Dynamite Deka is a series of beat em up games first introduced to American arcades in the mid-1990s. Renamed “Die Hard Arcade” to capitalize on the success of the movie franchise of the same name, the game was later ported to the SEGA Saturn, and to this day remains the only good 3D brawler to ever make it to the system. Dynamite Deka 2 would later be ported to the Dreamcast some years later, renamed Dynamite Cop. Is this game any good? Read on to find out.
When the Dreamcast breathed its last back in 2001, many thought it was for the best. “They’ll be more successful as a 3rd party publisher!” “They’ll be able to make more money since they’ll be on more systems!” But sadly, that wouldn’t be the case for a long, long time. In fact, only in the last two years has there been a big enough turnaround in quality. When Dreamcast died, much of the creativity and spark of the developers seemed to die with it, 2006 being the best example of Sega’s worst time in the industry.
But not all of it was bad. In fact, their initial outings on GameCube and X-Box were quite strong. Even during Sega’s worst times in 2003-2008, there were some diamonds in the rough. Continue on to see my top 5 favorite “post-Dreamcast” Sega titles from 2001-present.
Took them long enough, but SEGA has finally set a release date for the XBLA and PSN versions of Space Channel 5 Part 2 and SEGA Bass Fishing. Via the SEGA Blog, we now know that both titles will be released digitally on October 4th for PSN and October 5th for XBLA. Both titles, as well as Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi, have been available since February via the XBOX 360 disc release of The Dreamcast Collection. I reviewed it way back in March, rating it a B-. SEGA Bass Fishing is a fun and faithful port, but without the fishing controller it isn’t a “must play” game. Space Channel 5 Part 2, however, is an A+ release in my opinion. It’s a perfect port, widescreen support is very well implemented, and the game is a fantastic sequel brimming with catchy tunes and funky dancing. If you pick up one Dreamcast Collection game, make it Space Channel 5 Part 2.
By the way, wouldn’t the week of September 9th have made for a better release date?
[Source: SEGA Blog]
To Read Part 1, go here.
In July, reality finally caught up with me. Something had possessed me to join the SEGA forums. Because I hated being told that my name was already taken, and I figured the Knuckles name must already be taken given he’s such an awesome character, I decided to cut to the chase and just leave the K out of my name. Upon joining the forums, I discovered the Dreamcast had been canned and, being a teenager, I immediately latched on to the first online petition I saw. Those were the days. Keeping a thread ever present at the top of the forum whenever I got home from school or my friend’s house. Arguing with older, wiser, more realistic individuals like the naïve teenager I was, a large part of my Dreamcast experience came from defending it from bashers and supporting a petition that SEGA probably never even saw, let alone cared about.
Another Dreamroom has come and gone, but those who missed it can catch it NOW at the Dreamcast Junkyard YouTube channel in 5 parts totaling nine and a half hours!
So now that we have cooled down from all the Dreamcast Anniversary posting, we can look at what some other people have been doing to celebrate Dreamcast’s 12 anniversary. This one comes in from Albert Art:
“I’m excited to reveal my latest custom toy, a 10″ MAD*L to celebrate the 12th Anniversary of the SEGA DREAMCAST which launched on 9.9.99 (September 9, 1999).
As a fan of the videogame console, and of the games on the Dreamcast, I decided to create this toy to pay respect to the long gone videogame platform, which inspired me to become an artist during high school. This is a very special toy, and I hope you enjoy it!
Happy Sega Dreamcast Anniversary 9.9.11”
If you want to read more about the toy and see more pictures, check out his blog here.
The Dreamcast turns twelve years old. Poor white dream machine is hitting that awkward age, so we decided to give it a few sex tips. Remember, never talk to those slutty Sony children or the happy Nintendo kids. This podcast has me, nSega, Barry, and Shigs talking about our fondest Dreamcast memories, which Sonic Adventure game was truly better, plus some Shenmue craziness and much more. Let the nostalgia rise.
[audio:http://www.segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/Swingin_Report_Show_20_Dreamcast_Turns_12.mp3]
Years of the Dreamcast is my first stab at autobiographical writing. It is long and is largely a tribute to the Dreamcast’s effect on my life. For those of you brave enough to read a bit about my boring life, my hat goes off to you. I hope you enjoy reading about my Dreamcast experience, and are willing to share yours with the community as well.
Believe it or not, I didn’t really get into gaming with the SEGA Genesis. Or the SNES. Or any other old school console for that matter. Sure, I PLAYED games on my Genesis and Game Gear back in the day, like Sonic, Lion King, and Ecco, but as soon as the Genesis croaked in 1996 I nearly left gaming all together in favor of other interests, including something that got me to buy a Genesis in the first place: Archie’s Sonic comics. I completely passed over the 32 bit generation, something I now sincerely regret given SEGA had some of its best games during that era.
It wasn’t until 2000 that a game console again caught my interest: a SEGA Dreamcast in a Target demo kiosk. I had been playing the N64 and Playstation in kiosks for years, and as much fun as I had had with them, this new system, this Dreamcast, felt like something special. The game on display, Sonic Adventure, was immediately playable. There was no wandering around or collecting of trinkets required to progress: an entire level was immediately opened up to me after the title screen.
It has been 12 years since that sweet white dream machine landed on American shores and blew us away with a stellar launch line up. Gaming has changed quite a bit, most of it thanks to stuff started by SEGA with the Dreamcast.
Even though we still get plenty of games, I think we can all agree on one thing; It’s not the same without having a SEGA console. Can you believe that SEGA hasn’t released a console in 12 years? I feel old.
Happy Birthday Dreamcast.
It’s Labor Day weekend here in America, and only a week until the Dreamcast’s 12th birthday! So I thought it would be fitting to present to you a weekly five that is light on the labor for me, and Dreamcast related for you. Thus, we’re talking a look at five great Dreamcast adverts that ran on American television. So let’s get started, less reading more watching!
Since 2009, It has become a yearly tradition for me to throw a Dreamcast birthday party by way of Dreamcast gaming, a live stream, chit chat, drinking and pizza. This year will be no different from last year: Starting at 11am Eastern Standard Time (5pm GMT) on Friday, September 9th, I’ll be kicking off the party at twitch.tv/dreamroom. We’ll play a ton of games, chat, reminisce and celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Dreamcast’s American launch. We’ll check out the original launch titles, play some wacky imports, go on a Dobuita shopping spree and I even have a few surprises.
So mark your calendars and keep your eyes on The Dreamcast Junkyard and SEGAbits as the big day nears!
Despite being over ten years old, VMU games can still be fun! Sure they pale in comparison to modern day handheld devices, but even back when VMUs were new they couldn’t compete with the handhelds of the early 00’s. The main purpose of a VMU was to save your game data, the fact that they could play mini-games was the cherry on top. While the VMU didn’t change the world, at least SEGA didn’t advertise it as the standout feature of the console (subtle dig at the Wii U). While I don’t carry a VMU about with me like I did back in ’99, I still make it a point to occasionally pick up some CR2032 batteries to bring my VMU back to life. What follows are my personal favorite VMU games.
Want to play these yourself, but don’t have all the Dreamcast titles that offer these extra features? Check out Blue Swirl’s VMU Tool. An awesome application for the Dreamcast which allows you to make a number of (safe) modifications to existing VMUs as well as download game saves and VMU games from the entire Dreamcast library. It even has a VMU emulator, for those too lazy to play an actual VMU.
I make it no secret that I am a big time Dreamcast fan. It is the SEGA console I own the most games for (around 120 last time I counted) and every September 9th I take the day off from work to host a nine hour Dreamcast marathon. There are many reasons why I love the console, but the number one would have to be the exclusives. Jet Set Radio, Shenmue and Crazy Taxi 2 are fantastic games and have yet to appear on any other console, and I’m totally cool with that. It’s a perfect reason for my Dreamcast to remain hooked up next to my current generation consoles.
But as time goes on, SEGA has been porting more and more Dreamcast classics to other consoles. Great for the gaming community, bad for the Dreamcast. Less exclusives mean less of a reason for gamers to pick up a used console. I know it sounds like I’m being overly dramatic, however this past May I did witness a kid turning down the purchase of a Dreamcast due to SEGA’s recently released Dreamcast Collection. As such, I thought I’d share five lesser known Dreamcast games that remain exclusive to the console and show no sign of receiving a rerelease. If you want these, you need a Dreamcast.
The upcoming Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita game by Vanillaware started life as a Dreamcast game. Famitsu had a 4 page interview with director George Kamitani.
The project started about 13 years ago after the team released their SEGA Saturn title “Princess Crown” (Published and developed under the Atlus banner). This game was supposed to be its successor on the Dreamcast. George Kamitani says games like Golden Axe and King of Dragon have influenced this game greatly, and has confirmed 4 player co-op.
Feels good seeing people finish up Dreamcast projects, even if they’re not on Dreamcast. How about we get a polished up version of some of these great canceled DC games?
[Source: AndriaSang]