Sega Dreamcast Launch Party - Livin' Like It's 1998

Written By: Tyler Selig

Ooooh you can see my sexy pajama pants.

Over the past year we have seen the 3DS become an absolute mammoth of a system, the release of the Xbone and PS4 and we've also seen the Wii U fall into a downward spiral so bad that Trent Reznor should re-release his album and call it the Wii U Experience... but I'm playing the mother fuckin' Dreamcast. Okay, I'm also playing my 3DS, Wii U, PS4 and PC (sorry Microsoft, I don't have the money), but I recently bought a Sega Dreamcast. Before I go into what that entails, let me quickly explain why.

When I was younger, I owned the Nintendo systems and got into the Playstation 1 (see how bad the Xbox One name is Microsoft? This would be really confusing had I said Xbox 1), but I had this friend who had Sega's last system -- the Dreamcast. To this day I've only ever played a handful of games from when he let me borrow it or I'd go to his house and play games like Powerstone 2. I was in a retro gaming mood so I opted to buy a console that I never owned. I originally considered the Saturn but the price of a bunch of the games I really wanted were ridiculously high so I decided on the Dreamcast because while some games I'm intrigued by, such as illbleed, are also pricey, there are some games I want to play that are reasonably priced, at least for retro games.

Shenmue is in the agenda once it gets back in stock on Lukie Games, and there are some others I hope to get, but I bought MDK2, Slave Zero and Jet Grind Radio. I heard great things about MDK2 and Jet Grind Radio, and I've never heard of Slave Zero and it was cheap so I took a chance.

I am looking to do this article which is just basically an "unboxing" type article, followed by reviews of the games I bought. Now, I will still be doing reviews for new games and other articles so this party is being scattered throughout the year. All year baby!

So what is the Dreamcast and why did I want it? Simply put, it is the Sega swansong, at least for consoles. After this they became the software only company that we know them as now. It was a very innovative system, pioneering online gameplay on consoles for example, and the influence is clear in the first Xbox (just peep that controller). It is actually held in high regard by a lot of people who experienced it and the games I have played for it have been pretty awesome, like Crazy Taxi or Powerstone 2. Hell, I first played Virtua Tennis on it and I fell in love with a Tennis game of all things.

I originally intended on just having a quick introduction but shit I'm wordy today. So let's get on with the show.



The first thing I actually did was try to put my VMU -- the memory card -- into my controller. I have never come across a more confusing memory card in my life. First of all, the thing reminds me of a Tamagotchi (not a criticism), and then went I set the date, I thought, "Okay, now it's time to put this bad boy in." This is where the readers probably end up thinking I'm stupid, and I've made peace with that, but it confused me. I thought you would just put it in right-side up but boy was I wrong. I didn't even realize that you had to take the top off of it and when I did it just confused me because I couldn't fathom a world where you had to put the memory card -- which has a screen you can look at -- in upside down because that would mean your picture would be upside down. Or so I thought.

So when I finally accepted that the Dreamcast is weird, I put it in upside down.

THE WAY YOU THINK IT WOULD GO IN.

The bottom picture is when I actually put it in correctly but I turned off the screen. It's been a long time since I messed with a Dreamcast and I forgot how silly the whole thing is, in the coolest way possible. The memory card has buttons like a controller. You set the date on the memory card. The memory card has a life of its own and is going to become Overlord of the entire planet and/or universe.

So having made me feel like an inadequate man, I decided that once I had the controller matter under control that I'd actually turn on the Dreamcast and play this shit. But first I took a second to admire the supper that my little brother was eating as he watched me hook up the rest of the Dreamcast.

I couldn't get a signal on my TV but it turns out I just hadn't pressed the cords in hard enough. That's good because had this not worked I would have been like:

Unfortunately the guy on the right would have been my little brother just enjoying his BLT.

So finally, after a close scare and WTF VMU, I got to this screen:

I considered leaving it on 1998 because maybe it's a secret way to time travel and I wouldn't have had to deal with the movie Shutter being released yet, but alas, I put in the real date and continued on with my life.

My life took me to this screen, which strangely felt like home. It filled me with such a beautiful feeling in my soul. A warmth in my heart that was so intense it could heat up the coldest areas. I saw the Sega screen, and remembered the Sega Genesis, a system I was quite fond of back when Little Tyler was me and I hadn't yet conquered the internet with a video game blog.

So where do we go from here? Well, here, silly people:

 To be continued.

PS4 Launch Party - Look at All The Pretty Colours! A Resogun Review.

Written By: Tyler Selig

Rating: 8.5/10

Verdict: Extremely short but with a bunch of difficulty levels to suck you back in, Resogun is a nice throwback to the arcade shmups, but it does just enough to make it feel more modern.

            Resogun is another game that Playstation Plus members can get for free right now, and from what I can gather, it’s also the most consistently highest rated Playstation 4 launch exclusive. That’s pretty good when you consider it’s against things like Killzone: Shadow Fall. IGN gave it a 9, Destructoid gave it a 9.5, Gamespot gave it an 8 and Polygon gave it an 8.5. So is it worth the hype?

                Well, yeah, but I don’t think it’s the best of the exclusives (more on that at a later date). That doesn’t change one simple fact: Resogun is awesome.

                Coming from a more primitive time in games, I remember these types of games when they were plentiful. Before first-person shooters, we had games like Resogun, though they weren’t nearly as pretty. It’s not the most complicated genre to make, yet they end up being fun more often than not. Unfortunately it’s mostly been up to the indie game community to keep this particular dream alive.

                Resogun, despite being made on a budget that would make Infinity Ward laugh, manages to be a beautiful and engaging example of the genre. Your ships look fine, but not overly impressive, but that’s not where the visual magic is. Look at the backgrounds and see how well-designed they are, and watch how they crumble as each of the five levels progress. Look at all the pretty colours from enemies as you shoot them to bits. And even though you move from left to right, the levels go in a circle. Resogun is pretty much an orgy for your eyes.

                This also applies to the music, which isn’t overbearing but does a good job of putting you in the mood with the old-school flair. Mind you, I didn’t always notice it because of everything that was going on, but when I did, I was impressed.

                It was a little hard to pay attention to the music, and that’s the fault of the best aspect of the game. It’s crazy, and gets even more insane when you choose the higher difficulties. I found myself just neglecting to blink more often than not, and that’s how I know I’m zoned in. Which you have to be because at any given time you are looking every which way, trying to avoid enemies as they shoot at you or try to run into you. It’s never boring, and just when you think you can let up, enemies spawn all around you, or right on top of you… which is why you always have to move.

                Another reason you always have to move is because one of the bonus objectives of each level is to save humans. You do this by waiting for them to get released from their cage, and then you fly, pick them up, and return them to a portal/base thing in the sky. This gameplay choice makes the action even more hectic because I found myself trying to fly through groups of enemies just to save those ungrateful bastards. Don’t they know what I’m doing for them? The only problem I have is that I don’t know why they die in their cages sometime. I’m sure with research I could figure that out, but as of writing this, I’m not entirely sure.

                Resogun keeps the action simple. You can move in all four directions, but you can only shoot left and right. This harkens back to the old days, and I enjoyed that. They don’t leave you powerless though because you can expect to get upgrades, and they equip you with a boost that is useful for getting away from enemies, but also causes a small explosion when you use it. They also give you bombs which clear the stage of any enemy that is there when you use it, and an overdrive which is especially effective against bosses because it’s one massive honkin’ beam that does a ton of damage.

                I’m disappointed in the length because you really could complete it in two hours or less. If I was paying for it I’d probably knock it down a little bit. But as it stands right now, if you’re a new PS4 owner with the internet, you should be able to get it. And you should, because Resogun is special.