The Sega Dreamcast appreciation thread

[Down by Law]

Lovely day for it so i retrobrighted the DC i got from  @Ninja Doctor yesterday. Came out great!

 

Before

 

 

 

 

After

 

 

 

[Ninja Doctor]

I should have charged you more! That looks as good as new.

[Sketch]

This thread made me want to relive some Dreamcast memories so I just completed Code Veronica for the first time in 20 years must be.

 

And I hated it.

 

The thing is, I've spent the last 20 years praising it as the best traditional RE (Zero is hot trash), and as my preferred game over the newer styled games that came after RE4.

 

How could I be so wrong? Someone on Reddit has similar thoughts. What's shocking to me is how tolerant I was back then of atrocious design ideas. The two characters are implemented like a piece of rusted barbedwire in the gums. By the end of the game I had no used the grenade launcher once, and had about 80+ shots for it (40 grenade, 20 fire, 20 acid, 3 BOW). This is all down to how you can't access weapons if the other person was carrying it. So when I had Claire, I had no ammo for the grenade launcher. But I carried it on her before the Chris switch over.

 

Then Chris kept finding ammo, but didn't have the grenade launcher. FFS!

 

Plus that whole boss battle where you can't fight, and the only way to succeed is keep running and healing. It's just bad design. I had to replay that four times. Twice because I didn't realise I had to keep healing after every single swipe, until I looked up an FAQ, and I got another game over because I was impatient having to keep redoing this section and fumbled the bit with the glass ball and the heavy weight.

 

Don't even get me started on that fucking music box puzzle. So awful they put it in twice! It's not even a puzzle, just shlepping back and forth dozens of times to swap one jewel for the other, open box, close box, run to other end of map, swap jewels, repeat. I spent 20 minutes on that damn puzzle. Utter garbage.

 

Do not even get me started on the fact you can leave the extinguisher behind and miss out on the magnum.

 

So much back tracking. So many annoying sections designed to waste your time. So many arbitrary difficult spots, just to piss the player off. It's like the game was designed by a sadist who hated the audience and resented having to make a RE game. I played through without a guide, seeing if I could do it on my own. Maybe I just cheated my way through last time, but how can anyone be expected to anticipate the character swapping and not screw yourself out of having a vital weapon? It's absolutely dreadful - I very nearly was unable to finish it.

 

Dear world: I am sorry I kept championing this crap for the last 20 years. If you read my posts on other forums and bought the game because of my praise, i was wrong, I retract my statements, and I feel ashamed for liking this travesty of bad design. It was wretched.

[carlospie]

That tyrant boss that you cat physically do if you don't have enough ammo in the airplane was garbage.

 

On the plus side. Nospharatu. And funny Steve monster. 

[ianinthefuture]

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

 

Mainly shit puzzles and weird-ass camera angles.

[Sketch]

8 minutes ago, ianinthefuture said:

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

 

Mainly shit puzzles and weird-ass camera angles.

 

And that moth tunnel!

 

However, I disagree with the quote on the past. Last week I finished Exhumed for the first time and loved it. Really good for one of those early FPS. I would say I more often discover old games which I've never played, but love to bits, than I find new games which I enjoy. My favourite game, Master of Orion, was released in 1994, but I only discovered it around 2014, 20 years after the fact.

 

It was just horribly jarring to find in this case, my memories had lied to me.

 

I do wonder, if I were to travel back in time with old games I enjoy, which I discovered only later in life, and show them to my younger self, would he be as enthralled as I am now? Or would he be like: These games you've brought from my current era suck, I want to play Code Veronica.

 

 

[T Pot]

17 minutes ago, Sketch said:

So much back tracking. So many annoying sections designed to waste your time. So many arbitrary difficult spots

 

I think this was just a result of games in the past and limited hardware / storage etc. We went through Halo 1 early this year and man, it's not aged well in my opinion. It's still alright, handles well etc but my god. There's so much backtracking and random scraps are just so much harder than what was before then after. 

[strider]

I just repurchased the updated version of Capcom Vs SNK. Bloody hell, but it's a cracking fighter.

[Down by Law]

On 03/06/2021 at 14:48, Sketch said:

 

 

Dear world: I am sorry I kept championing this crap for the last 20 years. If you read my posts on other forums and bought the game because of my praise, i was wrong, I retract my statements, and I feel ashamed for liking this travesty of bad design. It was wretched.

 

Code Veronica was the first ever 'new release' I paid for with my own money. Always had to buy second hand up till then but on my 15th birthday, armed with part hard -earned paper money and part birthday cash i paid £39.99 for the game on the day of release, absolutely buzzing. That thrill of being given a sealed copy, from the glass cabinets behind the cashier in EB, untouched by human hands was a great memory  

 

Really wanted to love it but man...it was just not good. The shotgun doesn't even decap zombies - to a gore lovin' 15 year old , this was blasphemous. The story was crazy and not in a good way, steve was so lame and I got stuck on the plane like everyone else as I didn't take enough ammo with me. The first person battle mode was cool, but I never returned to the story mode again. Unlike 2 & 3 which I played over and over unlocking secrets.

 

It's probably the most deserving of the series for a remake, simply because it's going to be very easy to improve upon.

The VMU ECG was probably the memorable part.

 

Glad you liked Exhumed though, that game is still awesome. When you start searching for the team dolls, that's when the true depth of that game and it's level design really impresses.

[MikeJ]

I completely loved RE:CV when it came out but the Gamecube remake of the first game showed it how "traditional" Resi games should be done. I am pretty tolerant of the shoddy mechanics of old Resi games but I can't play CV for very long nowadays.

[SeanR]

It’s ok lads! We’ll always have Blue Stinger...

[carlospie]

Buahahahsha

[Sketch]

17 hours ago, Mr Tony said:

I think this was just a result of games in the past and limited hardware / storage etc.

 

You're not wrong in that limitations resulted in awkwardness we're unaccustomed to today. However, I played through Resident Evil 3 on PS1 for the first time in December 2018 - it was just before New Year and Covid. And I enjoyed it. I thought: "That was fun, obviously not as good as Code Veronica, but a fine game, and worth it for anyone who enjoys RE." My tastes couldn't have changed that much, so i don't think it's due to the clunky RE gameplay. I am fine with tank controls. i like limited ammo and saves. It's just the game is mean - RE3 never had these spiteful sections, nor do I recall RE2 or even RE1 having them.

 

The damn music box puzzle. It's not a puzzle. It's a retelling of the fox, chicken, grain riddle. It's not even challenging, but it forces you to run back and forth across the entire map. It might be the worst puzzle in the series. And they put in Code Veronica twice. Not to chalenge your brain, but to make you run back and forth, twice.

 

Hiroki Kato is credited as director. All I can say is this man is a sadist. The game feels like it deliberately wants to annoy you. And what is shocking to me is how different it feels to how I remember, and how different it is to Resident Evil 3, which I completed about three years ago. I am really surprised not just at my memory, but at how much nastier it is compared to others in the series. If I had limitless time I would go back and replay 1, 2, and 3, just to be sure.

 

I refuse to believe this is because I dislike RE gameplay. I definitely enjoyed RE3 recently. But for 20 years I had this warped sense of believing CV was the best in the series. The come down is hard. I feel like a religious man who has just discovered God isn't real.

 

 

16 hours ago, Down by Law said:

 

Code Veronica was the first ever 'new release' I paid for with my own money.

 

 

o/

 

Similar! It's a distinct sensation the first time you use proper earned cash money to buy your own high-priced thing like that.

 

I worked in a meat factory for a month over summer holidays to earn the cash to buy a Dreamcast brand new, along with RE:CV, House of the Dead 2, Sonic, Toy Commander, Bass Fishing, the rod, lightgun, extra pads, VMUs, and rumble packs. I went all in for a full bundle at the time when it was still a hot item and going strong (about 6 months after the UK release?). Spent the rest of the summer holidays alone in the house while everyone was at work, playing Dreamcast. Go outside? Sunshine? Hang out with friends? Screw that - it was Dreamcast time!

 

Chu Chu Rocket was free. Man, remember when consoles came with free games?

 

 

14 hours ago, SeanR said:

It’s ok lads! We’ll always have Blue Stinger...

 

I played this around 2015 and I remember loving it. I only waited so long because reviews at the time panned it, but I later found it to be an insane fun time. After beating up enemies they drop gold coins and you can run around them like Mario grabbing the coins. It was absolutely batshit. Illbleed was by the same guy and even better.

[Down by Law]

Blue Stinger was one of the first games I got post launch - 2nd hand copies were going for about £25 in January 2000 which was all i could afford, but I loved it ! I can still hear the christmas music in the market section as I type this. It had some kind of stun gun / sword and I though the electrocution, sound and gore effects were so advanced and satisfying at the time. Such a strange game in tone but man those huge bosses and the awesome weapons really made it fun to play. Loved the dayglo HUD too ! 

[bluejmc2005]

These are quite rare I think? 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sega-Dreamcast-Console-NTSC-J-Boxed-President-Yukawa-2-controllers-1-VMU-/184869011210?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

[Nick R]

Look at the pure joy that Dreamcast brings, compared to the resigned tolerance of PS2!

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Symbolic. 

 

[Oh Danny Boy]

Recent Dreamcast acquisitions;

 

 

Been loving flea! Just the kind of game that doesn’t exist anymore. Just pure platforming that requires intricate and almost perfect negotiation of obstacles.  Very addictive. Finding Teddy is brilliant, surreal stuff, visually gorgeous too full of unique puzzles that are solved through sound. Recently got a Switch sequel which I’ll have to pick up. 
 

Sturmwind is one of the best shmups I’ve played on the Dreamcast full stop. The lovecraftian sci fi aesthetics are banging. Volgaar the Viking is a bit like ghouls and ghosts but with the same rock hard challenge, a damn good game. Was playing it with a mate recently just trying to get past the first level! Hard as nails but so well done that you’d be coming back to the challenge.  Yet to give the others an in depth play yet. 

[SeanR]

Volgaar was a GWG title in November 2014*. That there's a dreamcast version is not mention on the wiki page, so what gives?

 

 

 

 

*I might have to go back to that

[Oh Danny Boy]

10 minutes ago, SeanR said:

Volgaar was a GWG title in November 2014*. That there's a dreamcast version is not mention on the wiki page, so what gives?

 

 

 

 

*I might have to go back to that

I think it got a Dreamcast release only a couple of years ago by Joshprod. 
 

Pixelheart sell a lot of their Dreamcast releases and others. They also have got hold of some brand new copies of classic PAL games too 

 

https://www.pixelheart.eu

[spanky debrest]

37 minutes ago, SeanR said:

Volgaar was a GWG title in November 2014*. That there's a dreamcast version is not mention on the wiki page, so what gives?

 

 

 

 

*I might have to go back to that

 

Volgarr DC was an unofficial port (knocked up by one of the original devs i believe) that was released for free to the community. It's not an officially supported product.

[Oh Danny Boy]

1 hour ago, spanky debrest said:

 

Volgarr DC was an unofficial port (knocked up by one of the original devs i believe) that was released for free to the community. It's not an officially supported product.

That’s true of every recent DC release. None is an official SEGA product. Joshprod get the rights to their releases, so they are official products of that dev and the devs get their cut. Although I believe the Volgaar devs have allowed their game to land on different platforms for free. Which is why it’s so cheap. Definitely worth £20. 

[spanky debrest]

53 minutes ago, Oh Danny Boy said:

That’s true of every recent DC release. None is an official SEGA product. Joshprod get the rights to their releases, so they are official products of that dev and the devs get their cut. Although I believe the Volgaar devs have allowed their game to land on different platforms for free. Which is why it’s so cheap. Definitely worth £20. 

 

Volgarr DC wasn't originally sold on DC though. It came out as a CDi file directly from the dev who made it, designed to be burned to a cd-r, effectively as freeware. This is different to regular non-commercial community homebrew (like VMU tools and ports of emulators) or commercial homebrew projects (like the NG Dev releases) which were only officially released physically.

 

That's not to say a nicely made 'repro' of isn't worth paying for - I adore the game. I obsessively played it until my patience ran out (it's definitely the hardest game I've personally played on the console) and regard it as a Dreamcast essential.

 

One thing I loved in particular about Volgarr is the lore underpinning every stage (info only available in the instruction manual). Those little stories helped elevate the experience massively.

[Oh Danny Boy]

Loving a bit of Xeno Cider at the moment. Best new DC release of 2021 and definitely a must buy. A brand new 3D DC game! Fantasy mode is hitting the spot currently, feels just like a new Space Harrier. The main mode has more Charge n blast vibes.   
 

 

[spanky debrest]

I didn't know anything about this until today but there are a bunch of people very pleased to see this finished-but-cancelled follow up to Chu Chu Rocket preserved, Dee Dee Planet:

 

 

[Down by Law]

 

VMU's I've accumulated over the years

 

There is no reactor big enough on earth to power this lot.

[Tomdominer]

More DC set-up questions.

 

I've bought a GCEMU, and am using the SD Card set-up thingy that was linked earlier. With that, Is there a way of adding sub-folders to the GDEMU menu?

 

Also, I've forced VGA for all the titles, but it seems to not work with Bangai-O. Is there a way of disabling VGA on a per title basis from the GDEMU menu? I had trouble working it out...

[Ninja Doctor]

Iirc not really. The gdemu needs numbered folders to find the images. Then just lists all the images it finds. not sure if that could be overcome with different menu software. 
 

If you open the Bangaio entry in the menu you might be able to deselect vga patching. 
 

The VGA setting is controlled via hardware (pin connections in the av port). You can do vga patching on some non vga games but that just sets the vga flag on the ip.bin which allows the game to use vga if the cable is present.  Bangaio is never vga compatible as it uses a 240p mode (I think). To run it you need to switch to a av or rgb cable. 

[TomatoConvenienceStore]

I've been missing the Dreamcast recently - specifically how arcade focused Sega was at that time. I love my in depth story single player games, but it's just fun to have a blast at something casual for a few rounds, especially with friends/partner.

 

I have mine sitting in storage from when I moved, but hoping to get it set up again soonish.

[Oh Danny Boy]

3 minutes ago, TomatoConvenienceStore said:

I've been missing the Dreamcast recently - specifically how arcade focused Sega was at that time. I love my in depth story single player games, but it's just fun to have a blast at something casual for a few rounds, especially with friends/partner.

 

I have mine sitting in storage from when I moved, but hoping to get it set up again soonish.

Check out some more recent indie releases too Xeno Crisis and Xenocider definitely if you’re looking for some very SEGA style quick blast gaming. Both have been my some of my favourite games of 2020 and 2021 respectively. 

[Oh Danny Boy]

Always good to see a new Dreamcast game. Intrepid Izzy is out in little over a month. 
 

 

http://intrepid-izzy.senileteam.com