Dreamcast

gunpeiyokoifan wrote:
[…] I have one coming in the mail, does anyone have any game suggestions on what to get for it?

Depends on what kinds of games you like. The only game I played through on it was Rayman 2, which is also available on N64, PS1, PC, etc.

MDK2 is an interesting 3D platformer/shooter.

There’s a whole bunch I could tell you not to play, but I’m a bit picky when it comes to games, so you’re better-off just ignoring me 😛

Mostly, I would just borrow all your friend’s games and buy the one(s) you like 😉

also, said Dreamcastic friend drew me a VB yesterday… I’m guessing you fellow VB freaks might like to see it?

Sure, why not…

(unbelievably, she draws the VB better than I can […])

Post both pics and let us verify that theory 😉

last silly note: she thinks once I play the Dreamcast the VB will have no chance against it being my favorite console 😛

Bzzzt, wrong! It’s an okay system, but it’s no VB-killer by a long shot. Although, it might inch a bit closer if I ever get time to add a VGA-out to mine and hook up my shutter glasses (but I’d still need to write software for it…). (Anyone have a VGA-out box they’re not using? ;-))

PS: I don’t think you should refer to your friend as “dreamcastic”… It’s used as a derogatory term referring to the graphics on the DC.

EDIT:

How did I forget about Rez?! It’s my favorite game for the system! Definitely try that one.
* Makes mental note to hook up the DC *

EDIT2:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dreamcast_games

As odd as it is that I remember this off the top of my head, I believe that today is the launch anniversary of the system.

9/9/99 in the USA.

It was an awesome day!! I remember preordering it from Babbages and going to the mall on the public bus that day to pick it up, and was the second day of school my senior year of high school. I got the system, a memory card, and power stone. I can’t believe how underrated it all was.

If I could, I wish I could go back to that day. It was a time in my life of lesser responsibility and pure gaming bliss.

Luckily for me I have built THE BEST dreamcast collection of games ever!! I had plenty of spare cash at that time too.

Marvel vs Capcom 1/2jap
Capcom vs SNK 1jap/2jap
Shenmue 1/2Eu
Power Stone 1/2Jap
Project Justice
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Street Fighter 3 double impact jap
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure jap
Jet Set Radio jap
and literally like 30ish or so other games.

Fighting Game sweetness!!

• This reply was modified 13 years, 8 months ago by Raverrevolution.
• This reply was modified 13 years, 8 months ago by Raverrevolution.

gunpeiyokoifan wrote:

Fwirt wrote:
Also, there’s a freeware homebrew game for DC that you can download and burn called dRxLaX

I want to avoid CD-R games since I hear it burns out the laser causing it to slowly die 🙁

I used to burn games all the time and played them straight up and I can tell you first hand that yes, it does kill the laser badly. I ended up replacing the laser and now my launch console still works good.

Raverrevolution wrote:

gunpeiyokoifan wrote:

Fwirt wrote:
Also, there’s a freeware homebrew game for DC that you can download and burn called dRxLaX

I want to avoid CD-R games since I hear it burns out the laser causing it to slowly die 🙁

I used to burn games all the time and played them straight up and I can tell you first hand that yes, it does kill the laser badly. I ended up replacing the laser and now my launch console still works good.

Yeowch! Better stop playing that then. I’ve only booted homebrew a few times, but I’d like to keep my Dreamcast functioning as long as possible. I recently got Fatal Fury: MotW fro someone who swears it worked on their Dreamcast, but I can’t get it to play on mine. I hope this isn’t the cause! Thanks for the tip!

DogP wrote:
I’ve basically ONLY run CD-Rs on my Dreamcast and it still works.

DogP

Same here, and I’ve been doing it for years with no problems. Then again, I bought the system for $20 on eBay and it’s not in the best physical shape, so if my laser ever goes bad I would probably just get a new one.

It’s too bad there isn’t a way to check the “health” of your laser. You could actually prove one way or the other by doing regular “check-ups”.

I’m inclined to believe DogP’s “cheap CD-Rs” theory, though, since some people turn up the laser power manually to use CD-RWs (which reflect less light or scatter it more or have lower contrast or whatever).

That explanation doesn’t really state any relevant information on the laser wearing out from CD-R though. The first paragraph explains what happens when the laser wears out (from CD-R or GD-ROM use). The second paragraph just talks about a GD-ROM in general. And the area in the middle is the CD-ROM compatible area (which tells you to use in the DC, not a normal CD player). None of that has anything to do with a laser working harder… even if the data got fragmented (which it didn’t), that’d just cause the motor to run around a lot.

I personally just think the lasers wear out anyway. Lasers wear out in all the other systems (PS 1-3, Xbox/360… why not the DC?).

DogP

My understanding was that the badly spaced data on the disk would cause the drive motor to burn out faster from doing so much seeking, not that the laser would fry. Unfortunately, I think all we buy is cheap CDs. 😀 It’s also possible that, like DogP said, some consoles wear faster than others. I see DRE Gamecubes turn up in local thriftshops all the time. Funny story, my current Gamecube is one I got for $3 that I cranked up the power on to squeeze a little more life out of it, having traded my good Gamecube for my Dreamcast… At any rate, since I don’t play backups and only really have 1 burned game anyway, I probably just shouldn’t fret about it.

For those of you who are also of the “current-gen” persuasion, Sonic Adventure just came out on Xbox Live Arcade. It’s a good chance to take a glimpse at what passed for “new and revolutionary” game design and graphics in 1999… 😉