Eldorado Gate's second volume is so keen on getting started Bantross, our suspiciously inscrutable combination of host, party leader, and know-it-all rolled into one, can't even make it through his introductory speech without getting interrupted; the game content to cut him short and throw a single line's worth of description for each of the first disc's three … Continue reading Free from filler, fetch quests, and flabby storytelling
Eldorado Gate, Capcom's Dreamcast exclusive RPG series, is in many ways a creation that should have never got off the drawing board. This was a brand new RPG saga with no famous name to fall back on, released on what was definitely the "wrong" format for the genre at the time (Final Fantasy IX, Vagrant Story, … Continue reading The beginning of an epic adventure
There's something about Langrisser Millennium, Masaya's 1999 entry in the long running SRPG series, that we need to make very clear very quickly: It's not like its older and infinitely better known tactical forebears by design, even going so far as to have the back of the box spell out this game's desire to be a new … Continue reading A fresh start in a new era… well, maybe
I'll be honest with you: I wasn't particularly looking forward to going through this one. Beyond having been Sakura'd as well as War'd up to my eyeballs by this point in my research the game seems to be a title that for English-speaking Dreamcast fans exists as a name and not much else on a … Continue reading Sakura Wars Corner: Ogami Ichirou Funtouki
A Dreamcast "Dramatic Community" release with "Online" in its title sounds about as useful in 2022 as a themed email program that will only show its personalised messages to recipients viewing them through their own copy of the same disc, but Sakura Wars Online (the version shown here is the "Teito Edition", and is fully … Continue reading Sakura Wars Corner: Sakura Wars Online
There's really not a lot to say about this one; partly due to its inherent mail-ness (as with all the other unplayable in the traditional sense Sakura Wars spinoffs the case and the spine card both make very clear this is mail software), and partly because it just doesn't boot past the publisher/developer logos, not … Continue reading Sakura Wars Corner: Sakura Wars Kinematron Hanagumi Mail
What do you get when you mix Columns with Sakura Taisen? You get something close to my idea of heaven - now on Dreamcast! As you may have guessed from the large yellow "2" plastered on the box (and the title screen) Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 is a direct sequel to the Saturn/ST-V puzzle hit of very similar name and … Continue reading A match [three] made in heaven
deSPIRIA's scrappy survivalist future of deadly secrets and grisly monsters, a setting where people try to eke out a life for themselves amongst the decay as androids play the roles of shop assistants and murderers while a powerful religion oversees all, is something of a spiritual sequel to the supremely atmospheric PlayStation title Dark Messiah. … Continue reading The horrors of the mind
[Apologies for the literal screen shots in this one - emulation doesn't play nice with this game] When you spin the wheel of blind import purchases you do so in the knowledge that whatever comes your way could be anything from a life-changing hidden gem to a complete waste of time, money, and effort - … Continue reading The Dreamcast’s other speak ’em up
Ah, good old Phantasy Star Online. Everyone's played it on one format or another, or dabbled in one of its numerous spinoffs, or spent hours fussing over expensive outfits in the now internationally-available sequel. Been there, done that, evolved a funny-looking Mag and kicked Dark Falz in the chops at the end. But when was the last time any … Continue reading The 21st century RPG
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 