How is your Dreamcast gaming going on?

[Ziggy]

Only early model PS1's had composite AV jacks on the back of console, and they still had the Playstation multi AV output like all other models.

Speaking of composite being the cheap alternative, its cheap but there are some head scratchers. If they wanted to make things as cheap as possible why would they even put any ports that hardly any one would ever use like Dreamcast serial pot, N64 expansion port, PSX parallel I/O port. Most people would have benefited from an RBG out cable.

Because you cannot always accurately predict the future, it's best to leave yourself options. For computer hardware, those options are expansion ports. While some expansion ports have seen limited or no use, other have proved popular. The N64 expansion port was used for the 64DD, a Japan only disk drive add on for the N64 that Nintendo decided to not support. The Genesis / Mega Drive's expansion port was very well used for the Sega CD add on, as was the PC Engine for its CD add on. Sony actually removed the PS1's parallel support because they didn't use it officially for anything, but yet unofficial devices used it for cheating and region bypassing. The PS1 serial port could be used to link two consoles together, for multiplayer using two consoles and two TVs. A handful of games supported the link cable.

[RCBH928]

Thanks Ziggy!

Interested in the topic went to search for youtube video about Dreamcast VGA output. Those trees look like they are in HD! And thats through his camera , compressed for YouTube, then screenshoted from my computer!

The Dreamcast is definitely NOT one of those "I remember it looking much better..." , in facts its quite the opposite. What was the best graphical game for the Dreamcast?

EDIT: I am looking at the houses in the background and I am wondering if they used real life photos as sprites for those trees

[Reprise]

What was the best graphical game for the Dreamcast?

- Shenmue 1 and 2 (the first game is more detailed in my opinion)
- Virtua Tennis 1 and 2
- Metropolis Street Racer
- Soul Calibur
- Jet Set Radio
- Crazy Taxi
- Dead or Alive 2

[Limewater]

I also agree with what marurun said about the Dreamcast being the first console to display attractive 3D models that look good on a modern display. I don't know what it is about the Dreamcast either, but its output is super sharp. I have tried PS2 and Gamecube on modern TVs via RGB, but they look rubbish compared to the Dreamcast via RGB (and definitely so compared to VGA).

I just remembered something regarding PS2.
I believe all of the games are in interlaced mode by default. You have to do something odd, like button presses during boot or sometimes finding a setting deep in a menu to enable progressive mode.
Were you doing this when running your PS2 through RGB? If not you were likely missing a lot of the benefit. I run my PS2 through component cables, and the graphical fidelity is much higher in progressive mode. Not every game supports it, though.

[Reprise]

I also agree with what marurun said about the Dreamcast being the first console to display attractive 3D models that look good on a modern display. I don't know what it is about the Dreamcast either, but its output is super sharp. I have tried PS2 and Gamecube on modern TVs via RGB, but they look rubbish compared to the Dreamcast via RGB (and definitely so compared to VGA).

I just remembered something regarding PS2.
I believe all of the games are in interlaced mode by default. You have to do something odd, like button presses during boot or sometimes finding a setting deep in a menu to enable progressive mode.
Were you doing this when running your PS2 through RGB? If not you were likely missing a lot of the benefit. I run my PS2 through component cables, and the graphical fidelity is much higher in progressive mode. Not every game supports it, though.

How did I not know this?

I just googled it and not all PAL games support 480p, but those that do support it do indeed require you to hold or press some combination of button presses whilst booting up a game. Weirdly it looks like it's a different combination depending on the game too.

I will test this later and report back haha. Thanks Limewater!

[RCBH928]

- Shenmue 1 and 2 (the first game is more detailed in my opinion)
- Virtua Tennis 1 and 2
- Metropolis Street Racer
- Soul Calibur
- Jet Set Radio
- Crazy Taxi
- Dead or Alive 2

Dead&Alive and Soul Calibur still look awesome! Are they arcade replica 1:1 like Neo Geo games? Shenmue is perplexing when compared to GTA II especially that PS2 is the more powerful console I believe.

I was wondering if there are any hidden gems i didn't know about

Were you doing this when running your PS2 through RGB? If not you were likely missing a lot of the benefit. I run my PS2 through component cables, and the graphical fidelity is much higher in progressive mode. Not every game supports it, though.

Can you see the difference between interlaced and progressive by eye?

I didn't know games had to be programmed to support out put, I thought the out put is taken care of by the hardware.

[Reprise]

- Shenmue 1 and 2 (the first game is more detailed in my opinion)
- Virtua Tennis 1 and 2
- Metropolis Street Racer
- Soul Calibur
- Jet Set Radio
- Crazy Taxi
- Dead or Alive 2

Dead&Alive and Soul Calibur still look awesome! Are they arcade replica 1:1 like Neo Geo games? Shenmue is perplexing when compared to GTA II especially that PS2 is the more powerful console I believe.

I was wondering if there are any hidden gems i didn't know about

Soul Calibur is actually better than arcade perfect. The graphics were significantly improved for the Dreamcast version. I remember it was the first time I was truly blown away by a home conversion of an arcade game.

In terms of hidden gems, I can't think of many that are as graphically impressive as the games I already mentioned. Some that I can think of though are:

- Headhunter (European exclusive. Plays like a bit lf a rip off of MGS, but has its own ideas too and has a very different tone to it)
- Alone in the Dark (incredible graphics and lighting effects)
- Shadowman (the Dreamcast version looks fantastic)
- Guilty Gear X (if 2D fighters are your thing, I can't think of many on the system that look better than this)
- NBA 2K2
- Sword of the Berserk
- Ecco the Dolphin

I didn't know games had to be programmed to support out put, I thought the out put is taken care of by the hardware.

Yeah, they did. A lot of North American and Japanese Dreamcast games don't support RGB, for example, as it wasn't a common format in your regions, whereas all PAL Dreamcast games do. Most games are compatible with the VGA lead, but not all are. And some games technically aren't, but you can trick them to work with the use of a boot disc, because they technically are compatible, but the developers either forgot or couldn't be bothered to put in the bit of code that tells a game to boot with the VGA leads plugged in.

[RCBH928]

Thanks for the game list, I will be looking into them. For me Marvel vs Capcom has hit the pinnacle of 2D fighters, at least aesthetic wise not necessarily hardware prowess department. I think I missed Alone in the Dark from my Dreamcast backlog, if its any good I will be adding it to my to play list.

[RCBH928]

How are those VMUs batteries holding? I am fear of saving games and then having my saves deleted. Do i need a battery change?

[Reprise]

How are those VMUs batteries holding? I am fear of saving games and then having my saves deleted. Do i need a battery change?

They don't require a battery to save, as VMUs use flash memory. The batteries are only used for playing mini games and using the diary/memory manager when it's not plugged into a console. The batteries don't last long, as the VMU seems to be always on in a low powered state, so I don't bother keeping batteries in mine.