Virtual Dreamcast

Propeller Arena

blog Flight Simulator August 11, 2016

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Genre: Flight Simulator

Release Year: Unreleased

Developer: Sega AM2

Publisher: Sega

Age Rating: N/A

Playability Status: Excellent

Tested On: ,

Availability: ,

A very fun arcade flight game for up to four players. Forget realistic simulation, Propeller Arena is all about dogfighting. It’s a great party game to play with a group of friends.

Despite being finished, Sega opted not to release the game due to the then recent September 11th attacks. Eventually however, copies of the game leaked onto the internet and into the hands of eager Dreamcast fans.

Emulators tested

Demul 0.7a (DirectX 11) – The game runs very well with just occasional stuttering. Sound emulation may not be entirely accurate.

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Game runs well with very occasional graphical and audio glitches and stuttering. Sound emulation may not be entirely accurate.

Makaron T12.7 – Untested.

Special configuration options

None required. Using the “Disable auto sort” option may improve performance at the cost of slightly more glitches.

Percentage of game played

Five different stages in single player mode.

Videos and screenshots

Coming soon.

Reviews and other information

Wikipedia.

Other versions

The game was never released for any other system.

Did we get anything wrong?

Let us know in the comments if we missed anything or got anything wrong when testing this game.

Shenmue 2

Action-Adventure blog Role Playing July 27, 2016

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Genre: Action-adventure, Role Playing

Release Year: 2001

Developer: Sega AM2

Publisher: Sega

Age Rating: 12+

Playability Status: Excellent

Tested On: ,

Availability: ,

Yu Suzuki’s epic open world action adventure arrived too late to change the fortunes of the Dreamcast console, but nevertheless remains a compelling and interesting addition to the consoles library. Released only in Europe and Japan (US gamers would have to purchase an Xbox console in order to play), the game continues the story of Ryo Hazuki as he travels to Hong Kong to find his fathers murderers.

Despite positive reviews and wide anticipation amongst fans, the game sold relatively poorly and we’re still waiting for the (now successfully crowd funded) third installment.

Emulators tested

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Game is prone to both audio and graphical glitches but is quite playable. Make sure the “Disable Auto Sort” option on the video config menu is off.

Demul 0.7A (DirectX 11) – Game runs well, there are several instances of annoying audio glitches. In Demul’s DirectX 11 graphical options, set “Max layers” as high as you can without affecting performance. 64 layers are required for near perfect emulation, though the game is still pretty playable with 32 layers. See the video below for more information.

Makaron T12.7 – Untested.

Special configuration options

Shenmue 2 is a game which pushes the Dreamcast, and therefore your Dreamcast emulator to the limit. You will need high spec hardware to get the most out of the game.

Percentage of game played

Opening few minutes only.

Videos and screenshots

This Youtube video by DarknessK shows a section of gameplay and demonstrates how the emulation is affected by changing the number of layers.

Reviews and other information

Wikipedia
IGN Review
Shenmue Dojo (great source of information on all things Shenmue)

Other versions

The game also launched on the Microsoft Xbox console.

Did we get anything wrong?

Let us know in the comments if we missed anything or got anything wrong when testing this game.

Transfer save games from your Dreamcast console

blog news April 15, 2016

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vmu-game We’ve just added another tutorial to our site, this time we’re talking about transferring save games from a real Dreamcast console to a PC. If you owned a Dreamcast back in the day, chances are you filled a VMU memory unit or two with save games. Wouldn’t it be great to revisit some of those save games on the emulator? You can revisit your favourite titles in HD without the need to unlock all the extra levels or features you gamed so hard to unlock back when the Dreamcast was new.

To transfer save games you need a working Dreamcast console, a SD card reader and a copy of Dreamshell. Once you have all of those things, the process is fairly easy. Check out the full tutorial here for details of what to do.

Confidential Mission

blog Rail shooter March 25, 2016

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Genre: Rail Shooter

Release Year: 2000

Developer: Hitmaker

Publisher: Sega

Age Rating: 15+

Playability Status: Playable (with significant issues)

Tested On: ,

Availability: ,

Another rip-roaring light gun shooter for your Dreamcast console. Confidential Mission casts you as agent Gibson. With the aid of his partner Jean Clifford, the pair must infiltrate (by infiltrate we mean shoot to pieces) the sinister terrorist organization known as Agares.

Emulators tested

Demul 0.7a (DirectX 11) – The game appears to run very well graphically. Aiming with the mouse is easier than the light gun, but reloading requires that you drag your pointer to the edge of the screen and fire. This seems to be even more difficult than in House of the Dead 2 and completely spoils the game.

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Untested.

Makaron T12.7 – Untested.

Special configuration options

Remember to configure your emulator for light gun games. See this page for more information.

Percentage of game played

First level only.

Videos and screenshots

Coming soon.

Reviews and other information

Wikipedia.

Other versions

The game originally appeared in the arcades. The Dreamcast version is the only version produced for home systems.

Did we get anything wrong?

Let us know in the comments if we missed anything or got anything wrong when testing this game.

House of the Dead 2

blog Rail shooter March 25, 2016

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Genre: Rail Shooter

Release Year: 1999

Developer: WOW Entertainment

Publisher: Sega

Age Rating: 18+

Playability Status: Very good

Tested On: ,

Availability: ,

Sega’s B-movie inspired coin-op hit gets a fantastic conversion for the Sega Dreamcast. This very playable zombie themed light gun game is fantastic fun in co-op, a feature sadly not supported particularly well by the current crop of emulators.

Emulators tested

Demul 0.7a (DirectX 11) – Game runs well but has some minor audio glitches. Aiming with the mouse is easier than the light gun, but reloading requires that you drag your pointer to the edge of the screen and fire. This is much slower with a mouse so the game becomes quite difficult to play.

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Game does not seem to detect the mouse/emulated light gun properly, meaning you can only play with control pad, not very much fun.

Makaron T12.7 – Untested.

Special configuration options

Remember to configure your emulator for light gun games. See this page for more information.

Percentage of game played

First level only.

Videos and screenshots

Coming soon.

Reviews and other information

Wikipedia.

Other versions

The game originally appeared in the arcades. It was also eventually ported to the Xbox and Wii games consoles, as well as for Windows PCs. If you can track down a copy of the PC version, note that it supports using the right mouse button to reload, which makes things considerably easier. However, even in the official Windows port, you still cannot play two player co-op using two mice.

Did we get anything wrong?

Let us know in the comments if we missed anything or got anything wrong when testing this game.

Dreamcast light guns and emulation

blog news February 21, 2016

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Die zombie die!

We’ve just added a brief new tutorial concerning Dreamcast light guns and how they are supported in emulators. If you’ve never used a lightgun, it’s a toy gun that you plug into your games console and then point at the screen. The console can then tell where the gun is pointing and this allows you to shoot at targets such as zombies or bad guys in various games. Light guns used to be much more common, but when CRT televisions died out, they became considerably more complex to implement at a hardware level and so are noticeably absent on more modern consoles.

One of our fondest memories from the Dreamcast era was playing House of the Dead 2 in 2-player co-op. Regrettably, there’s no way that we’re aware of to get support for two light-guns in any current Dreamcast emulators.

If you want to play light gun in your Dreamcast emulator, check out the tutorial here.

Demul 0.7a Released

blog news February 20, 2016

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demul-window We’re a little late to the party on this one, but just while we thought development on Demul had stopped, a new version was released just before Christmas. Demul 0.7a brings lots of new compatibility improvements and fixes, especially regarding NAOMI2 compatibility (Dreamcast’s arcade machine big brother).

Download yourself a copy of Demul 0.7a here.

Zombie Revenge

blog Fighting November 6, 2015

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Genre: Action, Fighting

Release Year: 1999

Developer: Sega

Publisher: Sega

Age Rating: 18+

Playability Status: Excellent

Tested On: ,

Availability: ,

A cross between House of the Dead and Streets of Rage, Zombie Revenge is a fun little game but it’s high difficulty level and often awkward camera do manage to spoil it somewhat.

Emulators tested

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Game runs well with no noticeable glitches.

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 11) – Game runs well with no noticeable glitches.

Makaron T12.7 – Untested.

Special configuration options

None required.

Percentage of game played

First few scenes, up until the computer room where the floppy disk is inserted.

Videos and screenshots

Coming soon.

Reviews and other information

Wikipedia.

Other versions

The game first released in the arcades. The Dreamcast version is the only version released for home systems.

Did we get anything wrong?

Let us know in the comments if we missed anything or got anything wrong when testing this game.

Xtreme Sports

blog Sports November 6, 2015

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Genre: Sports

Release Year: 2000

Developer: Innerloop Studios

Publisher: Sega

Age Rating: Everyone

Playability Status: Excellent

Tested On: ,

Availability: ,

Been there, done that, tried it all? If you’re bored of your regular sports games why not give this title a try? You’ll go sky surfing, bungee jumping and and skateboarding, sometimes all on the same stage. This game is known as Sega Extreme Sports in Europe.

Emulators tested

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Game starts but crashes soon after the attract mode starts playing.

Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 11) – Game runs very well. There are some minor anomalies, such as a strange checkerboard type pattern in a small part of the sky and some very obvious texture pop-in, as well as some occasional audio glitches.

Makaron T12.7 – Untested.