New to Dreamcast, advice?

[Original_Name]

Because of its rapid-speed production rate and possibly Sega's economic situation at the time, the Dreamcast can be prone to a few issues. Fortunately, the console is one of the easiest disc-based consoles in terms of pinpointing what your problem is and fixing it on the first try without any problems with obscurely-placed-and-shaped screws (well, there's the one under the modem, I guess, but no x-clamps or the craziness you see in a 360) or bizarro hardware contraptions to deal with. If your Dreamcast arrives with a problem, or develops one during your use, easy fixes are fairly comprehensively documented.

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25626

In terms of RPGs, you're largely out of luck as an English-speaker. Skies of Arcadia is one of my favorite games of all time, but alot of the great and/or pleasantly quirky RPGs to accompany it were left in Japan, or cancelled halfway through translation when Sega dropped out of the console race. The Sakura Taisen series, Rent-A-Hero No. 1, Segagaga, and El Dorado Gate are all well-regarded amongst Japanese speakers (Sakura Taisen 3 being the highest-rated Dreamcast game ever in Japan according to a Retronauts podcast I listened to once), but unfortunately FAQs would be your only way of getting through any of those. Although, being that they are Sega and Capcom titles, they fare a decent chance of being translated by modders at some point in the future, given the relative ease of modding for the Dreamcast.

The shmups for the console are mostly very pricey, though they are mostly EXTREMELY good. To be honest, the only ones I've ever actually legitimately owned are Ikaruga, Bangai-O, Mars Matrix, and Twinkle Star Sprites -- the former being in my opinion every bit as good as the hype suggests and actually a bit underrated when you realize how fluidly and geniusly the philosophical concept it was trying to convey (Taoism) fits into the structure of the gameplay. Border Down, Under Defeat, Zero Gunner 2, and Castle Shikigami 2 are all upper-crust shmups in my book -- and Radilgy is damn cool too, though a lesser game in the ways that realy matter -- unfortunately, they're all priced a bit higher than they're worth. If I were you, I would stick to burning the shmups. If you feel like you absolutely must physically own a shmup on the Dreamcast, I say skip the western action title impulse buys for awhile and save up for Ikaruga, which you can typically find for about $70. Mars Matrix can be found for about half that, and is probably the cheapest worthwhile shmup in the Dreamcast's library, but Ikaruga is easily worth four Mars Matrices.

Fighters, on the other hand, tread much more wallet-friendly territory. You can get an import copy of Guilty Gear X or The King of Fighters: Dream Match for $10, an import copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or Street Fighter III: Third Strike for $20. All of which are games of unbelievable quality -- although Guilty Gear X I would probably recommend most highly to a new Dreamcast owner. Those visuals will make you a believer in the Dreamcast, I assure you! You will have to buy or burn a boot disc for imports, though. Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive 2 (little secret: the Japanese version of Dead or Alive 2 is the most comprehensive) are affordable 3D fighters that will offer countless hours of fun, and show what a graphical powerhouse the Dreamcast could be.

When you do, I highly suggest picking up a Sega Saturn pad and one of these converters:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-h5-49-en-70-46.html

On the topic of controllers, just avoid the third-party junk unless it's Agetec or Ascii. Shockingly, the MadCatz lightgun is of good quality as well. Outside of that... no... just no.

Unfortunately, many of the best Dreamcast experiences can get up past a $30 price range due to rarity or obscure peripherals. While I wish every gamer could get the full Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram and Outrigger experience with the Twin Stick, that incredible fourth-wall demolition when Seaman completely deconstructs your life as a human being during your conversations via microphone, or that shock at how much fun they're having against all expectations when doing things like reel in fish in Sega Marine Fishing, shake maracas in Samba de Amigo, or type zombies to death in The Typing of the Dead, it's just not practical for most gamers. Regardless, some rare titles which I highly recommend burning if you're comfortable with that are as follows:

Rez (my favorite game ever)
Ikaruga
Shenmue II
Space Channel 5: Part 2
Lack of Love
Cosmic Smash
Power Stone 2
Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
Puyo Puyo~n
D2
Project Justice
Illbleed (amazing if you're a Blue Stinger fan like me)

I think that most of the best affordable titles are nearly ubiquitous with the console -- you're already in possession of Jet Set Radio, which is possibly the embodiment of all things Dreamcast, and your to-get list is spotless so far. There are a few amazing, affordable games that tend to get looked over, though:

Toy Commander
Ecco the Dolphin (unfortunately you'll probably need a FAQ to enjoy this game, but it is a majestic experience in many ways)
Metropolis Street Racer
Phantasy Star Online (even offline, I say this is the best dungeon-crawler on the console -- make sure your copy includes an access code and look into flash-reseting if your console won't won't accept your code)
Frame Gride (a Japanese title by the From Software folks now famous for the Demon's Souls series that place like a cross between Virtual-On and From Software's own Armored Core -- now has an English mod patch)

Really, the best piece of advice I can give you in terms of buying games for the Dreamcast (and in general, really) is that sometimes it really is better to save up and grab that one fantastic, completely unique gem instead of buying five just-solid titles for the same price just to beef up your collection.

Overall, I'd say that the most essential Dreamcast experiences are Rez, Jet Set Radio, Ikaruga, Skies of Arcadia, Seaman, Samba de Amigo, Lack of Love, The Typing of the Dead, ChuChu Rocket!, the Space Channel 5 series, and the Shenmue series. Find a way to play those any way you can. Keep an open mind, forget conventions of game design, and come to expect subversiveness. Most of all, bear in mind that the Dreamcast is the embodiment of a company that has realized that the bottom has dropped out on it, and is spreading its arms and pretending to fly on its free-fall down.

[dreamcups]

i sugest you buy a dreamcast and boot it, so you can burn your own game cds. since dreamcast is an old system, many games are pretty expensive.

[Toonami2112x]

I highly reccomend you get a VGA adapter eventually. It looks great with one on either a Monitor or HDTV.

[tcpballa93]

I highly reccomend you get a VGA adapter eventually. It looks great with one on either a Monitor or HDTV.

I've heard a lot about that; how much of a difference is it?

[Hobie-wan]

I highly reccomend you get a VGA adapter eventually. It looks great with one on either a Monitor or HDTV.

I've heard a lot about that; how much of a difference is it?

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 39#p355539

[Toonami2112x]

It depends on the game, 3d games usually look way better with it (sonic adventure 2 and tony hawk 2) sprite based games (mostly fighters like marvel vs capcom) actually look worse IMO overall though it's definitely worth it

[CD AGES]

sprite based games (mostly fighters like marvel vs capcom) actually look worse IMO overall though

Bust a move 4 and any 2D fighter conceived with NAOMI hardware running on 31khz (GGX, MVC2, CVS 1, PRO, and 2) look damn good in VGA.

[Toonami2112x]

I've always thought sprite based games looked better in some aspects but it also shows their faults more (IMO) either way VGA is near essential now. Ever since I hooked it up I can't go back to regular composite. I still want to try s video eventually