Game Bargain of the Century

[kool kitty89]

I think it's praised the same way the Genesis is praised: it was waaaay too overlooked in its heyday and it deserves some god damn respect. I mean, look at an N64 or PSX game from 99-01 and compare it to the DC, there is no comparison. Anything that came out across all 3 platforms was light years better on the DC. Tony Hawk 2 is still my favorite iteration of the game, and guess which system had the best version? exactly.

Well duh the DV versions were better than N64 or PSX, the tech was almost half a decade newer.
That said, Episode 1 Racer wasn't THAT much better on DC, that's a PC port of course, of aalready upgraded version. However, the actual P version supported higher resolution as well. (I was playing it in 1024x768 with smooth framerate around 01/02)

Anyway, the Genesis wasn't overlooked in its heyday, at least not outside of Japan, it had a HUGE market share through the generation, and was lead in most regions for much of it as well.

[17daysolderthannes]

HOOOLY SHIT!

Wanna play the awesome shooter section of Segagaga? I FIGURED IT OUT!!!



What you'll need:

homebrew capable DC (manufactured ?on? or before October 2000)
working VMU (OK if batteries are dead)
computer with some version of Windows
CD burner
Padus Diskjuggler (trial version is fine, google it)
Dream Explorer: http://dcisozone.com/downloads/678/Dream-Explorer.html

and lastly: a copy of Segagaga (the website featuring Dream Explorer may have what you're looking for , just make sure to get the .cdi version)


How to do it:

Burn Dream Explorer by downloading/unrar-ing it and double clicking the .cdi file. Diskjuggler should open automatically (if not, install it dummy). Insert a disk, wait for Diskjuggler to recognize it, then click burn.

Plug in a VMU with at least 15 blocks of free memory into your DC controller and put Dream Explorer into your DC. Follow the fairly self-explanatory OS and copy the Segagaga file that says "all mini-games completed" or something to that effect. I just went into the first folder (Blue Swirl I believe) in the VMU section and they had it.

After you successfully copied the save and checked to make sure it's there in the Dreamcast Bios, insert Segagaga and boot it up.

I don't know how to boot it with a real version of Segagaga as I did it via CD-R backup, but with the CD-R it should just boot right up.

Hit start until you get to the main menu (right after the title screen). Scroll down to the last option on the main menu and hit "A". This will bring you to a memory card screen. There should only be one save, mine says "GO!" and then has some japanese gibberish after it, hit "A" twice.

Now you are at the mini-game menu.

DTTT is a puzzle game where you kick Dreamcast boxes to load them on the truck. It's pretty fun to be honest. If you mess up, hit "Y" and hit "A" on the first option and hit left and hit "A" again to reset the level. The second option in the "Y" menu will bring you back to the title screen.

GKKK is a button mashing game where you clean Sega arcades by using the d-pad to move in front of them and then wipe them clean with "A" and "B". It's probably the weakest of the mini-games, but also probably the funniest that they included it.

Now the game you've been waiting for...

"R-720 with S" is the horizontal space shooter featuring all of your favorite Sega systems as bosses. Amazingly, all of the menus in this game are in English, so you should have no problem figuring everything out. The only non-self explanatory part is the normal game vs. special stage. From what I can tell, the normal game is mostly a boss-rush of the Sega systems whereas the special stage seems to be a more drawn out game with longer levels between bosses. Either way, it's fucking jawsum.

Any additional questions, let me know and I'll add it to this post.

edit: I think I'm gonna make a new thread for this, so post any responses to this post in the Segagaga Shooter thread.

[kool kitty89]

Oh crap, I didn't realize that was from a real game... I remember seeing a clip of that in that complation of videos on some topic about a fake project a while back. (I wish I could remember what thread that was)
I think I asked if that was a real game, but no one responded. That is totally awesome.

[TheRollingStoner]

Oh crap, I didn't realize that was from a real game... I remember seeing a clip of that in that complation of videos on some topic about a fake project a while back. (I wish I could remember what thread that was)
I think I asked if that was a real game, but no one responded. That is totally awesome.

I could be wrong, but I believe it was this thread: http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9138

[17daysolderthannes]

so the next new hotness for the DC: Unreal Tournament

SOOOO MUCH FUN!

I haven't enjoyed a deathmatch FPS this much in years. The AI does an awesome job of imitating human players. That's right Halo, THEY PUT BOTS IN THIS GAME, still haven't seen you do it, Halo. I would love to play this port with 4 players or online, that must've been so sweet back in the day. Perhaps the most impressive part of this game is the spot on look controls even though they're mapped to digital buttons. Modern game designers could learn from this.

[Knuckle Duster]

so the next new hotness for the DC: Unreal Tournament

SOOOO MUCH FUN!

I haven't enjoyed a deathmatch FPS this much in years. The AI does an awesome job of imitating human players. That's right Halo, THEY PUT BOTS IN THIS GAME, still haven't seen you do it, Halo. I would love to play this port with 4 players or online, that must've been so sweet back in the day. Perhaps the most impressive part of this game is the spot on look controls even though they're mapped to digital buttons. Modern game designers could learn from this.

Halo? If you want the 'better' game on Xbox, pick up Unreal Championship 2.

Don't compare apples to oranges. Halo's a sci-fi shooter with a robust multiplayer mode. Unreal's a twitch based frag race with minimal play modes.

If you're worried about bots challenging you like real people in Halo, play the single player game on Legendary. It's not too difficult & the AI is good.

[17daysolderthannes]

Halo? If you want the 'better' game on Xbox, pick up Unreal Championship 2.

Don't compare apples to oranges. Halo's a sci-fi shooter with a robust multiplayer mode. Unreal's a twitch based frag race with minimal play modes.

If you're worried about bots challenging you like real people in Halo, play the single player game on Legendary. It's not too difficult & the AI is good.

Well, it's really more of a dig at how lame (in my opinion) it is that the "mighty" XBOX and XBOX 360 flagship shooter can't handle what the N64 did with Perfect Dark (quite well I might add). I definitely prefer the original UT to UT 2004 that I used to play a few years back. The vehicles in UT 2004 were cool, but it just became too much of a clusterfuck. UT is pure FPS mayhem at its best. If you have a DC, 4 controllers, and 3 friends, UT is your ticket to a fun evening.

[Englaze]

My brother purchased me a Dreamcast when I was, oh, 7 or so, right after launch day. I played Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, etc.

I had pretty fond memories of it as a kid, and I still do, so awhile ago I started buying some more games for it...

And now, in retrospect, I don't get the big deal here, and I don't really wish I had spent my money on those DC games. Okay, I could play a few games online- most of which were better on the Gamecube or Xbox. There were also some exclusives that were pretty cool, like Soul Calibur which is easily one of the best games I've ever played, and a few others.

But, besides its original meager online offering (which was hard to set up and quickly outdone by the other 3 consoles), and it's very, very few worthwhile exclusives, the Dreamcast was not that great.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad console. Like I said, I have some really fond memories of it, and games like Soul Calibur still hold up to the test of time- Hell, I'm still playing Phantasy Star Online on my Gamecube to this day, which was a DC game originally.

However, the console was not great, nor is it brag worthy. The only reason anyone even acknowledges its existence is because it was the first "true" online console (not including things like Sega Channel), and because of the culture surrounding it. The whole "9" obsession, the look, the commercials, the funkiness of the games, everything was pretty memorable, and it was Sega's last hurrah- THAT is why people remember it, not because it was actually a great console.

People say, "Oh shut up, it had tons of great games! Shenmue, and Headhunter, and Skies of Arcadia, and PSO, and Rez, and Spacechannel 5, and Ikaruga!".

Okay, yeah, it had some alright games- 90% of which were later ported to the Gamecube, with better graphics and controls. Not to mention the fact that most people don't want to sit around playing arcade shooters and fighting games.

The fact is, the Dreamcast is a COOL console, not a GREAT console. It's look, its feel, the nostalgia it brings, its funky attitude...It makes it a cool console, and that's why people remember it. But in every other way- it was outclassed, even for its time. All of its few best games were given better ports soon after release, its online lasted for practically a microsecond, its hardware was trash compared to the GC and Xbox, and its controller was burdensome.

So, no, a Dreamcast is not a good investment.

[17daysolderthannes]

My brother purchased me a Dreamcast when I was, oh, 7 or so, right after launch day. I played Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, etc.

I had pretty fond memories of it as a kid, and I still do, so awhile ago I started buying some more games for it...

And now, in retrospect, I don't get the big deal here, and I don't really wish I had spent my money on those DC games. Okay, I could play a few games online- most of which were better on the Gamecube or Xbox. There were also some exclusives that were pretty cool, like Soul Calibur which is easily one of the best games I've ever played, and a few others.

But, besides its original meager online offering (which was hard to set up and quickly outdone by the other 3 consoles), and it's very, very few worthwhile exclusives, the Dreamcast was not that great.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad console. Like I said, I have some really fond memories of it, and games like Soul Calibur still hold up to the test of time- Hell, I'm still playing Phantasy Star Online on my Gamecube to this day, which was a DC game originally.

However, the console was not great, nor is it brag worthy. The only reason anyone even acknowledges its existence is because it was the first "true" online console (not including things like Sega Channel), and because of the culture surrounding it. The whole "9" obsession, the look, the commercials, the funkiness of the games, everything was pretty memorable, and it was Sega's last hurrah- THAT is why people remember it, not because it was actually a great console.

People say, "Oh shut up, it had tons of great games! Shenmue, and Headhunter, and Skies of Arcadia, and PSO, and Rez, and Spacechannel 5, and Ikaruga!".

Okay, yeah, it had some alright games- 90% of which were later ported to the Gamecube, with better graphics and controls. Not to mention the fact that most people don't want to sit around playing arcade shooters and fighting games.

The fact is, the Dreamcast is a COOL console, not a GREAT console. It's look, its feel, the nostalgia it brings, its funky attitude...It makes it a cool console, and that's why people remember it. But in every other way- it was outclassed, even for its time. All of its few best games were given better ports soon after release, its online lasted for practically a microsecond, its hardware was trash compared to the GC and Xbox, and its controller was burdensome.

So, no, a Dreamcast is not a good investment.

well, right off the bat you obviously don't have taste for the best games on the system. Almost everything was pick-up-and-play arcade style stuff, and that's what I like. I like the Dreamcast because it has several games that were cross-platform across the PSX, N64, and DC and the DC smokes the rest of them. Tony Hawk 2 is the best Tony Hawk, and the DC has the best version. The controller isn't an issue for me because I have a Total Control Plus and can just use my Logitech Precision Wireless PS2 controller. If not that, the Madcatz Dream Pad is badass and very comfortable.

Regardless, my emphasis was how cheap it was to amass a large library of fun games since it's insanely easy to bootleg games on the system. If you refuse to ever play a burned game, then this whole thread is meaningless to you. Try putting a CD-R in your GC and booting it up...yeah. Furthermore, GC games seem to maintain their value more than other games, making even legitimate buyers pay several times as much for the same game on the GC versus the DC.

I never liked anything about the Gaycube (yes, I'm calling it that, it fucking blows) so I would still rather play the "inferior" Dreamcast version of the games. The XBOX never impressed me either as I can't think of any exclusive that really blew me away nor did I prefer the XBOX version of a cross platform game because the control always felt sloppy somehow (NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 on XBOX vs. PS2 was downright shitty to control on XBOX and great on PS2). On the other hand, I find many DC games have the control down to a science.

The Dreamcast was like a Wii that didn't suck, not a nerdy processor benchmark machine with 1 popular game (Halo+XBOX) or an overly kiddy machine with nothing but outdated ports (Gamecube). I mean, the DC was dead by the time all the other systems were really up and running, so how can you compare graphics from a PS2/GC/XBOX game from 2005 to a DC game from 5 years earlier? And what about the price? DC was $200 on launch day, even then it was a huge bargain!

Sometimes the ports weren't even better. I have Soldier of Fortune Gold for PS2 and the control is awful, but regular Soldier of Fortune on DC played with the same controller thanks to Total Control Plus controls infinitely better. I also have Ferrari F355 Challenge for PS2 and it's virtually unplayable even with the Logitech steering wheel (the force feedback one). I rock at the arcade version, but the PS2 version falls flat. On the other hand, I've heard the DC version is fantastic to play (though I haven't played it since every .cdi I find either crashes discjuggler or doesn't work after burning, if someone can help me out with that via PM, I'd appreciate it). Also, Sonic Adventure beats the pants off of later Sonic games released on GC/XBOX/PS2. Sonic Heroes can DIAF.

DC is badass when looked at from a retro perspective.

[Knuckle Duster]

My brother purchased me a Dreamcast when I was, oh, 7 or so, right after launch day. I played Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, etc.

I had pretty fond memories of it as a kid, and I still do, so awhile ago I started buying some more games for it...

And now, in retrospect, I don't get the big deal here, and I don't really wish I had spent my money on those DC games. Okay, I could play a few games online- most of which were better on the Gamecube or Xbox. There were also some exclusives that were pretty cool, like Soul Calibur which is easily one of the best games I've ever played, and a few others.

But, besides its original meager online offering (which was hard to set up and quickly outdone by the other 3 consoles), and it's very, very few worthwhile exclusives, the Dreamcast was not that great.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad console. Like I said, I have some really fond memories of it, and games like Soul Calibur still hold up to the test of time- Hell, I'm still playing Phantasy Star Online on my Gamecube to this day, which was a DC game originally.

However, the console was not great, nor is it brag worthy. The only reason anyone even acknowledges its existence is because it was the first "true" online console (not including things like Sega Channel), and because of the culture surrounding it. The whole "9" obsession, the look, the commercials, the funkiness of the games, everything was pretty memorable, and it was Sega's last hurrah- THAT is why people remember it, not because it was actually a great console.

People say, "Oh shut up, it had tons of great games! Shenmue, and Headhunter, and Skies of Arcadia, and PSO, and Rez, and Spacechannel 5, and Ikaruga!".

Okay, yeah, it had some alright games- 90% of which were later ported to the Gamecube, with better graphics and controls. Not to mention the fact that most people don't want to sit around playing arcade shooters and fighting games.

The fact is, the Dreamcast is a COOL console, not a GREAT console. It's look, its feel, the nostalgia it brings, its funky attitude...It makes it a cool console, and that's why people remember it. But in every other way- it was outclassed, even for its time. All of its few best games were given better ports soon after release, its online lasted for practically a microsecond, its hardware was trash compared to the GC and Xbox, and its controller was burdensome.

So, no, a Dreamcast is not a good investment.

Hardware was trash?! The controller was burdensome? Have you SEEN the duke? Have you SEEN the mutant GC controller?

The Xbox & Gamecube came out 2 years later, with the DC showing up behind the scenes even earlier, in 1998. Trash?!

[Guntz]

The Xbox and Gamecube are miles ahead of the PlayStation controller. Geez is that controller awful. Uncomfortable, stupid ass face buttons, the left stick is in the wrong place, trying to use all four triggers at once is impossible and so much more. The GameCube controller may be a bit of a mess, at least it still heeds to smart and sensible controller standards (ABC XYZ). As for the Xbox, using the Duke is an unfair comparison ESPECIALLY since NOBODY uses the Model 1 Saturn controller to benchmark the system. Just like the Model 2 Saturn pad, the Xbox S controller is the system's main controller. There's no excuse for how bad the PS controller is. It's the evil twin of SNES that has been bastardized into modern controller standards.

... Oh yeah, Dreamcast is sorta in between. The lack of a second stick really limits the controller's flexibility, but again at least the left stick is in the right place and it has ABXY for face buttons.

[17daysolderthannes]

The Xbox and Gamecube are miles ahead of the PlayStation controller. Geez is that controller awful. Uncomfortable, stupid ass face buttons, the left stick is in the wrong place, trying to use all four triggers at once is impossible and so much more. The GameCube controller may be a bit of a mess, at least it still heeds to smart and sensible controller standards (ABC XYZ). As for the Xbox, using the Duke is an unfair comparison ESPECIALLY since NOBODY uses the Model 1 Saturn controller to benchmark the system. Just like the Model 2 Saturn pad, the Xbox S controller is the system's main controller. There's no excuse for how bad the PS controller is. It's the evil twin of SNES that has been bastardized into modern controller standards.

... Oh yeah, Dreamcast is sorta in between. The lack of a second stick really limits the controller's flexibility, but again at least the left stick is in the right place and it has ABXY for face buttons.

Hi, it's called 3rd party:



that's the best analog joystick controller on the market, and it's wireless with a 300 hour battery life to boot. You can get adapters for almost any system out there: DC, GC, XBOX, PC, etc.

The buttons have a longer press, fixing the "flat" normal PS2 buttons, the triggers are very easy to press all at once, the joysticks are like butter, the d-pad is an award winning floating pad (second only to the Sega Saturn/Genesis 6-button d-pad), and it only costs $15 for a refurbed one on eBay all day long:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOGITECH-CORDLES...ht_2254wt_1165

And for the record, the staggered Joysticks of the XBOX/GC don't make sense. I like to have my thumbs symmetrical when playing a FPS, not one cocked up at the top and one at the bottom. I also like it because I prefer digital control whenever possible, and the PS2 controller wins in that respect (try playing ANYTHING with that shitty Gamecube d-pad, lmfao!). I'm also not a fan of triggers for racing games, I much prefer tilting the second joystick for throttle/brake or just using the face buttons. Shoulder buttons are for shifting.

[Guntz]

I PM'd you about DC emulators in the beginning of this topic. Did you receive it?

[snume]

I really like the Logitech wireless Xbox controller, which I assume has much of the build quality of the Logitech wireless PS2 one you show. And if you don't like shooters, the left analog stick is not your preferred method of control. It is for me. I really wish the DC had had twin sticks though, because I've tried to play a few games on the DC that used the face buttons in place of a right stick (MDK and Carrier come to mind) and I just can't deal with it. I'm not sure if there's a way ti use a PS/PS2 controller and to reconfigure the controls to use 2 sticks, but if there is, I would love to know.

Have you played either of those games, 17days? or would you be willing to try either or both of them with your Total Control and a PS controller?

[Guntz]

I really wish the DC had had twin sticks though, because I've tried to play a few games on the DC that used the face buttons in place of a right stick (MDK and Carrier come to mind) and I just can't deal with it. I'm not sure if there's a way ti use a PS/PS2 controller and to reconfigure the controls to use 2 sticks, but if there is, I would love to know.

I share the same opinion. I cannot play Fur Fighters because they force you to use the face buttons as a control stick, which does not work. Ever. I can just barely play Half-Life (beta) though. I haven't made it very far into the DC port but whenever I play it, it just makes me wish I was using a controller with twin sticks instead.