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Dreamcast-Console-Set

Many games have been independently developed for the Dreamcast by independent developers. Most of these games were commercially released long after the end of the console's official life span in North America where production was ceased by end of 2001, although Sega of America still offered support and had some games scheduled for release (but was the division at Sega who released the fewest titles after 2002, pretty much limited to NFL 2K2 and other games in the 2K genre) and so games kept being released for quite some time still after first announcing the move to 3rd party development, unlike 1st party titles of other regions like Puyo Puyo Fever being released in 2004 in Japan and a select few more in Europe, seeing as the Dreamcast was launched approximately 1.5 years later in Europe compared to Japan and 13 months later than North America, thus the last region the console was released on 20 October 2000. Meanwhile, in Japan, the console was released in November 1998, lasting with official support and console sales as well as hardware peripherals and games both developed and published by studios at Sega of Japan, from 1998 through 2007, almost giving the 6th generation console 10 years of official support in the region.

In comparison, the Xbox 360 had already been launched when Sega still was publishing games for the Dreamcast (and other platforms) in Japan.

However, most of the time, the online Sega Direct store was the only place to find new consoles which had been produced recently, often with special color variations, such as black and other limited edition collector items; after the last official released title licensed by Sega of Japan, Karous (2007), hit store shelves, indie developers published games on the console from all over the world, often with very tight time frames between each release — and making the console, in some ways, relevant again well into the seventh generation of consoles.

Consequently, these games are unlicensed by Sega, although completely legal if created with a development environment which is not licensed by Sega. The Dreamcast had nine new entirely independent games released by 2020, thus making it more prolific than most release schedules since 2001, at least in North America.[clarification needed][1][2]

IGN reopened their Dreamcast section in 2006,[3][circular reference] as Sega was publishing games like Under Defeat in 2005.

The Dreamcast's unlicensed games are produced and printed on regular compact discs (CD) using the Mil-CD format created in-house by Sega, which is just a normal CD unlike its native games format, the GD-ROM, aimed at karaoke and interactive content on regular CDs in general. Unlike the GD-ROMs, though, which can hold up to 1.2GB of data, a CD-ROM can hold around 50% of that.

Josh Prod is among a few of the most serious and active studios that is publishing many high-quality titles, which will boot on any Dreamcast, although only some consoles manufactured between up until 2007, where Sega removed the MIL-CD support from the BIOS. Console manufacturing in Japan was restarted to meet demand up through 2007, although no official numbers exist. However, Sega removed the MIL-CD compatible code in the BIOS; this prevents owners of these consoles from playing games released on CD-ROMs.

While the last officially Sega published game, titled Karous, a lot more titles were consistently released in Japan up until that point. Trigger Heart Exelica was one of them, along with Under Defeat (2005) and Puyo Puyo Fever (2004), to name a few. However, those owning a console with the latest BIOS version have to replace their GD-ROM drive with an optical drive emulator, or solder in a new or additional BIOS ROM chip to have the ability to boot up a game released on CD-ROM, like the Arcade Racing Legend[4] by Josh Prod, which was released in 2020 after a Kickstarter campaign.

Releasing games on half the size of the native format, however, can be a problem, depending on the game. Copying games from GDs through Dreamshell to an SD-card, or through the official broadband adapter and being subsequently burnt to a blank CD, can result in having to remove content to make them fit on standard CDs; depending on the region, this can be a felony. This makes the independently released titles for Dreamcast different from other homebrew titles, in that a completely stock console will most likely boot the game, such as with Gameshark, Action Replay, CodeBreaker and Bleemcast, to name a few. The Japanese consoles not supporting MIL-CD will often tell you (in Japanese) on one side of the outer box.

The reason for releasing games on CDs instead of the native format is mostly because the GD-ROM format is no longer marketed by Sega, and is thus difficult to get a hold of, nor did it ever have a commercially available blank counterpart. Another reason is that there is actual copy protection in place, which has yet to be defeated without using the rare 'System Disc 2' – a disc by Sega for use by developers that unlocks the protection, making it possible to boot games burnt on GD-R discs, the blank GD-ROM equivalent to blank CD-R discs.

Games are mostly released in standard CD or DVD jewel cases, or more recently, styled as a retail Dreamcast case, depending on region (where Japan had what may look like a DVD case). The regional style of the cases is a purely cosmetic option, because all independent titles released on CD-ROM are region-free, as Mil-CDs in general cannot be region locked, while GD-Rom-based games indeed are, requiring one of many commercially released boot discs like the GameShark, CodeBreaker and others, which enable all regions to boot.

Most of the games released, as well as those currently in development, have all been developed using the open source and free SDK known as KallistiOS, or an equally legal alternative, providing about the same functionality as Sega's own SDK; developers have stated that the Dreamcast is very developer friendly[5] — although some claim good performance is easier to achieve in 3D with the officially SEGA SDK, although it illegal to use without a license.

The Dreamcast saw the majority of its biggest homebrew releases after 2017, the same year most of the online functions of the console was bought back, thanks to projects like DCSERV. This also extended the availability of the massively popular online game on a console, Sonic Team's Phantasy Star Online, as the original servers were closed down in 2004. During this period, the complete library of Atomiswave arcade games were unofficially ported to Dreamcast, thanks to their similar system architectures.[6]

The indie games are of great variety: some have Genesis-style 16-bit graphics, whereas others look more like Dreamcast-era games. However, the SDKs developers are allowed to use are not as optimized for the hardware as their Sega licensed counterparts. The 16-bit games usually have also been released as homebrew for the Neo Geo AES console, and others may also have had releases for PC, mobile, or as downloadable indie titles for newer consoles — such as Flashback, which was released for the Nintendo Switch as well as the Dreamcast.

List

[edit]

Released titles

[edit]
Game Publisher Developer Genre Year
2D House of Terror[7] 2D Retroperspectives 2D Retroperspectives Action 2013
4x4 Jam JoshProd Invictus Games Racing 2017
Alice Dreams Tournament[8] Alice Team Alice Team Action 2017
Alice Sisters JoshProd OrionSoft Platformer 2020
Alice's Mom's Rescue[9] Hucast Games (first run) /
JoshProd (second run)		 OrionSoft Platformer 2015 /
2017
Another World HD JoshProd Delphine Action 2018
Arcade Racing Legends[10] JoshProd Intuitive Computer Racing 2020
Armed Seven[11] JoshProd Astro Port Action 2019
Bang Bang Busters JoshProd Visco Action 2018
Battle Crust JoshProd Picorinne Soft Shoot 'em up 2018
Beats of Rage Senile Team Senile Team Beat 'em up 2004
Bleemcast! for Gran Turismo 2 Bleem! Bleem! Racing 2001
Bleemcast! for Metal Gear Solid Bleem! Bleem! Action/Adventure 2001
Bleemcast! for Tekken 3 Bleem! Bleem! Fighting 2001
Breakers JoshProd Visco Fighting 2017
Captain Tomaday[11] JoshProd Visco Shoot 'em up 2019
Cave Story DCEmulation Daisuke Amaya Metroidvania 2013
Cool Herders GOAT Store Harmless Lion LLC. Party 2006
Counter-Strike DCFan.net.ru Valve First-person shooter 2008
Crafti[12] DCEmulation gameblabla Survival 2017
Dreamcastnoid: Retail Enhanced Edition Matranet Ryo Suzuki Arcade 2017
Driving Strikers[13] WAVE Game Studios Reality Jump Sports 2023
DUX Hucast Games KTX Software Dev. Shoot 'em up 2009
DUX Version 1.5 Hucast Games (first run) /
JoshProd (second run)		 KTX Software Dev. Shoot 'em up 2013 /
2018
Elansar & Philia Hucast Games OrionSoft Point-and-click adventure 2015
Epitech Collection[14] Epitech Epitech Miscellaneous/Compilation 2002
Escape 2042: The Truth Defenders[15] OrionSoft OrionSoft Puzzle/Adventure 2017
Fade to Black JoshProd Delphine Action-adventure 2018
Fast Striker NG.DEV.TEAM NG.DEV.TEAM Shoot 'em up 2010
Feet of Fury GOAT Store GOAT Store Rhythm 2003
Finding Teddy[11] JoshProd Storybird Adventure 2019
Flashback: The Quest for Identity JoshProd Delphine Action 2017
Flea![16] Lowtek Games (first run) /
WAVE Game Studios (second run)		 Lowtek Games Platformer 2020
Frog Feast OlderGames OlderGames Action 2007
Fruit'Y[17] Dragon Box Retroguru Puzzle 2015
FX Unit Yuki: The Henshin Engine[11] JoshProd Saru Studio Platformer 2019
Ganryu JoshProd Visco Action 2017
Ghost Blade[18] Hucast Games (first run) /
JoshProd (second run)		 Hucast Games Shoot 'em up 2015 /
2018
Ghoul Grind: Night of the Necromancer[19] Woog Worx Woog Worx Action/Platformer 2021
Giana's Return[20] Giana's Return Team Giana's Return Team Platformer 2011
Gunlord NG.DEV.TEAM NG.DEV.TEAM Run 'n Gun 2012
Hanky Alien[21] DCEmulation ant51 Shoot 'em up 2016
Hermes[22] Dragon Box (first run) /
JoshProd (second run)		 Retroguru Platformer 2017 /
2022
Hydra Castle Labyrinth[23] E. Hashimoto E. Hashimoto Platformer 2020
Inhabitants GOAT Store S&F Software Puzzle 2005
Intrepid Izzy[24] Senile Team (first run) /
WAVE Game Studios (second run)		 Senile Team Action/Platformer 2021
IRiDES: Master of Blocks GOAT Store Madpeet Puzzle 2009
James & Watch: Arm[25] Retro Gaming Roundup Ben Lancaster Puzzle 2015
James & Watch: Tooth Cracker[25] Retro Gaming Roundup Ben Lancaster Puzzle 2015
Jump'n Blob[26] 2D Retroperspectives 2D Retroperspectives Platformer 2011
Last Hope RedSpotGames (first run) /
NG.DEV.TEAM (second run)		 NG.DEV.TEAM Shoot 'em up 2007
Last Hope: Pink Bullets NG.DEV.TEAM NG.DEV.TEAM Shoot 'em up 2009
Leona's Tricky Adventures[27] KTX Software Development KTX Software Development Puzzle/Adventure 2016
Magic Pockets[11] JoshProd Bitmap Brothers Platformer 2019
Maqiupai GOAT Store JMD Puzzle 2005
Matterrun[28] Fuseki Games Fuseki Games Shoot 'em up 2017
NEO XYX NG.DEV.TEAM NG.DEV.TEAM Shoot 'em up 2014
Neverball[29] DCEmu DCEmu Puzzle 2009
Non Casual Encounter : Prologue AKA Encuentro no casual: Prólogo[30] SEGASaturno Productions Alfonso "Ryo Suzuki" Visual Novel/Adventure 2021
Orion's Puzzle Collection[31] OrionSoft OrionSoft Puzzle 2016
Pier Solar and the Great Architects WaterMelon Co. Watermelon Co. Role-playing 2015
POSTAL[32] WAVE Game Studios Running with Scissors Action 2022
Powder[33] Dreamcast.es Jeff Lait Role-playing 2015
Primitive Nightmare[34] Fuseki Games Fuseki Games Shoot 'em up 2010
Redux: Dark Matters Hucast Games KTX Software Development Shoot 'em up 2014
Rocketron JoshProd Astro Port Shoot 'em up 2020
Rush Rush Rally Racing RedSpotGames Senile Team Racing 2009
Rush Rush Rally Reloaded Senile Team Senile Team Racing 2017
Satazius Next[35] JoshProd Astro Port Shoot 'em up 2021
SQRXZ[36] Retroguru Retroguru Platformer 2010
SQRXZ 2[37] Retroguru Retroguru Platformer 2010
SQRXZ 3[38] Retroguru Retroguru Platformer 2011
SQRXZ 4[39] Retroguru Retroguru Platformer 2014
Street Fighter VS Mortal Kombat Captain Dreamcast Captain Dreamcast Fighting 2012
Sturmwind RedSpotGames (first run) /
Duranik (second run)		 Duranik Shoot 'em up 2013 /
2017
Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser JoshProd Astro Port Shoot 'em up 2020
Tapeworm Disco Puzzle[40] Lowtek Games Lowtek Games Puzzle 2021
The Escapee JoshProd Invictus Games Adventure 2018
The Textorcist Gamefairy Morbidware Typing/bullet hell 2021
Tough Guy JoshProd Panda Software Fighting 2020
Tyrian[41] Dreamcast.es Dreamcast.es Shoot 'em up 2008
Volgarr the Viking Crazy Viking Studios (digital) /
JoshProd (physical)		 Crazy Viking Studios Platformer 2015 /
2019
Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles RedSpotGames Yuan Works Puzzle 2008
Witching Hour PRO Studio Nexinita Adventure/Horror 2022
Wolflame JoshProd Astro Port Shoot 'em up 2020
Xeno Crisis Bitmap Bureau Bitmap Bureau Shoot 'em up 2020
Xenocider[42] Retro Sumus Retro Sumus Run 'n Gun 2021
Xump[43] Retroguru Retroguru Puzzle/Platformer 2013
Yeah Yeah Beebiss II[44] WAVE Game Studios Rigg'd Games Platformer 2021
Zia and the Goddesses of Magic[45] OrionSoft OrionSoft Role-playing 2016
Shadow Gangs[46] WAVE Game Studios JKM Corp Beat 'em up 2022

Announced titles

[edit]
Game Publisher Developer Genre Estimated release
HarleQuest![47] WAVE Game Studios Kilgariff Technologies 3D Platformer 2024
Midsummer[48] TBA Duranik Action TBA
Non Casual Encounter AKA Encuentro no Casual[49] SEGASaturno Productions Ryo "Alfonso Martínez" Visual Novel-Adventure 2022
Okinawa Rush[50] TBA Steven Miller Action TBA
Reaperi Cycle[51] TBA Retro Surge Role-playing/Puzzle TBA
Rizzo Island[52] TBA Dreameater Games 3D Platformer Q1 2020
Super Nutmeg[53] TBA Retroguru Platformer TBA
Veredict Guilty Clash[54] JoshProd StoryBird Fighting 2019/2020

Abandoned projects

[edit]
Game Developer Genre
AMEBA[55] Retro Sumus Adventure
BeatTendency[56] KeiDash Rhythm
Donk! Samurai Duck! Cryptic Allusion Platformer
Elysian Shadows[57] Elysian Shadows Team Role-playing
Hypertension: Harmony of Darkness[58] TDGMods/Istope Softworks Horror/Shooter
Reblobed[59] 2D Retroperspectives Platformer
Redux 2[60] Hucast Games Shoot 'em up
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs - The Game[61] Team Saber Rider Run 'n gun/Shoot 'em up
Saviour[62] 2D Retroperspectives Role-playing
Scourge TGDMods/Istope Softworks Action
SLaVE[63] Jay Townsend/Istope Softworks First-person shooter
Sydney Hunter & The Caverns of Death CollectorVision Puzzle platformer

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Charnock, Tom. "New Dreamcast Games Coming In 2020". Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  2. ^ "Retro-bit brought brand-new Sega accessories to CES". Engadget. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  3. ^ "IGN". Wikipedia. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Dreamcast - New Indie Dreamcast 3D Racing game by JoshProd called Arcade Racing Legends has a playable demo out and kickstarter is live". ObscureGamers - Prototopia. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  5. ^ kevingifford (2013-08-07). "Why did the Dreamcast fail? Sega's marketing veteran looks back". Polygon. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  6. ^ "Dreamcast Atomiswave Ports". RetroRGB. 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  7. ^ 2D HoT (in French)
  8. ^ "Alice Dreams - Jeu indépendant sur Dreamcast". alicedreams.com. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Hucast Games announces 2D platformer Alice's Mom's Rescue for Dreamcast". Seganerds.com. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Review: Arcade Racing Legends".
  11. ^ a b c d e "BREAKING NEWS: Five new Dreamcast games incoming!".
  12. ^ Charnock, Tom. "Crafti: A Homebrew Minecraft Clone For Dreamcast".
  13. ^ "Announcing Driving Strikers". 24 June 2023.
  14. ^ Charnock, Tom. "The Dreamcast Epitech Collection".
  15. ^ Charnock, Tom. "The Dreamcast Games Of 2017".
  16. ^ "Flea! Jumping to a Dreamcast Near You". January 13, 2022.
  17. ^ "Sega Dreamcast Receives New Puzzle Game- Fruit'Y, not a Bejeweled Clone". Retro Gaming Magazine. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  18. ^ "Ghost blade will be ready in 2015". Archived from the original on 2014-12-24. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
  19. ^ "Ghoul Grind: Night of the Necromancer". Archived from the original on 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  20. ^ "Third new Jump'n'Run in a row – Giana's Return v1.0 available!". Dreamcast-Scene. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  21. ^ Charnock, Tom. "HankyAlienDC: A New Homebrew Space Invaders Clone".
  22. ^ "Hermes". Retroguru - Retro Game Development. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  23. ^ "Hydra Castle Labyrinth FULL/Ported to Dreamcast by megavolt85". NextGenRoms. March 1, 2020.
  24. ^ "Intrepid Izzy". intrepid-izzy.senileteam.com.
  25. ^ a b "RGR: Store". www.retrogamingroundup.com.
  26. ^ "Jump'n Blob – fullversion has been released (incl. Dreamcast version)". Dreamcast-Scene. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  27. ^ "LEONA's Tricky Adventures". Trickyleona.com. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  28. ^ Charnock, Tom. "New Dreamcast Game Matterrun Available Now!".
  29. ^ AF, Animated. "Neverball".
  30. ^ "Non Casual Encounter - Prologue". The Dreamcast Junkyard. - Preview. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  31. ^ Orion
  32. ^ "POSTAL is coming to Dreamcast on June 2nd". February 14, 2022.
  33. ^ Charnock, Tom. "Indie Review: Powder".
  34. ^ . March 2, 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110302230541/http://www.fusekigames.com/. Archived from the original on 2011-03-02. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  35. ^ "Satazius Next Dreamcast [US] – PixelHeart".
  36. ^ "Sqrxz (Remake) – Sqrxz by Retroguru – Mindblasting frustration deluxe!". Sqrxz.de. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  37. ^ "SQRXZ 2 released – New Freeware Jump'n'Run for Dreamcast!". Dreamcast-Scene. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  38. ^ "Sqrxz 3 Released". Dreamcast-Scene. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  39. ^ "Sqrxz 4". Retroguru - Retro Game Development. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  40. ^ "Tapeworm Disco Puzzle by LowtekGames". itch.io.
  41. ^ "Brand new Dreamcast port...and yes, it's a Shump".
  42. ^ Charnock, Tom. "Review: Xenocider".
  43. ^ Charnock, Tom. "Xump Your Dreamcast".
  44. ^ "Announcing Yeah Yeah Beebiss II". December 10, 2021.
  45. ^ "The Dreamcast Junkyard: New Dreamcast Game Zia and the Goddesses of Magic Announced". Thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  46. ^ "News". Shadow Gangs.
  47. ^ "HarleQuest!". harle.quest.
  48. ^ Midsummer (in French)
  49. ^ "Non Casual Encounter". December 22, 2021.
  50. ^ "index". www.okrush.co.uk.
  51. ^ "Reaperi Cycle | Retro Surge Games".
  52. ^ "Dreameater Games".
  53. ^ "Super Nutmeg – A game by Retroguru". www.retroguru.com.
  54. ^ Dreamcast News Archived 2019-09-20 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
  55. ^ "New Game: Ameba is a New Visual Novel for Sega Dreamcast". Retro Gaming Magazine. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  56. ^ "BeatTendency, les différentes news". x-community.1fr1.net.
  57. ^ "Elysian Shadows Team comments on Watermelon publishing deal". Seganerds.com. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  58. ^ "Hypertension: Harmony of Darkness Windows, Mac, Linux game". Indie DB. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  59. ^ "Reblobed, Yet Another Dreamcast Title Coming". Retro Gaming Magazine. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  60. ^ "Hucast Announces Shmup Sequel Redux 2 For Dreamcast, Shares First Screens". Siliconera. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  61. ^ "Dreamcast Version Of Saber Rider And The Star Sheriffs Added To Kickstarter Rewards". Siliconera. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  62. ^ "Saviour". Archived from the original on 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  63. ^ "Celebrate Dreamcast's 15th Anniversary with SLaVE". Dreamcast-Scene. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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