Dreamcast

[Ouenben]

Got myself a Dreamcast today, PAL.

Just wondering a few things as I'm fairly new to the scene.

VMU batteries: Can you get them?
What games should I be looking out for?
What cable is best? The standard one it comes with seems crap.
Online - Does is still work and do people still play it?


the games it came with include: Sonic adventure, resident evil CV, MSR racer, Bust a move 4, soldier of fortune, quake 3, chuchu rocket, rayman 2 and a some not so great ones.

[Streets Of Rage]

You can still get the batteries easily, they are a standard CR2032 if I remember correctly!

As far as games go you want Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi, Ikaruga (if you can play imports), Shenmue 1/2, Gunbird 2, Rez, theres loads more but my heads gone blank!

Not sure on cables, I still use the crappy RF one *embarassed smiley*

[nightstalker100]

Vmu batteries - cr032 i think. Available in most electronic shops. You don't need them however to use a vmu for saves

Games - just check out the review section on this site for advice


Apparently rgb scart is the best, although for some reason on my dc it sucks but that could be the telly. Outside that, vga all the way on a monitor, though a handful of games wont work, such as bangai o, vampire chronicles


Online - yes i think some servers are still up but the specifics elude me

[Ouenben]

I dunno if my telly supports RGB, is there a way to find out without the manuals? (lost them)

[SuperDanX]

Zombies revenge.

[Kubrick]

I dunno if my telly supports RGB, is there a way to find out without the manuals? (lost them)

Does it have a scart socket?

[Yoshimax]

RGB Scart all the way for TV or VGA on a monitor for the ultimate - Soul Calibur on a monitor is the stuff of legend.

You should still be able to download & burn a CD which will allow you to boot games from any region - IIRC it is called the Utopia Boot Disc !!

Also the games that don't work via VGA I'm sure there's a workaround which gets them to work but I can't remember - t'net is your friend

Happy hunting.

[shrimphead]

i think the official sega online servers closed their doors long ago but there are still a couple of fan provided servers for phantasy star online and stuff, providing you have a dial up account, or a BBA

[Lyris]

What cable is best? The standard one it comes with seems crap.

Get a VGA box if your TV has that input. If it has Component input, you can get a VGA to Component transcoder (not cheap!!) for some of the best 480p video you'll have ever seen. (I am working on botching together a cheap "Component box" for the DC though).

If your TV's more standard though, you should get the RGB SCART cable instead.

The PAL versions of Phantasy Star Online and V2 still works online and as Shrimphead says there are also fan servers you can connect to.

[Kubrick]

I think the Ferrari F355 servers were closed only recently. It was AM#2 themselves that kept them running for the past 3-4 years.

Now they don't even have a website. How good is that?!

[Silvergun X]

Utopia Boot Disc won't play imported games in 60hz, on a PAL Dreamcast.

It will play them, but force it to 50.

Your best bet if you want to play imports, is to either buy DC-X or hunt down a copy somewhere of Code Breaker, that will boot imported GD-Roms in 60hz.

From personal experience, code breaker's compatibility is excellent.

[charlesr]

Re: batteries

Don't bother. They run down so quick it's not worth it imo.

And if you've just bought it, then it's pretty old and could well already suffer from (or start soon) the reset problem. If it resets after a short while of play, it's easily fixed with a screwdriver only. Google "dreamcast reset problem"

[PH]

A definite get which no one has mentioned yet is Jet Set Radio. Absolutely love that game.

[Kubrick]

Re: batteries

Don't bother. They run down so quick it's not worth it imo.

Only if you remove the little paper tab from the back of the VMU. The ones I bought in 1999 still have healthy batteries.

[charlesr]

How do you know?