[img width=400 height=340]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2009/05/ba52_sega_dreamcast_console_partsjpg.jpeg[/img]
Looking back at this very blog, it appears that it was just about this time last year that I lost all interest in my Summer Gaming list and starting spending a bunch of time with my Dreamcast. In fact it was after I had beaten four of my ten games last year that this occurred. Guess how many I've beaten this year?
Let me tell you a stupid story. In the past I've often tried to be a one-console man. I can't really explain the need for this, but I'd usually try to just focus on a single console as far as collecting went. I guess my hope was to not overwhelm myself. So when I'd move from one collection to another, it usually meant selling off a bulk of what I had been collecting previously.
But recently I've come to terms with the idea that I'm not a single-console collector. I'm a video game collector. And because I love shmups, I was going to need to stop limiting my focus so much. Instead of a single console to collect shmups for, why not have a PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, Saturn and Dreamcast all hooked up and ready to go?
And at first the Dreamcast was just sitting there waiting for some new shmups -- I've just recently found a copy of Last Hope (non-Pink Bullets version sadly) for instance. But then OatBob's recent blog post got me thinking about my neglected console. And then I came across this wonderful checklist again:
[img width=700 height=905]http://i.imgur.com/H0Mcx.gif[/img]
Are you familiar with this? It's the list of all officially licensed US releases. In short, it's a pretty good reminder of just how many awesome titles, and how much variety there was released on the console in such a short span of time. It also reminds me of what an interesting period of time 9.9.99-January 2001 was for gaming.
I printed the list out and checked off the small handful of DC games I still own. And now I want more. But y'know what's nice about collecting DC stuff? For the most part it's relatively cheap.
Perhaps Dreamcast collecting is a sickness, but if there's a cure for this I don't want it.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/0/198820_43003_front.jpg[/img]
So I've sort of gotten into this habit lately of updating my blog everytime I beat a game. And that sort of overlaps the fact that I've been using this blog to chronicle my budding Dreamcast collection over the past two months (over 20 games now!). And THAT overlaps the fact that as I'm collecting DC games, I'm also trying very hard to spend time playing them and attempting to actually beat games instead of just building up a huge backlog of untouched games. So as such, I bring you Street Fighter Alpha 3.
[img width=581 height=448]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/0/198820/sfa3_screen014.jpg[/img]
Now let me first say that although I'm a huge fan of Street Fighter II, I really had limited experience with the Alpha series. I had played a bit of the first game's Game Boy Color port, as well as the third game's Game Boy Advance port. And although the GBA game is certainly impressive, it didn't really prepare me for the near-perfect arcade experiene I got out of the Dreamcast. The graphics in Alpha 3 are incredible, with bright colors popping off the screen. And the animations are fluid as hell, even at breakneck speeds.
[img width=581 height=448]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/0/198820/sfa3_screen017.jpg[/img]
Now first off I encountered nothing but frustration. I picked my usual Street Fighter, Chun-Li only to find that none of her moves worked. It's a strange feeling to control Chun-Li and tap away at a kick button furiously to find that she does do the expected move. But after a bit of reading, it turns out this has to do with the Isms, or play-styles. Changing Chun-Li's style to X-Ism brought her move set far closer to that of Street Fighter II (except I had no projectile attack). Once I figured this out, I was able to make my way through arcade mode pretty quickly. It was a blast taking on all these unfamiliar characters, having to fight Juni and Juli at the same time, and eventually ending up in a showdown with M. Bison once again.
But perhaps the craziest thing is that I beat the game using a standard Dreamcast controller. Not by choice, I tell you. I just can't find a fightpad I can afford. Sure I have an Agetec stick, but I'm no good at fighting games with a stick -- those are purely for shmups. So in the end I guess I'm just slowly getting used to this stupid controller. Something I never thought would happen!
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/0/197450_42217_front.jpg[/img]
Having recently played through Gunbird 2 -- another vertical shmup published by Capcom -- I assumed that I knew what was in store with me when I popped in GigaWing. Apparently I had no idea about the punch-you-in-the-crotch difficult game that was ahead of me, though. I recently decided that I would approach shmups by playing through them on the easiest difficulty first, and then incrementally attempting to take on harder levels of difficulty. But what I found was that even on the easiest difficulty (level 1 out of 5), GigaWing was amazingly tough.
[img width=480 height=391]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/0/197450/gigawing_screen001.jpg[/img]
Which is not to say I didn't like the game. I did. It's just that the challenge caught me off guard. But really it's a great looking game, with wonderful sprite-work and an onslaught of bullets that never slow the system down for a second. The music is fittingly good techno tunes, though strangely the boss battle music sounded very close to the Mortal Kombat theme song. (Remember? dun-nuh-dun-nuh-dun-NUH-dun-nuh-DUH-DUH!). I can't really comment on the story, as I own the Japanese version. But then again, I've never been one to pay close attention to storylines in shmups.
[img width=480 height=392]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/0/197450/gigawing_screen004.jpg[/img]
I am curious though -- is GigaWing as hard as I think it is? I mean, I'm no shmup expert, but I do pretty well and I've played quite a few. Was I just having an off day? Have any of you freaks actually 1CC'd this thing? Seems impossible to me.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/7/197507_42259_front.jpg[/img]
I'm taking a bit of a different approach to collecting Dreamcast games. I'm going slow. In the past with other consoles I've felt a need to hoard. Then I end up with mountains of games I've never even tried. With Dreamcast I've decided to take my time. I have just over a dozen games so far. But I'm trying to get ones I really want to play, and then spend serious time with them.
I loved the first Gunbird on PS1 (released in America as Mobile Light Force). And I must say the second is even better. It's got everything that made the first so great -- cutesy witches, colorful bullets in mesmerizing patterns, excellent music, fantastic sprite work -- but the second game has Morrigan!
Normally when I get a new shmup I quarter-feed my way through it the first time. I figure that the goal of most shmups is to continually get better at it. Serious shmuppers are of course always after that 1CC. However I realized something; what's the point of quarter-feeding really? Why not just start at the easiest mode and work your way up? This kind of makes more sense to me. It's a slow progression, where you get better from practice but the game gets harder with each new difficulty.
[img width=580 height=435]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/gunbird2/gunbird2_b2_screen001.jpg[/img]
And I'll be glad to spend some time getting better at Gunbird 2. It's really a wonderful game that I'd highly recommend to all shoot-em-up fans who may have overlooked it.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/6/197066_50242_front.jpg[/img]
I am an not a huge fan of 3D fighting games, but Dead Or Alive surprised me back on the the PlayStation. However, the PS2 release of DOA: Hardcore didn't really do as much for me as the original game. For some reason, it just didn't even feel like it was good enough (in appearance or gameplay) to be a PS2 game. The funny thing is, Hardcore was actually an upgraded revision of Dead Or Alive 2 for Dreamcast. And yet, I find this original version (there were apparently eleven variations of DOA2 released throughout various regions and systems) to be completely amazing.
Perhaps part of it is that I can't even believe how great this game looks running on 1999 hardware. The jump from blockiness to this is staggering from the first game to the second. I also found the controls far more responsive than in the original -- though of course the DC controller is not meant for fighters. Luckily the Agetec arcade stick exists, as I wouldn't have been able to play this game otherwise. (I should also mention I'm trying to get my hands on one of those Ascii fight pads if anyone has one they want to trade). The music is also incredible. After running through Story Mode with Kasumi, I cranked the end credits music and pondered seeking out the soundtrack.
As you can see, my new Dreamcast collection is slowly growing. I'm just around a dozen games now. But it looks like I have a rather amazing library to disover ahead of me.
[img width=309 height=317]http://images.wikia.com/mightandmagic/en/images/5/50/Dreamcast_logo.jpg[/img]
A lot of my gaming friends on the interwebs seem to totally adore the Sega Dreamcast. And to an extent, I've always understood why. I mean, it was short-lived, but it was certainly an exciting period in gaming. It was a console that embraced new things like online gameplay and strange accessories. It was also a dream machine for arcade gamers, with 2D fighters, shmups and racing games galore. But more interestingly it was home to some seriously strange experiments. Games like Seaman, Space Channel 5 and Shenmue. But something kept me away for a long time. It was nothing personal against the Dreamcast, I just didn't feel like I needed another console to collect for.
That being said, I've always kept an eye on Dreamcast news. I always found it an interesting and respectable console. And then something weird happened. I found myself with a considerable amount of retro-store game credit, and nothing in particular to spend it on. And then somebody offered to trade me a Dreamcast for an Xbox which I had saved from a yard sale, but let collect dust for several months. I knew this was it. This was time for me to finally bite the bullet and explore the Dreamcast world proper rather than just read about it.
Continue reading The Sega Swirl
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