Dreamcast love in

[MrKirov]

Here is a place to a) talk about the Dreamcast in general, and B) help me with all my questions and requests…

Im all nostalgic and made this thread as my missus for Christmas bought me a mint boxed Dreamcast, with all the original bags and pretty much unused, from CEX of all places!

Apparently some guy traded it in after it being unused in his attic forever- it even had all the foam covers for the controller ports! For some reason CEX sold it as "Boxed" instead of "mint" so it was cheaper than it should have been, and its been hidden away since May/June.

In the run up to Christmas I bought an Arcade Stick, another boxed controller, a VMU or two and a rumble pack, and she said she would be buying me some games to get me started, and not to buy any - I knew she'd bought me Skies of Arcadia as I was going to buy a copy off here on the GC, but she told me not too as she already had it for me... however I had no clue what "getting me started" meant until I opened all these…!

MVC2
Project Justice: Rival Schools 2
Headhunter
Power stone
Shenmue 1 & 2
Heavy Metal Geomatrix
Soul Calibur
Virtua Fighter 3TB (sealed!)
Tomb Raider Last Revelation (sealed again!!)
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Jet Set Radio
Resident Evil Code Veronica
House of the Dead 2
Blue Stinger
Grandia 2 (French on the back though?)
Skies of Arcadia
Zombie Revenge
Dynamite Cop
Virtua Tennis
Virtua Striker
Soul Reaver
Alone in the Dark
Silent Scope
Confidential Mission
Power Stone 2
Fighting Vipers 2

I had a Dreamcast on launch in UK ready for Christmas, with Sonic Adventure, Sega Rally, Ready to Rumble, Blue Stinger, Soul Calibur and House of the Dead- so having most of them back is amazing nostalgia fuel!

I’m going to pick up those I haven’t already got- but what else am I missing? I don’t want a complete set, but one that fills most of the holes.

I always said I wanted to recollect after selling them off some time ago, and seeing how much they’ve shot up in price, I might have rethought that ��

Questions:

a) I don’t have a CRT, though it’s tempting to look for one- however I’ve ordered a HDMI adaptor for it (not the Pound one, the Kaico one) but that seems to only work with VGA compatible games? Are they any good?

b) I’ve ordered a cheap RGB scart to go alongside it, mileage my vary I assume? Im only using an older 1080p 32" TV for it.

c) Been a long time since I had a Dreamcast- any tips or advice? Anything I should or shouldnt be doing for wear and tear etc?

d) Are controller extenders a thing? These pads wires are SHORT

e) Do wireless controllers exist?

Also - join the love in. What’s your Dreamcast memories and thoughts?

[MrKirov]

She apparently got me MVC1 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 too, but they got lost in the post- and seeing as the delivery information said the driver went to/around her house- ebay wouldnt give her money back and she lost £130 :\

So im going to buy them at some point- but I honestly didnt realise how much some of these games went for now. I stupidly sold mine in mid 2019 and got barely anything for the games- I remember CEX giving me like £25 for 3rd Strike mint, now its over £100?? I hadnt played it in years and was living out of boxes, so it is what it is- but I assumed it was a reasonably cheap console to collect for!

So if anyone wants to sell some Dreamcast games, feel free to hit me up haha!

[wakka]

I've had decent results out of a fairly cheap (~£30) VGA to HDMI device I bought specifically for the Dreamcast. Can't remember the brand but most of the ones around that price point on Amazon are probably pretty similar.

And yeah, it'll only work with VGA games, although that is most of the library - with a few notable exceptions like Skies of Arcadia. For some of the non-VGA compatible games you can find patched versions online that have VGA compatibility added. You'll need to download them and burn them to a CD-R to play them on your DC (you don't need the DC to be modded, any DC except very late models can play pirated burned games as you might recall).

You can get your Dreamcast pads modded for wireless, it's called DreamConn. It's really expensive though, around £200 per pad I think. Probably not worth it. Controller extenders should be easily found, here you go:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=dreamcast+controller+extender&_sacat=0

If it's a brand new machine, wear and tear wise you're probably fine a for a while. After a while they tend to develop a problem where they continually randomly reset - but it's easily fixed by opening the machine and cleaning the plastic thing inside that senses whether the disc drive has been opened. It's very sensitive and if it gets some fluff or dust on it that can cause it to have false positives.

[Asura]

Controller extenders should be easily found, here you go:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...ender&_sacat=0

I remember these absolute necessity with the Dreamcast, just like the GameCube (well, outside of getting a Wavebird).

Weird too because the cables on the Saturn controllers were really long.

[wakka]

Yeah, the slightly peculiar design with the cable protruding from the bottom didn't help either!

[charlesr]

Start with Jet Set Radio if you've not played that. Or Headhunter. Exciting!

Beware old Dreamcast resetting itself due to corroded power pins (easily fixed in minutes).

[wakka]

I would get into Shenmue. Ah....Shenmue, how I love thee. My favourite game, tied with Metal Gear Solid. Getting your allowance, jogging round Dobuita as the snow falls. Visiting the arcade. Chatting to Hot Dog Tom with his bonkers accent. One of the most atmospheric games ever.

I really like the Dreamcast but I've kinda smashed all my faves on it to death over the years. You gotta love it though. Those solid, chunky, colourful polygons. Delightful.

[Baseley09]

Saw some Shenmue loose discs on marketplace place today and my heart did a flutter.

[wakka]

When I first got Shenmue it was a used copy that only included one volume. Imagine my surprise when I was told to insert disc 3

[muddy]

Still playing PSO online with my Dreamcast. Love that console!

[Neon Ignition]

Crazy Taxi

Ported left right and centre but the DC version has the right music and it played best on the DC controller

[Asura]

Crazy Taxi

Yeah, frankly there's only one home version of Crazy Taxi and it's this one. In my recollection every other version is deficient in some way. The PS2 version isn't bad but the console's output just doesn't give the vivid colours of the DC one.

[wakka]

Agreed, Crazy Taxi DC is absolutely the best version. The pad is ideal for it, the music is correct, and the Dreamcast's sharp video output is perfect for those NAOMI graphics.

[MartyG]

Soul Calibur was fantastic on Dreamcast. I never got my copy when the Dreamcast launched in the UK tho. Neither did anyone else

If that game had been launched with DC or even marketed properly, it would have helped shift units; it looked far better than any other fighter on the market at the time - superior to the arcade cab even. Metropolis Street Racer doesn't hold up as well today but was another game I played a lot.

Still have all my DC stuff, and play Soul Calibur now and then. It was a great console and died before it deserved to. Suffered like G did.

[Atticus]

Oh Crazy Taxi. That was the perfect arcade blast. I've wanted to revisit it for years but without the original soundtrack it just wont be the same.