Hello DCEmu :)

[roadking02]

Hello everyone! I'm a gamer, modder and oddly enough a musician. Gaming has been a huge part of my life and I've seen it grow along with me since the Super Nintendo era. The first real console and characters to really make a mark on me was the Sega Gamegear and the Sony PlayStation. My mom had a gamegear during some crazy first few months of my life which were very traumatic because of having many surgeries done. Even though I remember a lot of the harsh things, Sonic the Hedgehog played the happiest part during that time. Then for me, Crash Bandicoot made a big mark and while I have played Nintendo games they just never really made a connection to me. I am getting a Dreamcast very shortly because I have Sonic Adventure laying around along with Tony Hawks Pro Skater... I guess my cousins had them or something but I have them. Plus the next gen coming up is already a drag to me so I want to explore the great classics that I may have missed.

- Travis

[|darc|]

Welcome!

The Dreamcast is definitely a great place to start if you're feeling down about the upcoming generation. The DC has lots of great, fun titles and graphics that aren't too dated as to be intolerable (some PlayStation 1 games are this way unfortunately).

I haven't played Crash Bandicoot in so long... I need to get a copy of that.

[cube_b3]

Did you know that Crash was made by several Sega alumni, including Mark Cerny who mentored Both Sonic and Crash developers.

Time has not been very nice to Sonic Adventure, but it is still a great game.

Anyway welcome to the forums.

[DaMadFiddler]

Welcome to the forums!

Sonic Adventure still has fun levels, but as others have mentioned, it has not aged well--the design feels very clunky and dated by today's standards. In that regard, I actually think Sonic Adventure 2 has held up a little better than its predecessor.

There are plenty of other great games out there for the Dreamcast as well. Here are some of the highlights:

Crazy Taxi: both it and its sequel are still good, reckless-driving fun.

Feet of Fury: This is a fairly simple DDR clone, but it is notable for a few reasons. First, it includes some unusual features (a keyboard mode and the ability to add new music by making your own swap discs). Second, it was the first "commercial homebrew" for the system--that is, the first unlicensed, non-pirated, professionally made game for the Dreamcast after Sega had wound down formal commercial support for the system. The developer has also been an instrumental figure in making advanced Dreamcast homebrew feasible, and the publisher--the GOAT Store--paved the way for making modern Dreamcast releases on disc a reality.

Grandia 2: If you only ever play one JRPG, make it this one. The battle system is great (though the difficulty could stand to be a bit higher), and the story pretty much covers every RPG trope out there.

Guilty Gear X: a beautifully crafted 2D fighter. (import only)

GunLord: This game was created last year by NG.DEV as a dual release for Dreamcast and NeoGeo. It's very similar to the Turrican series.

Headhunter: this was only released for the PS2 in the US, but European copies will play in English. A great bit of pulp sci-fi set in a dystopian, corporatist near-future, this game falls somewhere between Max Payne and Metal Gear Solid in terms of gameplay. (import only)

Ikaruga: This was the first high-profile "after-death" Dreamcast release. It's also one of the best space-shooters ever made, with a color-flipping mechanic that adds a lot of depth to the gameplay. (import only)

Lack of Love: a fascinating realtime adventure/puzzle game, vaguely reminiscent of some of the earlier stages of Spore. It's... hard to describe. (import only)

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Do I really need to explain this one?

MDK2: Run & gun action-platformer, with great design and a great sense of comic book fun. The design feels a bit dated by today's standards, but it's still a lot of fun.

Pier Solar: This is a brand-new 2D RPG developed by a group known as WaterMelon. It was originally released for SEGA Genesis in 2010 (yes, you read that right), and is headed to Dreamcast with revamped graphics and sound--and additional side quests--this winter.

Power Stone & Power STone 2: Sort of like Smash Bros. from a top-down perspective. The first one is a bit more balanced, but the second supports 4 players instead of just 2.

Project Justice: Rival Schools 2: Just a crazy 3D fighter from Capcom. The story mode and the characters are ridiculous anime caricatures, and the gameplay is both fast and outlandish.

Rez: As a musician, you may really enjoy this one. It's an experimental rhythm-shooter that fuses the gameplay and the music into some abstract imagery about the evolution of life and the rise of human society. The Dreamcast version wasn't released in the US, but the game is in English. I'd recommend getting a Japanese copy, as there were some issues with the European pressing. (import only)

Shenmue & Shenmue 2: Both the original and its sequel create a rich, immersive world. The second game was only released on Xbox in the US, but the European version will let you play in English.

SoulCalibur: This was actually a launch title for the Dreamcast, and is still one of the best and most feature-rich arcade conversions I've seen. This series hasn't changed much over the years, and I still think the original has the best timing.

Super Magnetic Neo: A very weird platformer that uses magnetism as its central gimmick. If you like oddball platformers, this one may well be worth your while.

Typing of the Dead: Take House of the Dead 2, replace the light guns with a typing challenge, and fill that challenge with ridiculous words and phrases. Classic. The graphics were dated even when the game was new, but the game is hilarious.

Worms: Wold Party: Worms will always be worthwhile, and the Dreamcast port is pretty true to the original.


I'm sure there are several other titles I'll kick myself later for forgetting to mention.

There are also lots of good homebrew applications to expand your Dreamcast's library. The typical gamut of emulators (NES, SNES, Genesis, TG-16, MasterSystem/GameGear, Game Boy, GBA, NeoGeo, and even PlayStation and N64), though only the older systems will run full speed. SNES is about 75%, and everything newer than that is proportionally slower. (Keep in mind, the Dreamcast only has a 200 MHz processor!)

You can also get SCUMMVM, which will let you play all of the old LucasArts adventure games, and there are lots of homemade games and ported indie projects out there as well... though the files are getting a little harder to track down.

A few more advanced projects of note include a port of Neverball (a Super Monkey Ball clone), Beats of Rage (a Streets of Rage-like game engine that many, many modders have used to make their own games and variations), Sonic Robo Blast 2 (a 3D Sonic game created using a heavily modified DOOM engine), and various games created using the Quake engine. Also, if you come across a Burger Time clone called BurgerDC, I wrote the music for that

Another thing you may want to consider is getting an SD card adapter. These were developed a few years ago, and plug into the Dreamcast's serial port. Many homebrew titles have been updated to support the SD card, and using it will both save you blank CDs and reduce wear on your Dreamcast's optical drive.

I'm sure other folks here would be happy to give more thorough homebrew recommendations.

[cube_b3]

One quick point I would like to made, my complaint with SA1 is not level design. While the level design is not as speed driven as SA2, it is the most open worldly you will find with the exception of Sonic 06. Sonic Unleashed, Colors and Generations are excruciatingly limited and filled with endless invisible walls where as SA1 does not have any invisible walls in the action stages.

I think the graphics are fairly decent as well, my complaint are the camera angels which Sonic Team did not fix till only recently. Sonic Heroes has a fairly decent camera as well. Sonic Adventure 2's camera works perfectly as long as you are moving forward but if you decide to go back it will work against you every step of the way.