Pre-Introducing... Me

[ScDream]

Hey all. I have on-again, off-again admired the DC "from a distance". I once foolishly sold off my Jpn-mod'd Saturn (with PD Saga, Radiant Silvergun, Elevator Action, DOA, and several other goodies) for next-to-nothing, meant to move to a DC, got distracted, didn't, and and well, I digress.

Anyway.

On a "do it now" impulse I now have a used DC coming to me via eBay, along with 2 controllers and TremorPak units. Doing some web searching I found this forum and a couple of others, but I feel like I really need to know the depths of the system, what's good and what's bad. A big FAQ pointer from anyone here would be cool. I also have a interest in learning about "little kid games" or "edutainment" stuff also to keep my 5-year-old in the mix.

My (dim) understanding is that the DC is used to emulate other platforms, can anyone point me to a way to play Intellivision and SNES games on the DC?

I intend to really dig through the posts here, but I admit I could use help with any/all newbie pointers anyone can give.

If I really have to plunk some real money down on the DC, I'll sell my Pippin to free up the cash. I want to have some fun with this thing!

Thanks!

[Barrys_Bapz]

Welcome to the Talk!

It's easy

Some Dreamcast's don't play copied games so make sure that your one does 90% of Dreamcast's most do.

Make sure your PC has a CD burner and download disk juggler or alcohol 120%

Download your Dreamcast game of choice

http://www.dcisozone.com/

Drag your image into alcohol or disk juggler

Burn

Enjoy

[Bob Dobbs]

To add to Barrys_Bapz (nice job, Bapz),

1. I find myself having problems with DiscJuggler at times (always my first choice with "cdi" files). When this occurs, I use cdi to nrg converter, then burn the iso with Nero 6.0 something. You do not want to load 7.0 or higher regarding Nero.

2. Intellivision (also referred to as "IntelliMESS") is great - if you can get around the poor user interface...it really is tough. You have to be careful of which game you play because the Intellivision games are not all controller friendly due to the Mattel controller/keypad, complete with as many buttons as 16 back in 1979. Just not something you can do today with a modern day controller.

3. For the little guy, besides Intellivision, Namco Museum is a friendly 6-game package for the little guy (Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Dig Dug, Galaga and Galaxian). These games have easy game play and was released on the Dreamcast.

4. The Dreamcast was not known for it's educational games but more for it's campy, quirky, unique games as well as being technologically ahead of it's time.

Please feel free to add to this...

[mazonemayu]

welcome dude, its nice to see there's still someone who knows (& owns) the pippin

respect

[TheCoolinator]

You have made the right decision. We are all proud of you

Welcome to the side of goodness. Those who follow the path of Dreamcast live happier, healthier lives.

[dirtydav]

Welcome!!

Your going to need at least 2 memory cards. They fill up quickly!
CD-R is the type you need. Memorex and TDK are the brands Ive tried and work great.

You can get some games from here too,
If you see a download from TuxTheWise it will work 100%

The demo of DiscJuggler works great for me.

Have fun!

[ScDream]

The DC-to-come comes with "a memory card", which I can assume is a 1mb thing. There is only 1 memory slot, correct, so I should look on eBay for a 4mb thing?

Is it possible to install/play games from a hard drive?


Thanks all for the warm welcome and ideas!

[dirtydav]

The memory cards are really small. I'm planing on getting a 4x memory card myself soon.

I don't think you can use a hard drive. your going to have to get a big stack of
CD-r's. I think I read something about playing games from a SD card but I'm not sure.

Another thing people have recommended me is to get a VGA Box and play your games on a computer monitor or a newish TV with a VGA input.

Check this out
http://the-dreamcast-junkyard.blogspot. ... a-wow.html

[K_I_R_E_E_K]

Welcome ScDream, we always like new DC fans

The controler on the dreamcast supports 2 input devices, so you can use 2 memory cards, 1 Mb is plenty, you will be able to save probably 8 or 9 game's main saves.
Another option is to buy the nexus memory unit, it has atleast 4 Mb but it uses a mechanism to switch slots, so in reality it has 4 x 1 Mb, changing the slot only requires you to press a button.
This is usefull to store several phantasy star onlince chars as each one needs 1 memory card, changing slots alows you to save another file.

My opinion, 2 regular memory cards or 1 nexus are more then enough.
(unless ofcourse you like to save lot's and lot's of custom tracks on revolt racing game or save all missions in the action game star lancer)

Is it possible to install/play games from a hard drive?

I'm going to wait for the other members input, i know a dreamcast can read 1 Gb memory cards, but to load games from there i don't know for sure.

[Barrys_Bapz]

I think our Russian friends can answer that one, I'd recommend you get a hold of Shenmue you can visit the arcade within the game it feels like visiting the past and the games are user friendly enough for your kid to join in.