Dreamcast imports!

[Nico87]

Finally got around to buying a Japanese Dreamcast again, and I'm looking for some game recommendations.

I've created a wanted list, and it so far consists of..

Cool Cool Toon
Chu Chu Rocket
Mars Matrix
Black Matrix Advanced
Giga Wing 2
Under Defeat
House of the Dead Box Set w/ gun
Frame Gride
Heavy Metal Geomatrix
Gunbird 2
Zero Gunner 2
Elemental Gimmick Gear
Sonic Adventure 1 & 2
Cosmic Smash
Rez
Space Channel 5
Lack of Love
Guilty Gear X
Samba de Amigo ver. 2000
Chaos Field
Street Fighters 3rd Strike
Street Fighter III W Impact
Garou Mark of Wolves
Super Hero Retsuden
Giga Wing 2
Doki Doki Idol Star Seeker Remix
Gunspike
Soul Calibur
Napple Tale
Bomber Hehhe!
Virtual On Oratorio Tangram
De La Jet Set Radio (already bought)
Bangai-O
Border Down

Now, most of these are mainstream and well-known games, and I certainly won't buy all of them. What I'm mainly looking for is "hidden gems", great-but-not-well-known-games or whatever. I obviously know of Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia, but I can barely understand Japanese at all, so I might get a boot disc (Utopia, DC-X) at some point and buy the US versions of those games.

Oh, and if some of those shmups listed are totally fucking shit, please let me know! Same applies if any one of the shmup sequels listed have awesome predecessors, like Zero Gunner 1 for example (I have no clue if ZG1 is any good at all, just used that game as an example).

If you know of any, help me out!

[evil_ash_xero]

Bangai-O

[Nico87]

Ah, of course, added.

[evil_ash_xero]

If you don't have it already, you certainly can't forget Ikaruga.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Border Down? Psyvariar 2? (If you don't own a stick, the PS2 version would be more reasonable choice as it has the roll button.) Twinkle Star Sprites. Karous? Radirgy? Triggerheart Exelica?
(Reportedly Twinkle Star Sprites on the DC doesn't suffer from slowdown. If it's true, I'd say it's the DC game to own.)
You can try out the first Zero Gunner on Model 2 Emulator. I liked it. Seems like not only ZG2 and Under Defeat, but also the original Sin & Punishment owes ZG quite a few things.

[evil_ash_xero]

Oh don't be telling him to get Triggerheart....

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'm not exactly recommending those "?" games. You certainly can't go wrong with Twinkle Star Sprites and that's it.

[neorichieb1971]

I have zero gunner 2 for sale, but I don't know what to ask for it.

[Nico87]

Meh, I find Ikaruga boring, Radirgy and the Psyvariar games I already have the PS2 ports of, Karous I can live without and THE can die. I already have the Saturn port of Twinkle Star Sprites, but I'll get the DC port if it doesn't have the slowdown.

Kinda looking for more non-shmups since the 100 shmups I have for various consoles is enuff.

Border Down should obviously have been listed, and I've added it now.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Rainbow Cotton? Looks rather good. Typing of the Dead looks like a fun game, but you can as well play it on the PC. Rayman 2: The Great Escape is all sorts of fantastic, but - all things considered - the PC version slightly tops the DC one. Seaman? Power Stone?
Depressing thread this, isn't it?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Japanese DC import of Rez does have support for the DC VGA Box but runs at a mind-blowing 30fps framerate in 640 x 480 res. The PS2 version of Rez runs at a sliky smooth 60fps framerate.

It's recommended to get the DC Twin Sticks controller for proper playing with the DC port of VOOT. Or you could use a Sega Saturn Twin Sticks controller with a SS to DC controller convertor box setup (aka the Dragon 3rd-party peripheral manufacturer produced "Total Control 3" adapter box).

The DC import of Frame Gride supports the DC Link-up cable provided that you have two DC consoles and two copies of said game. The only two other DC games that have built-in DC Link-up support are VOOT & Ferrari 355 Challenge. So that makes for a grand total of three DC games that take advantage of the optional DC Link-up cable.

Only thing is that the DC game of Frame Gride didn't get a proper Stateside release but both VOOT from American video game publisher Activision & F-355 Challenge from defunct USA based Acclaim publisher did.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Obiwanshinobi]

The Japanese DC import of Rez does have support for the DC VGA Box but runs at a mind-blowing 30fps framerate in 640 x 480 res. The PS2 version of Rez runs at a sliky smooth 60fps framerate.

And where exactly have you got this data about the PS2 version framerate being 60 fps? Tetsuya Mizuguchi himself admitted that the XBLA version runs at 60 fps rather than the original's 30, but all I'm sure about the PS2 port is that - at least in places - it runs at helluva lot less than 60 (at least one bossfight and certain parts of the last stage run slightly choppy).

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The PS2 version of Rez runs at 60fps in most instances but does dip below that famed arcade-spec framerate from time to time. It's been said that the DC version of Rez runs at a consistant 30fps though.

There is the RezHD port on the XBox360 -- is that the one you're referring to, Obiwanshinobi? You might recall that RezHD did get an actual XBox 360 game disc release under the "Qubed" name from U.S. based video game publisher Atari.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Obiwanshinobi]

Aye, Rez HD is the name.
An interview:

Going back to the PlayStation 2 version of Rez, it seemed like the controls weren’t as good. Was that my imagination, or did you tweak them?

I think that there are a few reasons. One is the screen getting wider, and it’s easier to watch and control. The resolution helps also. And increasing the frames per second from 30 to 60. We did some adjustment for the Xbox 360 version.

[Kiken]

The Japanese DC import of Rez does have support for the DC VGA Box but runs at a mind-blowing 30fps framerate in 640 x 480 res. The PS2 version of Rez runs at a sliky smooth 60fps framerate.

You're confusing frames with fields. The DC version is doing 30 frames per second at 640x480p, the PS2 version is doing 60 fields per second (30 frames) at 640x480i.

And Obiwanshinobi, Rainbow Cotton is pretty awful. Horrific auto-centering places Cotton dead-center in the middle of the screen most of the time, obscuring everything coming at you.

[louisg]

Hmm an awful lot of those are available domestically, at least in the US. I'm not sure if that'd still save you dough or not. Anyway, I have to recommend F355, Test Drive Le Mans, and Rush 2049 in addition to those. No Crazy Taxi? I'd also un-recommend Chaos Field (and Karous) and say go for Radio Allergy instead if you want a Milestone game. If you like gun games, Confidential Mission is good. And if you like HotD, Typing of the Dead is great.

I also enjoyed KoF98 a lot on that system, even though it does have the goofy 3d backgrounds and the arrange music isn't great. Last Blade 2 is excellent too. And you can't be without Power Stone 1, 2, or both. 2 is 4 player and is maybe a little more random/partyish, and 1 is 2-player but maybe a little more strategic.

BTW the link-up mode in VOOT is really good. I also had a decent experience without twin sticks (considering you'll want to be autocenter jump/canceling a lot anyway), but YMMV. Heavy Metal was underwhelming imo.

Rainbow Cotton being awful seconded. You can get Space Harrier as part of Shenmue 2 (or that Yu Suzuki pack) if you need a decent chase-view shooter =) But keep in mind that the racing games on the Yu Suzuki disk have altered graphics and none of the games have an options menu.

EDIT:
Here are also some interesting games that you should grab if you can get them really cheap:

Virtua Fighter 3 - While not great, it's got some interesting ideas like the multiheight playfields. It's definitely the oddest member of that series.
Outtrigger - It's an arcade deathmatch FPS in the vein of Quake 3. Each player has different abilities and the pace is very fast. The single player sucks, but you might get some enjoyment out of it if you can coax a friend into playing. You'll want to have a DC mouse for this.
Wetrix+ - Terrain falling block game, kind of if you crossed Tetris with Populous. You build up the terrain to keep water from spilling off the sides. If you build up too much terrain, an earthquake happens, so the trick is to build it up enough, create as many lakes as possible, but not to have too much terrain overall.
Zombie Revenge - Poorly balanced zombie beat 'em up.. it's fun though There's also Dynamite Cop, which is a lot worse but is entertaining in the very-short term

[Daigohji]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Project Justice: Rival Schools 2, Dead or Alive 2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Virtua Tennis, Shenmue 1 & 2, Grandia 2, Typing of the Dead.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The arcade racing game of Power Drift on the DC game Yu Suzuki's Gameworks Vol. 1 has an accessible option screen to select either original or export versions of PD. Plus you can listen to all the various BGM tunes including a couple that weren't used in-game.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Nico87]

Depressing thread this, isn't it?

It's lovely.

[Shelcoof]

I have number of games on that list available if your interested. Check out my available page

http://gametz.com/user/Shelcoof.html

[ROBOTRON]

INCOMING
EXPENDABLE

2 very good games for DC that go under most peoples radar. Silent Scope is the shizz-nitt too. THE LAST BLADE II is also good fot those of you without a Neo-Geo.

[Obiwanshinobi]

INCOMING
EXPENDABLE

2 very good games for DC that go under most peoples radar.

Aren't the PC versions better?

[louisg]

Stay away from WinCE games

[Obiwanshinobi]

Stay away from WinCE games

Or just don't use your computer. It might break, don't you know? Unlike your fragile, not longer manufactured console.

[BrianC]

Stay away from WinCE games

Or just don't use your computer. It might break, don't you know? Unlike your fragile, not longer manufactured console.

louisg meant DC games programmed in WinCE. In general, they look inferior compared to games not programmed in WinCE. I like the DC SEGA Rally 2 despite the issues, though.

[ROBOTRON]

INCOMING
EXPENDABLE

2 very good games for DC that go under most peoples radar.

Aren't the PC versions better?

Only if If your intestine is irritated, redness happens around the PC edition.

[louisg]

louisg meant DC games programmed in WinCE. In general, they look inferior compared to games not programmed in WinCE. I like the DC SEGA Rally 2 despite the issues, though.

Yeah Sega Rally 2 is fun. I liked it a lot when I got it, but going back to it, I didn't like the physics. It's worth picking up for the championship mode, if you can get it cheap and have already played the first Sega Rally game.

[apple arcade]

Oh don't be telling him to get Triggerheart....

DC version of Triggerheart has an arrange mode wich is worth the cost itself.

[Nico87]

Oh don't be telling him to get Triggerheart....

DC version of Triggerheart has an arrange mode wich is worth the cost itself.

I am actually considering it after all. It will just look weird to have only one DVD-case in my shelf (Under Defeat), but I ain't paying $100 or whatever just to have one more for shelf beautiness. Didn't like the game at all but I haven't tried Arrange Mode.

[greg]

Twinkle Star Sprites for the Dreamcast has a toggle for slowdown. You can choose to have it or not. It also has sound options for the quality of music too.