The Gamer's Quarter

[digi]

So, in recent times I have found myself in the fortunate position of being able to buy up a Dreamcast, with oodles and oodles of games included.
Here is where I would like to resurrect the old white box from the grave for a while, to discuss some things in particular. Pirating may or may not come into question [rare games and defunct systems = justification?] and so on.
I'm surprised how many people in real life I meet don't still fawn over their Dreamcasts as much as earlier gen systems for nostalgia. I can only barely get past the second stage of Ikaruga, but I know that it's a freaking masterpiece already.

Man let's just talk about Ikaruga I mean god those Yourtub videos of people who actually got to the final boss? Maaaaaan.
_________________
* Me Profile * Me Blog * Me Photos *

[Shapermc]

People use to fawn over the DC with nostalgia pretty much instantly after it was "dead", but since then many of the games that made it amazing have since been released on other consoles, or have been emulated from their arcade counterpart. So, a little bit of the majesty has waned.

Though, there's still a ton of games that you can't get on other systems that are brilliant and fun, but mostly either in a campy sort of way (Blue Stinger and D2) or in an arcade style quick romp (Border Down, Dynamite Deka 2, and Under Defeat).

As for burning/pirating games, well, if the games aren't commerically available I don't really see the huge problem with it. With that said: be careful of having too many burned games. Since the DC's games were generally encoded backwards and the laser drives aren't so hot, playing a lot of burned games will wear out the parts on your DC quite quickly.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[digi]

Yeah it's definitely a risk factor, and I think that the person who had this thing before me just exclusively played burned games on it. The strain manifests in LOUD NOISES, though if it's a recently burned, scratch-free thing, the sound seems relatively normal. I guess it's pretty hardy!
All the same, I'd like to hit up some pawn shows around here to dig for stuff. I'm wary of eBay, especially considering how prevalent the burned stuff is [the last DVD I bought on eBay stunk like a Chinese Plastic Factory].
Right now I'm hitting up some Sword of the Berserk, which, for all it's clunky faults in level design, I can forgive just for the Susumu Hirasawa intro theme.
_________________
* Me Profile * Me Blog * Me Photos *

[ryan]

I recall letting my little guy from Seaman die when he spouted off to me one day. I was sure to take good care of him, checking in on him a few times a day. Then the little bastard was snarky when I only checked in later one evening. Enjoy digital death, junior. Damn, I do love Leonard Nimoy's voice though.

I imported my system just so I could play Virtua Fighter 3tb as soon as possible. It was great, because a few weeks after I got it in, I found some guy online who would sell me his used import games for about $20. It got to the point where I was buying 2-3 new games every check, and it was a hoot to read about Power Stone and Sega Rally 2 previews and then play them right after. I recall playing Shenmue for hours on end with a friend, just checking out every little place possible after spending hours in the arcade.

During its last days, I would hit up Circuit City for all that I could find. I still have sealed copies of Virtua Fighter 3tb and Jet Grind Radio, just because they were all of $4 and I couldn't say no. I picked up a lot of good stuff then.

I broke my first system doing a damn cable swap trick just so I could play domestic games. A video store had $2 Tuesday, so I would go with my friend (same one who played Shenmue with me) and rent 5-6 of the newest titles and veg out with him for a good day or two, going through everything. Long bouts of Virtua Tennis and Marvel vs. Capcom came about from those Tuesdays.

Even though I like the Dreamcast, I was, and am, a huge fan of the Saturn, so it felt like a step down. There were so many things I enjoyed on the Saturn that didn't get a sequel on the Dreamcast or were changed in a way that I wasn't a fan of. I still play my Saturn regularly, but only every so often do I break out the Dreamcast. I most own three of the things, scattered about houses and offices. I still have a healthy collection, actually. I should break it out again.
_________________
Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

[Hospital Zone]

[Shapermc]

Oh, digi, get Jet Set Radio. The first is much better than the Xbox sequel, and hasn't been released on another system (yet). Very much worth spending time with.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[Harveyjames]

Yeah, Jet Set Radio = excellent

I have very fond memories of the Dreamcast!

[Worm]

Does it run NetBSD?
_________________

Exit stage left, exit stage right, there is no place to run, all the fuses in the exit signs have been BURNT OUT

[digi]

[Shapermc]

Yeah, neither is Virtua Fighter 3tb, but that's worth skipping for a later version.

Also, I recommend looking into Giga Wing 2 (if you can have 4 person multi player and like the game) and Cannon Spike. If you're into their style they never got ported that I know of.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[daphaknee]

we used to have piles of dreamcasts lying around becuase my best friends stepdad worked for sega, and he would hide dreamcasts in the house becuase no one was buying them, and he liked to pretend that the ghost of sega was haunting their house

i should go pick up one of those dreamcasts, ive been wanting to play a good port of MVC2

man i love that system still, it got me into the jojos bizarre adventure anime!

[Shapermc]

The manga is better than the anime (JoJo). The first whole story arc is all about vampires and horse killing. The second story arc is one of my favorites and where the character of Guile is taken from in. The third story arc (the one that's currently being published and censored in the US) is my least favorite. Things get good again when they stop worrying about being 99.9% about fighting and actually have some good character development in the 4th story arc. Not that the 3rd story arc is bad, it's just the weakest. The PS2 game is based on the 5th story arc and is pretty crazy/awesome/amazing with great cameos.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[daphaknee]

how long did the anime go for? i think i only saw like 8 or 10 episodes but i really loved them

maybe i should get the manga now but manga takes up so much sppaaaacceeee

[Shapermc]

I couldn't really get into the anime because it's not part of the main story line. It's kind of in the future. The only way to get the manga for anything but the first half of the third story arc is downloading fan translations. The first two story arcs are BEAUTIFULLY treated and translated (though I can't vouch for accuracy, though supposedly it is quite accurate). The online reader for all of them is HERE. You can probably easily find them in a downloadable fashion, though I don't know where anymore.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[digi]

Yeah the first two arcs are amazzzzing in this kind of Indiana Jones-ish style of modern mythos and romance. It's like what if The Shaw Brothers had crossed From Dusk till' Dawn with The Temple of Doom or something.

I agree with you, Shaper, on the third arc. Dio's got that ZA WORLDO rad thing and I guess 'stands' are a pretty good idea but all it amounts to is another gimmick twist to create another tournament-style fighting [game]comic.
_________________
* Me Profile * Me Blog * Me Photos *

[Cossix]

I've been wanting to dig up a Dreamcast for the past few months now so I can play Cannon Spike again because I remember it being a fun game but I'm not sure if it really is or not.

[Harveyjames]

It's got Arthur from Ghouls and Ghosts in it! That's all I know about that game. Does his armour suit fall off when he gets hit, leaving him running around in his pants? If not I don't wanna know.

[JasonMoses]

I'm afraid not - his character design was completely redone, and he's pretty much unrecognizable in-game.

[Hospital Zone]