Hardware: Sega Dreamcast Game System: Sega Dreamcast Cheat Category: FAQ Game Company: Unknown Game Category: Unknown Hint, Cheat, Walkthrough:   http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk/faqdir/dreamcast_newbie.txt Dreamcast FAQ for newbies version 1.0, by Lucan Duran ( shadowfiend@juno.com ) Last compiled and updated September 21, 1999 ____________________________________________ ----- Notes ----- I somewhat enjoyed writing the Saturn newbie FAQ so I wrote this one as well. This file may be copied and distributed freely, as long as I am given full credit and no changes in the text are made (including spelling errors, grammatical errors, etc.). WARNING: THERE IS A LOT OF MISINFORMATION REGARDING THE DREAMCAST SPREADING ON THE INTERNET. WHILE I DID NOT INCLUDE ANY INFORMATION THAT I KNOW IS BULL$#@%, SOME MISTAKES MAY BE PRESENT IN THIS DOCUMENT. THE MISTAKES, HOPEFULLY, ARE MINOR. PLEASE TAKE THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT WITH A PINCH OF SALT. I'll update this file when there is a need to make a correction. ____________________________________________ ----- Special Thanks To ----- Raymond McKeithen II <rfmckeit@jas.net> ...for tons of miscellaneous information I wouldn't have been able to dig up on my own. Steve Cutting <scutting@vic.bigpond.net.au> ...for writing the VGA box FAQ. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/dreamcast/faq/dreamcast_vga_box.txt ____________________________________________ ----- History ----- Version 1.0 (September 21, 1999) - First version. Some minor mistakes may be present. ____________________________________________ Q: When was the Dreamcast released? A: Japan - November 27, 1998 United States - September 9, 1999 Europe - October 14, 1999 ____________________________________________ Q: Can I play Genesis/Megadrive cartridges, 32X games, Sega CD, or Saturn games on a Dreamcast? A: No. The Dreamcast is not backwards compatible with the previous generations of Sega's video game systems. The Dreamcast does not have a cartridge slot so you can't plug in any cartridges. Although the Dreamcast (I'll call it DC from now on) can read CDs, it cannot play Saturn or Sega CD games. Saturn and Sega CD games are not forward compatible with the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast is not backward compatible with the Saturn or Sega CD. If you want to play the old Sega games, you'll need the old Sega systems. ____________________________________________ Q: I heard that Sega was going to make a "Satcast" to allow Saturn games to be played on a Dreamcast. Is this true? A: No. It's a lie/rumor started by some backwards compatibility advocate. All stories of backwards compatibility on the Dreamcast are false. There is no such thing as a Satcast, there will never be such a thing as a Satcast, and anyone who believes or hopes in such a program or hardware will only wait in vain. ____________________________________________ Q: Should I be worried that the US DC had a high number of "defects" during its launch? A: No. All video game systems have their share of defects during its launch, no matter which country you live in. As time goes by, the number of defects will be reduced dramatically. Should you happen to buy a defective product, go back to the store you bought it from and exchange it. ____________________________________________ Q: What's a GD-Rom? A: Gigabyte Disc Rom. It's a new format of media developed by Sega to prevent piracy. While standard CDs can hold 650MB of data, a GD can hold 1 Gigabyte (1000+ MB) of data. ____________________________________________ Q: I popped in a GD into my PC and it says there's only 2.13MB (or whatever) of data on it. Didn't you say it can hold 1GB of data? A: Yes, I did. If you'll look at your GD, there's an "inner ring" on it. The inner ring is all your PC can read (it's approximately the size of a CD single). The outer ring is in Sega's new format which cannot be read by a standard PC CD-Rom drive. Whatever your PC detects from a GD is only a small fraction of what it contains. ____________________________________________ Q: Where can I buy DC CDRs? A: You can buy them somewhere in the anal cavities of the Klingon Empire, near Uranus. ____________________________________________ Q: How can I burn my own Dreamcast discs? A: Try the furnace. ____________________________________________ Q: Can I play import games on my US DC? A: No. You also can't play US DC games on an Asian or Japanese DC. Devices/methods to do so aren't in existence yet. ____________________________________________ Q: What are the differences between an Asian and Japanese DCs? A: Asian DCs have no modem and Japanese DCs have a 33.6K modem. The Japanese DCs are also slightly more expensive. Other than that, the consoles are identical. ____________________________________________ Q: If I have a Japanese DC, can I play games with other people over the internet? A: Most likely, no. Early "pioneers" who imported their Japanese DCs tried to connect to Sega's servers in Japan. They have had a lot of trouble doing so. Later on, there were also reports that any calls coming outside of Japan were detected and denied access. Sega intended for "modem play" on Japanese DCs to be done only in Japan. It would be nice to be able to play games against other players in Japan but that was not what Sega intended. Adding insult to injury, you also can't play multiplayer internet games against people living in your own country (assuming you live outside of Japan) using a Japanese DC. Side note - Since a number of people have gone through hell trying to connect using the Japanese DC, its popularity declined and the modemless Asian model's popularity increased. Price has become the main factor in purchasing an import DC because most people who have imported Japanese DCs consider the modem useless. ____________________________________________ Q: I own a US (or PAL) DC. How do I connect to the internet?!? A: Try the obvious. Read your DC instruction manual. If that doesn't work, call Sega's customer support line. ____________________________________________ Q: Is my DC actually connected to the internet at 112K? A: No. That's only the port speed and not the actual transfer rate. ____________________________________________ Q: Since Japan's electrical output is 100 volts, should I buy a step- down adaptor so I won't fry my Japanese/Asian DC? A: Although Japan's output is 100 volts, the DC was designed to handle up to 120 volts (115 is about the standard in Asia; the same can be said about the US). You don't *NEED* a step-down adaptor but if you have it, you should use it. Even if you don't have one, you won't fry your console with regular use. (Just remember to unplug it after you're finished playing.) HOWEVER, if you live in a country (in Europe or somewhere else) that has 220 volts or higher as the standard, you'll need a converter plug AND a step-down adaptor for the obvious reasons (that is, if you plan to play games on an import DC). I'm not sure if an NTSC console is capable of functioning in countries that have the PAL standard so if you live in Europe (or somewhere else that has the PAL standard), import at your own risk. (Steve Cutting wrote the VGA box FAQ and he lives in Australia (I looked at his e-mail address)... So the imported console must somehow work in PAL countries since he wrote the VGA box FAQ before the PAL DC's release. Even so, import at your own risk.) ____________________________________________ Q: Can I use US DC peripherals on an Asian/Japanese DC? A: I haven't been able to test this myself yet, but I've read a report saying that VMSs (VMUs), control pads, etc. are all compatible. They are not territory locked like the games. The gun (see below) and the modem (compatibility unconfirmed) are different stories. ____________________________________________ Q: Can I use the Japanese DC gun for the US "House of the Dead 2"? A: No. The gun will not work with the US HOTD2. ___________________________________________ Q: Why isn't the gun compatible? Why didn't Sega manufacture a gun for the US? Will there be a third party gun available? A: Thanks to certain *DUMBASSES* that used to attend Columbine High School, media attention concentrated on violence in video games. Sega didn't want to get any bad publicity by releasing a gun for HOTD2. (FYI, Sega's booths at E3 had playable copies of HOTD2 on display with no guns. I had to use the DC pad to play.) While Sega once announced that the gun wasn't going to be released for financial reasons, the fact that the Japanese DC gun isn't compatible with the US HOTD2 proves otherwise. Some third-party companies have planned releasing a gun for US HOTD2 but they have been delayed. ___________________________________________ Q: I found some third-party DC products for dirt cheap in comparison to the official Sega products. Are these good deals? A: You get what you pay for. They're cheap for a reason. They are usually low quality products that have a significantly higher number of defects and breakdowns compared to the official products. While there shouldn't be a danger to your DC console itself, there's usually a risk using third party products. As an example, take S-video cables. Third party S-video cables have thin wires compared to the official ones and they are more likely to crumble. In addition, they are often "too tight" and plugging one into your console can "stretch" the console's port. This can damage the console's port and making the console work with official cables which are the correct size will become difficult. If the third party cable is the only cable you use, then that's another story - but my point is, third party products aren't as reliable as official ones. If you want a gun to play US HOTD2, you don't have much of a choice but to buy a third party gun. The nightmares of third-party VMUs - please read my "Saturn FAQ for Newbies" and the same arguments with the cartridges will apply to VMUs. Let's just say some third-party companies make more reliable products than others. ____________________________________________ Q: What third party companies make quality products? A: I personally recommend Hori and ASCII. While ASCII has made products for the DC, I don't believe Hori has made a DC peripheral yet (we can only hope they make something in the future). ____________________________________________ Q: What's this I hear about the DC joystick being compatible with only a certain amount of games? A: The DC joystick is currently compatible with games that are labeled, "Arcade Stick Compatible" (on Japanese games; the US ones may vary). There's an analog and digital directional pad on each DC controller; the joystick is only "digital." Some games (Sega Rally 2 is one of them) are compatible with the DC joystick even if they're not labeled, "Arcade Stick Compatible." Whether future Sega or third party joysticks will be compatible with all games remains to be seen. In general, fighting games (Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Capcom, Power Stone, etc.) are compatible with the joystick. ____________________________________________ Q: What's the deal with the VGA box? A: Go read the VGA Box FAQ by Steve Cutting. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/dreamcast/faq/dreamcast_vga_box.txt ____________________________________________ Q: How many save games can I save on my VMS (or VMU)? A: It depends on the games you have. Soul Calibur, for example, uses 12 blocks of memory. NFL2K takes up 192 blocks of memory - almost the entire space the VMU has (it has 200 blocks). Check to see how many blocks of memory a game requires to save data. If you don't have enough memory on a VMS (VMU), you'll have to erase some data from the unit or you'll need to buy another one. FYI, if you play the "minigames" on a VMS that some DC games allow you to play, that will eat up more memory. ____________________________________________ Q: What's with these clicking/whirring sounds coming from the DC? Is my DC or game disc defective/malfunctioning? A: There's nothing wrong with your DC or your disc. "Clicking" probably isn't the best description but that's what this problem is commonly known as (there's also the "whirring"). This is just a noise made when certain areas of the GD is accessed in certain games. ____________________________________________ Q: Why do you keep saying, "VMS (VMU)"? I bought a VMU, not a VMS. A: The units are known as VMS (Visual Memory System) in Japan. In the US, they are known as VMU (Visual Meory Unit). ____________________________________________ Q: I heard that there would be a DC DVD addon device - Will there be a DC DVD drive? A: No. It was all marketing BS. This BS was announced by former Sega of America CEO Bernard Stolar to counter Sony's Playstation2 marketing BS. Since Sony announced their new system will be an all-powerful 77 million polygons per second (LOL!!!) machine with all sorts of goodies, etc. etc., Stolar mentioned the DC "may" have a DVD add-on in the future to make it seem like the DC can be upgraded. If you're looking for an add-on device for the DC, the Zip drive has been announced. As for a DVD drive add-on, don't expect it to come out. ____________________________________________ Q: Can DCs read/play DVDs? A: No. ____________________________________________