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Post by englishinvader on May 20, 2011 13:19:34 GMT
I'm thinking about getting one of these if I can get one at a good price and I would love to hear about people's experiences with this system. At the moment, there are three main things that are holding me back:
1) Controller
The gamepad looks quite bulky and difficult to use. Is that the case?
2) Colour
The descriptions on eBay suggest that the DC is quite prone to yellowing.
3) Emulators
One of the main attractions for me is the availability of emulators for the DC; especially MAME. How good is the emulation?
Also, it would be great to hear about some of the games on the DC and how good they are and whether they're worth buying.
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Post by ninjabearhug on May 20, 2011 16:41:47 GMT
I'm thinking about getting one of these if I can get one at a good price and I would love to hear about people's experiences with this system. At the moment, there are three main things that are holding me back: 1) ControllerThe gamepad looks quite bulky and difficult to use. Is that the case? It's a lot more comfortable than it looks and nowhere near as bulky as you'd imagine. The sides go back in on themselves on the back to form grips . But either way if you're wanting to run MAME you'll be wanting an arcade stick . I've had loads over the years, at least 50, probably more, and only one has ever been discoloured noticably. It also stank of smoke so I'm guessing that was the main culprit. If that really, really bothers you though you could always go for one of the LE models, there's a nice black one that's pretty common I've only run emulators on one once (a SNES emulator that came with a bundle I got) and it was spot on, I'm sure all the other emulators will work just as well. It's a pretty powerful machine.
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on May 20, 2011 17:44:28 GMT
1. The controller is a nice fit. However, the analogue stick and triggers can really wear against your fingers with prolonged use - though this is only an issue with driving games. For everything else, it's great. 2. Yeah, it yellows in sunlight really easily but doesn't look as brown as my SNES. There were a few coloured versions (notably for Resi: Code Veronica) that could be worth a track down if colour is important. 3. MAME isn't that hot for the DC - it's preferable on a decent PC. I've not found one which supports 2 player although most ROMs seem to work as well as they do in regular MAME. The Master System emulator matches Fusion, though Mega Drive emulation is often patchy and SNES emulation often cripplingly slow unless you disable the sound. There's some good PC ports though - most impressively Doom, The Ultimate Doom and Doom 2. Final Doom too, possibly. Neo 4 All works reasonably well too, for Neo Geo games. Game wise, some of my favourites (excluding the prohibitively expensive): Headhunter - Metal Gear Solid meets Resident Evil, with RoboCop-esque satirical news broadcasts and a Deus Ex/Resi sort of storyline Resident Evil 2/3/Code Veronica - You must know what you're getting with classic Resi. If you can handle the "tank" controls, you're in for a treat. Soldier Of Fortune - Quality FPS marred only by extreme loading times. Ever wanted to go around shooting terrorists in the balls? Now you can. StarLancer - Wing Commander with much better gameplay but lacking branching missions ( ) Shenmue/Shenmue II - not quite the "interactive martial arts film" the game promised early on, but still a unique experience. Stop by the arcade to play Space Harrier, Hang On, Out Run or After Burner. Beat up on a guy who eats your boat tickets. Speak to endless rude members of the public. And of course, never have the story come to an end because part III died with the DC Street Fighter Alpha 3 - the definitive Street Fighter II collection. Every character in the regular SFII and Alpha games, plus some more. Confidential Mission & House Of The Dead 2 - the only European light gun games (you can import Death Crimson OX, but it's terrible), in the tradition of Virtua Cop and, erm, House Of The Dead respectively. Millenium Soldier: Expendable - a more modern take on the Commando/Mercs/Ikari Warriors top-down run & gun. Plenty of violence and awesome boss fights. Fast Striker - NeoGeo-styled graphics on this manic/semi-manic shmup, resembles DoDonpachi in pure gameplay. Indie release from the end of 2010, available from the developer: www.ngdevdirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=38
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Post by ShadowAngel on May 21, 2011 18:55:23 GMT
The Gamepad is quite good, altought i think the analog stick is a bit too slippery and the gamepad get's a bit too heavy with a VMU and Rumble Pack. Though i really do enjoy the VMUs and all the stuff that is going on on the LCD screen during playing.
As for Games:
Virtua Tennis 2 - Great Arcade tennis game with fun minigames and a long career mode. Especially fun in multiplayer
Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream - Great Platforming game in the classic '2.5D' Style
Jet Grind Radio is a great action game
If you haven't played it on PC or own it there, get MDK 2, it's difficult but a great and crazy experience.
Some good 2D Shoot e'm Ups: Giga Wing, Giga Wing 2, Ikaruga, Bangai-O, Cannon Spike
Virtua Fighter 3tb and Soul Calibur are propably the best 1on1 Fighting games.
As for racing games: Daytona USA 2001, Metropolis Street Racer and Ferrari F355 Passione Rossa are great. Even Sega GT can be fun, it's like Gran Turismo with a 'build your own car' feature.
As for sport games: NFL 2K2, NHL 2K2, NBA 2K2, they're all pretty good and still hold up today.
And there are lots of other good games: Tony Hawk, Space Channel 5, Samba de Amigo, House of the Dead, Crazy Taxi,1 & 2, Cosmic Smash
There's basically at least 2-3 good to great games for every Genre
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Post by robocod on May 21, 2011 19:24:09 GMT
1/ I have large hands and just a VMU inserted so its fine for me although i have to admit i am currently playing Tomb Raider Chronicles and Lara is a real pig to control using the thumb stick-several times i have made her walk of ledges to her doom 2/ I have never known a DC become yellow myself but for this to happen surely you would have to either leave it outside in the sun or be a chain smoker lol 3/ i only use pc emu`s so cannot coment on this.
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Post by playgeneration on May 22, 2011 12:04:34 GMT
The main issue with Dreamcast consoles is them not playing the games properly. The connections for the power board get loose and there's also some issues with the lens not reading too. So make sure you buy one thats been tested, they are usually fixable though I think.
As for games, Sega really outdid themselves with the Dreamcast. While everyone moans about Sega's lack of quality now, its because they bet the bank on the Dreamcast and released so many expensive and great games in a short space of time, which people ignored so they could wait and play Fantavision and Wild Wild Racing on PS2. Compare Sega's innovative output on the Dreamcast, with say Nintendo's limited efforts for the Wii, the current biggest selling console, and the difference is huge.
As for the games themselves, a lot of them got ported to later systems of course, but that doesn't stop them being still great games on the Dreamcast:
Buggy Heat Confidential Mission Crazy Taxi House of the Dead 2 Jet Set Radio Seaman Shenmue Sonic Adventure Soul Caliber Space Channel 5 Virtua Tennis etc.
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Post by englishinvader on May 22, 2011 13:03:22 GMT
As for games, Sega really outdid themselves with the Dreamcast. While everyone moans about Sega's lack of quality now, its because they bet the bank on the Dreamcast and released so many expensive and great games in a short space of time, which people ignored so they could wait and play Fantavision and Wild Wild Racing on PS2. Compare Sega's innovative output on the Dreamcast, with say Nintendo's limited efforts for the Wii, the current biggest selling console, and the difference is huge. The DC was always going to be up against it after the failures of the Mega CD and the Saturn. If Sega had got the follow-up console to the Mega Drive right, Sony wouldn't have got a look in and the Dreamcast would have got a lot more air-time with the general public.
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Post by ShadowAngel on May 22, 2011 15:27:17 GMT
The main issue with Dreamcast consoles is them not playing the games properly. The connections for the power board get loose and there's also some issues with the lens not reading too. So make sure you buy one thats been tested, they are usually fixable though I think. The power issue can be easily fixed. There are several tutorials on the web on how to do it. Basically you just stick some matches or toothpicks between the white plastic and the connectors. Overall i think the first release of the Dreamcast (There's a silver sticker on the bottom of the system and a circle with a number in it, either 1 or 2) works the best. I once had a version 2 and it died. Now i have a version 1 and i have no problems, no power problems, no lense problems (even burned discs work perfectly (most problems occur because the burn settings were wrong and it's generally best to burn the discs as slow as possible) and no overheating issues and i once played 8 hours of Shenmue 2 non-stop, it get's warm but not too hot. So i advise on getting a version 1. Version 2 also has a lot more problems with burned discs or as far as i know, Sega tried to lock them out.
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Post by maraakate on May 22, 2011 21:48:57 GMT
Dreamcast is an awesome console. I have noticed a lot of them stop reading games after awhile. I've never bothered to open one up and see what the problem is, but it's either the laser or the ribbon cable for the laser. I'm guessing it's not easy to find a replacement laser either.
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Post by ShadowAngel on May 22, 2011 22:24:59 GMT
I'm guessing it's not easy to find a replacement laser either. Not really, there are lots of sellers and shops out there selling all kind of replacement items for consoles. They can be found on Ebay and over Google. A new Dreamcast Laser goes for about 30$
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Post by maraakate on May 22, 2011 22:42:45 GMT
I'm guessing it's not easy to find a replacement laser either. Not really, there are lots of sellers and shops out there selling all kind of replacement items for consoles. They can be found on Ebay and over Google. A new Dreamcast Laser goes for about 30$ I stand corrected. I though it would be hard to find new replacements (not NOS) since those games used a different kind of laser(?)
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Post by ShadowAngel on May 23, 2011 15:37:59 GMT
I stand corrected. I though it would be hard to find new replacements (not NOS) since those games used a different kind of laser(?) Not that hard to find them, yeah the Dreamcast uses a special laser (though it is indeed somehow possible, to modify the firmware of conventional CD-Roms so they can read GD-Roms), as it has to be able to read GD-Rom but those lasers and the discs are still produced today by Yamaha. Mostly because that format is used in several arcade system (Sega uses it for NAOMI, NAOMI 2 and Chihiro. Namco uses it for their Triforce Arcade Systems) So there's still a demand and therefore they still get produced. All kind of replacement hardware gets produced, for example, last year i bought a brand new cartridge slot for my NES. Even those are still produced today.
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Post by maraakate on May 24, 2011 23:50:53 GMT
I stand corrected. I though it would be hard to find new replacements (not NOS) since those games used a different kind of laser(?) Not that hard to find them, yeah the Dreamcast uses a special laser (though it is indeed somehow possible, to modify the firmware of conventional CD-Roms so they can read GD-Roms), as it has to be able to read GD-Rom but those lasers and the discs are still produced today by Yamaha. Mostly because that format is used in several arcade system (Sega uses it for NAOMI, NAOMI 2 and Chihiro. Namco uses it for their Triforce Arcade Systems) So there's still a demand and therefore they still get produced. All kind of replacement hardware gets produced, for example, last year i bought a brand new cartridge slot for my NES. Even those are still produced today. Yes, but that is third-party. Are the replacement lasers for DC NOS(New-Old-Stock)?
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Post by Stan on May 25, 2011 4:01:11 GMT
Honestly, I don't really like it. It's an ill-fated system, but really not that bad. However...
1. I don't like the controllers. Sure, you'll get used to them, but they're horrible for fighting games. The only good thing going for them are the VMU screen slots where you get to see secret stuff and such, but it really doesn't matter all that much usually.
2. I could never get the emulation thing to work on mine, but it's been awhile since I tried and I'm sure I did it wrong. I don't like emulation anyway. I like playing it real.
3. The games are usually pretty damn good. Problem is, the ones that really stand out to me (Sonic Adventure, Dino Crisis, etc.) were released on Game Cube so if you have that why bother? Other games, like Marvel Vs. Capcom, are awesome, but the controller is horribly designed for such games. Skies of Arcadia is also one of the most OVERrated RPGs, so don't fall for that hype. I played the whole thing, it's horrible starting at about halfway in terms of the story, and WAY too easy overall. The "labyrinths" are a fecking joke.
4. faeces BREAKS. I don't know what it is with these things. My friend had problems with his in time, my other friend did, I eventually had problems with mine. The hardware seems to be a big issue on the Dreamcast, and there are tons of videos out there to prove it showing you how to fix belts, lenses, and whatever else.
So, I say don't bother. I just sold mine.
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Post by Batman666 on May 25, 2011 23:06:20 GMT
I had no idea that Dreamcast hardware was so fragile...
Makes me feel kind of bad that I haven't played my dreamcast that much since I bought it 5 years ago (damn it, has it been so long?). Wonder if it still works...
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