a ton of the sequel) is one of them for me. I pull it out pretty frequently, and while I can't get all that far on one credit (and don't bother playing it any other way), I consistently enjoy it and don't find the difficulty curve to be busted at all.

The moves are undeniably stiff as hell, though. It's a much slower pace than pretty much everything else in the genre.
 

jerry1594

Member
After not touching my stick for a while I took it out and mashed it a bit. I think I like the buttons a bit more. They feel a bit like Seimitsu knock offs which isnt the worst thing. Meanwhile the joystick feels bad. Maybe it's the age but it feels so stiff when it's engaged between the deadzone and the microswitch. Going to replace it with a spare sanwa, hope it's not too much filing/dremeling.
 
So, playing away on the last disc of Shenmue, finish my first real day of forklift simulator, game stalls on a loading screen.

No drive "noise", it's just spinning..

Restart the machine after inspecting the disc, which is clear of any blemishes.

Complete the day again... Loading screen of doom.

Curse the machine.

I've never been so frustrated. (first world)

Calmly replace the disc with disc 1 of Shenmue 2. All is good.

Try to think the glass is half full : I've lost my saves of both Shenmue and Shenmue 2, so all capsule toys got in Shenmue are vanished... and start Shenmue 2 w/o have been playing Shenmue and imported the save file seems like too xboxers
 

jerry1594

Member
If you play cvs2 it's worth getting on both dreamcast and ps2. Both are cheap. If you just want to play with friends sometimes either is fine. I'm not a fan of the dualshock 2 but it's better to use than the Dreamcast controller.
 
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