Dreamcast

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 Games That Are Celebrating Big Anniversaries in 2016

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SEGA has created some highly popular and cult classic series of games that have stuck with people over the years. While most of you guys already know that Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating his big 25th Anniversary this year, many other games get ignored because they aren’t as relevant as they used to be. Today we will list those mostly ignored video game franchises we all love. Did your favorite game make our list?

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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.

If you like what you see, make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube and never miss a video.

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Unboxing: Pier Solar Japanese packaging for the SEGA Dreamcast

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The long awaited Dreamcast release of Pier Solar has started to arrive in mailboxes, and I was so impressed with the packaging that I knew it had to get the unboxing video treatment. This isn’t the first SEGA console the game has released to, back in 2010 the game hit the Mega Drive/Genesis and I shared an unboxing of the reprint edition. The Dreamcast version I present to you today is a first edition in the Japanese style packaging, other versions include US and PAL, but seeing as how most indie Dreamcast releases emulate the Japanese packaging, I went with this style and don’t regret it in the slightest. A lot of effort went into this release, and it really makes modern game unboxings look like crap by comparison. Seriously, who wants to see somebody opening a Wii U game where all you get is a disc and a slip of paper telling you to read the digital manual.

You can buy Pier Solar on several platforms. The Dreamcast and Mega Drive/Genesis versions are sold out at the moment, but more may be available in the future. Check out the official site for more details. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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Watch this fan translated Making of Shenmue Japanese TV special from 1999

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During the release of Shenmue, there existed quite a few interviews and TV specials about the game that sadly never received proper translations. Thankfully, with nothing but time on their hands between the release of Shenmue 2 and the announcement of Shenmue 3, several fans have since translated these insightful looks at the making of the game.

Recently, Shenmue Dojo member Switch went above and beyond and translated an hour long “Making of Shenmue” TV special into English, French, Spanish, and German. The special, which can be seen above, is perhaps the longest most in depth look at the game at the time of its release. As an added bonus, it also features a rare look inside SEGA during their final years as a first party developer. Thanks to Ziming of Shenmue Dojo for sending us the special!

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Custom Sega Dreamcast bios aims to improve experience

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You are probably sitting there thinking whats a bio and why should I give a damn? I mean, you have been playing your beautiful SEGA Dreamcast games just fine without these custom, fancy fan bios. First what is a bio? Well, you know that information that the system loads before it boots your game? That’s it.

What does this revised fan bios replace? Let’s check the list! 

  • Region free: boot GD/CD from any regions
  • No VGA flag check: no matter if the game supports the VGA output, the lets it boot
  • Bootfile extent check: allow a game to boot even if its bootfile, more commonly called 1ST_READ.BIN, is not located on the outer part of the disc
  • SEGA License screen skip
  • MIL-CD/backup direct boot
  • Black fade-in color while booting from menu
  • No VMU copy-protected file check

I tend to play my Dreamcast in VGA mode like most (cool) people, so the idea of just skipping the check on boot might be a good thing for me.The issue? the method for installing takes some talent with a soldering iron, something that I just don’t have.

[Via: RetroCollect]

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SEGA News Bits: SEGA re-releasing legacy games like Shenmue?

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SEGA Europe’s marketing director Jon Rooke said in a recent interview that SEGA was looking at opportunities to re-release Legacy titles like Shenmue. On this episode we sit and discuss the possibility of this being just PR talk, we discuss what is a SEGA legacy title and discuss SEGA legacy games we want to see re-released. Let us know what you consider a legacy title and what games you want to see re-released in the comments below!

If you like what you see make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube so you never miss an episode.

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Indie Dreamcast game Pier Solar now shipping!

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Pier Solar and the Great Architects is a game that has been a long time coming. Developed and published by Watermelon Games with work starting as far back as 2004, Pier Solar originally released to the Genesis/Mega Drive back in 2010. Since then, the team held a successful Kickstarter which lead to an HD remake of the game for a slew of modern handhelds and consoles, but SEGA fans were most interested in the proposed Dreamcast release. While modern platforms have since seen release of the game, Dreamcast fans had to wait a bit longer. Today, it seems that wait is over as backers from both the Kickstarter and Watermelon Games website have received notifications that the game is now shipping!

I’ll admit, after being disappointed by other indie developers I was hesitant to put my money towards the release until solid proof that it was going to release by the end of the year (the initial expected release was way back in December 2013). Luckily I was able to pre-order the game earlier this month, just days before they cut pre-orders off. Since then, the game has been relisted on the Watermelon store with a price increase of $6 (from the initial $50) and a “SOON AVAILABLE” notification of November 11th. So if you had a pre-order, be excited because the game is coming! And if you don’t, there should be additional copies available soon.

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Play Shenmue on Dreamcast in widescreen

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ShenmueWidescreenHackWe know that Codebreaker codes change aspects of games, from infinite lives to instant unlockables. But did you know that you can use a code on games to get them to display in ‘anamorphic widescreen’? Assembler Games forum user S4pph4rad decided to release his anamorphic widescreen codes for Shenmue I & II and this lead to quite a few users contributing back.The idea is to have codes for most of the games, if possible.

“Similar to the codes for other platforms, this is anamorphic widescreen so you’re not getting higher resolution. Some additional changes could probably be made like shrinking the HUD too, but this is the simplest solution. Consider these version 1. There’s still some pop-in occasionally near the edges of the screen, but it’s not as bad as when you use an emulator to extend the visible area. That could probably be fixed with deeper analysis into how it decides when something goes out of range.” – S4pph4rad from Assembler Games

You can read all about the process of Anamorphic widescreen over here and if you want to check out more progress on codes for other games check out Assembler Games’ forum thread. This is all a work in progress, of course and the community is submitting codes to other Dreamcast classics.

Hit the jump for the Shenmue I & II widescreen codes!

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The History of Sega Japan R&D, Part 3: Innovative Heights and the End of an Era

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REUNIFICATION AND TWELVE INNOVATIVE R&D STUDIOS

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Playing up an executive managing director and joking about the state of the Dreamcast at the time, says a lot about Sega’s attitude at the time.

In Part 2 we covered Sega’s golden age, but great heights inevitably can bring great lows. Sega had lots of up and downs throughout their history. They also had great games, lots of them! But ultimately Sega did not make that much money from the Saturn. However, in the arcades they did absolute gangbusters. Sega needed to change their approach in regards to development and also their hardware. The solution was to make the Dreamcast and NAOMI arcade hardware the same and have all of the internal studios make games for it,in turn allowing them further grow and prosper. Twelve R&D studios in total were established, and the nine software studios were not split into arcade and console divisions – they made games for everything. Hisashi Suzuki and Yu Suzuki would manage the arcade business, with Hisashi putting in his final stretch at Sega before retirement.

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Unreleased SEGA Dreamcast port of ‘Colin McRae Rally 2.0’ unearthed

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The Dreamcast had quite a bit of cancelled game before it met its erupt end on March 31st, 2001. Some of the popular ‘unreleased’ games that have made it out in the wild include a port of Half-Life and even SEGA-AM2’s Propeller Arena. Looks like we have one more game to add that list, Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0 (the precursor to the DiRT games).

Colin McRae Rally, the first game got a release on both Windows and Playstation; while 2.0 only had a release on Windows. Mcrae Rally 2.0 added more difficultly levels (Novice, Intermediate and Expert), Arcade mode and more. Sadly the port that was unearthed was only 30% complete, but its still pretty cool to see.

You can hear Tomleecee from The Dreamcast Junkyard talk about the unearthed unreleased port.

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SEGA News Bits: Ghost Blade impressions & Hucast Games controversy talk

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Today on the SEGA News Bits we have not only one, but two videos for you to enjoy. Why two? Well, we ran too long and I decided it was best to cut the conversation into two separate videos. The above video is Barry’s initial impressions of Hucast Games’ Dreamcast Shoot ’em up Ghost Blade. The second video has us talking about the article that DCGX wrote about Hucast games (the publisher of Ghost Blade). Its a great article, check it out.

If you want to see our video on our Ghost Blade impressions, thats above and if you wanna see us whine about the Dreamcast indie scene you can watch that below. If you like what you see don’t forget to comment, like, share and subscribe to us on YouTube.

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Fruit’Y is a new indie Dreamcast puzzle game, and it’s available now!

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In the midst of Ghost Blade, the impending release of Pier Solar and the release of Volgaar the Viking comes yet another indie Dreamcast game – Fruit’Y! Developed by retroguru, Fruit’Y is a fruit matching puzzle game featuring 120 levels, pixel graphics and a killer soundtrack. What surprised me the most is that the game is out now to purchase – no pre-orders here folks – and is incredibly affordable. A pressed disc with full color art in a DVD case will only set you back 2.50 Euros or around $2.81. Shipping isn’t too bad, as it only cost around $10.41 total for the game to ship from Germany to SEGAbits Midwest HQ in the United States.

The game is limited to 500 copies, so pick one up soon from Dragon Box Shop! I’ve already seen people receiving theirs in the mail, and hope to get my hands on my copy within the next few days.

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Opinion: Hucast and the Business of Dreamcast

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When speaking of the SEGA Dreamcast “nostalgia” is a word that is often mentioned, and it wouldn’t be an incorrect description of many gamers’ feelings towards the system. Countless articles and blog posts have been written about the prominence of the Dreamcast and how it died too soon. From that love of the little white box, an incredible scene of independent developers and publishers has continued the dream over the past decade with a steady stream of new games and multiplatform releases.

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