PlanetDreamcast | Community | Mailbag | 1/5/00

Community - Mailbag 1/5/00 - Colored Consoles, Nostalgia, and FPSs for Smart People - by BenT Welcome to the PDC Mailbag. Every week we toss in a bunch of letters from our readers and do our best to dazzle you with wit and wisdom. Roughly, that translates to copying/pasting your emails and writing the first thing that comes to mind. But hey, you take what you can get. If you have something you want to contribute to the Mailbag, send it to this address! From: Joshua Johnstone Subject: Your comments on Herzog Zwei Dude! I'm with you on your comments. And yes EGM did give that masterpiece 4's and such. In fact I may have the original EGM issue with those grades. I kept what I had of the first 25 issues and threw the rest out. EGM became too much like Gamepro and Nintendo Power, where biasing and nonsensical logic graded the games. Anyway... I remember buying Herzog back in '91 at an Electronics Botique for $44.99 or something and took it home. Me and a friend of mine played it for a bit, and after getting our bearings on how to play the thing (remember the learning curve?) we liked it. He did more than I as I enjoyed more of the brutal shooters (still do) and he did strategy games. I thought about returning the game, and almost did... but he and my brother convinced me to keep it. I still have the original cart to this day, and play it on my Nomad. Plays well too. I think his and my record for one fight is 2 hours, 45 min although I've heard of longer times from other people. Did you ever feel as though you didn't have enough different people to play with you on Herzog? Most of my friends just shrugged when I asked them to play. Well thanks for the page and long live Herzog. Josh I never have enough people to play multiplayer console games with, since I don't really know other people around here who are interested in (and more importantly, good at) the same types of games I am. The best I can hope for is a few rounds of Super Smash Bros. Yeah, it's mindless and all, but at least my friends can play it. :) Anyway thanks for the story, it has me all nostalgic. Oh, what I wouldn't give to see 1991 again, and have Vanilla kick it one more time... From: Blake Lawthorne Subject: Holy Crap! Real Subject: Gunstar Heroes Years and years ago, I was at my friend's house and I was around the age of 12 or something. I was staying the night there and he brought out his Genesis games. (I had a SNES, no Sega godliness for me at the time) As the night set in, he pulled out a silly-looking (albeit good-looking) game called Gunstar Heroes. It was.. captivating. I loved it so much. Of course, he did most of the work while I was left dazzled, trying to figure out the system of the weapons. The dice maze took forever, if I recall correctly.. what with both of us playing. I loved it all. A few days ago (I am 17 now), I decided I wanted to try some of the ol' RPGs out, perhaps the Phantasy Star series (still haven't gotten around to it :/) so I decided to download an emulater. Got it, downloaded some games (including the once-godly Haunting) and then remembered the masterpiece. I sought desperately in my memory what the name of the game was called, but alas... It was lost :( And then as if "The Greater Power of Gaming Goodness" heard, your article popped up of the Gunstar Heroes. Unbelievable. !!! (Are you guys reading my mind?) Just wanted to.. umm.. waste your time? Remark on this awesome coincidence. And also thank you :) (Sorry for all the parentheses-enclosed phrases) Thanks again! Blake Lawhorne :D ((Cool story. (I have to wonder why (the) Haunting is considered godly, though. :) Anyway, I have to get back to (serving) The Greater Power of Gaming Goodness, so please excuse me.)) From: Alex Franceschi Subject: Last Saturn Fighting Game Actually the last Sega Saturn Fighting Game to support the 4 meg cart was Final Fight Revenge by Capcom. Even though it was terrible it was the final japanese Saturn release and it utilized the 4 meg cart. So there, I expect a keg of Killions Red and lots of porn magazines to be sent in the mail to me. Heh, heh, heh. Later, Alex You're right, but the question asked which was the first Saturn game to support the 4 Meg Cart. :) So... you'll get nothing, and like it! From: Jake McCartney Subject: Q3 Map Pak Was wondering when they would come out with a map pak so that PC players could play Dreamcast players??????? An unofficial file is floating around out there, but the real thing is not yet released. Here's a tidbit, though: the DC Q3 servers are only compatible with version 1.17 clients, so you might have to reinstall the game if you've upgraded to 1.25 and want to play with DC users. From: ronald%2B ta Subject: THE RING Was the Ring game on the Dreamcast you reviewed is a movie license game from one of Japan's most famoust Horror series "THE RING". Im not saying that the game is good but if you had realised this fact and watched the movies than you might have been able to write a decent review. A bad game is a bad game, no matter the source. I found the review to be pretty amusing, though. This has me thinking... maybe Meg should write an advice column for PDC. I bet Laura would help. From: Jeff Turkelson Subject: Colored Dreamcasts I saw your news report of those different colored dreamcasts, and I was impressed. they are all really cool (accept I couldn't stand the red seaman one. it was just plain ugly). I especially liked the super black dreamcast. now, im wondering why they didn't make the standard dreamcast black. all of Sega's previous consoles have been black. and frankly, the super black looks about 20 times better than the gray shell of my dreamcast. what im getting at, is im wondering why there aren't any Black dreamcasts over here. I know there are a lot of people like me that would REALLY want the silver controller or that RE:CV dreamcast. do you have any clue as to why Sega of America went with gray as opposed the much cooler looking colors? I don't want a clear black shell, I want a solid black one. why cant the at least make those? does EVERYONE besides me want to see what the inside of a dreamcast looks like 24/7? man, honestly, im wondering why companies do such stupid things. Nintendo is doing the right thing, with those 5 or 6 different colors of gamecube at launch. im want a gold one. on slightly related topic, I had this really neat thought the other day. I was thinking what dreamcast would look like with a lacquer finish. I mean, the stuff that makes trumpets or what not so shiny. obviously the dreamcast would have to be metal, but that would still look really cool. the thought of a mirror-plated DC came to my mind too. of course, that's way too expensive and out of the question, but it would look sweet. Well, one reason for making the Dreamcast white comes to mind immediately: the light hue disassociates the system from Sega's past consoles, which were always black. The Dreamcast was to be a new start for Sega, and the change in colors symbolized that. Now, this is pretty silly, but you might consider that (with the exception of the Genesis) no successful post-crash console has been dark-colored. Check this partial list: "Winners" NES - light gray Game Boy - light gray Genesis - black SNES - light gray PlayStation - gray Losers (More or Less) Sega Master System - black Lynx - black TurboGrafx-16 - black Game Gear - black CD-i - black 3DO - black Jaguar - black Saturn - black N64 - black Going from that (highly arguable) list, is it any wonder Sega hesitated to make another black system? As for customizing systems, you might want to check out this page. They do some really wild stuff to unsuspecting PlayStations. Also, this guy customizes Dreamcasts, though his services are pretty damn pricy. For that much, you might be better off doing it yourself -- although he does look to do a very nice job. A mirror-plated Dreamcast sounds awesome. There's no such thing as too expensive! If you ever actually work up the nerve, be sure to send us some pics. :) From: Anatak Subject: Voice Acting is there any news about a japanese spoken englich subtitled shen mue? i still think that shen mue (part1) is a beta version of the real game yu suzuki had in mind i hope that part two shows me right anatak It looks like that subtitled version of Shenmue fell through. Too bad, because some of the English voices are pretty lacking. :( From: Nick Lemcke Subject: FPS's Hey guys. Cool site. Just wondering if anyone knows of an actual hard date of when Half-Life will be out for the Dreamcast. I've been waiting for a good 1 player FPS to come out ever since I bought the DC. I've heard so much great stuff about Half-Life on the PC, but I'm getting really frustrated with the continued delays. Also, if you have any suggestions for a game equal to, excuse me, close to the quality of Half-Life, ie., shooting/thinking, etc., please let me know. As much as I love the games I have, I'm getting sick of 'em! Thanks guys. No, no hard date for Half-Life yet. EBWorld says March 1st, but they (and everyone else) have been wrong in the past. Even IGN seems to have given up on nailing down a release date, as their HL page still say December. With all respect to Sierra, this is turning into another Rainbow Six in terms of release date slippage. Concerning your second question, for whatever reason, there's nothing that's exactly like Half-Life at the moment, despite the game's rather advanced age. Some people say that Monolith's No One Lives Forever is just as good, but I've been turned off by the lacking technology test (demo) and the moderately stealth-based gameplay. I'll try it when the price comes down and I've beefed up my computer, though -- who knows. The best blend of thinking and action I can recommend is System Shock 2. You should be able to find it for $15 or $20, and it's one of the best single player FPSs I've ever experienced. I actually like the original just a hair more, but System Shock 2 is still an awesome trip. Thankfully (and making this reply topical), it's supposed to be headed to Dreamcast this year. From: Kelly Smunt Subject: Saturn in UK I've just taken the saturn quiz and scored 8 points, thing is I never owned or known anybody that a sega saturn...could you please tell me...How popular was the Sega Saturn in the United Kingdom? Not too popular at all, I'm afraid. A great place to get some perspective on the Saturn in the UK is the news archives of UK Resistance. Start from 1996, and as you read forward through the news you can see how they slowly grow bitter and disillusioned over the Saturn's lot. From: Shonn B. Darapiza Subject: Saving Problems This might sound like a dumb question but I need some serious help. I have a standard memory card and I have been having a hard time saving my NFL2K1 games. I'll save a season or franchise and the first time I go back to it it will be fine. But when I go to save the game again it doesn't do it. And furthermore it tells me that I don't have enough space. Am I supposed to get another card every time I want to save? Help! HS2 Shonn B. Darapiza Not every time, but it sounds like your current VMU might have some issues. Try saving on a friend's, if possible, and see if you have the same problem. If not, chuck your VMU! From: jfj hgjgh hgjhgj Subject: (no subject) Does this shirt make me look fat? Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but... yeah. Yeah, it does. Sorry. From: Norman Vesasman Subject: X Names Chill Penguin=Icy Penguigo Flame Mammoth=Burnin' Noumando Boomerang Kuwanger=Boomer Kuwanger Launch Octopus=Launcher Octopald Armored Armadillo=Armor Armarge Storm Eagle=Storm Eagleed Sting Chameleon=Sting Chamelero Spark Mandrill=Spark Mandriller this is free for those Mega Man X Fans out there plus I am doing this for some friends I hope you put this up because I got tons of Info on X games including X5. See yas latas peoples Thanks... glad that's cleared up... From: Zack Gossman Subject: Saturn Backups Does ANYONE know where I can buy Sega Saturn backups? I'm getting desperate! Please email me at ****@*****.net if you know. Thanks so much. I'm not sure why you're desperate, because most Saturn games are readily available for purchase online... even the hard-to-find ones show up once you look awhile. There's no need to pirate them. From: NICHOLAS FERGUSON Subject: Hey please help Hey it says on nba2k1 online paly you bet but i dont know where to click on to play it i have been searching for a place to play it for free so please help me. Open your NBA2K1 case (make sure it's right-side up!), and look for the smooth stack of processed wood fibers that's in the left-most panel. This is called your "instruction manual", and it contains the information you require. From: R Subject: ? how do make copies of dreamcast games on your cd-rom You don't. However, you might be pleased to know that a number of companies already offer this service, and for a reasonable price! Simply head down to your local software store and peruse the Dreamcast section. There you'll find copies of just about any title you could want, complete with colorful manuals and durable cases. What a deal! That's it for this Mailbag. Have a burning question? First extinguish the damn thing (get it?!), and then send it to this handy address. Until next time!