So, I bought a Dreamcast

[Lanlan]

I was at a local game store earlier and I saw a dreamcast for $25. I bought it. It came with a controller, a vmu, and a few demo discs. I already know it can play backups but that's about it. Can anyone give me a crash course in sega dreamcast? Not basic consumer stuff, stuff like hacking or whatever. And what's with the windows ce?

 

[Saken]

It can collect dust.

 

[Lanlan]

I thank you for your helpful comment, sir

 

[YayMii]

Only think I can think of is the bleem PSX emulator, but that's about it. They only made a few disc loaders only designed for certain games, but you'll be able to find a leak capable of playing tons more games online.

 

[Clarky]

dcemu.co.uk used to be the place back in the day for all kinds of homebrew

there did used to be all kinds of emulators for it but i think they only really went as far as the snes, and even then they wouldnt run at full speed (only pal games would run at full speed i hear)

as mentioned there is the bleemcast emu, if you can track down the original 3 discs (gran turismo 2, tekken 3 and metal gear solid) they run great except metal gear solid would experience slowdown at the elevator fight if my memory serves me right, only pain in the arse with bleem was you had to format a vmu to be used exclusively with it. As for the leaked bleemcast, it was very hit and miss from what i can recall, only so many games work well and i think there is no saving at all

you should be able to find a few media players for it as well, there definatley was a divx player and many homebrew games to be had

 

[gloweyjoey]

Essentially there is an SD card adapter that hooks to the serial port and comes with some boot disks and you can put your roms for emulators on the card and whatever video formats supported by the app used.

check your PMs for some HELPFUL links.

 

[junkerde]

for shame.

 

[Foxi4]

Windows Ce is not "entirely" on the console, it's fragmented and its pieces are scattered on game discs and the main console. It allowed using numerous functions that were PocketPC specific, for example internet connectivity.

Most Dreamcasts are entirely capable of playing backups out of the box. Sega expected that their new format, the GD-Rom will be enough to stop hackers. Then CD-Rom overburning started being popular, matching the GD-Rom's capacity and thus "dooming" the console since it was compatible with CD-Roms due to the built-in CD-R/CD player.

You can connect to the internet using the DreamKey browser which is freely available with some games of hardware, you can also burn it.

To connect you will either need the extremely rare LAN connector which replaces the built-in modem OR you will need to build a LAN-to-Dial-Up adapter (yes, it's possible and it's cheaper then the LAN connector if you're technologically inclined to build one).

The Dreamcast also had a keyboard perhaptial which greatly improved internet browsing. It's still available as far as I know.

VMU's could be used as a sort of "portable console" - some games allowed you to install minigame data and play those minigames on your memory card. Unfortunatelly those bad boys ate battery life quite quickly. Most notable title would be Sonic Adventure, allowing you to change your VMU into a tamagotchi.

There's alot to discover in the world of Dreamcast. I honestly believe it died way ahead of its time, but despite that, it has a decent ammount of games in its library and running homebrew on it is as easy as it gets.

Did I miss something?

 

[DjoeN]

You can play backups out of the box with your Dreamcast!

In the early years you had to use a (backup) disc loader, but later on the implemented this in the game iso's, older iso's that needed the bootloader could be patched to inject the bootloader into it
THIS didn't work with all games, so for some you still need a disc loader.

There are Emus for the Dreamcast, but you have to make an iso for them and place the roms you wanna play on the disc, there are tools for that to.
Be sure to have enough batteries for the VMU, cause it drains alot of it

Ow and be sure to pick up a copy of Night into Dreams with the special controller, that one just roxs!

 

[Foxi4]

Ow and be sure to pick up a copy of Night into Dreams with the special controller, that one just roxs!

Nights into Dreams was for the Saturn and later the PS2, not for the Dreamcast. You're reffering to the Saturn 3D controller, I assume?

 

[choconado]

I had the Saturn controller--It was pretty much a more primitive version of the standard Dreamcast controller. Nonetheless, it was the first analogue controller I had so there you go.

 

[Lanlan]

How would the media players work? Would I just burn whatever media I want onto the disc that has the media player on it? And what's this SD serial thing? What can it be used for?

 

[Gahars]

Hmm, someone beat me to the "collect dust" joke. Let me think... nope, I really have nothing.

It was a great yet sadly unappreciated system, sure, but there isn't much left to it now. Many of the games really haven't aged all that well, and you can easily find ports of most of its best games on other consoles.

Still, I guess it might look nice on a mantel piece.

 

[Rydian]

With the media players I used, they usually loaded themselves into RAM so you could swap the disc out for one with your files on it.

 

[Devante]

Jet Grind Radio.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Sonic Adventure 2