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Author Topic: Weeee, got me a Dreamcast.  (Read 3471 times)

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Offline crystall

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #44 from previous page: June 07, 2004, 10:54:30 PM »
Quote

Gav wrote:
Hey slow down there,i know dreamcasts reset but one of the main reasons that happens is because of the internal battery going down..


Believe me, I had four Dreamcasts and three of them were from the first batch shipped in Europe and those three had all the same problem. If he has bought that Dreamcast at launch I'm very confident that the problem he is having is the same as the one I had.
 

Offline Holley

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #45 on: June 08, 2004, 12:04:16 AM »
Not at launch, but close (I wasn't about to pay launch prices ;-)).
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Offline odinTopic starter

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #46 on: June 11, 2004, 12:55:06 PM »
I got me a Dreamcast last wednesday for 45EUR. I was amazed by the small size of the thing. Ofcourse I opened it up and boy is the thing crammed full! I got some odd 40 copied games with the thing but sometimes the DC has the tendency to crash (?) and just go back to the screen with the CD player and stuff in it. Could this be due to the usage of CD-R's? I've also found that it is very erratic when it comes to booting the games. Sometimes certain games won't start at all and sometimes it has no problem whatsoever.

But, dang, are there crap games with it! There seem to be a gazillion lame beat-em ups with it. Guess the previous owner liked beating the crap out of people :-).

Offline that_punk_guy

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #47 on: June 11, 2004, 01:10:17 PM »
IIRC, Dreamcasts  behave erratically if they get dirty inside. Here's what I found searching Google with what I remembered about it:

Quote

For some reason Dc's did get some bad press for hardware faults.I have come across a few bad un's,but the most common fault seems to be the console reset fault.This is when the Dc starts to load a game then resets itself.
Personally I used to put it down to being that time of the month,since mine did it for a while the worked perfectly.
After getting half life and the dc being "on one" I decided to browse to see if this was a fixable problem,which it is and it's so simple.But it does mean taking the thing apart.(come on now,NOBODY still has a Dc thats still under warranty)
On the left side,after you take the case off,is the psu board,and near the front you'll see 5 or six prongs sticking up through a connector.Just Ease the board up,After unscrewing the screws of course,and clean the prongs,preferably with a soft cloth and some wd40 or similar.Put it back together and voila,one perfect Dc.(you did remember to put the screws back didn't you)


(From http://www.roguenoid.co.uk/archives/000094.html )

Dunno about splashing WD40 around in your machine, but this solved crashing and reset problems for most people.
 

Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #48 on: June 11, 2004, 03:14:52 PM »
bah, I also want a dreamcast
but then, I got a CDTV :-D
and NO I do not want to swap it for yer dreamcast.
And the canary said: \'chirp\'
 

Offline Hyperspeed

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #49 on: June 27, 2004, 05:41:40 PM »
You can get boxed Dreamcasts in GameStation for around £30.00 and the
benefit of a quick return if they go wrong.

I've tried the WD40 trick on the power pins and it worked on 2 out of
2 occasions, however it didn't last long on one.

It could well be due to the laser unit being misaligned and feeding
faulty data to the CPU, although sometimes it happens to me and
nothing is loading.

Your best bet is to keep the machine very well ventilated and off the
carpet/away from walls and TV sets. The little fan keeps an airflow
going so don't obstruct this and let plenty of air get to the vents
all around (including the raised feet on the base).

Also, by pressing down all four fire-buttons and start you can reset
the machine to the main OS so try not to do that accidentally in a
frantic Streetfighter 3 match!

Another thing you might want to consider with the Dreamcast is that
the CR2032 batteries for the VM units cost £2.50 per unit. There are
tips on the net for powering the VMs from 2x AA batteries with a
non-invasive external battery pack (for when you want to play Pacman
or Space Invaders on them etc.)

:-D
 

Offline Floid

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #50 on: June 27, 2004, 06:28:22 PM »
Never owned one myself, though I do remember a few whines about flakiness in the drive movement.

One tip for optical movements in general, before anyone goes nuts trying to realign lasers:  Try a brush-based cleaning disc, and some eyeglass cleaning fluid.  It really does work far, far better than plain isopropanol and a Q-Tip, if lens crud is to blame.
 

Offline kd7ota

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #51 on: June 27, 2004, 06:58:56 PM »
Woo! Yet another thread for a Dreamcast!  :-D

*Rants that I'm the biggest Dreamcast Fan*  :-D



Anyways, here is a few things u guys owning a dreamcast and burning the games should know.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The type of CDRs you are using to burn MATTER. For instance, the cheapo brands never ever work. Sure they boot, but after awhile, the Lens SWEAT it and start to wear out when its difficult to read the CDs.....The best brand I bought to burn Dreamcast games with are the

MEMOREX Cool Colors CDRs....

They work fantasic and it puts less stress on the Len's for loading times and works the best.  :-)

If U do happen to have a new dreamcast and burn games, sure its going to play any CDRs just fine, but after awhile, its gonna strain the Len's, so use them dark-dye colored CDs to burn them with.
-=-=--==-==-


So all n all, the dreamcast still rox the house.  :-) I liked everything about it and as of today, i still wonder how that Soul Calibur game was done. Such amazing graphics and get NO SLOWDOWN>  :-D But enough, hope u have your fun owning a dreamcast.  :-D
-=-=-=-=-=-
Mine!  :-D
 

Offline Holley

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #52 on: June 27, 2004, 08:27:59 PM »
I found Soul Calibur amazing too.  Dead or Alive 3 on XBox is similarly impressive, especially as it loads the whole game in the background as you're playing and after about 1 hour doesn't access the disk at all!

Metropolis Street Racer anyone?
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Offline odinTopic starter

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #53 on: June 27, 2004, 09:05:18 PM »
I found Soul Calibur a very nice game, however the crappy pirated version I have has the music {bleep}ed up so I'm hunting on EBay for an original copy.

On a sidenote, it's amazing how much Shenmue I and II fetch on EBay. Are they only printed in limited numbers or something?

And MSR, dunno but if that's the Opel racing game I don't find it very impressive. Crappiest controls I've seen in a long time.

Offline Wibbly

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #54 on: July 26, 2004, 09:54:39 PM »
I got my DC first day they appeared for sale in the UK. I bought that boxing game (can't remember what is was called now, but it was fairly amusing), Sonic Adventure and something else not noteworthy as well as a second pad and two vmu's.
The boxing game tided me over until Soul Calibur, and it wasn't until SC2 came out on the other consoles that I think anything came close. I loved VF4 on PS2, but SC on DC ruled, way better than any of the Tekken series to emerge on PS2.
Sega GT had some nice features, and the graphics, whilst not GT3 on PS2, were good enough to please. If only the cars handled like the GT series on PS1&2. I liked Le Mans 24 Hr on DC also, that and Daytona were MILES better on DC than any other platform.

I for one was sad to hear that Sega were chucking in the towel with DC. I heard they sold many more units than expected, and would have thought for that reason alone it was worth keeping up with. With titles like Soul Calibur being so impressive, I'm sure programmers could have optimised code to bring us a GT3 rival and other great titles. Sure the PS2 was technically superior, but not to the extent that the DC couldn't have it's own unique and impressive titles. My PS2 however killed my DC, as Sega GT just wouldn't drive well, and I HAD to have GT3. If I hadn't been short on cash at the time though, I would have LOVED to keep my DC. I had my PS2 almost a year before I finally got a decent beat 'em up to play (VF4)

These days however, I spend inordinate amounts of cash on my PC, just to play games with a half decent frame rate. Don't you love the fact that you don't have to worry about having a $600 graphics card and a $700 CPU in your console just to play the latest releases?
Still, my WinUAE 128MbRam 32MbPicasso96 AHI Amiga kicks the poop out of my Real Amiga, and games that don't like my expanded real thing, can usually be played on WinUAE by making a few keypresses to disable what I don't like. All except Capital Punishment. Why the hell won't that work on either? I bought the game in a sale 2 years ago, and still to this day never played it :'(  My A1200 is wired all over the place (with much soldering) so NO!! I can't just remove the expansions
 

Offline TheMagicM

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #55 on: July 26, 2004, 10:21:32 PM »
yes, the DC is awesome.. I have a bunch of games.. probably about 120 or more..dont remember..havent used it in quite a while.. I also have a PS/2... the DC does have good graphics though.. I just hate it that there are alot of fighting games..whats up with that?  why not starglider type games or something like that ??
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Offline HopperJF

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #56 on: July 27, 2004, 12:48:02 AM »
hi guys
im in a state of confusion...

last month i sold my PS2 after having it since december 2001 (i didnt like it)
before that i had a dreamcast whicih i loved dearly, it was so fun
buut i need to know your opinions

which - in 2004- is better,
dreamcast or xbox

not in terms of technical specs but in terms of fun and so on
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Offline FastRobPlus

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #57 on: July 27, 2004, 12:58:07 AM »
>>which - in 2004- is better,
>>dreamcast or xbox

>>not in terms of technical specs but in terms of fun and so on

[color=0000FF]For me, each generation feels less fun than the last.  I'd say get an Atari VCS.

On the other hand, Xbox is the most "classic" of the current game consoles.  That is, the same folks that made so many great C64, Atari 800, Amiga, ST, and 3DO games are still around in some form or other, and many of them making Xbox games.  

For example, when NFL Fever launched, I mentioned to the lead designer that the coin toss looked exactly like something in the old Amiga game "TV Sports Football."  

He responed: I designed TV Sports Football!

Also - anybody remember/like the game Hired Guns?  You won't find a game that matches the original design spirit of Hired Guns more closely than Digital Anvil's "Brute Force"  It could almost be a Hired Guns II.

And the music is by Jesper Kyd.[/color]
 

Offline HopperJF

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #58 on: July 27, 2004, 01:02:46 AM »
So in terms of games machines, you could call the XBox the Amiga of 2004?
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Offline FastRobPlus

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Re: Dreamcast, what's the going rate for em.
« Reply #59 on: July 27, 2004, 01:13:20 AM »
>>So in terms of games machines, you could call the Xbox the Amiga of 2004?

Hmm... Maybe better to say that the designers whose games we loved on the Amiga are still making the games they want to make, and many are exclusively Xbox.  "Fable" by Peter Molyneux comes to mind.

I think the difference is that quite a few adults were raised on Nintendo/Sega and have come to expect games that echo the style of those machines.  Those of us coming from early personal computers and game consoles such as Amiga, C64, Atari, Spectrum, Amstrad, etc. might be able to relate better to the US/European flavor of Xbox titles.

"Grabbed by the Ghoulies" comes to mind here.  It was developed by Ultimate: Play the Game/RARE and I loved it, but it was slammed by reviewers.  The game is great but I suspect younger reviewers expected a Japan-styled game (coming from RARE), and didn't understand the pace and style of Ghoulies.