Author Topic: Dreamcast. Is it worth it? (Read 6160 times)

NoBonus · « **on:** April 30, 2004, 12:27:26 pm »

I am considering getting a dreamcast system for fun, but know not a living sole who has played one. My main intention on getting a Dreamcast would be arcade emulation and creating arcade controllers for the dreamcast. The games I would most use would be NBA Showtime and any of the Marvel/Capcom/SNK fighters. Is the Dreamcast worth it? Or should I just wait for emulated versions of these games to arrive via MAME or KAWAKS or FBA?

NoBonus

NoBonus · « **Reply #1 on:** April 30, 2004, 12:39:31 pm »

Additionally, are there any other solid arcade ports on the Dreamcast?

NoBOnus

Chemixtry · « **Reply #2 on:** April 30, 2004, 03:46:28 pm »

After seeing so many people rave about the dreamcast I finally picked one up two weeks ago. I LOVE it!!!

I can play several more arcade games and the system was dirt cheap. Gamestop has them on sale for $14 and all the games and controllers are 30% off . The last console I had was a N64, so to me to the graphics are amazing and I can finally play Capcom vs Snk 1,2 and Marvel vs Capcom 1,2 not to mention all the great driving and sports games. For the price it can't be beat. I am even tempted to pick up some of them maracas for Samba de Amigo.

NoBonus · « **Reply #3 on:** April 30, 2004, 03:53:59 pm »

Quote from: Chemixtry on April 30, 2004, 03:46:28 pm

After seeing so many people rave about the dreamcast I finally picked one up two weeks ago. I LOVE it!!! I can play several more arcade games and the system was dirt cheap. Gamestop has them on sale for $14 and all the games and controllers are 30% off . The last console I had was a N64, so to me to the graphics are amazing and I can finally play Capcom vs Snk 1,2 and Marvel vs Capcom 1,2 not to mention all the great driving and sports games. For the price it can't be beat. I am even tempted to pick up some of them maracas for Samba de Amigo.

The maracas look like fun. They also have that game with the microphone on the controller and a weird talking fish on the screen that "learns". Oh, and the fishing game controller. I see all of this stuff on eBay, and it looks so cool and is SO CHEAP, but I would have to find time to play it, so a dream it remains.

NoBonus

Rawker · « **Reply #4 on:** April 30, 2004, 07:13:01 pm »

ah haha Seaman the virtual fish pet that talks to you, remembers your birthday and a whole bunch of other crazy stuff.

Generic Eric · « **Reply #5 on:** April 30, 2004, 08:16:10 pm »

The dreamcast is definetly worth it. Even if you had to pay $30 I'd say it was worth it. Good games. Cheap games.

Hook a DC up to the VGA box, and then to your PC monitor. OH MY !!! I haven't seen a crisper picture. Defintely awsome.

pmc · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2004, 11:47:03 am »

Seaman has been controlling my schedule the last 3-weeks. And all with attitude. My daughter worried about him while we were away for Easter. I'm starting to wonder why I do it. I give, and I give, and I give. All he does it take, take take!

As for getting a Dreamcast:

1) Do it. Why wouldn't you?

2) I have tried a couple of MAME ports (Dream-MAME comes to mind) and haven't found any that worked well enough that I'd replace my PC-based MAME cabinet entirely with a DC. Other more experienced folks may have more to say about this. My experience with MAME on the DC is minimal, but I was not impressed. I did find a Sega Genesis and NES emus that run really well. And I tried a GBA emu that didn't really run well at all. That was the extent of my experimentation. I use my DC with native software 99% of the time.

Check this site out for more info:

http://www.dcemulation.com/

TalkingOctopus · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2004, 05:12:36 pm »

Don't forget soul caliber and guilty gear X! They are some more great fighters on the DC.

walls83 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2004, 08:12:00 pm »

Guilty Gear X is also out for the PC. And it rocks.

Stormy151 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 02, 2004, 06:32:36 pm »

Power Stone is another fun DC fighter.

NesterDC is a NES emu that runs on the Dreamcast. That's what I mostly play on it.

Another plus about owning a Dreamcast is that there are so many emus availiable that run on it- you can take your emulators and games on the road to a hotel, Grandma's house, wherever.

And they are CHEAP! Why not? I paid full price for mine when they came out.

exph · « **Reply #10 on:** May 03, 2004, 12:42:40 pm »

really good arcade shooters from japan.
-Ikaruga
-Shikigami no shiro 2(Castle of shikigami 2)
-Borderdown (a lot like rtype)

the first 2 even support screen rotation.

3d fighters
-Dead or Alive 2 (still a great fighting game. awesome graphics).
-Project Justice (Rival Schools 2, a bizarre 3d fighter that plays like 2d by capcom)

.:exph:.

Stingray · « **Reply #11 on:** May 06, 2004, 04:04:30 pm »

I just picked up a Dreamcast today at lunch. Used, but complete in box with two games for $20. I've been watching all of the raving about how great the DC is in this forum, so I'm naturally excited to give it a whirl.

-S

NoBonus · « **Reply #12 on:** May 06, 2004, 04:07:02 pm »

Where did you get it? Let me know how you like the DC as well.

NoBOnus

Stingray · « **Reply #13 on:** May 06, 2004, 04:18:21 pm »

A local thrift store. I occasionally find Atari & Intellivision carts there. Usually all they have is a bunch of NES & Genesis carts and a few PSX discs. This is the first time I've seen a system there, I was amazed that it was boxed and in good shape. I'll report back tomorrow, I'm sure I know what I'll be doing tonight.

-S

GGKoul · « **Reply #14 on:** May 06, 2004, 04:48:08 pm »

You have to get Sonic Adventure... I picked it up last weekend and played it for 4 hours!!! What a great game... the cut scenes are little long.. but the game is awesome.

Its a must buy!!

-GGKoul

INDEX · « **Reply #15 on:** May 07, 2004, 10:49:22 am »

I've done a dreamcast cab, definitely lots of fun. Spent countless hours playing SFA3, SF:3, Ikaruga, and MVSC2. I also built an xbox cab (modded), and since then the DC cab just collects dust. The xbox cab was also quicker/easier for me to put together(no analog).

Dreamcast is definitely worth it, but if you can stretch another 300 for xbox, mod and hd the flexibility makes the xbox the way to go...IMO (I found out recently the SF anniversary collection will be coming out for the xbox...third strike will be getting some playtime again!)...

I'm not sure if I will get modded for posting links so...If you don't know about xbox modding then I would suggest doing a search on google... =D
as a teaser..it is fba, mame, snes, gens, kawaks...and many more compatible...(xbox versions of course and aren't as up to date as the pc versions..)

Have fun,
INDEX

Stingray · « **Reply #16 on:** May 07, 2004, 11:13:12 am »

Well I stayed up way too late last night playing Omicron (one of the games that came with it). My only complaint about this system is that the controller could be a lot better. I forsee myself building a custom DC controller in the near future. Otherwise this was the best $20 I've spent in a long time.

GGKoul, I'll keep my eyes open for that Sonic game. At this point I'll probably buy any DC titles I come across to build my game library. Any titles anyone can think of that should be avoided?

-S

INDEX · « **Reply #17 on:** May 07, 2004, 12:09:13 pm »

stingray,

I thought 'slave zero' was horrible..for me, the game was too choppy framerate dipped often...might have been better on a nexgen system ..the gameplay was ok at best...but slowdown was way too much for me to have any fun without being frustrated....but it's all a matter of perspective...

On the other hand bangai-o was a fun twitch shooter...that seems to be overlooked often..IMO

INDEX

Stingray · « **Reply #18 on:** May 07, 2004, 12:31:59 pm »

HAHA! Well Slave Zero was the other game that came with it. I haven't really played it yet.

-S

Chemixtry · « **Reply #19 on:** May 07, 2004, 12:38:32 pm »

Stingray
Some great games for dreamcast:
Ray-man2, Daytona, NBa Showtime, Looney Tunes Racing, Capcom vs SNK, Crazy Taxi 1,2 , Jet Grind Radio, Power Stone 1,2, Skies of Arcadia

Games to avoid like the plague:
Ducati Racing, Evil Dead Hail to the King (how could they ruin such a great concept?), Industrial Spy, D2

hulkster · « **Reply #20 on:** May 07, 2004, 03:22:22 pm »

well i thought about getting a dc for my mame cab, but the whole interfacing it all is messing me up. yes ive read the faq, yes ive searched through these posts....but im still confused. dc has some cool games, and id like to put them on my cab, but id want to use my arcade controls of course. also, i know that the dc has some shooting games, and id like to play those with the dc guns........okay...so here goes....dont get pissed....but is there a way to have the dreamcast in my cab, and hook it up to the tv, and somehow interface that with say, mamewah? im sure this has been discussed 4000000 times, but i cant find it so chill. everybody says the dc is so great, well if it wont work with a pc then it sucks. i dont want my friends to know theres a dc in my cab, just a couple of guns sticking out the side or whatever...and able to play like crazy taxi and stuff. suggestions?

INDEX · « **Reply #21 on:** May 07, 2004, 08:07:34 pm »

Hulkster,
If you don't want your friends to know their is a dc in your cab, then I don't think you will be able to change the game while they are around (I'm not aware of any storage solutions for the DC)..? This is a little offtop since I haven't messed with mamewah, but if your tv takes multiple inputs you could possibly wire a video switcher, and power from your console to your cab. Possibly even have mamewah trigger power for the console...then you can just switch between inputs with the video switcher...Just a suggestion...

stingray,
mars matrix is another fun twitch shooter on the DC...

INDEX

hulkster · « **Reply #22 on:** May 10, 2004, 07:09:35 am »

well i was just wondering if the dreamcast games could work like say...NES games or any other emulator for that matter. can you not buy the games, then rip them to your hard drive? i know there are dreamcast emulators out there, and they wouldnt be out there if you couldnt play roms on them. so why doesnt this work??

abrannan · « **Reply #23 on:** May 10, 2004, 09:27:09 am »

Quote from: hulkster081 on May 10, 2004, 07:09:35 am

well i was just wondering if the dreamcast games could work like say...NES games or any other emulator for that matter. can you not buy the games, then rip them to your hard drive? i know there are dreamcast emulators out there, and they wouldnt be out there if you couldnt play roms on them. so why doesnt this work??

Dreamcast games aren't CD-ROMs, they GD-ROMs, so you need the GD-ROM reader from the Dreamcast to be able to access the data on the disks. AFAIK, there aren't any working Dreamcast emulators yet. If you find something different, let me know.

AmericanDemon · « **Reply #24 on:** May 10, 2004, 03:25:33 pm »

Actually a good DVD Rom drive can read the disc. You can pull wall papers off of the Sonic Adventure disc.

pointdablame · « **Reply #25 on:** May 10, 2004, 03:41:49 pm »

You can't read an entire disc off a normal DVD drive however. And as far as I know, no emulators are available that work at all. They are all very preliminary and far FAR rom playable. Plus for 15 bux and a few bux a game, why even bother.

Get the dreamcast, it's a fantastic system with a lot of options and a lot of great games.

hulkster · « **Reply #26 on:** May 10, 2004, 04:24:26 pm »

yes, im sure its a great cheap system...but if it doesnt interface well with my pc, then its worthless. i want cool games on my cab, i have a gamecube and ps2, so i dont need another system just for console playing. the only reason i would buy a dreamcast is for putting in my cab.

abrannan · « **Reply #27 on:** May 11, 2004, 01:32:45 pm »

Yes, it is a great cheap system. I don't need to configure my PC to set up a cabinet. I don't need to buy an ArcadeVGA card. With the snip of one wire I can interface directly to an arcade monitor. For less than the cost of that same ArcadeVGA card, I've got a full cabinet-ready system with some incredible games. The best reason to buy a Dreamcast is to put it in a cab.

I can run early arcade games through MAME on it
I can run genesis, or NES games on it through an emulator
I can play Soul Calibur, which isn't playable in MAME.
I can play Ikaruga, which isn't playable in MAME.
I can play Rez, which isn't playable in MAME.
I can play Virtua Fighter 3
or Zombie Revenge
or NFL blitz 2001
or, well, you get the point I'm making.

Is it for everybody? No, absolutely not.
Does it replace my MAME cabinet? Nope.
Is it worth the money I spent on it? Without a doubt.

consoledirect · « **Reply #28 on:** May 15, 2004, 12:36:05 pm »

Dreamcast is the best system to put in an arcade (except for xbox which would invovle having roms you may/may not own) so that wouldn't be legit.

The dreamcast as a system tho has arcade driving/fighter/shooting/ etc it is almost the compete system. Still beyond me how it died but I know people are greedy so I guess it must have been marketing and copy protection.

abrannan · « **Reply #29 on:** May 17, 2004, 08:53:51 am »

Quote from: consoledirect on May 15, 2004, 12:36:05 pm

Dreamcast is the best system to put in an arcade (except for xbox which would invovle having roms you may/may not own) so that wouldn't be legit.

The dreamcast as a system tho has arcade driving/fighter/shooting/ etc it is almost the compete system. Still beyond me how it died but I know people are greedy so I guess it must have been marketing and copy protection.

Wild Speculation time: My guess is that Dreamcast was either 2 years too early or a year too late to market. When the Dreamcast came out, the Playstation and N64 were right at their peak in the game cycle, and the next generation of consoles were right around the corner. People were already waiting for the "eye-popping, jaw dropping" PS2 (which didn't quite live up to its hype) and the GameCube. They didn't want to get stuck with an old-outdated system. (though I really think the Dreamcast could hold it's own visually against the PS2). I think the Dremcast could have been a more viable platform if it had been released closer to the other consoles release cycles. Think about it, would you buy a new console right now, one that was better than the Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube, but not as good as the advertised specs on the PS3, Xboxnext, etc? With the Gamecube at $99, and the PS2 and Xbox at $149, and the new console weighing in at $300? That's about how the Dreamcast was positioned when it was released. Poor timing, I say.

That ends today's episode of "Abrannan's Wild Speculation", sponsorde in part by Mutual of Omaha.

Stingray · « **Reply #30 on:** May 17, 2004, 10:34:38 am »

abrannan I think you're right on the money re: timing. The Dreamcast would have blown away the PSX & the N64 had it been released at the same time they were. It also could have held it's own with the current systems. Too bad it met an early demise, but what a steal the current pricing on systems and games are. My advice to anyone who's into consoles and a doesn't have a DC is get one now!

-S

Lilwolf · « **Reply #31 on:** May 17, 2004, 05:03:53 pm »

btw.. TON of great games for it...

I going to put mine in a sitdown cab. Great driving games for it and super easy hack to arcade CRT.

The fighters are making me want to hack a few controllers though.. but I haven't done it yet... it might end up in a future version of my cabinet.

abrannan · « **Reply #32 on:** May 17, 2004, 11:34:05 pm »

Quote from: Lilwolf on May 17, 2004, 05:03:53 pm

btw.. TON of great games for it...

I going to put mine in a sitdown cab. Great driving games for it and super easy hack to arcade CRT.

The fighters are making me want to hack a few controllers though.. but I haven't done it yet... it might end up in a future version of my cabinet.

Yeah, actually right after my first rant in this thread I realized I should put one of mine in my cab, since I was waiting on funds for another encoder (Well, I have funds, but was waffling on which encoder to buy). I've got boatloads of DC controllers laying around, and I picked up a spare VGA adapter for $14 on ebay. I just need to burn a couple of MameD discs for some of the classics, and I'm well on my way.


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