Browsing Tag

Dreamcast

Fan Works, Hacking

Morph’s Lighting Mod for Sonic Adventure DX Restores Dreamcast Lighting Effects


Sonic Retro user Morph and several others have gone through Sonic Adventure DX and created a mod that restores the lighting effects that were previously seen in the original Sonic Adventure into the PC version. The difference gives off more vibrant colors in the environment that also reacts to objects and characters. You can download the mod from the discussion thread in our forums.
Lighting can be used to set a specific tone or mood in an environment. But why is it such a difficult thing to remain consistent when converting this to other game platforms? The game featured an artistic shift that occurred when the game was converted to other platforms. A combination of technical hurdles and creative liberties can dampen the original artistic intent, and Sonic Adventure is no exception. The original Dreamcast version featured a “Lantern” engine which provided impressive looking lighting effects using palettes on SEGA’s then cutting edge game console. However the dozens of ports of the game left out these lighting effects in favor of using drop shadows instead, until now. Check out additional videos, comparison screenshots and an interview with Morph on the mod after the jump!
Continue Reading

Humor, Podcasts, Sega Retro

SEGA Channel Retro: SEGA Multiplayer Showcase & Knuckles’ Chaotix

Last weekend saw an extravaganza of rarely seen footage of more multiplayer madness with SEGA featuring me and some of my friends. Last time we went through several Sonic games from the Game Boy Advance line-up rummaging for chao, racing to the finish, exchanging fists and more. This time we’ve not only gone back to Sonic Advance 3 with a full house of four players, we also got to check out the multiplayer mode of the Game Boy Advance conversion of Jet Set Radio from the developers behind the GBA version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Finally our last surprise was us racing in the future with San Francisco Rush 2049 on SEGA Dreamcast.
Also appearing only on Twitch is a silent longplay of Knuckles’ Chaotix running at 60 frames per second as part of SEGAbits’ 32X month. If you missed out on these liveshowings, be sure to subscribe to us on Twitch or YouTube for updates when we go live again or to catch up on our previous showings.
Continue Reading

Uncategorized

SEGA Channel Retro: Sonic Birthday Celebration


Come join our live SEGA Channel Retro stream as we celebrate Sonic’s birthday the only way we know how! Come check out Sonic games and more on stream.
Now that the stream has concluded, jump to any point you’d like from our initial stream, and be sure to stay tuned this week for more Sonic games streamed live on SEGA Channel Retro. Videos are up on YouTube and on Twitch.
Uncut Stream [Twitch]
Sonic Jam (With Sonic 3 Easy Mode) [YouTube] [Twitch]
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Retro Engine [YouTube] [Twitch]
Sonic Adventure (Sonic’s Story) [YouTube] [Twitch]

Community, Fan Works, Game News, Hacking, Humor, Music, Podcasts, Sega Retro, Site News

Monday Links: Bartman’s Phantasy Star Online 1 Check-In Edition

psoEnding

Oh dear, I got stuck with the Monday Links this week. You know that new Sonic game that everyone is talking about? Yes. No? Well, theres still not much to talk about, or Sonic Boom, or much of anything Sonic lately, and you probably don’t want to talk about sports either. In fact I’ve been busy messing around Phantasy Star Online despite being over 14 years too late, and I haven’t moved on to Phantasy Star Online 2. Why? It was something I had missed out on when it came out for the Drreamcast and Gamecube. Since I had broadband adapters for each, and my curiosity in private servers piqued, I wanted to take a look to see what I had missed.

The game’s aesthetics and gameplay structure were the main reason for me wanting to look back at this outdated RPG, because it used a theme thoat most RPGs have not tried to work with, and most would follow the large, open world that World of Warcraft popularized. In fact several of them had an identity crisis to the point that you’d think the developers just wanted to get away with making World of Warcraft. But not Phantasy Star Online, a game that took Sega’s established RPG series and not only gave it a multiplayer component but emphasized real-time action where you are actively engaged in battle, and avoiding damage and looking for enemy weakpoints requires creative strategy. This is probably the best non-Sonic game from Sonic Team, at least in my eyes. You’re still not going to be won over by the story, and it is absolutely difficult for newcomers to find others to play with online, but it certainly reached a technical marvel and helped kickstart a genre to what was popularized by its successors. Theres also fun to be had by playing the game Single Player, but the social element definitely makes up half the game through social interaction, item trading, and planning with your teammates on what to do.

My only handicap that I am personally following is to play this game as blind as possible. I’m not going to bother with item duping, I know Force classes are utterly broken, and I don’t want to consult a wiki to generate the best possible outcome for my character(s). I want to try to match my experience with the game similar to how others played the game back when it came out. Its incredible how the evolution of game design and social interaction has changed the way we play the game, and for a game like Phantasy Star Online, the experience does not match with a modern massive multiplayer environment. But to get the most out of the game, its best to look at why the game had it’s strengths in the first place. Its not entirely possible, and I do want to try and avoid the technical hurdles the game has, because there’s nothing quite like it out there. I want to see about doing an annual check in with the game as well as have more video podcasts with people who played the game before sharing their experiences. Because honestly? I truly regret letting it pass by me, even with the paid subscription fees involved.

Now, lets take a look at the headlines for Monday.

Retro/Bits News

Sonic/SEGA Stuff

Continue Reading

Fan Works, Game News, Miscellaneous, Sega Retro

Monday Links: RULES OF NATURE Edition

While I usually wouldn’t link to petitions for video games on Monday Links, this one has actually been acknowledged by SEGA and has a chance of resulting in something happening, so I’ll let this one slide. If you want to let SEGA know that you want games like Bayonetta, Vanquish, Virtua Fighter 5: Final ShowdownValkyria Chronicles and other such games on PC, go support it. In other news: enough stuff happened in the past week for me to do a Monday Links. So here goes:

Retro/Bits Stuff

Sonic/SEGA Stuff

Podcasts, Sega Retro

A Look at Elusive Dreamcast Titles on Vidya Retro


Watch live video from VidyaRetro on TwitchTV

This week on Vidya Retro we look at what could have been after the passing of the Dreamcast as we take a look at unreleased games and other elusive Dreamcast products as well as a pre-show look at the Android version of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Games covered include released and unreleased Dreamcast games, as well as games running on commercial and homebrew emulators through Dreamcast such as Half-Life, Bleemcast! with Metal Gear Solid, Propeller Arena – Aviation Battle Championship, Wacky Races, Fur Fighters, Sam & Max: Hit the Road and Doom II – Hell on Earth.

Commentators include Sonic Retro members Bartman3010, TimmiT, Overlord, Cinossu and David the Lurker. Listen as they trudge up old Dreamcast information from the US Dreamcast magazine and guess review scores for Dreamcast games.

Podcasts

More Dreamcast Games On Vidya Retro Livestream


Watch live video from vidyaretro on TwitchTV

The stream is done for the day, despite technical difficulties. The stream is embedded in the video above which features gameplay from Sonic Adventure 2, Jet Grind Radio, Unreal Tournament, Soulcalibur, Dynamite Cop, Spider-Man, Sonic Shuffle, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Looney Tunes: Space Race and South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack. 

The Dreamcast is still thinking this month with another set of hits (and misses!) streaming live on Vidya Retro which should be underway if you’re reading this. Be sure to talk with other fans in the Twitch channel and for any particular requests you may have.

Podcasts

Dreamcast Livestream with Vidya Retro


Watch live video from vidyaretro on TwitchTV

The stream has ended, but the entire three hours have been embeded above for your viewing pleasure. We’ve gone through Sonic Adventure, Typing of the Dead, Power Stone, Space Channel 5, Rayman 2 – The Great Escape, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Shuffle, and Quake III Arena.

What better way to celebrate the birthday of the Dreamcast with a live stream? Vidya Retro will be streaming starting at 5PM Central taking a look at some of the biggest games, hardware and more with SEGA’s last major console.

Game News, Miscellaneous, Sega Consoles, Sega Retro

Monday Links: Obligatory Dreamcast Anniversary Post Edition

20090909dreamcastBecause only the American release date of a console matters, people decided that today is the 14th anniversary of the Dreamcast. And to celebrate this on Sonic Retro is me: the one staff member that didn’t even know about the Dreamcast until it was already dead! Or you can just take a look at the things SEGAbits is doing, that might also be a viable option. Also we might stream something later today.

Retro/Bits News

Sonic/SEGA News

  • Phantasy Star Nova was announced at a Japanese Sony press conference today for the Playstation Vita and is being developed by tri-Ace (known for Star Ocean and Resonance of Fate) [SEGAbits]
  • Another likely Japan-only game, Yakuza Ishin is coming to the PS3 and PS4 [Youtube]
  • A new trailer of Hero Bank was released [Also Japan-only]
  • SEGA has some new hardware named Nu, and the first game to use it is Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone [Siliconera]
  • The Creative Assembly got Extra Credits to do a video series about Roman history for Total War: Rome II [Youtube]
  • The Castle of Illusion remake was released on XBLA, PSN and [Steam]
    Continue Reading