SEGA DREAMCAST VMU: An Innovative Idea that Could NEVER Catch On | GEEK CRITIQUE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ธ.ค. 2019
- A memory card with a screen? A handheld console that could download games from the internet FOR FREE in the late 90's? Another wonderful, innovative, STUPIDLY ahead of its time idea from Sega that was WAY too ambitious to be anything but unappreciated and under-utilized!? Yes, yes, and yes!
This was formerly a Patreon-exclusive episode of the show, but I'm releasing it here as a present for everyone. Hope you all have an excellent holiday and a Happy New Year!
Intro Song: • Aggretsuko Theme || ME...
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![Secrets of the Dreamcast VMU | Punching Weight [SSFF]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rwp9Mqwu8zs/mqdefault.jpg)
![4BANG - NOT LIKE US (REMIX) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HO22cYkha1s/mqdefault.jpg)
(Psst. I heard a rumor there's a post-credits scene.)
This was formerly a Patreon-exclusive episode of the show, but I'm releasing it here in the spirit of the season. :D Hope you all have an excellent holiday and an even better 2020!
i know you didn't go into the japanese games but one that I know that is cool is in puyo puyo yon on the dreamcast carbuncle who is usually on the screen is on the vmu now and does his usual animations. but its not as awesome as the ones shown on this video
Thank you
Good thing I read this! I was just about to give you crap for forgetting Time Stalkers! I really wanted to hear about those games...since I had THE EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE AS YOU.
If you release your patreon exclusive videos way later that would be totally amazing and make everyone happy!
Happy Holidays Kings, keep geeking!
Being physically fit is an important part of racing. It doesn't make the car faster, it makes you a more effective driver.
Yup. You'll notice the amount of overweight race drivers is rather low.
Christophe Johnson how so?
🤔
@@beastfulboy Try some karting. If you push yourself to the limit, you'll be exhausted.
If you want to finish a race AND be fast the whole race, you'll have to be fit.
Sk1ds like go-karting? Oooooor u mean like real car karting? And by “pushing yourself to the limit”, do u mean like go full speed in the car and the Gs or something will exhaust me like that thingy people gtta go on to see if they fit enough to be an astronaut.
Imo the Dreamcast was one of the best looking consoles ever.
ikr
Hortinus yeah the design was gorgeous a definite home run there.
Not to mention the intro for the console.
Hypero that was the best ever. The note was actually composed by a famous japanese musician.
Except the controller, it should have had dual analog sticks and a few more buttons. If they'd done that, it would have been close to perfect
🎵Perform for crowds of thousands~ They'll shower us with diamonds! The wonderbolts will see me right here aaat the galaaaaaa~🎵
Sega was ahead of it's time. The Dreamcast is like an early seventh gen console.
Trueeee
it's such a shame that it fell to the Glorified DVD player.
Sega had always been at a weird, "between generations" spot with their consoles. The Genesis was built originally to outdo the NES, then the SNES shortly came out after making the Genesis look less impressive. Saturn came to bring 3D graphics to the mainstream but was quickly overshadowed by the PlayStation and N64. The Dreamcast was like a far superior N64, but then GameCube, PS2 and Xbox came out, leaving Sega behind again. Really interesting and unique history behind their home console history.
I would love to see how it compares to a Wii on benchmark tests.
@@DonkeyBoyVids Nintendo kinda does the same thing but by design - "GRAPHICS AREN'T IMPORTANT!!!1111!!" says the Nintendo stans
So here is a little Pinta quest story...
I got my self in a situation in skies of Arcadia where i saved before a boss with no chance to get more healing items or leveling up. Unfortunately I was underleveled (or underskilled) take your pick. And basically was looking at a complete game restart. Thank goodness for Pintas quest!! I used him to farm me lots of heal potions. I was then able to cheese the boss and progress the story.
Something like that was only possible on a Dreamcast and it is for reasons like that I have mine constantly connected to the TV.
Great video!
If the VMU was made today you could have something gameboy quality with hundreds of hours of battery life (without a backlight), charge from the controller and be almost impossible to fill with VMU games and animations.
@DejaVoodooDoll Yeah that would be pretty awesome. I'm sure it would still have amazing battery life too.
Wonder what coulda made the VMU more of a standout. Bigger screen size...? No?
Feels like it just kinda came out in an era where anything more than what we got would be cripplingly expensive.
But now when most people have a smartphone, you almost never see this kind of thing.
Which is kind of disappointing, I wouldn't mind downloading a mini-game (microtransaction free) app if it had some effect on the game on the big screen.
There's rumors that there was a new VMU coming out with an mp3 player built in. I think that a higher resolution VMU would have worked just as well, enough to have more pixels in it and more complex games, as well as an official VMU emulator as you can download for the dreamcast nowadays (only real way to grind pinta's quest or chao's adventure if you wanna try them in depth without emulators on PC). A VMU with double the pixels on each axis could hold so much more info, and I don't think it would be unreadable, but still, developer support, rechargeable batteries or a way to play plugged in would have helped both the appeal and longevity of the VMU by itself.
@@seacliff217 If it didn't have microtransactions, it'd be riddled with intrusive ads, though the most likely case is that both would happen. There's no free apps these days that doesn't have one or the other plus the addition of not working for a lot of people. RIP me and Z2 Play... Pokemon Masters is but a pipe dream.
@@seacliff217 those DO exist, they're companion apps that you download on your phone, but to ensure they're not complete trash (it DOES cost money to have a team develop) they need to generate income somehow to recoup the cost. This microstransactions or ads.
Bigger battery
I love that the intro is an agrettsuko reference
I thought that sounded familiar!!
@@tyisafk ikr!
Glad I wasn’t the only one who caught onto that xD
i thought it was a refference to the original dreamcast episode.
Right after some shen mue music though 👌🏻
30 seconds ago, comments from three months ago. yup this was a patreon exclusive
Thomas Miller 30 seconds ago, comments from 11 hours ago. yup this is a notification squad
@@pyrobison2002.Now it's 1 day ago.
@@pyrobison2002 shut the fuck up
@@demored3017 *frick
@@KidPrarchord95 *Fudge
:3c
I didn't know Sega had their own Flipnote Hatena before Nintendo
Like the Wii U Gamepad and its second screen. It was a really cool idea with the potential of asymmetric gameplay and utilities like map screens and item storage, yet was too niche to catch on.
It was also because games like Star Fox Zero showed just how bad having a second screen can be while other games just used it as a real time menu. I think the second screen concept only works well on the 3DS/DS because both screens are in front of you so you don't have to constantly look up/down.
@@Crazy_Gamer_OG
I haven't played Zero, but most of the time I hear that peoples' issue with it was the motion controls. The only thing the second screen did most of the time was show an alternate camera angle, so you could switch between a cockpit or wide-view without needing to press a button.
I'd argue some games made good use of the GamePad's second screen to enhance the game. NSMBU had Boost Mode, which allowed a second player to place platforms on the touch screen without having to deal with an awkward cursor (same goes for Captain Toad in contrast with its Switch port.)
Several of the games in Nintendo Land used the second screen to give a fifth player a unique viewpoint and role to other players, such as how Luigi players can't see the ghost player on the TV in hide and seek. Being able to read the map in Splatoon or switch items on the fly in Wind Waker HD without pausing the game was very useful especially when on a long boat trip.
Most of the time the Gamepad was just used to display the same stuff as on the TV, but when it was used to it's full potential it created game experiences not possible on any other platform.
@@TripleJump It wasn't that the second screen showed an alternate camera angle. It was that, in order to HIT any target you had to look at the game pad because aiming on the TV was incredibly imprecise, but then in order to maneuver past obstacles you had to look at the TV. That combined with motion controls that you can't turn off & were incredibly twitchy and imprecise as well to the point where you had to hit the reset aim button every few seconds because it was just all over the place.
In the end, actually playing the game was just a mess because you had to focus on so many different things at once, so much that they actually slowed down segments & reduced the amount of enemies compared to other Star Fox games. Then the other parts of the game were incredibly boring to play. So, you were either going through the mess that is the two screen aiming/motion/movement system or doing boring menial tasks in the other parts. Star Fox Zero was literally the game that killed the game pad two screen system because it was a 1st party game that utilized literally everything it could do to it's full potential, and it sucked.
Every other game, including the ones you listed never used the game pad to the full potential that SFZero did, they just used smaller elements that went well with the game they were trying to make. I'd argue the best game that uses it is Pikmin 3, and it basically was just touch controls that lets you control Pikmin that much easier, but even without controls like that the experience would be exactly the same if you just had a menu or drag/drop style controls. Star Fox is the only game that actually used "the full potential" and it killed it because it's full potential was literally something terrible enough to not warrant ever using it.
Every game that uses the game pad could basically be done without the game pad in a menu or by using a control stick for motion. It's the biggest reason why the system failed. It was an entirely unnecessary inclusion in a system that already had a better alternative for motion controls. The Wii Motion + was a far superior method of having the exact same control schemes they used in the game pad. The only useful thing the game pad is good for is playing games in handheld mode or having your own separate screen for multiplayer.
The WiiU game pad screen was useless unless the game wasn't occurring in real time. But if it was a slow paced game you had a stylus and effectively a palm device. So it could be like holding a virtual book or something to accompany say an adventure game which would allow you to interact more easily with an interface via the stylus. Apart from that, it's not reasonable to expect people to look down a their controller in the middle of an action sequence.
@@Crazy_Gamer_OG
...except for Nintendo Land's multiplayer asymmetric thing. Those game seriously wouldn't work at all with only one screen and it's a shame no other games really took advantage.
Dude, the VMU basically having mod support in 1999 is wild.
I moded the shit out of mine.
12 years old watching this video : "you had to unlock things for FREE?!"
I think it might be more along the lines of "Wait... You COULDN'T pay to unlock things?"
It's fascinating to see just how committed Sega was to hitting every brick wall by blasting ahead of the industry before anyone could even think to look.
There isn't any distinction between Sonic and Sega. His character is Sega's legacy, and every turn the company takes is a turn Sonic himself takes.
I think it's part of why only Sonic can do Sonic games. Trying to emulate it is a risk unto itself, and there is no company or character more ready to charge headfirst into than Sonic and Sega.
It's admirable, really.
it really is.
Jonathan Shaw they were a great great company and responsible for so much innovation. Not just their 4 major home consoles but as the #1 arcade company and innovator in that space... people who weren’t alive in the 80s and 90s have no clue just how far advanced segas arcade technology was compared to everything else on the market.
Problem with Sega's innovation is that most of the time it backfired due to not thinking it through as well as straight up arrogance.
Ekkk every major company has displayed arrogance. Nintendo with carts, Sony and Microsoft I don’t even need to go there. 32X bombed Saturn commit suicide and Stolar was trash, people have no idea how many mistakes were made with DC, because all they see and understand are how good the hardware and games were.
I really loved Sega as a console developer. They were so eager to create the future. They were the first top 3 gaming company to invest in motion controls and VR. They wanted to bring us the future. But mankind was not ready. Mankind was ignorant of what they could have had. Now it sluggishly buys product based on popularity. When companies like Nintendo are content with remaining in the past and even damning future technology like VR. Nintendo is the reason why gaming hasn't changed in the past 20 years. As long as people buy there dated overpriced technology with gimmicky "ideas" we will never see the immersive future of video games realized. We will forever be stuck in a cycle of "better graphics better games" becuase Nintendo refuses to push the boundaries. If 3 guys are in a competition and one of them is succeeding by doing literally nothing it makes the other 2 guys do nothing also. Nintendo is killing the gaming industry.
I'm still playing Sonic Adventure 2 as I watch this. Sure it may be the Steam release, modded to hell and fixed up proper to the point I actually enjoy more than just the Chao Garden and Speed Type stages, but still, that proves that SEGA made a real impact.
Oh man, the VMU is so cool!
I think Sega was probably the most innovative and ambitious console maker of its time, probably of all time.
They did some interesting experimental stuff, it's a shame they mishandled so many of their executions, or did it at the wrong time (that and some pretty awful decisions and management too).
The Saturn and Dreamcast are some of my favorites, I especially love the fact they have an active community to this day, making games. The Saturn fuels my need for little niche 2D games (and it's my favorite Sega console because of that), the Dreamcast fuels my need for arcade-like experiences and experimental titles, along with cool homebrew.
I'm always happy to see any video talking about these things.
The tv Turner for game gear and Sega CD digital pictures games. Sega don't get enough respect.
It's cool seeing Sega's history long after they went out of the video game console Market, especially since people like me never remembered them for making consoles.
Same ans agreee
Oh god I'm so old
Lando Bro it’s crazy to think but yeah, it’s been 20 years now, there are people who don’t know about sega at all. Sega had 4 mainline consoles spanning the 8, 16, 32, and 128 bit generations. Microsoft will match that number next year and Sony will surpass it by 1 next year...
That Aggretsuko homage at the beginning. Nais.
Ahhh, this was so much fun! Like with the last video, the reverence you have for this era of Sega's history - a part I missed out on - is thrilling to bare witness to. I didn't know much about the VMU aside from it being the Chao peripheral / memory card for the Dreamcast, so this was super cool and enlightening! Beyond that, though, serious props to you for playing all of these games, both on the Dreamcast and VMU just to capture footage for a bonus episode. That's going the extra mile and I really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun to watch. :)
Hey, I appreciate the acknowledgment. That many different VMU games and that much footage for one episode _was_ a lot to juggle, and I'm glad it made for an interesting episode!
That outro song at the end is a metal cover of Rainbow Dash's part of "At The Gala" from MLP:FiM.
I was NOT expecting to hear that here, but you just hit me with nearly decade old nostalgia. Bless you.
Man, the VMU showing how many Evo Points you have in "Seventh Cross" is super helpful. What a neat little bit of tech, I miss things like this
Love how you still have the old VMU games and animations you made. It's really what makes this channel extra special
Pretty sure "Para" would be short for "Parameters" (aka stats).
I've watched your original Dreamcast video so many times that the intro freaking killed me.
Considering I grew up not even knowing the Dreamcast existed as a kid, or that Sega made consoles for that matter, I always find these Dreamcast videos interesting.
I think "para" may be short for "parameters"
20:41 Real subtle reference there.
You're the first one to notice!
*Starts with Aggretsuko reference*
"Oh dis gon' be gud"
Did you think I wouldn't recognize that intro from Aggretsuko? I think not
The "Norman Smiley animation" sighting got a chuckle out of me. Big fan of the Big Wiggle.
Independent games before indies? Gaming was started in the indie scene by nerds in labs fumbling around with radar machines and some of the earliest computers back in 50s. There is no gaming before indies.
Sonic vs Pikachu
YOU INSPIRED SONICHU. GOD DAMMIT JOSH!
I love the VMU and dreamcast in general. I still have mine. The VMU was so incredibly unique for the time.
I knew of the VMU and its ambition, but I had no idea there were animation tools akin to Flipnote Studio.
@0:14-.->*Hears Aggretsuko opening theme*
Me:“Ah.”
Me:“I see you are a man of culture. (And Netflix account)”
i'm really happy to see pac-it get some actual attention, especially considering your video is the second to ever document footage of it on youtube! the first was my own, i went through the effort of extracting the vmu data from namco museum via a dreamcast emulator and upload it onto that vmu site, while documenting the game in a video showing it off in the vmu emulator. i feel like i've actually done something menaningful for documentation, even with something as small as this, and seeing someone i watch and enjoy actually talking about it thanks to my efforts makes me very happy!
Here solely for Pinta's Quest praise. Was not disappointed.
Dreamcast was amazing I don’t care what anyone else says
I had fallen out of gaming at the end of the 16 bit era and wasn't actively gaming in 1999 (didn't get back in until a few years ago), but I've had my own personal struggle with THOSE DAMN SONOFABITCH CR2032 BATTERIES.
My biggest hobby then and now is amateur astronomy, and back then I had this shitty cheap-ass viewfinder device on my telescope. It was basically a "red dot" sight for a BB gun with a tiny potentiometer to adjust the brightness of the LED. It used those CR2032 batteries, and God help me if I forgot to switch off the finder at the end of the night. Sure, it was only powering a TINY red LED, but if a week went by between clear nights, that thing was f**ked.
I have much more robust equipment these days.
Your shit is so fresh man. All the window dressing you put into it on your videos never interfere with the meat of it, it compliments it.
Happy holidays, Geeky!
I would watch a whole episode about Chao adventure 1 and 2. There's surprisingly little information about them out there....
Me, my dad and mom owned a saturn i still love to this very day so your not alone. I loved the Clockwork Knight series a lot
I think it's crazy how much effort you put into these Patreon exclusive videos, making a 30 minute long video isn't easy.
I remember playing Chao Adventure 2 while moving with my family, and at one point my chao got all existential on me and freaked me out.
"i like u and i was afraid to tell you so i told you like this"
-- some poor kid, 2000
I heard an "At The Gala" remix at the end. My inner brony is pleased.
Ooh, I'm early.
Not early enough considering I was born the year AFTER the Dreamcast died, and couldn't experience the glory.
Same 🥺
i was born the same year it kicked it (and less than a year before the nintendo 64 did) and no dice here either
Holy cow I remember this thing and not quite understanding it back when I was a kid!! Thanks for that kick of nostalgia
the worst was when you N64 memory card would say file is corrupt and you would have to delete everything on it
11:23 "And that's no good!"
I understood that reference.
The fact that someone talked about Skies of Arcadia is a true blessing! But thank you for this video. Seeing your passion, your energy, and everything you put into your content helps motivate me to better myself. Keep up the awesome work.
dude the production is over the roof!!
I didnt get far in skies of Arcadia, but I saw pinta's quest and immediately knew it was from it lol
Always saw the VMU as a rather pointless gimmick, but maybe this video will change my mind by showing me some uses I never encountered in the games I ended up playing on Dreamcast.
So did you change your mind?
@@dooplon5083 Eh, not really. Sure, it was ahead of its time, and we saw some of these features done better in other systems later. But for actually using a VMU with the Dreamcast, yeah, still seems like a pointless gimmick. An interesting note in history, but not something I'm going to bother using as more than a memory card when using my own Dreamcast.
As far as new games showing me new uses and changing my mind, that didn't happen either. This really only reminded me how I wish SEGA would re-release Skies of Arcadia so I can play it without paying an arm and a leg on eBay for it.
@@mjc0961 Honestly yeah, it was neat but with so little memory and a tiny monochrome screen it was hard to really do much that was really interesting and noteworthy.
Also I'd recommend looking into burning dreamcast discs, at least for games without rereleases since the devs wont be getting any money anyway from ebay.
It's good that you finally released this Patreon-exclusive episode last Saturday. I got to learn a lot about the VMU! 🤓
R.I.P all the chao we lost due to dead vmu batteries
Hearing holiday was awesome
Putting an Aggretusko reference in your video? You sir, are a man of culture.
Is that, a "At the Gala" remix in your outro? Nice :D
It's RD's theme from the cancelled fighting game, Fighting is Magic, that later became Them's Fighting Herds. It shouldn't be too hard to find.
@@krysto2012 Huh. I didn't played fighting is magic but I recognised the tune. So, thanks bro /)
At the end, that sounds like a rock version of an MLP song. I know it was based on the fighting game.
Lol, I actually opened up my VMU and cut the speaker wires to get rid of that annoying squeal when it was powered on with a dead battery.
Makes me wonder what Sega would come up with if they still made consoles.
Whoa tgc with content the past two months? You spoil us, lovely🥰🥰
Dude. I remember when your channel had 3000 (300?) or so subscribers. I remember the Metroid videos. Good work.
bro, rainbow dash's theme from the mane6 fighting game at the very end. nice
Evil twin: avant-garde, floaty, rough around the edges, and obscure among its peers( other Dreamcast titles)
Metroid: Avant-garde, floaty, rough around the edges( at first, anyway), and obscure among its peers( other, more popular gaming mascots)
funnily enough, despite your very obvious disdain for Time Stalkers. It actually seems like something I might need to try out
The VMU's pioneering idea of asymmetrical cooperative play between two separate consoles is still very cool and under-tapped, especially in this era of cellphones.
I imagine that Nintendo will get there some day, but for now it's interesting to imagine the possibilities.
Damn I wish I had a Dream Cast.
Then go and buy one lol they're cheap
@@Golemoid Really? I never would have guessed.
I've read Dune enough to have the word "prescient" embedded into the fibers of my brain
Oh my god. Zombie revenge is GREAT. Stick Brightling is like, the greatest name I've ever heard
YES SON
I remember before I purchased the Dreamcast I thought this would be the size of a Gameboy!
When i saw the two VMUs connect together, they reminded me of a couple of small pokemon minigames in the form of a pokeball, which i spent HOURS on end with them. It's so interesting to be honest... Thanks for showing this to me, who never got to play Sega consoles (Because i'm a 2000's kid) Soooo yeah! Thanks for the info.
Happy Holidays Josh
Jesus Christ why haven’t I found this channel before? I love it.
We often taped a couple of wires to some AAs and the battery contacts on the VMUs to save on button batteries, somehow none of them broke and no one got electrocuted. I did like how Virtua Tennis' display while playing showed a minimalist view of the court with the players positions and the ball going back and forth
I downloaded House of the Dead 2 inventory items about 20 years ago, and I am still about 60 years away from being able to use them all up
Man, this video series made me wish I had a Dreamcast and all these games when I was a child.
I was in love with the idea when I first saw it when i was younger. I thought it was so damn unique and wanted a Dreamcast SO BADLY.
dude you invented sonichu
Seriously, it's called "Pinta Quest," not "Pinta's Quest." It says the name on the VMU and in the full game, yet everyone says it wrong.
Not gonna lie. Time Stalkers sounded really awesome up until the "randomly generated" part. I do not care for randomly generated dungeons. At all. Legit dealbreaker. It's a shame, because the rest of it sounds right up my alley.
So didn't like the Evolutions then, either...
That reference to the Aggretsuko opening was lit
The VMU concept needs to come back!
One thing I absolutely loved is that in NBA2K you could see the fatigue of your players without having to pause the game. Great feature
Skies of Arcadia! I only played the Gamecube version but damn that game is so awesome and so obscure that I’ll take any mention of it on a channel like this as a celebration. I demand a sequel or remaster, Sega!
Thank you for gifting us Josh!
That Soul Calibur game did come out in the U.S. It was on the Dreamcast web browser's home page probably early 2000ish
I had a Saturn my friend. Games i remember were virtual fighter, haunted mansion with butterflies?? Madden? And daaaaytoooonaaaa USA. Saturn gave me some fond memories and you are not alone in appreciating it.
Is that the Sega Hard Girls ending at the end?
Or the Sega Company song?
There's one little known fact about the Chao Adventure minigame. Mating Chao via the minigame was the only way to unlock two exclusive colors of Chao. If you mated a gold Chao with a black Chao, you'd get a Bronze Chao. If you mated a silver Chao with a black Chao, then you'd get an onyx Chao. If you tried mating these same Chao in the Chao Gardens, you wouldn't get these colors.
Wow I never knew how ahead of its time the VMU was. That's Sega for you alright 👍
The more I learn about the Dreamcast, the more I wonder how different my life would be if I were able to get one back in the day.
Not that different because it died off in less than 3 years.
For a second I read the VMU as UMU
UMU he muves his Dmeamcast Vimtual Memomy Umit.
11:40 i was expecting this style of mini game for the racing game with powerrangers tbh
I loved the vmu! All those sonic critters we had to raise!
Ty for putting Skies of Arcadia. We need a remake of Skies ASAP.
Oh man I FEEL you on Time Stalkers. I have bought used copies of that game multiple times because the mini-games look AMAZING but I could never tolerate it long enough to FIND them. I wanna play 'em so badly but...yeah...not enough to get through Time Stalkers. Also I loved that I instantly recognized that homebrew VMU SHMUP which is probably the best VMU game I know of. Of the official ones that I played though? Love & Punches was my choice since it's a pretty responsive version of whack-a-mole and it helped me unlock things in Tech Romancer which is easily my favorite Dreamcast game. That said, Trickstyle Jr. deserves special credit for being only 5 blocks when every other VMU game took almost the whole card.
Actually? Know what's really silly? The VMU and Chao are why I bought the Dreamcast and got into Sonic. I was a Nintendo kid, I hated Sonic, but I also had an unhealthy Virtual Pet addiction. I actually bought a Japanese VMU and raised a Chao on it, taking care of it at Dreamcast Demo kiosks before the system released and I pretty much only played Sonic Adventure to take care of my Chao. I actually like Sonic games now. That said, the OTHER problem with the Chao in Sonic Adventure 2 was that if you pet them they start turning light or dark which pretty much ruined the game as it meant you either couldn't pet them, or all your Chao would look the same.
As a sidenote, the Pocket Station had a MUCH clearer screen and ran much faster. As much as I love the VMU I gotta admit the Pocket Station was better. It's a shame we never got it...especially because it really improves Legend of Mana for me. You could transfer your monsters to the Pocket Station and play a board game to grind their levels...which is good because it's almost impossible to level your monsters in the main game...especially if it's a Slime. I remember grinding my Slime on the Japanese version over the course of a vacation and when I came back it was spewing bullet hell patterns of slime balls that did damage AND caused status effects. I think there's even a SHMUP on Pocket Station. I think it's on the last RayStorm game? RayCrisis?
Anyway I think I'm hearing something about a Japanese-only Dreamcast Monster Rancher clone called Battle Beaster and I THINK it has VMU support so...I'll be getting that and a new VMU soon. The VMU saw a LOT more use in Japan. I have one game that's a Princess Maker clone called Pocket Kanojo/Pokekano where you raise one of three girls on your VMU and then plug it into your Dreamcast to watch event scenes. Pocket Station also had a few games where the disc only existed to download the software to the card. On the flip side, in Japan they sold a Godzilla VMU with a virtual pet installed...which did not go with any game. If you deleted that virtual pet, you could never get it back.
OH! And one more thing just out of nowhere: Did you know the Dreamcast has a wallpaper function? Yeah, you can download wallpapers for your system screen onto your VMU but the only game I know of that ever did this was Puyo Puyo Fever, SEGA's last Dreamcast game released LONG after the system ended. 2003 I think? I know they re-released refurbished Dreamcasts for the occasion. Shame it's probably the worst version of the worst* Puyo game but...that wallpaper thing was a surprise.
(*personal opinion. I haaaaaate Fever.)
EDIT: Oh yeah and what's with SEGA and terrible battery useage?! You realize the Game Gear only uses up ONE of its six batteries? I only found that out because I got some batteries that showed how much charge was left when you squeezed them a long time ago and put them in a Game Gear. FIVE of them were almost completely unused and ONE was drained empty which I think was the one for the speakers. I shudder to think of how many perfectly good barely used batteries we threw away because of the Game Gear.
i loved their solar system monikers and code names such as Katana.
Dreamcast surprised me a bit - i think i pre-ordered it before the official name was decided, but then it totally surpassed all expectations. "It's Thinking" and all that. I remember having a shoebox full of a variety of VMUs, the 4x memory card, and rumble packs. And i always slept with my launch tee as well. Haha