SEGA Dreamcast

Sega Dreamcast Software Creation Standards Guidebook made available for public download

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Via The Dreamcast Junkyard comes a cool bit of behind the scenes history on SEGA’s final home console. The Sega Dreamcast Software Creation Standards Guidebook was sent to the site by an anonymous former Dreamcast developer, and features 136 pages of standards set by SEGA for the development of software for the Dreamcast. While the document is a bit dry in how it presents information, there is some cool pieces of information contained within. For example, the document instructs developers how to hide the pause menu and which controller ports should allow the use of the keyboard. The rules contained within answer why so many different games from different teams have the same button combinations and features.

For more information, check out The Dreamcast Junkyard’s article here and download the full PDF here.

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[Update: Shipping lowered!] New indie Dreamcast game Intrepid Izzy hits Kickstarter

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Back in March we shared the news that indie Dreamcast developer Senile Team, creators of Rush Rush Rally Racing and Beats of Rage, were working on a platformer titled Intrepid Izzy. Now, it looks like the team plans to bring the game to Dreamcast, PC and (should they hit a stretch goal) PlayStation 4 via a Kickstarter campaign. With a €35,000 goal ($41,268), they still have a ways to go having just hit the 10% mark.

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA Dreamcast 18th Anniversary Discussion

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On 9/9/1999 the SEGA Dreamcast released in North America, and now 18 years later we’re still talking about it. On this SEGA News Bits, we celebrate the birthday of SEGA’s final home console by recommending the best exclusives, looking at the indie games released in 2017 and looking ahead to what indie games are coming in 2018 and beyond!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

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SEGA News Bits: Top 100 SEGA Games Discussion

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On this episode of the SEGA News Bits we discuss the Top 100 SEGA Games list we posted up earlier this month, so if you haven’t checked it out give it a gander. Join us to listen to us rant about how the list was put together, which games surprised us on the list, which games didn’t make the list, how SEGA games are under-appreciated on other top gaming lists, and much more. Sadly we don’t cover all the top 100 SEGA games that are represented on the list, that would take too long, but I hope the games we talked about was entertaining enough. Let us know if you agree or disagree with the top 100 SEGA games list and what your top three SEGA games would be in the comments below.

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a like so it shows up on more like minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that new YouTube algorithm is.

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Yoot Saito to host Classic Game Postmortem for Seaman at GDC 2017

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The 2017 Game Developers Conference is just a little over a month away, and just last week it was announced that Japanese game designer Yoot Saito is set to host a behind-the-scenes look at the hit Dreamcast game Seaman in a Classic Game Postmortem. Yes, that’s right, I said “hit”. Despite the quirky nature of Seaman, it went on to become one of the most popular Dreamcast games in Japan – even outselling Shenmue!

The postmortem is set to be an hour long, and given Saito’s unique ideas for games it is sure to be an incredibly interesting discussion. The conference runs from February 27 to March 3, and date and time for the Seaman postmortem are still to be determined. You can learn more about the postmortem and GDC 2017 here.

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Classic SEGA Ads: Xbox One S commercial rips off classic Dreamcast commercials

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With the holiday season approaching, Sony and Microsoft are pushing their latest upgraded consoles to the masses meaning a lot of money is being spent on advertising. One ad which caught my attention was a recent Xbox One S commercial dubbed “Portals”. The ad kicks off with the new white console and then has the camera fly inside the machine to pass through several rectangular portals, each portal containing a game’s universe. There are a few moments where they cut away to people playing the Xbox One S before jumping back inside the machine to show some more video game universes before pulling out and showing the console once again. Cool ad right? I swear I’ve seen this before.

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SEGA News Bits: Sonic the Hedgehog turns 25 years old

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Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary officially kicked off on June 23rd, which was of course the release date of the eponymous game that started it all. In this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry look back on 25 years of Sonic by spin dashing through all the main series Sonic Team developed console games. There are quite a few to get through, so consider this more of a SEGA News Smörgåsbord. Why are you still reading this? Click play and enjoy!

What are your favorite Sonic games? Let us know the comments below and like always thanks for watching! If you like our SEGA News Bits videos, make sure to subscribe to us on our YouTube channel.

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Celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary with 25 great underrated moments

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sonic 25 headerSEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise turns 25 today, and while we’ve celebrated franchise milestone years in the past, there is something really special about this one. A quarter of a century is a long time, and it is a testament to SEGA’s perseverance and the devotion of the Sonic fanbase that the franchise is still going strong. Sonic Lost World and the Sonic Boom franchise – particularly the games – are often pinpointed as the franchise’s recent weak points and signs that the franchise as a whole needs to be put down or at the very least take a long break. While I am not here to debate the merits of Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom, I will say that to end a series or take a long break because of either is both incredibly shortsighted and far too extreme a reaction. I would also argue that Sonic is about much more than just the main series games, as fans like to label the major titles, and that there has always been great Sonic things happening even during the franchise’s darkest years.

In celebration of 25 years of Sonic the Hedgehog, join me in looking back year-by-year as I shine the light on great moments in Sonic history that more people need to be talking about.

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SEGA News Bits: Dreamcast 2 Fan Project Shuts Down Reaction

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Late last year a group of SEGA Dreamcast fans announced they where petitioning SEGA to start Project Dream, which was basically a Dreamcast 2 console. The users behind the project used a Change.org petition to garner support for their Dreamcast 2 project. After getting over 30,000 signatures from fans around the globe, getting some mainstream press coverage and showing off a few Dreamcast 2 video concepts the team has now called it quits.

We give you all the information you might have missed on the project, talk about why they shut down and our opinions on the whole thing. Tell us what you think in the comments below. If you haven’t, make sure to subscribe to get more SEGA News Bits videos.

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Original Sonic Adventure Sega Dreamcast website returns thanks to a true blue fan

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Remember the days of logging on to the Internet using your Sega Dreamcast? Even when games didn’t tout online multi-player, more often than not you’d encounter a webpage option which allowed you to visit the game’s website through the in-game menu. Of course, as time passed many of the Dreamcast webpages have since gone offline, into disrepair, or were bought up by some porn site. Thankfully, fan and friend of TSSMB member JmTsHaW purchased the sonic-adventure.com domain and has (mostly) restored the Sonic Adventure’s original site in all its 640 pixel wide glory! Features include the Updates Archives, Community links including Chao Gardens, Hints and Support information. Very cool to see this piece of SEGA internet history back up and running. Check it out for yourself here, bonus points if you use the Dreamcast.

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Shmuplations releases translated interview with SEGA of Japan hardware legend Hideki Sato

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Thanks to shmuplations.com, we now have the full interview with SEGA of Japan’s Hideki Sato, the legend who helmed SEGA’s console R&D during the 16-bit era and later became the company president in 2002. The interview initially appeared in the Japanese publication Famitsu DC in 1998 and was later republished in the 2001 “SEGA Consumer History” book. Several hardcore fans, myself included, have that book in their collection, but were unable to read the interview due to the obvious language barrier. Now we have the whole thing in english! Check out the full translated interview here. The interview is in two parts, with part one covering the Dreamcast and part two covering past hardware.

Thanks shmuplations.com!

 

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You can now play Flappy Bird on your Dreamcast’s VMU

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Thanks to Instagram user guacasaurus_mex, the world’s most frustrating iPhone game can now be played on your Dreamcast VMU! guacasaurus_mex is not new to the world of VMU game creation, having also created Deadpool and Star Wars: The Force Awakens VMU games, but Flappy Bird pushes things to a whole other level of absurdity. guacasaurus_mex had this to say regarding how to get the game working on your own VMU:

“If anyone is interested I just finished making a Flappy Bird clone for the VMU. Just put the file on an SD card, load with Dreamshell and once Speud’s VMU Tool has loaded navigate to ‘Open CD’ and copy FLPPYBRD.vmi to the VMU.

Like most VMU games this doesn’t work properly in the emulator so please use on an actual VMU!

Also, for anyone giving this a go, you hold A rather than tap like in the iOS and Android versions. Tap functionality didn’t work so well with only 32 vertical pixels!”

You can find the direct download link for the .VMI file here.

[Via The Dreamcast Junkyard]

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SEGA Dreamcast Nintendo 3DS theme brings the nostalgia with the Phantasy Star Online lobby theme

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If you haven’t been following us on the social networks, earlier this week we shared that more SEGA themes are heading to the Nintendo 3DS for those in the west. Yesterday, Americans received a SEGA Dreamcast theme for $1.99 while today Europeans receive Dreamcast, Saturn and Hi-Tech (arcade) themes. Saturn and Hi-Tech had already released in America some time ago, so no surprises there, but what was surprising was that aside from the expected regional tweaks to the Dreamcast theme (blue swirl in Europe, different packaging designs on the top screen) there was also another change to the original Japanese Dreamcast 3DS theme. While the Japanese theme had some happy background music that I can’t quite place from the Dream Passport internet application, the western theme has the incredibly iconic Phantasy Star Online lobby music.

It may sound like I’m fanboying out over this, and I probably am, but man does the inclusion of that music make this theme a must own for any Dreamcast owner who has fond memories of 2am PSO play sessions. Not only did this music ensure that you have properly connected your console to the internet, but it was also the beginning of the adventure. Picture chat with your friends, pretend to be a Japanese girl, trade some guild cards, form a team, and hit the forest of Ragol for some rare blue Al Rappys. After the break, check out the theme in action and if you like it download it yourself. It’s well worth it.

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SEGA News Bits: First impressions of the indie SEGA Dreamcast game Pier Solar

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2015 sure has been a great year for indie SEGA Dreamcast games! We’ve seen shmups, odd puzzlers, vikings, and now we’re seeing an RPG by the name of Pier Solar and the Great Architects. While Pier Solar released way back in 2010 to the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, the recent Dreamcast port features improved graphics, new scenarios, and special extras that take advantage of the Dreamcast’s unique capabilities (VMU mini-games!). As seen in my recent unboxing, the game’s packaging is beautiful. Now, in this latest episode of SEGA News Bits, I talk with George about my first impressions of the game.

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