Imports on Dreamcast Question

[theclaw]

Well yes, you're right I tend to sound dry. Except this didn't seem like a topic where my humor would be wanted...

[elmagicochrisg]

Well yes, you're right I tend to sound dry. Except this didn't seem like a topic where my humor would be wanted...

No worries...

There's also a very extreme solution, and that's to piggyback 2 extra bios chips on top of the original and program them with the other regions...

You know you're elite when you...

[ujnhunter]

I used to use a Gameshark to play Japanese games on my US Dreamcast... then I just bought a Japanese Dreamcast.

[pakopako]

I forget.. there was this one DC game that required disc-swapping without saving between disks (IIRC Shenmue 2 forces the player to save) -- how would a DCX or Utopia circumvent this?

[theclaw]

Well yes, you're right I tend to sound dry. Except this didn't seem like a topic where my humor would be wanted...

No worries...

There's also a very extreme solution, and that's to piggyback 2 extra bios chips on top of the original and program them with the other regions...

You know you're elite when you...

Actually that brings up a good question, since I'm not familiar with dreamcast hardware internals. Are modchips for it in some way riskier to use than on other consoles?

[BoringSupreez]

Modchips are mainly for speed and ease of use. Compatible real imports will direct boot as seamless as the DC's native region games. Avoiding the extra time needed by disc swaps, bios flashes, or CD-R copies. Of course some games without VGA support may still require a boot disc.

Yup, those 30 seconds of swapping are like a lifetime and a real pain in the ass...

That disc swapping trick is bad for your DC, you know. Why would you want to hasten the death of one of a finite number of Segas?

[flamepanther]

That disc swapping trick is bad for your DC, you know. Why would you want to hasten the death of one of a finite number of Segas?

The older hot-swap trick is bad for it because the drive is still spinning when you change the disc. Boot discs stop the drive before the swap, so it does no more harm than changing between games normally.

CD-R conversions of GD-ROM games might shorten the life of the console, but that's another issue entirely.

[Czernobog]

Is the Utopia Boot Disk the one with the reindeer on it when it loads? I can't remember if that's it or not, but that one almost always works for me. Hasn't worked a couple of times though.

[flamepanther]

Is the Utopia Boot Disk the one with the reindeer on it when it loads? I can't remember if that's it or not, but that one almost always works for me. Hasn't worked a couple of times though.

Correct

[Czernobog]

Is the Utopia Boot Disk the one with the reindeer on it when it loads? I can't remember if that's it or not, but that one almost always works for me. Hasn't worked a couple of times though.

Correct

Thanks!

Then my suggestion for the OP would be to try out the Utopia Disk and see if it works for their games and if they like it since it's relatively easy to get and use.

Although if I ever get really serious about importing a lot of DC games, I would save up for a nice edition Japanese Dreamcast (there's some fun editions).