The broadband adapter is technically supported by 15 games but only the four you mentioned are currently playable online. As for players, people are online on PSO pretty much 24/7 with the weekend being the busiest (we had 20+ players last Saturday). The other games you'll most likely have to play at scheduled times (there are regular games several days a week for various games). Quake III Arena is played every Friday and usually has a couple full games.
@@shib5267 Its such an awesome experience though. Having missed the window on internet access but still having a Dreamcast at the time, going back is so nifty! DreamPi is a true gift!
Anything keeping old hardware alive and functional has an absolute positive intrinsic value by itself, not just keeping nostalgia alive but more importantly a technology history preservation work.
Really surprised nobody has reverse engineered the broadband adapter to make it more accessible, particularly as Dreamcast homebrew is still going strong.
In 2003 some students at my university had some homemade broadband adapter they were showing off, but i don’t know if they ever made their work public. They had it working in some Dreamcast Linux distro and not in any games at that point. That reminds me about how companies actually had security alerts to be aware of Dreamcast consoles being plugged into networks. Mostly because at the time they were unassuming and people didn’t realize what they could do with them.
The simple answer is that it's just not worth it. It would be a massive undertaking and for only 4 games. If you just go with DreamPi on the other hand, you have 24 games that you can play online. The Japan-exclusive Capcom games are currently being worked on as well which also only support the modem (that's 15+ games right there that you're losing out on if you only have a BBA).
@@DreamcasticChannel So is the broadband adapter not backwards compatible with the modem at all? I always thought the case was that it just didn't make older games faster, and that the BBA would just be limited to modem speeds.
Honestly, the most amazing thing about this is that the Quake 3 Dreamcast servers are still online after 22 years. Major props to the person maintaining it! I'd like to imagine it's some forgotten Win98 computer in a closet at ID software, that nobody knows is still plugged into their network.
I'm pretty sure the master server redirects to a community managed master server and all actual game servers are privately run as well. But it's a nice though regardless:)
Kinda similar to how all the matchmaking services for old Call of duty games are still working across all consoles and PC. Call of duty on the Wii is probably the only games that work natively at this point for online play
@@boogityboogity7633 Or how the original Unreal allows you to change a line in the configuration file and use an alternate master server. Still dozens of people playing that online even though gamespy no longer exists.
Yup also Xbox was ahead of its with it being the first console with a hard drive. I really wished the ps2 had released with the expansion bay plus a built-in modem
The Dreamcast was also the first console I bought with my own money on 9.9.99 and so it's special to me as well. Lots of great memories playing Crazy Taxi, Sonic, Soul Calibur, and Power Stone late in to the nights.
Hey man me too! I bought the Dreamcast on 9/9/99 at the Babbages (now called Gamestop) at the Cherry hill Mall in New Jersey. I also worked at Babbages in those days, but that day I was off(lucky me). I bought the Dreamcast an extra controller a VMU (memory card), and Blue Stinger. And I also picked up FF8 for the PS1 on that day as well. Good times man, good times. Nostalgia.
In 1999 my PC was stolen out of a car (I was at a LAN Party before and didnt get it out) I had to use the 56K Modem on the Dreamcast to buy used PC parts from ebay because we didn't have another Internet connection at home... so at this point I was pretty happy that the DC had this feature.
That's both a really sad and really cool story. Did you have the mouse and keyboard too or did you have to navigate with the controller only? Also where did you live at the time?
@@RetroGameSpacko That kind of makes it more heartbreaking only having a controller, but thankfully it has a happy ending that you got another computer to replace it.
I pre-ordered my Dreamcast at Funcoland and picked it up at the midnight launch on 9/9/99. It was an awesome system and I loved the VMU memory card. I played mini-games on it to earn extra items in Skies of Arcadia while I was away from the system. It was unfortunately clear developer's were abandoning it at least six month's before the launch of the PlayStation 2.
Yep. Sega ended up buying the rights to finish and publish what they felt were going to be the best. Just like they did with Saturn. I remember reading that article in a magazine.
"why play online on an old console when there's updated versions that are playable on modern hardware?" I think it's because there's something special and nostalgic about playing a game online on an outdated system. It's just fascinating to me.
I love my Dreamcast. Surfing the web on a console back then was unreal. In 1998 I had recently joined the military, graduated technical training and was stationed at my first duty station in 1999. Setting up the Dreamcast in the common area "day room", plugging in the keyboard, and firing up web browser was just a completely different vibe.
That period of time where we were all transitioning away from the SNES/Genesis, and stepping into the next level stuff with the PS1, N64, and then the Dreamcast bridging the gap to the PS2/GameCube/Xbox was pretty memorable. Tons of good games came out from all of those technological advancements.
Dreamcast was incredible. The games still look brilliant today. I remember the release like it was yesterday. Wish it was sometimes…those were good times.
It’s pretty crazy that a 23 year old game is still playable online. I have an idea for a future episode. It would be interesting to learn about Sonic Unleashed’s performance issues, and why it took nearly 15 years to fix it.
Nothing crazy about 23 year old games being still playable online. It's just code. It doesn't rot or go out-of-date. I've played much older games online. The fact that people think it's "crazy" is due to "Games as a Service" propaganda.
@@czarkowskipawelyt Because the SaaS-model relies on back-end infrastructure...This stuff still uses only P2P.-connections. There's no "propaganda" behind it. btw: you can still play Destiny 1 online even though the game got its last expansion 5,5 years ago and I am sure there are even older SaaS-games
PSO is the reason I play MMORPGs today. The Sega Dreamcast was simply the best console. I really wish others had taken the VMU concept, I feel that could have been so much more.
What triggers me is the VMU concept could still be implemented today but instead with apps for your smartphone. GTA5 attempted to do it at launch with the ifruit app, but it just didn't offer enough to the experience. I feel like if the right console game developer played the right cards, they could easily make some big money out of this concept, and yet none of them have even attempted it 😔
@@AldenDoble Nintendo had the gba game link cable for the GameCube. Very few games used it, but when they did it was the best. Sonic team even utilized it for the Sonic Adventure remakes with the Sonic Advance series and Sonic Pinball Party to maintain the experience of bringing your Chao with you on the road. Imagine if Sonic games still had Chao gardens and you could take you Chao with you on your phone today.
My younger cousins had a Dreamcast growing up, and I wish desperately that I'd had the chance to take it off their hands. For Crazy Taxi alone, that system is worth keeping around.
Love to see it! I got lucky buying a junk lot in japan recently and one had a broadband adapter on it, I figured it would happen eventually as I fix up dc lots quite regularly. Took about 7 years lol. The DC community is awesome so great to see people keeping these games alive and running private servers.
Cool to see a brief glimpse into Dreamcast online gaming. There seems to be quite a few of us passionate about keeping it online. For instance I try my best to preserve 4x4 Evolution's VMU downloadable tracks and provide occasional patches.
In played many hours online of Quake 3 Arena on the dreamcast. Brazil had a solid community. My PC back then couldn't run any 3D games. Sometimes when someone was using the PC, I used the Dreamcast to browse websites. There was no smartphones, very few gadgets had access to the internet. When console internet gaming became a thing with PS3/xbox 360, I wasn't surprised even a bit, lol.
I think the broadband online is actually awesome. You got the freedoms of the net like in the 90s with games that are actually pretty badass . They should update it that every game with online play could be played through the broadband adapter . There ate on the dreamcast some very underrated games that should be played for its online multiplayer alone .
1 correction, DC and GC cannot play with each other but they can communicate in the lobby. But either way it's great to see more videos shouting out DC and GC PSO, the communities are always growing and despite the low amount of players you see online I can guarantee you it's pretty easy to find people to play with if you join that servers respective Discord server. Both Sylverant and Schtack have very welcoming communities.
Quake 3 might have been the first console game that allowed user created mods because the game allowed you to create your own dedicated servers. Back in the day when the DC was still thriving, I found a few PC mods that worked with little modifications on the dedicated servers, such as freeze tag and instagib. It was pretty funny when ppl joined the servers and were blown away by all new game types.
I never owned a Dreamcast of my own, but I knew a guy who did and he loved it. We would play Power Stone and Unreal Tournament quite often and I found it to be an enjoyable console. It really was a superior piece of hardware in its time but sadly it never really got the recognition it deserved. Kind of heartwarming to see it still has some support from the community. Thanks for the informative video and stay safe out there!
SEGA does make the best gaming hardware. Even the fishing rod accessory for Dreamcast was epic. If they released a mini version of that it would be sold out in seconds.
It never ceases to amaze even me how many people are still playing PSO online to this day. I can understand the sentiment though, considering how much time I've devoted to the game in one way or another. Thanks a lot for the shout out and covering getting online with the Dreamcast. I would like to make one minor correction, though, if I may. Sylverant doesn't allow players on Dreamcast and Gamecube to actually play in teams together for various reasons (the rebalancing that occurred between the two versions has a lot to do with it). They can see each other online in the lobby, though. Sylverant does allow the Dreamcast and early PC versions to play together with one another, though as the early PC version is pretty much a direct port of Version 2 of PSO from the Dreamcast.
I remember going online with the Dreamcast back in the day with dial up. What a horrific experience playing NBA 2K2. It was almost like a turn based strategy game. Every few seconds the game would pause, calculate you and the other player's movements, advance your players rapidly, unpause, let you move again, and repeat ad nauseum). This was after the Dreamcast was basically dead and they allowed you to use Sega Net free for a few months. Still was kind of cool for me at the time, since I had never played a console game online.
I am legit amazed at how well folks have managed to keep this going. It's a truly impressive feat both for avoiding e waste, but more importantly for the historical preservation.
Back in 2001 I always wanted a broadband adapter, but they were pretty rare so I had to use the POTS modem. Still had fun with Unreal and Phantasy Stay Online.
I got pretty addicted to PSO over the past few years. I was running the ISO through emulation on practically everything and connecting everywhere. From Android to the Playstation Classic, it's awesome to be able to experience this game for what it was back then. Sylverant has a great community.
Such an amazing console. I love how there are still releasing new games for it and these features still work. I remember being amazed Dreamcast supported VGA output for 480p on computer monitors back when it was new. Your video is giving me a slight itch to hook mine back up.
I used to visit my family in a town that ony had dial up internet and this thing kept me happy playing Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament online. I even had the keyboard and was so completely blown away that it was supported.
The Dreamcast was my first experience on the internet outside of a school computer. There was no computer at home, but I had a Dreamcast with the standard 56k modem, a long home telephone cable, free calls after 6pm for 1 hour, and 2 questions; "are you gonna be using the phone?" and "can I go in the internet?" Ah glorious! I'm online, what shall I do today? Spend an eternity waiting for a 5 second audio file of Ali G talking about his mother and having balls the size of oranges, visit the Sonic Adventure site, look at some Geocities, or play Chu Chu Rocket? Absolute magical.
You can run a dedicated Quake 3 server on PC with official software. It's an older version that's 100% compatible with the Dreamcast and PC, allowing cross platform play between the two systems.
@@akumapup I haven't ran a Q3 DC server for a while but you can find the info you need, easily. Just remember to only upgrade to the version the Dreamcast needs. Upgrading past that particular version breaks compatibility.
I love seeing Dreamcast continued games and now broadband support to this day. The fact that servers are still online and working is a community love affair and it’s great. DC was ahead of its time with a fantastic launch and one of the best library of games in its cut short lifespan. Sega was so close with the DC with just a couple mistakes one being the lack of DVD playback and the controller was a terrible design compared to the Saturn’s near perfect design.
Glad I still have my BBA from launch, but have to point out that PSO ver 1.0 did not support broadband in North America. At the time of release broadband was only supported on the Japanese release of 1.0. But you could essentially get a rip of the Japanese version and there were guides out there to use that disc to configure your network setting that would allow you to use the BBA with the American release after configuring was done.
Absolutely correct. I was going to post this and just saw your comment. I had to use the NTSC-J version to get this working on my broadband connection at home with my BBA. I remember being so pissed when I found out that it wasn't officially compatible, but thankfully I found the workaround. Community members also made a self-bootable unofficial configuration disk to setup the broadband capabilities later on as well so you didn't need the NTSC-J disk.
The Dreamcast was my intro to the world wide web my last couple of years in high school. I use to just click around trying to find something cool. I remember finding an encyclopedia online, and using it to complete my research papers. It might not seem like much today, but it was dope back then, because we didn't have a computer, or a car to get to the library. I just wish I would've known what else was out there, like mp3 sites, if they existed. But games wise I had Phantasy Star Online was cool. I think I just liked hanging out in the lobby chatting with random people. The background music is so nostalgic
I just think it would be nice to build awareness about online gaming on older consoles. A lot of people still own these consoles but don't seem to realise online play is still possible on them. It would be great to build awareness to grow the community.
This brings back memories. My first on line gaming experience. I spent hours looking at certain other sites as well. Shame the VMUs were not great. Mine failed after a year or so 😥
Still have the Dreamcast and still play it. Love Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Spawn, Power Stone and a lot of other titles. Alway loved the rich colorful graphics of the Dreamcast. I use a modern HDMI adapter that works pretty well and get rid of lot of blurriness of the graphics and sharpens up the image.
One minor correction, when you save your dial-up settings it doesn't save to the VMU, rather a tiny bit of flash storage inside the Dreamcast itself. This little bit of flash storage is one of the ways PSO linked your account to your Dreamcast back in the day for security purposes.
Phantasy Star Online is still one of my favorite online gaming experiences. It's such a social game despite being so simple and lobby based. Although I mostly play on PSO:BB servers which, despite being an inferior version of the game in my opinion, has a lot more people still playing
I don't have a Dreamcast, but hearing you say GC and DC players could play PSO together makes me now want to take my GC, Broadband Adapter, and PSO disc and figure out how to get this going, because I really loved playing that game on the GC so much. I would say it made the BBA worth it a little 🤣
Same, though most of my play on GC was local offline coop with friends. I do have a broadband adapter and some pretty high level characters as long as that memory card is still intact. :D
I have PSO on my original Xbox. Apparently, it's also possible these days to have cross play between the GC and Xbox in a private server, some other youtuber was testing this functionality back in the summer. It will be very interesting to see the DC, GC and Xbox with full crossplay for this game, should create a healthier player base for those who prefer the multiplayer experience.
@@Manic_Panic I've done this before on an old Server called Scthack or something. I remember PC and GC were supported, but I don't remember which other platforms worked with crossplay on that server. IIRC, there can be some issues since there are some differences between the versions, though I never had any problems.
I love hearing about retro tech that can still connect to the internet in the present day. Less and less options out there as servers get shutdown, but still fun to see this. I never had a Dreamcast when they were new.
I completely agree, we're already seeing spoof accounts and bots getting hit. User provided context is also proving pretty incredible. It's fascinating how now that features are being implemented that users have wanted for years people are suddenly loosing their minds about the features they wanted because they have this warped idea of who Musk is living rent free in their heads.
I've been eyeing a dreamcast at my local "recycle shop" here in Japan and I might just have to pick one up now. I had one way back in high school and I loved it. Definitely one of the most memorable and innovative systems I've ever owned (the VMU was amazing and I spent so much time making custom animations for it).
It's honestly amazing to see the dreamcast still have so much support from the fan/modding community. I've also known about the broad-band adapter/playing games online for awhile but, the cost is what's kept from getting one. That aside great video as always MVG, keep up the good work.
The Dreamcast is special, for having what is arguably the strongest console launch ever. No console before, or since, has had such an immediate library of bangers at launch.
Regularly play online with our Sega Dreamcast on all the games that have currently been brought back online Some other great news, there is a new online dreamcast which supports DreamPi and BBA plus cross play. Great video by the way hopefully this will get more people joining us online with the Dreamcast
One thing really interesting is that Q3 Arena in dreamcast had a built-in Wallhack. If you typed "r_znear 30" in the console (If I remember correctly), which was only accessible to those wich had keyboard, it would not drawn near objects, like the gun model and the nearest wall. So if you touched the wall, it became invisible. There was no way to prevent someone from using this code. But it was easy detectable in spectator mod, seeing someone walking touching the walls
Dreamcast was an amazing piece of hardware... At the end of the day it made the 6th generation better. It has gone down in history as one of the best systems for arcade ports and for just pure fun factor!
@@navyvet84 Well, I also think it's an oversimplification and ignorant reaction all of the rage behind the announced changes behind Twitter but I like MVG's content and he rarely make comments regarding his political or ideological views, don't see why I need to unsubscribe just for one comment. Besides that. ¿What is a "tist"? English is not my main language and I probably don't live in the same region as you.
This brings back memories! I played sooooo many hours of Quake and PSO on Dreamcast. It was my first online gaming experience. I bought the Dreamcast used and it came with the modem attached. I don’t think they were that expensive at the time since like the video said dialup and even AOL disks were still a thing back then. Remember scoring a used Dreamcast mouse and keyboard off Yahoo auctions of all places. Nobody thought eBay would workout. Wow we old! 😂😂
The game genie hacks kinda ruined pso for me later on lol, it was extremely capable on how you could mod the game and screw others over, online. I had the game genie myself, which was fun single player. Still a great game tho, online was soo fun.
I remember when I was using serial slave to rip Dreamcast disc the process was so slow the instruction actually told you to "have some sleep". That was the moment I wish I had the LAN adapter.
I bought the broadband adapter last month to start developing Dreamcast homebrew games. Now i'm going to try and make time for PSO and Quake III Arena!
Oh my goodness! I never thought that anyone would ever review this system in 2022. I also never thought anyone would still be playing games on it online in any servers today. Many gamers weren't even born when this system came out. I never had a Dreamcast, but my cousin did. I was to busy waiting for the PS2. Thanks for doing this video.
Hell I think it's pretty awesome too the fact that you play a Sega Dreamcast online in 2022 is pretty amazing it just won't die and I love to see it's resilience shine. Long live the Dreamcast. Ill never forget how heartbroken I was when I found out that Sega was done with consoles when everything about the Dreamcast was done perfectly unlike the ill-fated 32 x Sega CD I owned all of these systems too so I was completely heartbroken when I found out about Sega leaving the Dreamcast in the past forever only lasted a Lil over a year and it sold record numbers at first so there's that too
Very cool!! And awesome to see others still online playing! Dreamcast was my fav console. If only Sega had chosen to go with a DVD drive instead of GD-Rom i believe things would of turned out vastly different!
The broadband adapter is technically supported by 15 games but only the four you mentioned are currently playable online. As for players, people are online on PSO pretty much 24/7 with the weekend being the busiest (we had 20+ players last Saturday). The other games you'll most likely have to play at scheduled times (there are regular games several days a week for various games). Quake III Arena is played every Friday and usually has a couple full games.
Those numbers are sad and impressive at the same time
@@shib5267 Its such an awesome experience though. Having missed the window on internet access but still having a Dreamcast at the time, going back is so nifty! DreamPi is a true gift!
Oh hey, it's PC Wizard 13! Thanks for troubleshooting my DC modem a few years back, even though the problem ended up being with the DC itself.
I have a fully modded DC, I am trying my best to get a DC broadband Adapter that isn't a disgusting price. When I do, I will be playing PSO for sure
I watch you all play PSO once in a while. Looks fun and maybe someday i'll actually play it lol.
Anything keeping old hardware alive and functional has an absolute positive intrinsic value by itself, not just keeping nostalgia alive but more importantly a technology history preservation work.
preservation is so important, I'm glad people are keeping it alive
Ok boomers. Grow up
@@TimTidmons what u mean
@@ericmotta1 nothing. I woke up grumpy :D
@@TimTidmons go to therapy
Really surprised nobody has reverse engineered the broadband adapter to make it more accessible, particularly as Dreamcast homebrew is still going strong.
In 2003 some students at my university had some homemade broadband adapter they were showing off, but i don’t know if they ever made their work public. They had it working in some Dreamcast Linux distro and not in any games at that point.
That reminds me about how companies actually had security alerts to be aware of Dreamcast consoles being plugged into networks. Mostly because at the time they were unassuming and people didn’t realize what they could do with them.
I was going to say the exact same thing..
Don't sell the shell, more just a swap out board to fit in the modem shell.
The simple answer is that it's just not worth it. It would be a massive undertaking and for only 4 games. If you just go with DreamPi on the other hand, you have 24 games that you can play online. The Japan-exclusive Capcom games are currently being worked on as well which also only support the modem (that's 15+ games right there that you're losing out on if you only have a BBA).
It is surprising considering how much you can mod a DC. I modded mine and it seriously removes like 80% of the internals
@@DreamcasticChannel So is the broadband adapter not backwards compatible with the modem at all? I always thought the case was that it just didn't make older games faster, and that the BBA would just be limited to modem speeds.
Honestly, the most amazing thing about this is that the Quake 3 Dreamcast servers are still online after 22 years.
Major props to the person maintaining it!
I'd like to imagine it's some forgotten Win98 computer in a closet at ID software, that nobody knows is still plugged into their network.
That is pretty wild
I'm pretty sure the master server redirects to a community managed master server and all actual game servers are privately run as well. But it's a nice though regardless:)
I'm going to try it later ..
Kinda similar to how all the matchmaking services for old Call of duty games are still working across all consoles and PC. Call of duty on the Wii is probably the only games that work natively at this point for online play
@@boogityboogity7633 Or how the original Unreal allows you to change a line in the configuration file and use an alternate master server. Still dozens of people playing that online even though gamespy no longer exists.
I know this has been said many times, but: man was the Dreamcast ahead of its time.
It is had used dvds it wouldn't have failed
@@matt.willoughby came to say the same! it was so nearly ahead of it's time but behind in the one thing that could have been a huge selling point!
Yup also Xbox was ahead of its with it being the first console with a hard drive. I really wished the ps2 had released with the expansion bay plus a built-in modem
@@matt.willoughby vcds were good enough back then
Yes it was except for the copy protection is used for its games.
The Dreamcast was also the first console I bought with my own money on 9.9.99 and so it's special to me as well. Lots of great memories playing Crazy Taxi, Sonic, Soul Calibur, and Power Stone late in to the nights.
That sonic for dreamcast was so good. I really liked that BMX game for dreamcast as well wish I could remember the name.
@@MRblazedBEANS You may be thinking of Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
Haha me too I didn't get on launch but I got a job as bus boy in high school that following spring and was able to get it that summer
Hey man me too! I bought the Dreamcast on 9/9/99 at the Babbages (now called Gamestop) at the Cherry hill Mall in New Jersey. I also worked at Babbages in those days, but that day I was off(lucky me). I bought the Dreamcast an extra controller a VMU (memory card), and Blue Stinger. And I also picked up FF8 for the PS1 on that day as well. Good times man, good times. Nostalgia.
The Dreamcast should have used DVDs that way it would easily have beaten the ps2
God, I love that late 90's UI: blocky computer typeface, gradients everywhere, bevels on every edge. Looks like part of the set for Johnny Mnemonic.
In 1999 my PC was stolen out of a car (I was at a LAN Party before and didnt get it out) I had to use the 56K Modem on the Dreamcast to buy used PC parts from ebay because we didn't have another Internet connection at home... so at this point I was pretty happy that the DC had this feature.
That's both a really sad and really cool story. Did you have the mouse and keyboard too or did you have to navigate with the controller only? Also where did you live at the time?
@@anon_y_mousse Nope, just controller and software keyboard, also Germany
@@RetroGameSpacko That kind of makes it more heartbreaking only having a controller, but thankfully it has a happy ending that you got another computer to replace it.
NO MERCY ON THIEVES!~
The Dreamcast really was ahead of it's time. PSO blew my mind.
I pre-ordered my Dreamcast at Funcoland and picked it up at the midnight launch on 9/9/99. It was an awesome system and I loved the VMU memory card. I played mini-games on it to earn extra items in Skies of Arcadia while I was away from the system. It was unfortunately clear developer's were abandoning it at least six month's before the launch of the PlayStation 2.
Damn that’s right at the turn of the century
@@Okurka. A fact people often overlook.
Man midnight launches of consoles and games I miss those times … fun stuff
Yep. Sega ended up buying the rights to finish and publish what they felt were going to be the best. Just like they did with Saturn. I remember reading that article in a magazine.
Meet toooo so many ship battles during school then came home n raised the air ships loaded up
"why play online on an old console when there's updated versions that are playable on modern hardware?" I think it's because there's something special and nostalgic about playing a game online on an outdated system. It's just fascinating to me.
In addition, half of the games you can currently play online on Dreamcast aren't playable online anywhere else. Never been re-released or updated.
Plus we don't have to pay a sub to use it on top of our isp bill
also, it's legacy tech, this sht has to be kept alive.
Tbh I always did prefer the Dreamcast UI for QIIIA. Music too.
also just the fun of trying :)
Dreamcast was awesome. It was such a fun and fresh at the time and Powerstone is one of the coolest fighting games ever made.
I love my Dreamcast. Surfing the web on a console back then was unreal. In 1998 I had recently joined the military, graduated technical training and was stationed at my first duty station in 1999. Setting up the Dreamcast in the common area "day room", plugging in the keyboard, and firing up web browser was just a completely different vibe.
@TrackSol Me too man I was at Kadena AB playing dremacast in 99 lol 18th Fighter Squadron
That period of time where we were all transitioning away from the SNES/Genesis, and stepping into the next level stuff with the PS1, N64, and then the Dreamcast bridging the gap to the PS2/GameCube/Xbox was pretty memorable. Tons of good games came out from all of those technological advancements.
Dreamcast was incredible. The games still look brilliant today. I remember the release like it was yesterday. Wish it was sometimes…those were good times.
Remember the monthly magazine? I loved getting those and reading everything Dreamcast related.
It’s pretty crazy that a 23 year old game is still playable online.
I have an idea for a future episode. It would be interesting to learn about Sonic Unleashed’s performance issues, and why it took nearly 15 years to fix it.
You should add CONSOLE game. There’s TONS of still played online PC games that are much older.
@@ColtComanche Particularly those where you can still host your own server.
Nothing crazy about 23 year old games being still playable online. It's just code. It doesn't rot or go out-of-date. I've played much older games online. The fact that people think it's "crazy" is due to "Games as a Service" propaganda.
Old mmorpgs from the late 90's have private servers for them as well. Tons of communities keep retro stuff alive.
@@czarkowskipawelyt Because the SaaS-model relies on back-end infrastructure...This stuff still uses only P2P.-connections. There's no "propaganda" behind it. btw: you can still play Destiny 1 online even though the game got its last expansion 5,5 years ago and I am sure there are even older SaaS-games
I remember a Dreamcast Quake 3 tournament at my local cinema where they projected the game on the screen.. good times 😅
PSO is the reason I play MMORPGs today. The Sega Dreamcast was simply the best console. I really wish others had taken the VMU concept, I feel that could have been so much more.
The PocketStation by Sony was similar and was supported for at least a little while after the Dreamcast died out, only in Japan though
What triggers me is the VMU concept could still be implemented today but instead with apps for your smartphone. GTA5 attempted to do it at launch with the ifruit app, but it just didn't offer enough to the experience. I feel like if the right console game developer played the right cards, they could easily make some big money out of this concept, and yet none of them have even attempted it 😔
@@AldenDoble Nintendo had the gba game link cable for the GameCube. Very few games used it, but when they did it was the best. Sonic team even utilized it for the Sonic Adventure remakes with the Sonic Advance series and Sonic Pinball Party to maintain the experience of bringing your Chao with you on the road. Imagine if Sonic games still had Chao gardens and you could take you Chao with you on your phone today.
Phantasy Star Online was my favorite Dreamcast game. Also loved Omikron, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Power Stone…god I miss my dreamcast
Believe it or not, you can still play PSO, the original servers are still online and emulators have network support
@BinaryCounter The DC, GCN, and PC versions are all supported.
@@BinaryCounter that’s insane!
Omicron was amazing!
Gaunlet legends is probably the best game on the Dreamcast, my child hood game.
Seeing the dream cast all hooked up with mouse and keyboard brings back such amazing memories 😍 ❤️
I love your videos and channel! I'm 48 now and I grew up playing so much of what you show on here. Lots of good times and memories. Thank you!
My younger cousins had a Dreamcast growing up, and I wish desperately that I'd had the chance to take it off their hands. For Crazy Taxi alone, that system is worth keeping around.
I had great times playing Phantasy Star and Alien Front Online back in the day. AFO was such a blast!
Lol! The idea that there are STILL people playing PSO on Dreamcast (with GameCube crossplay) just warms my heart
Love to see it! I got lucky buying a junk lot in japan recently and one had a broadband adapter on it, I figured it would happen eventually as I fix up dc lots quite regularly. Took about 7 years lol.
The DC community is awesome so great to see people keeping these games alive and running private servers.
Cool to see a brief glimpse into Dreamcast online gaming. There seems to be quite a few of us passionate about keeping it online. For instance I try my best to preserve 4x4 Evolution's VMU downloadable tracks and provide occasional patches.
In played many hours online of Quake 3 Arena on the dreamcast. Brazil had a solid community. My PC back then couldn't run any 3D games. Sometimes when someone was using the PC, I used the Dreamcast to browse websites. There was no smartphones, very few gadgets had access to the internet. When console internet gaming became a thing with PS3/xbox 360, I wasn't surprised even a bit, lol.
Ahhh shenmue, house of dead, sonic adventure, crazy taxi, and jet grind radio. Awesome memories.
I think the broadband online is actually awesome. You got the freedoms of the net like in the 90s with games that are actually pretty badass . They should update it that every game with online play could be played through the broadband adapter . There ate on the dreamcast some very underrated games that should be played for its online multiplayer alone .
I love videos like this. Internet connectivity on old school consoles like this has always intrigued me
1 correction, DC and GC cannot play with each other but they can communicate in the lobby.
But either way it's great to see more videos shouting out DC and GC PSO, the communities are always growing and despite the low amount of players you see online I can guarantee you it's pretty easy to find people to play with if you join that servers respective Discord server. Both Sylverant and Schtack have very welcoming communities.
But GC and original Xbox users on PSO can play with each other
Quake 3 might have been the first console game that allowed user created mods because the game allowed you to create your own dedicated servers. Back in the day when the DC was still thriving, I found a few PC mods that worked with little modifications on the dedicated servers, such as freeze tag and instagib. It was pretty funny when ppl joined the servers and were blown away by all new game types.
I still have my og dreamcast. Using the MODE is a dream. Next step is to make it online. Awesome video.
The Dreamcast still remains one of my favorite consoles of all time. Such an underrated gem of a system.
I never owned a Dreamcast of my own, but I knew a guy who did and he loved it. We would play Power Stone and Unreal Tournament quite often and I found it to be an enjoyable console. It really was a superior piece of hardware in its time but sadly it never really got the recognition it deserved. Kind of heartwarming to see it still has some support from the community. Thanks for the informative video and stay safe out there!
SEGA does make the best gaming hardware. Even the fishing rod accessory for Dreamcast was epic. If they released a mini version of that it would be sold out in seconds.
It never ceases to amaze even me how many people are still playing PSO online to this day. I can understand the sentiment though, considering how much time I've devoted to the game in one way or another. Thanks a lot for the shout out and covering getting online with the Dreamcast.
I would like to make one minor correction, though, if I may. Sylverant doesn't allow players on Dreamcast and Gamecube to actually play in teams together for various reasons (the rebalancing that occurred between the two versions has a lot to do with it). They can see each other online in the lobby, though. Sylverant does allow the Dreamcast and early PC versions to play together with one another, though as the early PC version is pretty much a direct port of Version 2 of PSO from the Dreamcast.
You never cease to amaze me In how you figure out how to make the same video over and over on various different topics
I remember going online with the Dreamcast back in the day with dial up. What a horrific experience playing NBA 2K2. It was almost like a turn based strategy game. Every few seconds the game would pause, calculate you and the other player's movements, advance your players rapidly, unpause, let you move again, and repeat ad nauseum). This was after the Dreamcast was basically dead and they allowed you to use Sega Net free for a few months. Still was kind of cool for me at the time, since I had never played a console game online.
Playing Dreamcast games online like it's 1999...
I read this in Prince's voice.
I am legit amazed at how well folks have managed to keep this going. It's a truly impressive feat both for avoiding e waste, but more importantly for the historical preservation.
Back in 2001 I always wanted a broadband adapter, but they were pretty rare so I had to use the POTS modem. Still had fun with Unreal and Phantasy Stay Online.
Would love to see more dreamcast content and homebrew. Great stuff MVG!
The broadband adapter for GameCube was one of the best ways to backup GameCube games back in the day, too.. I bought one for that reason.
I got pretty addicted to PSO over the past few years. I was running the ISO through emulation on practically everything and connecting everywhere. From Android to the Playstation Classic, it's awesome to be able to experience this game for what it was back then. Sylverant has a great community.
Such an amazing console. I love how there are still releasing new games for it and these features still work. I remember being amazed Dreamcast supported VGA output for 480p on computer monitors back when it was new. Your video is giving me a slight itch to hook mine back up.
I used to visit my family in a town that ony had dial up internet and this thing kept me happy playing Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament online. I even had the keyboard and was so completely blown away that it was supported.
Always love these. Been doing this for a while now. Thanks for the video.
The Dreamcast was my first experience on the internet outside of a school computer.
There was no computer at home, but I had a Dreamcast with the standard 56k modem, a long home telephone cable, free calls after 6pm for 1 hour, and 2 questions; "are you gonna be using the phone?" and "can I go in the internet?"
Ah glorious! I'm online, what shall I do today? Spend an eternity waiting for a 5 second audio file of Ali G talking about his mother and having balls the size of oranges, visit the Sonic Adventure site, look at some Geocities, or play Chu Chu Rocket?
Absolute magical.
You can run a dedicated Quake 3 server on PC with official software. It's an older version that's 100% compatible with the Dreamcast and PC, allowing cross platform play between the two systems.
Ok this in interested in. I have the dream pi setup and would love to play with my friend on pc because... why not? Lol
@@akumapup I haven't ran a Q3 DC server for a while but you can find the info you need, easily. Just remember to only upgrade to the version the Dreamcast needs. Upgrading past that particular version breaks compatibility.
@@drphilxr Running a Quake 3 in dedicated server mode won't require the game graphics to be rendered. It always ran in the background on my PC.
I love seeing Dreamcast continued games and now broadband support to this day. The fact that servers are still online and working is a community love affair and it’s great. DC was ahead of its time with a fantastic launch and one of the best library of games in its cut short lifespan. Sega was so close with the DC with just a couple mistakes one being the lack of DVD playback and the controller was a terrible design compared to the Saturn’s near perfect design.
Glad I still have my BBA from launch, but have to point out that PSO ver 1.0 did not support broadband in North America. At the time of release broadband was only supported on the Japanese release of 1.0. But you could essentially get a rip of the Japanese version and there were guides out there to use that disc to configure your network setting that would allow you to use the BBA with the American release after configuring was done.
Absolutely correct. I was going to post this and just saw your comment. I had to use the NTSC-J version to get this working on my broadband connection at home with my BBA. I remember being so pissed when I found out that it wasn't officially compatible, but thankfully I found the workaround.
Community members also made a self-bootable unofficial configuration disk to setup the broadband capabilities later on as well so you didn't need the NTSC-J disk.
The Dreamcast was my intro to the world wide web my last couple of years in high school. I use to just click around trying to find something cool. I remember finding an encyclopedia online, and using it to complete my research papers. It might not seem like much today, but it was dope back then, because we didn't have a computer, or a car to get to the library. I just wish I would've known what else was out there, like mp3 sites, if they existed.
But games wise I had Phantasy Star Online was cool. I think I just liked hanging out in the lobby chatting with random people. The background music is so nostalgic
I just think it would be nice to build awareness about online gaming on older consoles. A lot of people still own these consoles but don't seem to realise online play is still possible on them. It would be great to build awareness to grow the community.
This brings back memories. My first on line gaming experience. I spent hours looking at certain other sites as well. Shame the VMUs were not great. Mine failed after a year or so 😥
dreams come true
Still have the Dreamcast and still play it. Love Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Spawn, Power Stone and a lot of other titles. Alway loved the rich colorful graphics of the Dreamcast. I use a modern HDMI adapter that works pretty well and get rid of lot of blurriness of the graphics and sharpens up the image.
One minor correction, when you save your dial-up settings it doesn't save to the VMU, rather a tiny bit of flash storage inside the Dreamcast itself. This little bit of flash storage is one of the ways PSO linked your account to your Dreamcast back in the day for security purposes.
Cool .. Especially in 2023!!! Who would've thought... Sega needs to produce the Dreamcast NOW!!!!
Phantasy Star Online is still one of my favorite online gaming experiences. It's such a social game despite being so simple and lobby based. Although I mostly play on PSO:BB servers which, despite being an inferior version of the game in my opinion, has a lot more people still playing
Check out Ephinea! The game lives!
Yes, I had many hours of playing PSO.
Love that you made a video as a love letter to look for other players to play with...
I feel there should be a MVG Quake 3 community match setup. That would be fun ;)
Man I love seeing content for the sega dreamcast. Never let it die.
The legend will never die!
@@lionelrichardson2454 hell ya!
I don't have a Dreamcast, but hearing you say GC and DC players could play PSO together makes me now want to take my GC, Broadband Adapter, and PSO disc and figure out how to get this going, because I really loved playing that game on the GC so much. I would say it made the BBA worth it a little 🤣
Same, though most of my play on GC was local offline coop with friends. I do have a broadband adapter and some pretty high level characters as long as that memory card is still intact. :D
I have PSO on my original Xbox.
Apparently, it's also possible these days to have cross play between the GC and Xbox in a private server, some other youtuber was testing this functionality back in the summer. It will be very interesting to see the DC, GC and Xbox with full crossplay for this game, should create a healthier player base for those who prefer the multiplayer experience.
@@Manic_Panic I've done this before on an old Server called Scthack or something. I remember PC and GC were supported, but I don't remember which other platforms worked with crossplay on that server. IIRC, there can be some issues since there are some differences between the versions, though I never had any problems.
I love hearing about retro tech that can still connect to the internet in the present day. Less and less options out there as servers get shutdown, but still fun to see this. I never had a Dreamcast when they were new.
Twitter will be just fine....Better than it ever was, even!
I completely agree, we're already seeing spoof accounts and bots getting hit. User provided context is also proving pretty incredible. It's fascinating how now that features are being implemented that users have wanted for years people are suddenly loosing their minds about the features they wanted because they have this warped idea of who Musk is living rent free in their heads.
Reading twitter has actually been fun the last week. Not the usual cringy one sided takes from "Brand".
I've been eyeing a dreamcast at my local "recycle shop" here in Japan and I might just have to pick one up now. I had one way back in high school and I loved it. Definitely one of the most memorable and innovative systems I've ever owned (the VMU was amazing and I spent so much time making custom animations for it).
It's honestly amazing to see the dreamcast still have so much support from the fan/modding community. I've also known about the broad-band adapter/playing games online for awhile but, the cost is what's kept from getting one.
That aside great video as always MVG, keep up the good work.
The dreamcast was very ahead of it's time.
"It's pointless, but it works."
That's pretty much my hobbies in a nutshell.
Pso online is amazing. Dreamcast was really ahead of its time
The Dreamcast is special, for having what is arguably the strongest console launch ever. No console before, or since, has had such an immediate library of bangers at launch.
I mean in general, the Dreamcast just has one of the most consistently great game libraries ever.
Dreamcast is the best system.
Regularly play online with our Sega Dreamcast on all the games that have currently been brought back online
Some other great news, there is a new online dreamcast which supports DreamPi and BBA plus cross play. Great video by the way hopefully this will get more people joining us online with the Dreamcast
Thanks MVG and looking forward to the next Dreamcast video!
PSO 2024 who’s with me?
One thing really interesting is that Q3 Arena in dreamcast had a built-in Wallhack. If you typed "r_znear 30" in the console (If I remember correctly), which was only accessible to those wich had keyboard, it would not drawn near objects, like the gun model and the nearest wall. So if you touched the wall, it became invisible.
There was no way to prevent someone from using this code. But it was easy detectable in spectator mod, seeing someone walking touching the walls
DREEEAAAAAAAMCAAAAAAAST
Dreamcast was an amazing piece of hardware... At the end of the day it made the 6th generation better. It has gone down in history as one of the best systems for arcade ports and for just pure fun factor!
"twitter is about to implode"
lmao
That bit about PSO was so meta since BBA + PSO was how the dumps were done (or a null modem cable to serial transfer over at a painful rate).
"...Twitter is about to implode..." 🙄
@@navyvet84 Well, I also think it's an oversimplification and ignorant reaction all of the rage behind the announced changes behind Twitter but I like MVG's content and he rarely make comments regarding his political or ideological views, don't see why I need to unsubscribe just for one comment.
Besides that. ¿What is a "tist"? English is not my main language and I probably don't live in the same region as you.
Playing PSO was a transformative experience. Love the video.
By implode you mean, actually be tolerable again.
MVG's mask slipped a little on that one.
Yo Yogensha long time no speak
This brings back memories! I played sooooo many hours of Quake and PSO on Dreamcast. It was my first online gaming experience. I bought the Dreamcast used and it came with the modem attached. I don’t think they were that expensive at the time since like the video said dialup and even AOL disks were still a thing back then. Remember scoring a used Dreamcast mouse and keyboard off Yahoo auctions of all places. Nobody thought eBay would workout. Wow we old! 😂😂
The game genie hacks kinda ruined pso for me later on lol, it was extremely capable on how you could mod the game and screw others over, online. I had the game genie myself, which was fun single player. Still a great game tho, online was soo fun.
"Given Twitter is about to implode" - wut?
A new MVG video? Instant click.
I have NEVER watched one of your videos and been disappointed brother.
Much love from Canada.
First
You are first congratulations
Absolutely.
It's awesome for a machine that this month turns 24 to see there are people still using it online. I love my DC and my Saturn.
LOL despite all the legacy media BS.Twitter isn't likely "imploding".
Twitter employees no longer being able to censor their political opposition = imploding according to ModernSoyGamer lel
I remember when I was using serial slave to rip Dreamcast disc the process was so slow the instruction actually told you to "have some sleep". That was the moment I wish I had the LAN adapter.
Jesus christ not you complaining about Twitter too
Late 90s browsers make me nostalgic. Can't believe the Dreamcast's 25th birthday will be next year.
"given that twitter is about to implode" lol you weebs are so soft
I bought the broadband adapter last month to start developing Dreamcast homebrew games. Now i'm going to try and make time for PSO and Quake III Arena!
Oh my goodness! I never thought that anyone would ever review this system in 2022. I also never thought anyone would still be playing games on it online in any servers today. Many gamers weren't even born when this system came out. I never had a Dreamcast, but my cousin did. I was to busy waiting for the PS2. Thanks for doing this video.
Hell I think it's pretty awesome too the fact that you play a Sega Dreamcast online in 2022 is pretty amazing it just won't die and I love to see it's resilience shine. Long live the Dreamcast. Ill never forget how heartbroken I was when I found out that Sega was done with consoles when everything about the Dreamcast was done perfectly unlike the ill-fated 32 x Sega CD I owned all of these systems too so I was completely heartbroken when I found out about Sega leaving the Dreamcast in the past forever only lasted a Lil over a year and it sold record numbers at first so there's that too
I freaking love this. Now i need a dreamcast and the adapter to play with
I’d love to try it. When the system was out, I didn’t have internet at the time. Dreamcast is my favorite system and sounds like a neat experience.
Very cool!! And awesome to see others still online playing! Dreamcast was my fav console. If only Sega had chosen to go with a DVD drive instead of GD-Rom i believe things would of turned out vastly different!
3:26, man seeing that brings back memories. I know the guy that made XDP, but I haven't seen him or talked to him in years.
Nice try bot, not falling for it, here I have something for you 🖕