So I just bought a Dreamcast...

RedXIV

Hey guys,

So after years and years of saying I'll get one, I saw one pop up on adverts an hour ago and bought it. So, while I'm waiting with dread to go home to my gf with ANOTHER console, is there anything I should know about the dreamcast?

Good games?
homebrew?
Issues with tvs?

Cheers guys!

P.S. ad is here if any of ye have opinions on the games

Retr0gamer

Make sure you at least get an RGB cable since the Dreamcast looks absolutely glorious in RGB. If you really want to go all out then there's the option of the VGA box for even better quality visuals and playing vertical shooters the way they were meant to be played.

I'm too warm and tired to recommend games at the moment sorry

megaten

I was gonna say that was a bit pricy but then I saw shenmue was one of the games.

tmcw

Very nice snag.

Sydney 2000 isn't up to much, but the other games are all good. Shenmue, if complete is probably worth €20 or more on it's own. ChuChu might be a game your gf would enjoy, great 2 player game. MSR is also great.

Lots of great games to be had, the list at planetdreamcast is full of must-haves, but there are plenty of others, particularly the arcade conversions, if you like arcade games, they're pretty much spot on. Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis, Tony Hawks 2, Jet Set Radio, to name a few. And then there's a ton of brilliant arcade shooters. You're probably better off looking for a list of games to avoid, it'll be much shorter.

The extra joypad you've got there is a good one too, I have a few, and I prefer them to the Sega one, sits more comfortable in the hands.

Do yourself a favour though, and get a SCART cable for it, or a VGA box if you've got a nice, big CRT monitor.

RedXIV

Cheers guys, forgive the noobness of this but whats up with the VGA box? At the moment I've only the heavy duty consoles like PS3 and 360 in the house so i'm trying to backpeddle a bit here

I've a PS2, will the cables for that suffice?

amacachi

RedXIV wrote: »

Cheers guys, forgive the noobness of this but whats up with the VGA box? At the moment I've only the heavy duty consoles like PS3 and 360 in the house so i'm trying to backpeddle a bit here

I've a PS2, will the cables for that suffice?

NO! :pac:


Older consoles come with the cables that go into the aerial socket on the TV which look awful.
One step up from that is composite with is the red, white and yellow cables which can either go straight into the TV or go into a SCART adapter. A big step up but still not great.
RGB is the best. Usually it'll be RGB SCART which you can plug straight into the SCART on your TV.
VGA (not sure if it's better/worse than RGB, probably a little better) will allow you to play games in portrait rather than landscape so you can play shooters the way they were meant to be. Personally I wouldn't be bothered but the option is there.

Retr0gamer

RGB scart is the only way to play these old consoles. If you are using the RF aerial lead or the composite yellow, red and white cables you are going to get horrendous video quality.

The thing with VGA is that you can turn an LCD monitor on its side to play in portrait mode. If you do it with a CRT you'll ruin it. Also some games support 480p on the dreamcast through VGA.

Monkey face

Just to give you an idea of some good games - http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-top-7-best-dreamcast-games-of-all-time/a-2009090753355593048

Senmue is awesome but no Dreamcast is comeplete without soul calibur 2.

Steve X2

I played Ikaruga via VGA on my 46" Sony LCD TV with the screen rotated.

Girlfriend came in when I was playing with the TV awkwardly placed against the wall. She thought I'd completely lost the plot, Dont care, It looked and played feckin great

megaten

RedXIV wrote: »

Cheers guys, forgive the noobness of this but whats up with the VGA box? At the moment I've only the heavy duty consoles like PS3 and 360 in the house so i'm trying to backpeddle a bit here

I've a PS2, will the cables for that suffice?

The power cable on both is a standard power cable if thats any help

appleidog

RedXIV wrote: »

So, while I'm waiting with dread to go home to my gf with ANOTHER console, is there anything I should know about the dreamcast?

Lol, Don't worry just get Puzzle bobble 4DX, Wind and water, Tetris 4D, and probably the best game ever Chu chu rocket and say you bought it for her lol.


But inall seriousness it is one of the best consoles ever, the last true gamers console with the likes of
Sonic ad 1
sonic ad 2
chu chu
Shenmue 1
shenmue 2
a crapload of amazing Shootem ups and Fighters
dynamite deca

o1s1n

Steve SI wrote: »

I played Ikaruga via VGA on my 46" Sony LCD TV with the screen rotated.

Girlfriend came in when I was playing with the TV awkwardly placed against the wall. She thought I'd completely lost the plot, Dont care, It looked and played feckin great

Hahaha! That sounds awesome. I always wanted to give it a go with my own tv but was a little freaked out about it falling over.

I guess I could always involve my girlfriend and get her to hold it there for an hour or so...

Pyongyang

So I just bought a Dreamcast too...

Picked up a PAL DC for €60. Excited to collect it over the holiday weekend!

Click Here

Now, who can mod this thing for me so it's 60hz and allows me to gorge myself silly on Japanese SHMUPS?

Joe Musashi

Pyongyang wrote: »

So I just bought a Dreamcast too...

Picked up a PAL DC for €60. Excited to collect it over the holiday weekend!

Click Here

Now, who can mod this thing for me so it's 60hz and allows me to gorge myself silly on Japanese SHMUPS?

Most Pal Dreamcast games give you the option to play in 50 or 60hz.

My Dreamcast plays backups without a boot disc also, regardless of the region. I'd imagine yours would be able to also. I think most Pal ones can.

Pyongyang

Cheers for the info. Thing is I'll mainly be wanting to play Japanese games and in full 60hz supermegavision. Hence I'm looking for a permanent fix to switch between 50/60 and the ability to use CD's as well as GD's.

I've found places selling the chips online but I'm super clumsy with a soldering iron so rather than risk ruining my console I'm looking for someone who's a dab hand with an iron and a modchip.

EDIT: Sorry for hijacking the original poster's thread, I didn't want to create a new one when we're both questioning similar stuff. Congrats on your Dreamcast purchase OP.

CiDeRmAn

MSR, probably my most cherished racer of them all.
The realtime clock is inspired, the radio stations are streets ahead of the effort in GTA, at the time.
The tracks are fun, plenty of vehicles.

Bizzare made three awesome racers, this, PGR2 and PGR4, no one else gets a look in.
MSR redefined street racing, no stupid car modding, no neon, no racing in a perpetual night (unless you play the Tokyo tracks at midday, then it'll be dark there, realtime clock, remember!)

Joe Musashi

Pyongyang wrote: »

Cheers for the info. Thing is I'll mainly be wanting to play Japanese games and in full 60hz supermegavision. Hence I'm looking for a permanent fix to switch between 50/60 and the ability to use CD's as well as GD's.

I've found places selling the chips online but I'm super clumsy with a soldering iron so rather than risk ruining my console I'm looking for someone who's a dab hand with an iron and a modchip.

You might not even need a modchip though. Mine will play Japanese backups on CDs without a modchip just like you would play a retail game. Most of the Dreamcast uploaders will have it done so the Japanese or US games wil automatically boot in 60hz on a Pal console. Every non-EU game I have (about 20) is done this way.

You should try and download a a Japanese game, read up on the correct way to burn it to a CD and see if it works before you go buying a modchip as you might not even need one.

Pyongyang

Joe Musashi wrote: »

You might not even need a modchip though. Mine will play Japanese backups on CDs without a modchip just like you would play a retail game. Most of the Dreamcast uploaders will have it done so the Japanese or US games wil automatically boot in 60hz on a Pal console. Every non-EU game I have (about 20) is done this way.

You should try and download a a Japanese game, read up on the correct way to burn it to a CD and see if it works before you go buying a modchip as you might not even need one.

Sage advice thanks. I'm going to try that, however, what happens if I buy a Japanese original game? Any non-chip solution?

tmcw

Pyongyang wrote: »

Sage advice thanks. I'm going to try that, however, what happens if I buy a Japanese original game? Any non-chip solution?

You can download and use the Action Replay Demo disk: http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/actionreplay.php

You can find alternative disks if you can use google.

Or you can modify the unit, process is in these very threads: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056084617