Falling in love all over again.

[Shelcoof]

You guys ever regret letting go of something that was so awesome back then... only to realize later that what you had was pretty amazing. Now you want it all back but you realize you can't afford it all back.

Ever since I booted up my Dreamcast about a month ago... I haven't been able to stop playing. I was re-living the dream with every game I booted up.

Now I have this itch to re-buy and play the ones I let go only to find that the prices on some of these titles are insane!

It doesn't help that the Dreamcast was my very first console that I personally owned. All other consoles I've gamed on were either shared with my brothers or borrowed from friends. Dreamcast was the one that I was able to call my very own.

My library back then was easily over 100 games. Whats left of everything I use to own? About 12 games

I just recently acquired a few Capcom fighters to add back into the collection. Those were awesome with friends. Dreamcast still has some amazing fighters like Project Justice and Virtua Fighter 3 TB... yhaa thats right Virtua Fighter 3!!!

I even went as far as to buying the Toro VGA/RGB Box and new VGA Custom Switch Cable. I have Generic VGA Cables but everyone was recommending the Behar Brother's VGA Box. It was pricy but nothing is too pricy for my Dreamcast

I'm just hoping they perform better than these generic VGA cables I bought for 12$ though. I did notice a bit of checker boarding on one of my monitors but when connected to a CRT you can barely notice it. Anyways moving forward... looking to see how good that VGA Box will perform and those custom VGA cables too.

Picked up 2X Brook's PS3/PS4 to Dreamcast converter as well for all those amazing fighting games. Try and emulate that arcade experience as best as I can.

I even went ahead and picked up a GDEMU.. clone version of course. The genuine one seems impossible to buy.

So ultimately looking to build the ultimate Dreamcast experience. I have my CRT Monitor ready

Any of you guys ever go through any of this?
Any of you guys recommend anything I should be looking to add?

I'm actually wanting to get a few light gun games and a light gun or at least a mouse.
I got two keyboards here to play Typing of the Dead as well.
It's going to be fun adding items back into the Dreamcast collection.

[neorichieb1971]

I sold lots of things I regret, but mostly because of their value now not because I loved the games.

There are some exceptions though.

Battle Garegga
Radiant Silvergun
Tryrush Deppy
2 Cave kits for Ibara and Mushimesama


But you know, the things that I played the most I actually kept. I kept my $5 Puzzle Bobble 2x on Saturn I quickly learned that the bizarre games that cost $200 were rare because for the most part they strayed too far away from the norm to become mass market.

What is happening to the OP is that he wants a remembrance of the past sitting his in home. We all have that inside of us, I certainly do. Although I don't have any Commodore 64's or Spectrums lying around. I picked the era from which I enjoyed gaming the most, which is the 16bit/32/64 bit era's. These era's were when I amassed the biggest crew of like minded people who became friends whilst the import console business was booming. All grew up now and watch their kids play online. Its really depressing.

[GaijinPunch]

Any of you guys ever go through any of this?

Phantasy Star Online in a few forms. I even stop/started PSOBB on the PC twice. There's about 2000 hours of my life I'm not getting back.

Any of you guys recommend anything I should be looking to add?

Jet Set Radio (NTSC-J) and either Jet Grind Radio or De La Jet Set Radio. Not all of those changes were good ones.

[Shelcoof]

Yhaa the original 12 I kept were games I really loved playing or games I couldn't get rid of lol. We're looking at you Test Drive

Then there were games I really enjoyed but sold and moved away to newer things. Games like Gunbird 2, Mars Matrix and several others that just sky rocketed in price!

I remember buying them for 20$ new lol... but I guess these things are to be expected. Usually I'd find the JP alternative but even those are fetching higher prices.

Fortunately most of the capcom fighters are still affordable in their JP form.

Yes GaijinPunch
Phantasy Star Online was the first online game I ever got into playing with friends. I remember back in the days Dreamcast Keyboards were demanding a high price because of PSO. We all stopped playing after the game was hacked and everyone got all the rare items they wanted.

Jumped on PSO online on the Cube but that didn't last long.

[Obscura]

Jet Set Radio (NTSC-J) and either Jet Grind Radio or De La Jet Set Radio. Not all of those changes were good ones.

What were the changes between the JP JSR and the USA one, aside from the new levels in the USA one? The Skyscraper level isn't my favorite, admittedly, but it isn't terrible, and the level where Dragula plays is great IMO.

[BIL]

Curious too, I'm a Jet series noob but I just nabbed De La and assumed I was good for the first game.

Shoulda known from my cross-regional experiences with Shinobi (PS2) that things ain't always that clean cut.

[Obscura]

A bit of research shows a few mentions that JGR and DLJSR were made easier than the original release of JSR, but no exact details on how that was done.

[GaijinPunch]

I can't make an exhaustive list, but some that stick out having played the original NTSC-J JSR first many times. Disclaimer: I've played none of these in a looooong while. Some of it taken from the Japanese Wikipedia page.

- 2 stages (8 missions) added
- People join your crew in a different order. (Combo joins 2nd or 3rd in the original, but not until you go to Grind City, along w/ Cube, in De La )
- Cube was grunge in original, but more Goth in De La.
- Japanese voices replaced w/ English for Cube & Combo
- Onishima now speaks English
- Name changes / Graffiti changes (Bis -> Mew, Corn -> Tab)
- New Graffiti Souls
- Added tracks
- Radio Mode & Graphic Mode
- Loads of text in English as opposed to Japanese
- Tagging the enemies's backs stages "easier" since you get a counter on how many times you need to get them. In the original, it can be annoying trying to figure if you're getting anywhere.
- MAYBE the playing as enemies after acing the long stages was added... can't remember.

De La was originally a limited release. On a side note: nice to see my old flat in Tokyo from way back when. I do miss that place. Some thoughts on the game from back then included there as well.

Bonus: Also play JSRF on the Xbox. Not sure why some people don't dig it. I love them both.

EDIT: This article compares the three regions... assume that most differences in JGR made it back to De La. He does have one error though:

The ideal version of the game is De La Jet Set Radio, if only for the original Japanese voices.

De La does not retain the original voices, unfortunately.

[BIL]

Ta GP. I wonder if I got the later reprint you mention... was just the standard sealed NTSCJ DC game. Not that I was complaining, I was like a decade late to the party on this one.

[GaijinPunch]

Ta GP. I wonder if I got the later reprint you mention... was just the standard sealed NTSCJ DC game. Not that I was complaining, I was like a decade late to the party on this one.

You most likely got the Dorikore version... but there's no real difference. In fact I don't think if you can tell w/ the two side by side, which was kind of a dick move by Sega for those reprints, but whatever. (Actually, sorry, I think their UPC codes are different). My nerd knowledge is really nowhere near it's peak levels.

Anywho, it's a dope game in all it's forms -- you deserve to play them all!

[Xer Xian]

The Dreamcast is among the best-looking consoles imho. In general I am against customizing the look of a console, but the DC is an exception (try an image search for 'Custom Dreamcast' and see for yourself). There's an Ikaruga-themed DC out there that I want soo bad..

Regarding Typing of the dead (US version), was curious to know if anyone here ever tried playing with the japanese keyboard? Despite claims that it works fine, I recall that one or more symbols are not correctly mapped (if thay are at all), meaning that every time I had to type, say, the apostrophe, well, forget about it..

Also what became of the new line of accessories for the DC announced by Retrobit months ago? I suppose it got cancelled?

[Shelcoof]

Bonus: Also play JSRF on the Xbox. Not sure why some people don't dig it. I love them both.

EDIT: This article compares the three regions... assume that most differences in JGR made it back to De La. He does have one error though:

De La does not retain the original voices, unfortunately.

Thank god for Xbox backwards compatibility on the 360. For the longest time I never owned an original Xbox. Was able to play JSRF on there.

The Dreamcast is among the best-looking consoles imho. In general I am against customizing the look of a console, but the DC is an exception (try an image search for 'Custom Dreamcast' and see for yourself). There's an Ikaruga-themed DC out there that I want soo bad..

Regarding Typing of the dead (US version), was curious to know if anyone here ever tried playing with the japanese keyboard? Despite claims that it works fine, I recall that one or more symbols are not correctly mapped (if thay are at all), meaning that every time I had to type, say, the apostrophe, well, forget about it..

Also what became of the new line of accessories for the DC announced by Retrobit months ago? I suppose it got cancelled?

Oh My God! WOW!! Those are some amazing customs.
To be honest though I think anyone with those kinds of custom skills can make any console look sexy.

Though I do admit the Dreamcast is probably my favorite looking console followed by the original PS4. Xbox 360 Slim and the GameCube does look pleasing to me too.

What blew us all away back then was the fact that the Dreamcast was pretty compact. We couldn't wrap our minds around the fact that this little thing was able to produce such amazing graphics. Of course we were all playing Soul Calibur at the time...that game still holds up so well to this day.

Xer Xian: I read one of your other posts on here regarding the VGA Cable by thefoo. Picked one up recently from him on ebay based on your recommendation. I hope it performs better than the Generic VGA cable I was previously using. I also ended up getting a Toro before the purchase but when I saw they were reasonably priced I said what the heck I have a few Dreamcast Consoles that could make use of it.

Back when I use to own Typing of the Dead I used the official Keyboard I still own and the Innovation 4 in 1 converter. Keyboard on there worked fine... never ran into any issues with Typing of the Dead.

[JBC]

I even went ahead and picked up a GDEMU.. clone version of course. The genuine one seems impossible to buy.

So ultimately looking to build the ultimate Dreamcast experience. I have my CRT Monitor ready

Congrats on scoring an ODE, you're gonna love it. I managed to get a GDEmu last year and it was wonderful bouncing back through all of DC stuffed I loved or missed the first time around. I've got my CRT ready too, just waiting for those HD Retrovision cables to hit the street.

[Shelcoof]

Congrats on scoring an ODE, you're gonna love it. I managed to get a GDEmu last year and it was wonderful bouncing back through all of DC stuffed I loved or missed the first time around. I've got my CRT ready too, just waiting for those HD Retrovision cables to hit the street.

Nice... I have no idea what to expect from the GDEmu. It's going to be shipped out this week. I hope the clone version won't have any issues.

btw did you end up modding your power supply or upgrading it to a Pico PSU or a Dream PSU? Read about the extra heat that is produced and you know what they say about heat and electronics. I pre ordered the Dream PSU and ordered a Pico PSU as well.

Regarding cables I have the generic cheap VGA cable thats around 10-12$. They work great for what you pay for. However after carefully inspecting the picture they produce.... I noticed very minor artifacts like checkerboards and lines.

I never noticed it before until reading up on them. I was actually quit happy but once I noticed the artifacts I had to upgrade lol. There was no turning back now.

A few members here had recommended an ebay seller thefoo82 that produce RGB Scart cables for the Dreamcast. The one I purchased had a switch to trick the Dreamcast for games that block VGA functionality. They are quit affordable at roughly 20$ USD and 6$ USD shipping. Compared to the 50$ Kuro and the Toro for 80$. Have to say they're a good deal.

I have an OSSC via HDMI to VGA converter and a Scart to Component converter already so I'm all ready to play on a HD TV, SDTV and a CRT Monitor.

[Austin]

Oh yeah, I've definitely been through this, something like eight or nine years ago after taking a few year break from serious retro/classic gaming. The Dreamcast was one of the first I re-bought back then as well. Lots of nostalgia for that one (originally bought one on launch day and was blown away), but what's great about it is a ton of its games hold up very well.

I just received a GDEMU for it on Saturday and installed it, opening up lots of doors for software I'd never even consider buying these days (I'm looking at you, Cannon Spike and Border Down). Having that on hand now I think I'm going to go through another one of those "falling in love" phases all over again, haha.

[Shelcoof]

That's right... the reason why I could easily go back to the Dreamcast is that most of the games still hold up really well today. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having with the original Power Stones. Man that PSP port does not do the original justice. Man that was good times

High on my list of games to get back:

Grandia II: Not perfect and very linear but it was one of the first RPGs I played on the Dreamcast. I enjoyed a lot of it back then. Price right now is a bit high for me and that PS2 alternative does not do the game justice.

Rayman 2 the great escape: I dunno but this game back then at 60fps was amazing. I never got around to playing much of it back then but I think its time for me to completely play through the game.

Edit: You got yourself a new subscriber!

[Austin]

Yeah, the PSP Power Stone pack is disappointing if you have access to the DC releases. I put a lot of time into the first game on Dreamcast last year then naturally wanted to try Part 2 after. There was no way in hell I was paying the DC price, so I snapped up the PSP collection as a compromise. I was surprised to find lower quality visuals, long load times, and poorer framerates.. Ugh. Big mistake.

[Shelcoof]

Both Power Stones are great but very different.

Originally preferred Power Stones 2 until it was just a buddy and myself that got together. So we decided to pop in Power Stones because the constant changing stages in Power Stones 2 sort of killed the momentum for 1v1.

We had a hell of a good time. With stages being smaller and constant we were able to focus more on battling each other.

So now I prefer Power Stones lol.

btw checked out a few of your videos. You have a a very natural voice for commentating. Usually with a lot of videos people sound unorganized and all over the place but you seem very well structured. Definitely have the personality for it as well. Keep it up!

[Austin]

Hey, thanks for the kind words.

Yeah, as far as 1v1, I definitely prefer the first game as well. I feel the arenas are much better designed for it in the first game.

[GaijinPunch]

Thank god for Xbox backwards compatibility on the 360. For the longest time I never owned an original Xbox. Was able to play JSRF on there.

Support was unfortunately not good enough for me. I believe two stages ran at about 1/3 speed which obviously kills them. Bummer. I did get a J-Xbox recently after mine didn't survive my tenure in Japan. Now to just crank it up finally.

[JBC]

Congrats on scoring an ODE, you're gonna love it. I managed to get a GDEmu last year and it was wonderful bouncing back through all of DC stuffed I loved or missed the first time around. I've got my CRT ready too, just waiting for those HD Retrovision cables to hit the street.

Nice... I have no idea what to expect from the GDEmu. It's going to be shipped out this week. I hope the clone version won't have any issues.

btw did you end up modding your power supply or upgrading it to a Pico PSU or a Dream PSU? Read about the extra heat that is produced and you know what they say about heat and electronics. I pre ordered the Dream PSU and ordered a Pico PSU as well.

I've read that the clones are just as good, but not officially supported when it comes to updates & whatnot. No bother, I'm sure the community will pool together & create lots of stuff specifically for the clones. Sucks that it takes away business from the OG creator but it was bound to happen with the availability issue + high demand. I bet he will still sell out when he creates new batches anyway, so despite his understandable frustration there's probably no real harm in a little competition.

I didn't replace my PSU but I did have to clean it. My Dreamcast was manufactured in Malaysia if I remember correctly & the contacts had oxidized like crazy. I was having alot of hangs & crashes at first until I took everything apart & realized what the problem was. I used the alcohol from some medical wipes & Q-tips to carefully scrape them clean & then reassembled the unit with GDEmu. It worked perfectly after that, but I'll probably need to replace the PSU completely in the future.

[Shelcoof]

I've read that the clones are just as good, but not officially supported when it comes to updates & whatnot. No bother, I'm sure the community will pool together & create lots of stuff specifically for the clones. Sucks that it takes away business from the OG creator but it was bound to happen with the availability issue + high demand. I bet he will still sell out when he creates new batches anyway, so despite his understandable frustration there's probably no real harm in a little competition.

I didn't replace my PSU but I did have to clean it. My Dreamcast was manufactured in Malaysia if I remember correctly & the contacts had oxidized like crazy. I was having alot of hangs & crashes at first until I took everything apart & realized what the problem was. I used the alcohol from some medical wipes & Q-tips to carefully scrape them clean & then reassembled the unit with GDEmu. It worked perfectly after that, but I'll probably need to replace the PSU completely in the future.

I swear I must have read this exact post when I was researching more info on the PSU mod.
Maybe somewhere on Reddit.... not sure

Thank god for Xbox backwards compatibility on the 360. For the longest time I never owned an original Xbox. Was able to play JSRF on there.

Support was unfortunately not good enough for me. I believe two stages ran at about 1/3 speed which obviously kills them. Bummer. I did get a J-Xbox recently after mine didn't survive my tenure in Japan. Now to just crank it up finally.

Didn't get to play a whole lot of JSRF. When I got the 360 I had so many back logged Xbox games. Shenmue II, Panzer Dragoon Orta and a few others Xbox games I wanted to see on the 360.

I remember rushing to to play Panzer Dragoon Orta over this and once I got going with Panzer Dragoon Orta... that was it. Forgot to go back to JSRF. I will eventually get back to it

I hear it is vastly improved over the original.

[JBC]

Ha, it was probably me. I did post about that on Reddit.

[GaijinPunch]

I hear it is vastly improved over the original.

It's a sore subject for a lot of people. I won't say apples and oranges, but I do find I love and replay them both.

[Immryr]

i prefer the original but jsrf is good too.

[Shelcoof]

I enjoyed the original as well but I could never for the life of me get the inputs right trying to paint. Kept messing up on the half circles and quarter circle inputs.

I remember introducing Jet Grind to a chick I was interested in. She ended up taking up Roller Blading [she failed lol] and getting an Xbox for JSRF.

[scrilla4rella]

I recently fired up my DC and played some Zero Gunner 2, Dynamite Deka 2, Cannon Spike and Border Down. ZG2 and BD still look amazing, god damn! BD was much better than I remembered. I think my tastes have moved towards it over the years. When it was released I couldn't stop comparing it to Ikaruga. But now that I've 1cc'd Metal Black and played the shit out of the Darius series (and not just G Darius) I can appreciate G. Rev's masterpiece that much more.

I hooked up the console through an older VGA box with a cheap VGA scanline generator to a crappy LCD.

DC > VGA box > scanline generator > LCD

Things looked pretty good but not perfect. I preferred the scan lines off for BD. The only downside to all of this is that I'm now looking out for a CRT VGA monitor.

[Shelcoof]

I'd give you one of my CRT Monitors if you were local. I hoarded like 10 over the years.

With these CRT Monitors you really have to boot them up and see how good they look before buying. I have three on hand that are going. Colors starting to wash out but they are still crystal clear though.

But luckily for me I have a few sets that still produce a very nice colorful picture. They are all shadow masks.... I don't think I'll ever come across an aperture grille monitor

I remember back in the days Ikaruga was the big game that was coming out. I had already secured my copies off of NCSX at the time and was waiting for it's arrival.

Buddy of mine decided to send me a file the size of I think 14mb or 17mb and told me to enjoy the game. I was like dude are you sure this is the game. He was like yhaa just unzip it. So I did... burnt the CDR and wow.... Ikaruga!

To my surprise I was expecting something that played more closely to Radiant Silvergun but eventually I started to really enjoy the game. I love the game but I'm still so very terrible at the game.

Boarder Down is one that I really wanted to enjoy but I just couldn't get into it. Looks gorgeous and the game has really good controls but I think the difficulty is what really got to me. It is in my opinion a hard game lol.

I love scanlines but I find 3D games on the Dreamcast look much worse and jaggy. 2D is where the scanline shines.

[BIL]

Deka 2 is giving me the violent urge to hook up my DC and smash a urinal over a motherfucker's head to the best enemy KO sample ever (*WHAM* "EIHHH! EIIIHHH!"). Or even ARREST SOME MUHFUCKAS ("GAWRRR!" "YOU LOSER!"). Living overseas far from anyone who GAF unfortunately. However the survival mode is arcade crack much like that of Final Fight CD's Time Attack and Double Dragon Advance's own survival, so I might just do that this weekend.

[scrilla4rella]

Deka 2 is giving me the violent urge to hook up my DC and smash a urinal over a motherfucker's head to the best enemy KO sample ever (*WHAM* "EIHHH! EIIIHHH!"). Or even ARREST SOME MUHFUCKAS ("GAWRRR!" "YOU LOSER!"). Living overseas far from anyone who GAF unfortunately. However the survival mode is arcade crack much like that of Final Fight CD's Time Attack and Double Dragon Advance's own survival, so I might just do that this weekend.

lol. Don't forget to nuke the mooks by the swimming pool