Games for Dreamcast

[Roger]

I bought myself a Sega Dreamcast today. Got it for 50 euros, with three games in the bundle (Sega Rally 2, Tony Hawk 2, Chu chu rocket). An OK deal, I guess.

Anyway, I'd like some tips on what games to buy. Racing games are always interesting (Colin McRae is a favourite of mine), but what I really would like is a good old shoot 'em up! Don't really care for sports games (but Tony Hawk is quite fun!) Puzzle games are OK, since that's the only game type my wife enjoys (we're playing Bust-a-move 4 a lot).


Advice? :-?

[Lance]

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tony hawk 2, eh? you can't go wrong there, i think.
i've got sega rally 2, but i don't like the car control; just seems too stiff and inaccurate to feel very real and involving.

for a shoot-em-up, you might try Bangaioh [sp?]. i haven't actually played it myself, not my fave type of game, but i've seen it very favorably reviewed by multiple sources.

racing games:
Flag to Flag has several good points, but you may not like american-style track racing. there are a few road courses, but there are several ovals. there's a championship mode and an arcade mode. you generally run against 27 competitors. the action can be fairly rough in the early part of a race if you want to play it that way. i still play it every once in a while. it can be pretty enjoyable.
Monaco GP i would stay away from; control is far too difficult, and even the slightest error is punished severely. it's too realistic in that way, but the graphics are not realistic enough. a game of unfulfilled potential. the between races interface, and the goddamned checkpoints are annoying. the checkpoints make it particularly difficult for anyone not supremely talented to learn to drive the cars. i bought it used for cheap; an interesting experience, but ive not had a lot of fun from it.
Hydro Thunder could have been a lot of fun, but it is ruined by the most incredibly annoying user interface ive seen..i advise you not to waste your time and money on it.

you didn't mention freestyle car combat. no racecourses, just large 'arenas' out in the landscape, but i enjoy that sort of thing. Vigilante8, 2nd Offense is extremely good on the Dreamcast, much better than the psx version, which has some programming problems, and the machine is perhaps a bit too weak to really run it properly. the developers said that the game was actually originally designed for the Dreamcast. the special weapons power-ups are very vEry good, but the standard weapons are themselves very good. i've had a lot of fun in the game. if you can win or cheat your way to the rapid-repeat firing of weapons, things get very pyrotechnic. sending off rocket after rocket, or firing high-speed round after round from a big gatling gun., and there are various hazards to your own vehicle from the arenas themselves not to mention the AI opponents. the game also has a certain sense of humour to it. a lot of fun for me. it has a very different aesthetic from twisted metal, which tends to be too simple-adolescent for my taste. did i mention that every vehicle in the game can be made to fly? you haven't lived till you have lifted off in a 200 mile per hour exotic car [or a bus] and flown around blasting away at the enemy. beware of recoil.

even if you don't like or have never played a martial-arts game, get Soul Calibur. i repeat: Get Soul Calibur! even after all this time, i am still amazed at how good it looks, at how well it plays. a remarkable achievement by namco
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[Thruster2097]

For a good racer, I suggest Metropolis Street Racer (MSR) and Ferrari F355 Challenge.
MSR gives you pure arcade experience, racing in real production roadcars against the clock and some tough opponents in races where style is just as important as position.
F355 is the most difficult game ever, but also the most realistic sim i've seen.
I have also got Sega GT, but I didnt like it.

AS for puzzlers, you already got the best (and kookiest) puzzler ever, chuchu rocket.
If youre looking for something different, give REZ a try. If youve played panzer dragoon before youve got the idea. If not, think shooting, music, wireframe, and more music. A game youll either love-or-hate.

[AmishRobot]

Off the top of my head:

Driving: LeMans 24 Hour was said to be very, very good, though I didn't get a chance to play it. Metropolis Street Racing was good, but it didn't really knock my sock off (I like my racers with weaponry :))

Shooters: Bangaioh and Radiant Silvergun were both made by Treasure, who are like gods. Radiant Silvergun especially has been mentioned numerous times to be one of the greatest shooters ever made. It never came out in the US, but it might have hit Europe. MDK2 is a really fun action game with lots of shooting. It's pretty tough too, but rarely frustrating.

Fighting: Soul Calibur is the best fighting game made... still. It's better than Tekken 4 or VF4, and from what little I've played, even better than Soul Calibur 2. You really need to buy it.

Puzzle: Chu Chu Rocket is the best puzzle game for the system. Worms is good, but a little too slow for my tastes. Good if you have a bunch of friends over and the game is more of a background distraction that no one really cares about playing seriously. It seems to be the most fun that way.

Other strong recommendations would be (if they're cheap): Ecco the Dolphin, Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Rez, and Toy Commander.

One last thing: Do yourself a favor and get Space Channel 5. It's stupid and it's fun... stupid fun. Chances are your wife will love it. I have yet to meet a woman that doesn't like it. Must be some subliminal message or something. :-? Worth a used game price.

[Lance]

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concerning those last 5 recommendations by James, i have Toy Commander, Crazy Taxi [the first one], and demos of Ecco the dolphin and jet grind radio. Toy Commander is one i've not played much because even though it has a certain challenge and intricacy, the first stage/level/region is very slow paced, so buy according to your patience and your taste for speed. Crazy Taxi is an absolute blast to play for 5 minutes at a time, but i've never played the game to win, just to drive crazy, bang into things, and go where you wouldn't think a taxi could go. i've played the mini games also; they can be entertaining. a very high-energy insouciant mood, and a great stress-reliever.

Ecco is beautiful and intriguing and you can live in a different world while playing it, but it is not high on action. Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future are very nifty skateboard games that are not at all like Tony Hawks; they're very street, very inner city punk. the graphics are single-tone shading [cel shading] and are really crisp, colourful, and uniquely flavoured. very cool.

a racing game that i forgot to mention in my first post is RE-VOLT, in which you race radio-control cars just as though they were real cars, but from the very low ground level perspective where ordinary objects are very much bigger than you're used to. a bit frustrating game sometimes because it's easy to spin out and you always end up facing backwards and crammed against a wall of some sort when you do. lots of cars available, and interesting environments to race through. pretty nifty. graphics are excellent.

a game i haven't played but which seems like it would be very good is San Francisco Rush 2049. give it a look before buying and see what you think.

another racing game i would buy just to try because i like the original Killer Loop is M-K [magneto-kinetic] Racing. i understand that the gameplay has been altered to make it a bit easier, though i read one complaint that it had been made too easy. still a neat ambience. don't know about the soundtrack, but the one for Killer Loop is very good. M-K may be a pretty direct transposition of the psx game, so possibly it has the original music of KL. dunno
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[Vasudeva]

I can recommend you Soul Calibur, MK Gold and perhaps, if you dig RPGs, Skies of Arcadia (it got 96% from GamesMaster and although I don't think it deserved a score this high it's definitely worth checking out, if only for the cool concept of a world with airships).

Virtua Tennis 2 may still be the best tennis game out there. Quake 3 Arena is übercool if you have friends to play against (and enough controllers ;)).

Hail to all DC ownerz!

Peace,
V.

[Roger]

Thanks for the advice, everybody! Now I just gotta find the games(second hand DC games are quite rare, compared to games for Playstation, anyway).

There's really one game (compilation) that haunts my dreams:
Yu Suzuki Game Works Book with five bundled games, including my all time fave. OUTRUN! :o

[Wamdue]

speaking of dreamcast, I bought one last winter. And I still havent found a VMU for it.. Its so annoying not being able to save your progress.. Kinda feels like the good ol days tho hehe. Anyone know a good online store/a good deal for VMUs?

[Lance]

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roger, i've only played Outrun on a PC, but i was disappointed because my first racing games were in 3D, and i don't feel as immersed in the game when playing 2D.

Wam, i'm wondering if it would be easier to find one of those third-party non-visual memory units. i only have one VMU, but i also have 2 plain ones, one of which is a four-layer chip with 800 blocks of memory. the VMU can add an extra dimension to games that are made to use its abilities, but most Dreamcast games aren't as you've probably already discovered. a few games actually have mini-games that can be played on the VMU independently of the the console, but the only one i've got is Sonic Adventure, and i never really used that facility. so anyway, any ol' memory chip will do and ought to be cheaper. please forgive me if i've belaboured the obvious
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[food]

metropolis street racer is a must if you are into racing games

virtua tennis is tops (and probably virtua tennis 2 but i never pld it)

powestone is really good on multiplayer

alas i have 18 games but i destoyed my dreamcast with a screwdriver a few months ago (boredom is a terrible thing)

You can have em all if you trust dealings with internet ppl!

ohh an warndue i have 2 vmu's you can have (need new batteries tho)




email theangriestbadger@hotmail.com if you want da freebies 8)

[Lance]

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is the internet cool, or what? :D
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[Roger]

.roger, i've only played Outrun on a PC, but i was disappointed because my first racing games were in 3D, and i don't feel as immersed in the game when playing 2D.
OK, I can see that (yes, pun intended). I played a lot of Outrun way back in 1988, when a bingo hall close to my highschool had the upright arcade cabinet. I remember getting really dizzy from the (then) stunning graphics. I also loved the whole atmosphere of the game: a friendly drive through the countryside. Come to think of it, a lot of the vehicles you got to overtake were Beetles!

Whenever i got bored with Outrun, I switched to the pinball machine that stood beside it, another all time favourite of mine: F-14 Tomcat! (http://perfectamusements.com/Pinball/p80f14.htm)

Food: you've got mail!

[Wamdue]

Forgot to mention some of my favorites on the dc ;)
for fighting, get Soul Calibur.. that game is just so awesome. I belive Ikuraga exists on the dreamcast. Thats a superb classic shootemup. If you have a playstation too, look up Raiden Projects, it features Raiden I & II, both very good shooters. And Star Blazer (think its got several other titles as well ) for the neo-geo is one of the best shooters Ive ever played.

[Lance]

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i take back what i said about Monaco Grand Prix! my PSX stopped working last week [even while still sitting on edge], and all my fave racing games were for it. so i fired up the Dreamcast to use what i had. i finally spent a few hours with Monaco GP and began to learn to drive the difficult cars and tracks. what a great experience! even though the graphics are not very realistic, i got more of a feel of driving real cars, real racing machines than i've ever gotten from anything, with the possible exception of the original GT. but Monaco is even more real because of the analog throttle and brakes. you can actually steer the cars with the throttle just like in real life. wonderful. but be warned; the game is still damned hard. the AI will not lay down and die, but will pass you the instant you make a mistake. and sometimes they will just push you right off the track. and there are 21 cars against you [the number is adjustable, 22 total competitors is max]. better look behind you whenever you can. speaking of view, there are about 7 different viewpoints available for driving, ranging from the usual nosecam and cockpit views to a view above the front of the car looking forward so you can see the front wheels and part of the body [the easiest to drive for me so far] and to a completely overhead view showing the course and other cars immediately around you. there are 3 difficulty levels in both arcade and simulation modes, and many suspension, brakes, steering, fuel load, etc adjustments are possible, as well as the easy way of just using default. it is a very hardcore game.

for extra fun, check out the retro mode which lets you drive 1950 GP cars like the Alfetta on a course that is truly representative of the real roadracing in the old days. 426 horsepower from a two-stage supercharged 1500cc 1600 pound 180 miles-per-hour car on very narrow tires and with almost no brakes. yikes!
a lucky thing there's not much low end torque, or there'd be no controlling them at all.

despite or because of the somewhat unreal graphics in retro mode, when i got into the game, i began to feel like i was in a real race of that era, or at least, what it should have been like. i love it.

and for the entire game, a big turnaround from my previous opinion, all due to putting in some time and effort, and getting a reward for it
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ps: i took apart my PSX, cleaned the inside a bit, put it back together, and it works again. on edge. haven't tried it sitting flat though, i don't want to mess it up!

[Lance]

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an update and correction and.. and...

Thrusty mentioned F355 Challenge. while i've been rediscovering my Dreamcast games, in addition to finding fun and greatness in games i didn't appreciate much before, i acquired Ferrari F355 challenge last week. [oh muh gawd do i love Laguna Seca!] this game is incredibly hard but incredibly immersive. the graphics are wonderful and do not look at all bad even compared to Project Gotham on the x-box, though i'm sure they could look even better if F355 were ported to that machine. This is a Suzuki Yu / Yu Suzuki game. Suzuki-sama is a bit of a master. the main thing the game lacks for me is a convenient listing of all the best race and lap times, but everything else is a masterpiece.

there is a novice mode and an intermediate mode. this would seem to imply an expert mode, which i have never seen mentioned online as an actual feature of the game. i'm sure it would be unbelievably difficult if it should happen to exist. eleven tracks that i know of and only one that i don't like, namely Atlanta. oddly enough, the Motegi oval requires far more precision and concentration to get a good placement than i would have thought possible. it makes me reconsider my elitist roadracer views. but Laguna Seca, and others, are still more fun for me and more aesthetically pleasing

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Wam mentioned Ikuraga. i haven't seen the actual game [ive only been to one EB and nowhere else lately] but ive seen a review or two of a Dreamcast version.

and the correction: i misnamed the Dreamcast update of Killer Loop; while the racing is magneto-kinetic, the correct name is MagForce Racing
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[xEik]

Suzuki-sama is a bit of a master.

A bit of? You got nominated for the understatement of the week. 8)

[Lance]

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^____^

a statement like that always implies a wink at the sheer effrontery of downplaying the compliment to a truly superior individual. probably that statement form is either an attempt to not feel so inferior to them or just a try at a witticism that still shows great respect to the one complimented in this case. i suspect that the witticism is even supposed to point out how very great the respect is, since one often hears someone say that ''___ is great!''. such comments are often so common that it seems likely that they don't really mean much, whereas understatement can show just how truly the compliment is understood and sincerely meant
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[NiktheGreek]

Not to be an advertising moron, but I love the DC and run a site on it. If you're still looking, check out http://www.dreamcast-lives.tk

[Roger]

Thought I'd share my recent acquisitions with you. Following advice given (or sometimes contrary to it! :lol:) I've bought the following games:

- Bangai-O
- F1 World Grand Prix
- Sega GT
- Unreal Tournament

Of the four, Bangai-O clearly takes the prize - it's hilarious!

I've also found out that Shenmue II contains complete renditions of some of my favourite games: Hang-on and Out Run. So I guess I'm going to fork out 40-50 bucks for a copy of that adventure in the forseeable future...

[Lance]

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NiktheGreek, i've visited your site. good effort. Long Live the Dreamcast!


Roger, how about a review of the two racing games? i don't have either one, but am highly interested in them
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[Roger]

I'll be glad to share my opinions on Sega GT and F1. It'll have to wait a bit, though. A friend of mine has borrowed my Dreamcast for a while (I'm trying to convince him to buy one, gotta let him "see the light" :wink:)

In brief, I can say that Sega GT is huge. Loads of cars to unlock (buy with money earned)and a lot of customization options. I've yet to get behind the wheel of a fast car (trudging along in 70 horsepower minivans isn't that exciting), and the controls are a bit offputting (they're "realistically" sluggish), but I will certainly hang in there. :P

I've already written a bit about F1elsewhere (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1088).

[Lance]

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you sure did, but i was hoping you'd played more in race mode instead of time trial mode, so you had a more complete experience of it to relate to other Dreamcast fans. at the time, you had only had the game a couple of days, and were also playing others during the same period.

on Sega GT, the steering seems to be a sore point with some reviewers, but their descriptions of what it actually does are not as clear as might be; so when you get some driving time in, i'd sure like to hear about that subject. i've also wondered if, like the original GT for the PSX, it might be too easy to buy enough mods to simply overpower the opposition
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