Dreamcast Collection Update - Aug 2010
By snake911 3 Comments
I’m back with a load of new games to show off for the console I absolutely love. For the last few months, I’ve been mostly buying Dreamcast games that came with, or are compatible with a peripheral which makes the game more fun and enjoyable. I will list those ones first.
First up is Samba De Amigo. Yep, Samba-De-Freakin’-Amigo! Complete with maracas and game! The box set was a must have for my Dreamcast gaming library. I never had the opportunity to play it back in the day, and my only memory of it was a review for it in a video game magazine. The table of contents section of this magazine had a dude (the reviewer) holding the maracas in hand while wearing a humongous sombrero and striking with the most ridiculous pose you have ever seen. The game seemed like a lot of fun, and after playing with it, it totally is!
The box set I got was the complete package which came with: the original box, the floor mat, maracas, sensor board, instructions, and the game itself (back when this came out, the maracas were sold separately from the game). I will admit I lost a few bids on eBay before I won this one, but I’m kind of glad I lost those ones, because biddings got way out of hand and the bidding war got incredibly high. Going into the 90s and over the hundred dollar range. The price I payed for mine was well below that, spank you very much.
Here is part of the instruction manual for the controller setup. It uses sensors to detect how far up the maracas are from the base board. I have heard that this sensor is more accurate than the sensors used for the Wii version of Samba De Amigo. If so, then I am glad I got the better version of the game. Speaking of which, the game itself is great! The combination of the music, the crazy stuff happening on the screen, and the ability to physically shake a pair of maracas at different heights and speeds make it a very enjoyable gaming experience.
Next on the list is Typing of the Dead with a Dreamcast Sega Net keyboard. This game is basically the game The House of the Dead 2, but modified to be used with a keyboard instead of a controller. The user types out words and phrases to kill monsters instead of just pressing a button on the controller to fire a gun. I haven’t gotten too far with this game and I have heard it’s much funner with a second player. This is the reason why I purchased a second Dreamcast keyboard. I’m hoping to play this one soon. Quite a clever way of Sega to recycle a game and utilize a peripheral like the keyboard, and at the same time being successful at making it a unique and fun gameplay experience.
Here’s the rad pack I found. Three fishing games and the Dreamcast fishing controller. All at near mint and complete conditions at an incredibly low price. The three included games were: Sega Bass Fishing, Sega Marine Fishing, and Sega Bass Fishing 2. Sounds
The final three games I got were: Space Channel 5, Bangai-O, and Propeller Arena. Space Channel 5 has the ugliest looking cut scenes -- and by that I mean cheap looking CG animation coupled with heavy video compression. But the gameplay is where it excels at. I also like how the background is actually a video, creating a pseudo polygonal background and mimicking the angles of the camera when it swings around the actual polygonal characters. It’s hard to explain. Check youtube to see what I’m trying to describe.
Unfortunately I currently can’t play Bangai-O because the game is not VGA compatible. My Dreamcast is currently connected to my HDTV via a VGA adapter. This will soon be corrected when I get a VGA/S-Video adapter. I really want to play this game because of of the crazy combat system that gives the player the ability to shoot off hundreds of missiles at once in all directions! And finally there’s Propeller Arena. All I’m going to say about this game is that it’s really, really, really fun.
And there you have it! All of the Dreamcast games I got since my last blog post regarding it. I bought more games and stuff for other retro consoles too and will show those very soon.
