The Dream That Will Never Die: Dreamcast Independent Gaming in 2016

I nonetheless consider the day I located out that SEGA has been going to stop the Dreamcast. It changed into early 2001, and the PlayStation mag I was reading (we used to read magazines returned then certainly) blanketed the death of the Dreamcast earlier than swiftly transferring on to the successes of the PS2. Thanks to those successes and the big preference for PlayStation over the SEGA Saturn the generation previous, Sony had nearly unmarried-handily pushed SEGA out of the console enterprise, leaving them to pay attention to software program simplest from that day forth. With the Dreamcast topping out at a meager nine million and change in sales and the PS2 hitting the dizzy heights of over a hundred and fifty million devices bought, the Dreamcast become destined to be little extra than a footnote inside the pages of gaming records.

If you say to me on that day in 2001 that we’d nonetheless be seeing new games released for the Dreamcast on a fairly ordinary basis in 2016, I’d have without a doubt smiled and nodded at the same time as I subsidized away slowly. And but here we’re fifteen years later, and the SEGA Dreamcast has a fantastically colorful network of indie developers still freeing games despite the truth that SEGA has had little to do with the console (other than upkeep) for the reason that early ’00s. So if you’ve nevertheless got one of these cunning white containers tucked away inside the attic somewhere, or even if you’re looking at getting into unfashionable gaming for the first time, there’s likely something at the horizon it’s well worth taking a examine.

Although we are most effective a month into 2016, the Dreamcast has already visible one console exclusive game launch in Leona’s Tricky Adventures. Inspired via the Amiga puzzle game Gem X, Leona’s obligations the participant with an increasing number of, erm, complex coloration primarily based puzzles similar to that handheld Lights Out game of the mid-nineties which you would possibly recall. Leona’s Tricky Adventures is to be had for purchase as you are reading this on Steam. However, the Dreamcast model comes with a full jewel case including artwork, which is obviously higher.

Looking to the destiny, the long in development Elysian Shadows is slated to hit the streets at some point in 2016. After coming to the public attention through a series of YouTube improvement movies in 2007, and then a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014, Elysian Shadows is a role-playing recreation offering customizable characters, a dynamic day/night cycle, and an attention-grabbing 2D/3-d hybrid artwork style. Set in a fantasy international comparable to the only seen in classic JRPG Final Fantasy VI, Elysian Shadows tells a tale of the battle between religious zealots who exceeded magical powers from The Creator and atheists compelled to depend on futuristic technology. While there is no strong launch date but and improvement of the game has hit a couple of snags lately, developer GyroVorbis continues that the identity will see a launch in 2016, and who’re we to argue?

Scheduled to are available in June of this yr, Alice Dreams Tournament is a 2D Bomber Man-like from French builders Alice Team. Players need to traverse the 2D mazes the usage of their bombs to clean paths and smash the alternative players within the degree, even as searching out strength united states to increase the range of bombs they can drop or the damage their bombs do upon detonation. The recreation features a sturdy multiplayer mode and seven different sports types starting from the usual death suits to greater intricate modes involving math puzzles.

Hypertension: Harmony of Darkness is a horror first-person shooter that began lifestyles as an extension of the Blood franchise but morphed into its personal story as improvement also moved along. After some disputes with Atari due to assets from Blood being used within the manufacturing of Hypertension, in addition to a short cancellation of the challenge because of that, improvement of Harmony of Darkness has advanced with the game expected to look a release at some point in 2016.

Hucast Games seek to launch Redux 2, the sequel to their remake of the scrolling shoot-em-up DUX, at some unspecified time in the future in 2016. Pre-orders for the game are already live, and there may be a flowery collector’s edition that includes a soundtrack CD and a DVD of extras if you’re inclined to pay up for that sort of element. The vanilla game functions seven ultra-modern levels and a two-participant co-operative mode for the gamers that like to do their arcade taking pictures with a buddy in tow. If you are a fan of R-Type or other deliver shooters of that ilk, then Redux 2 might be a recreation worth retaining an eye fixed on.

If you seek out something a touch greater out of the regular, far away from the 2D shooters and puzzle games, then the Dreamcast t indie scene can cater to your wishes with a name like a SLaVE from Isotope and Jay Townsend. SLaVE attempts to mesh the gaudy aesthetics of ’80s arcade games with the addictive first-person gunplay of titles like Doom and Wolfenstein. If the aggregate of eye-popping shades and punishing first individual taking pictures rubs you the proper way, then SLaVE may want to be a game for you thoroughly. If you are interested in it, you may want to transport it quickly even though; the game is deliberate to be ultra-restricted edition without an extra than 484 copies of recreation destined for release.

SEGA gave up on the Dreamcast in the face of extremely-stiff opposition from the Sony PlayStation 2 after a trifling two years on the market. Still, there is a network of devoted indie builders who refuse to transport on. It has a cult following that is producing new content material fifteen years after the console’s business demise. Since the discontinuation of the console in 2001, there had been over thirty unbiased titles released for it, which include Stormwind, Rush Rush Rally Racing, Wind and Water, and Gunlord. So possibly subsequent time you are inside the attic, and you spot your vintage Dreamcast tucked among a Furby and a Spirograph, recollect digging it out, dusting it off, and seeing what the antique girl can do in 2016.