__________________________________________________ / \ /_______> > > DREAMCAST WEEKLY MAGAZINE < < <________\ ////// \\\\\\ ////// ~Issue #35 - www.DreamcastWeekly.com~ \\\\\\ \\\\\\ ////// \\\\\\ Sega X - http://www.segadreamcast.net ////// \\\\\\ Sega 2000 - http://www.sega2000.com ////// \\\\\\ Media Site - http://media.seganet.com ////// \\\\\\______________________________________////// \______________________________________________/ o> Please scroll down to Editors Comments for the start >>> Toejam & Earl Fan Fiction >>>> By Steve ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Would you like your own story printed in DC Weekly? It can be based on any game that's ever appeared on a Sega console. Please send your story(s) you'd like printed to webmaster@sega2000.com , and the best will be in future issues for all 11,000 people to read! Have fun, and I really look forward to reading them! - Tails, editor. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Things were going great on Funkatron. The Funkapotomous, keeper of all Funk, was getting quite old, and he knew it. The Funk had to be passed on. So he called a meeting for all Funkatronians to attend. "Yo fellow citizens, as ya all know, I'm the keeper of the Funk. I'm not as young as I used to be, and unfortunately, I can't hold this position anymore," the Funkatopomous said, pulling something out that looked like a Kool and the Gang vinyl. "This is the Funk, the power which is Funkatron. It must be passed on, to someone with a truly funky soul. I know just who that is." About 5 years ago, I was scared into hiding from the humans that came here. 2 dudes stepped forward, captured all the humans, and convinced me to come from my space in the Funk Dimension. Toejam and Earl, I think this should go to you," the Funkapotomous exclaimed. Needless to say, Toejam and Earl were amazed. As they began to maneuver their way through the crowd to receive this joyous possession, the unthinkable happened. Out of nowhere, Shela jumped from the crowd and grabbed the Funk from the outstretched hand of the Funkapotomous. This was too much for the Funkapotomous, and he had a heart attack! He was immediately hospitalized. Toejam and Earl stood with their jaws hanging wide open. How could someone steal THE Funk? "Well, figures something like this would happen," said Earl. "Don't give up yet, Earl. She's heading off towards the Funky Furnace. Remember that place?" asked Toejam. With that, the two started running after Shela, and sure enough, she went into the Funky Furnace, funk still in hand. When Toejam and Earl finally arrived, she had already used the Funk to create a throne with a barrier all around it. "Shela, you can't do this!" yelled Toejam. "It's wrong! Funkatron can't survive if it has no Funk!" "Oh, I can get away with this no problemo," retorted Shela. "You guys got all the attention after you got rid of the humans, and you were the ones that brought them here! If it weren't for you two, Funkatron would have been a cooler place!" "What are you talking about?" asked Earl in a stupefied voice. "I deserve this Funk! I deserve to rule Funkatron! You two don't deserve anything!" Shela yelled. "There's only one fair way to settle this," said Toejam. We must have a Jam Out contest with Peabo to see who is the funkiest person here. The winner gets the Funk, no questions asked." Both agreed to these terms, and Earl went out to find Peabo. Peabo began setting up his boombox, and a crowd started gathering. Peabo played a rhythm, and Shela and Toejam repeated it perfectly. The crowd was growing larger. Peabo played another beat, and Toejam and Shela played it perfectly. This process continued for a long time, and finally, Shela began to wear down. At this point, Peabo took Toejam and Earl's hands, raised them into the air, and declared them the winners. A huge roar of applause erupted from the crowd, and Shela handed the Funk over to Toejam and Earl. Both were great leaders, and Funkatron was a great place to live again. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| IMPORT-ANT MATTERS |============================== ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Special May Deal - Redline Racer For Cheap! o SEGA RALLY 2 - Save $20 o RELINE RACER - Save $20 o MONACO GRAND PRIX 2 - Save $20 OR ANY TWO FOR $149AUD - Save $50AUD ($33US) The first of our special monthly deals with Extreme Imports has begun. You can pick up those games for $79AUD each (the normal price is $99AUD), which comes out at about $50US. Or any TWO games for $149AUD, which means you save about $50! heh, now THAT sounded like an advert! No seriously, this is a good deal for importers, and you can download a movie of Redline Racer right here... www.digitalsea.net/extreme-imports/movies/redlineracer.mpg >>>> Dreamcast Posters Extreme Imports are selling Dreamcast Posters from 9 different games at the moment. But you'll have to be quick. Details on www.extreme-imports.com >>>> US$25 Puru Puru Packs! They have plenty of official Puru Puru packs, straight from Japan, in stock right now at just AUS$39 (almost US$25 !). This is the cheapest price you'll find anywhere in the world. *********************************** * http://www.extreme-imports.com/ * *********************************** ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| NEWS |============================================ ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> New Shenmue RealVideos! You can check out some great Shenmue videos at these address's... http://www.shenmue.com/nj/yokosuka20.ram http://www.shenmue.com/nj/yokosuka45.ram They contain plenty of brand new footage, and trust me, you'll be begging to play Shenmue even more than before (I wouldn't of thought that was possible either!) >>>> Sonic Team Split + Nights 2 In Development Videogamespot learned yesterday that Sonic Team has split into 3 smaller teams for the moment. The first, Iizuka team, is in the United States working on the English version of Sonic Adventure (it was said to have improved music, graphics, and all the bugs fixed). The second team, Oshima team, is working on a brand new project, which for now remains a mystrey. The third and final team, Naka team, is being headed by Yuji Naka, and is reportedly working on Nights 2! Perhaps the US team is working on something special for the upcoming E3 show too. >>>> Aus & NZ Retailers Read About Dreamcast Last week, Ozisoft, sent a flyer to the retail stores who will be selling Dreamcast later this year. Basically it gave a description of Dreamcast, including information they should know. Thanks to Videogames.co.nz for that. >>>> Fighting Force 2 - Canned? Thanks to Dreamcast.net and FGN Online: Having confirmed a Dreamcast version of Fighting Force 2 last week, Core has retracted the information. "The Dreamcast version of Fighting Force 2 is no longer confirmed," said a spokesperson for the company. "The decision was taken by the directors in a recent meeting." Very little is known on the sequel to Fighting Force, aside from the fact that a brand new engine has been constructed specifically for the title, it will be vastly larger than its predecessor and it's due out in October. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======[ RED HOT RUMORS ]================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to a new section of Dreamcast Weekly, each week we'll keep you upto-date with the latest RUMORS going around. Written by Tails - webmaster@sega2000.com >>>> An RPG From Enix! A video tape of Dreamcast games has surfaced at some stores around America, and features footage of an RPG. No name is given unfortantly, but at the end, the copyright belongs to Enix. Very interesting indeed. If you don't know, Enix is Squares main rival, and is VERY big in Japan. In particular their Dragon Quest series. Then if Enix is working with Dreamcast, would Square let them have the console all to them selves? I would have to say the chances of Square becoming a 3rd party, just got a lot better. >>>> Namco On Sony, Sega and Nintendo Not exactly Sega news, but interesting never the less. Namco is working on a version of Ridge Racer for the N64. While it's not official yet, it's as 'good as'. The announcement will be at the E3, but the most important thing is that, Namco is developing on both Dreamcast and N64 now... the company that was once 'Sony Only', appears to be spreading out. >>>> September 23rd Is THE Big Day It seems Europe, Australia, and New Zealand might have to wait until September 23rd before the Dreamcast hits the streets. As always in the past, a delay like this between NTSC and PAL versions is almost certain. However I want to stress this is, just a rumor at this stage. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| ARCADE ZONE |===================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Spike Out Review >>>> Written by Gavin Matheson AM2, once again, went to the no holds barred fighting genre, but this time rather with their usual one on one expertise, they went into the scrolling beat 'em up genre to improve on the classic Street of Rage 2. Street of Rage 2, prepare to be dethroned by Spikeout, AM2 latest AAA class title on the Model 3 Step 2 arcade board. Spikeout has been in the arcade for the past 2 month, and already it has wowed the audience with its brute force slug fest fighting. Having played a full scale 4 player teamwork war from beginning to the very completion of the game, I can proudly say that the game is more ground breaking than what you may have imagined. One of Spikeout's key features is making use of the fibre optic cable to connect the arcade cabinets together, to enable a full 4 player real time battle game. This title can, of course, still be played in one player, but you must be warned, this isn't any ordinary beat 'em up. This game screams co-operative play, and this is one of the things that makes it so special. Because of this dedication of having one player per cabinet, this give you the ability to free lance throughout the 3 stages. With this you can still turn around and go back to the area you've already battled in as well, as well as venturing forward. The whole entire town is for you to explore, so you can actually wander off somewhere, and find some extra health hidden behind an area that you wouldn't normally see. The camera views in Spikeout is controlled intelligently by the computer, and it actually chooses the best angle for you. Much in the same way in Sonic Adventure, only this time there are no bugs like the camera getting stuck behind the wall. Depending on the number of players that actually participate in the game, would actually change the game scenarios and areas. Meaning that the game can have many different possibilities. However, with myself joined together with 3 seasoned gamers who are also my friends, we tackled the 3 stages head on. 3 stages does however sound relatively small, but each stage is very large, and it could take you bout 30 to 50 minutes to complete each one. When my friends and I completed the game, it took us about 1 hours and 45 minutes. The whole town looks very realistic, with AM2 having hired some architects in helping with the building of the designs. The settings of the game is on one huge city block, from such areas like Down Town and the Department Stores. You can move anywhere, and I really do mean anywhere. From escalators, to lifts, balconies, broken walls, piles up warehouse boxes, etc. What makes it even more exciting is that the player has the ability of battling opponents while they're on these moving areas such as the escalators. This is far more elevated compared to Virtua Fighter 3 undulation system, as the ground or terrain, like Virtua Fighter 3, fully allows you to plan and execute your advantage, and accordingly attack your opponents. Within the 3 stages there are 12 sections, so you must be very observant on each stage and section, for it would be an equivalent of around 80 times the size of Virtua Fighter 3 stages. This equivalent was stated by AM2 themselves. On the character selection screen, you have a choice of 4 characters. These characters are Linda, Tenshin, Spike who is the team leader, and White. Each character have their own advantages and disadvantages, in term of their characteristic of fighting style. You must know them thoroughly in order for you to conquer the game. Each character within the game have 2 main special moves that they can pulled off by pressing 3 buttons. These involve with or without holding the enemy. Together with this, other options are available when holding the enemy from behind, so he/she can be beaten to a pulp by your partners, or being completely vicious by grabbing the nearest available object. For true mastery of each character it is best to play as if you're playing Virtua Fighter 3 itself. You have to think about your attacks, keep your opponents at bay, then go for the kill. Also you must learn its floating combo system, and learn to charge up your power bar, and releasing it at different time within or at the end of your combination attacks. As a result your character would unleash a powerful blow that would send the opponent flying to the other side of the screen. The trouble is with this method, you have to think about it quickly, because there are enemies everywhere. Each character within the game has just enough detail to take on AM2 own mightiest game Virtua Fighter 3, meaning once again there is no slack graphics wise. In fact they are so immensely detailed that they could have incorporated the game into a one on one beat 'em up instead. Previous fighting games have usually incorporated one or two enemy characters at a time. Not so in Spikeout. You can have up to 15 or more players on the screen at once. The whole game is in fact one big brawl where teamwork is the true key to success. The action in Spikeout is extremely fast pace, with well placed pauses to give you time to recover and realize your position on the map so you won't get lost. On every section the area is blocked off so you would be prevented in proceeding further into the game until you clear the area. When everything is cleared, a message flashes on the screen and the guy shouts out 'Smash the gate!'. When this happens you have 30 seconds to comply to find the section that you have to smash. Because of the timer, you'll get a heart-pounding sensation as you try to exit in time, making yourself more desperate to find it. Everything in the game is interactive, so you can pick up chairs, dustbins, pipes, mail boxes, anything. As long its weighs enough for you to convert it to a weapon. In fact you can actually pick up two items at the same time, in dependent of what it is. bin the past, in scrolling beat 'em up games, picking up objects didn't seem like a essential task, as fighting in unarmed combat was enough to complete the game. However in Spikeout, this is not the case. You must use any weapon to your advantage as situations can become so tough that unarmed combat would easily lead to certain doom. On the negative side of things, when a player joins a link game, the sound cuts out for a few seconds which does becomes annoying at times. There should have been more variation gameplay wise considering the player have the ability to freelance anywhere in the area. The story really unfolds when you reach the final boss, and believe me this boss has no mercy for anyone, he's very tough. Not even his own men can escape his wrath, but AM2 should have included the story more throughout the game. Maybe in the Dreamcast version this would incorporated. The fighting style that Spikeout introduces to the public is fun. This is a serious beat em up that can last for a long time, and it is perfect for the home entertainment, rather than the arcade. When Sega does convert this for the Dreamcast, together with Die Hard Arcade 2, then the Dreamcast would become an unstoppable force in the beat em up genre. The sheer size, the time, and amount of players and action this title produces, its enough to make anyone think twice about Sega's performance in the arcades, and the Dreamcast itself. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======[ TIPS & CHEATS ]=================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- O If you've discovered a secret on a Dreamcast or O O Arcade game, and would like to share it with the O O world, please e-mail me on Webmaster@sega2000.com O >>>> Puyo Puyo 4 - Import - Thanks to James Kuroki Beating the story mode on any difficulty but with unlimited continues unlocks Doppleganger Arle and Carbunkle. (Pressing either L or R half-way, followed by Y at the character selection screen does the same.) You will also get the I-Jigen Stage. When playing VS Mode, select your handi and go to the "Very Easy" option. Holding down the UP button for 3 seconds unlocks an easier difficulty. Going to "Very Hard" and holding down the DOWN button for 3 seconds unlocks a harder difficulty. Go to the Toko-ton Puyo and select the smallest sized Puyo (on the bottom). Then, highlight the middle handi and hold both X and Y and then press A. This gives you a 100+ chain combo. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| SEGA TRIVIA |===================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Weekly Sega Trivia >>>> By Alex O If you have any questions you think could be printed, O O feel free to e-mail Alex on Alex@sega2000.com. Thanks. O 1: In what game can you fight as a peasant, a rabbit, and a two headed dragon? 2: Your adventure starts when you discover a cool sword. What adventure? 3: Legend of Mystaria changed it's name from the Japanese one, which was called what? 4: What is the name of the new female member of the Virtua Cops in VC2? 5: Who is the executive producer at Sonic Team? >>>> Answers 1: Guardian Heroes 2: Guardian Heroes again 3: Riglord Saga 4: Janet Marshall 5: Yuji Naka ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| BEST OF THE WEB |================================= ---------------------------------------------------------- There are sooooo many Sega sites across the web, wouldn't it be great if one place listed the most interesting bits?? Presenting the "Best Of The Web" section... >>>> Sega X - www.SegaDreamcast.net Plenty of news added every day, and the best coverage of the US Launch details your'll find anywhere. >>>> Sega 2000 - www.Sega2000.com Sega 2000's new news system means our staff can put news online any time of the day, and from anywhere in the world. >>>> Media Site - http://media.seganet.com They have the biggest collection of video game mp3's, video's (including some Saturn video's you've probably never seen before) and more. Also don't forget to vote for your favorite staff member. >>>> Dreamcast.net - www.Dreamcast.net Updates daily, to keep you up with the latest on all things Sega. >>>> Gaming Central Starpath - www.startpath.com/gamingcentral Our newest support site and provides hundreds of links for anything a gamer might be interested in. >>>> SegaDC - www.segadc.co.nz Updated daily with lots of news, a forum and more, this is a must see site for any Sega fan. >>>> DC Australia - www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/6831/ Dreamcast Australia has gone undercover to find out the latest in release dates, prices and titles for the Australian Dreamcast launch. Add in some of the best previews, reviews, news and other info and this is one hell of a site. Have a look. >>>> The Sonic Zone - www.suneet.com/soniczone/ Updated daily with a HUGE amount of Sonic content that is sure to blow you away! From Fan Fiction to Chatting to Cheats and even Fan Created Games this is your one stop Sonic site. You can now send online postcards too!! The official website for the Dreamcast Weekly is now open at www.dreamcastweekly.com :) We've got the history of the magazine, daily news and plenty more. Specially if your a webmaster, there is lots of great information about how you can be involved as well! Then in the future... who knows, hopefully we'll be a print magazine one day :) ---------------------------------------------------------- ======[ CREDITS ]========================================= ---------------------------------------------------------- O Writer: Graham Parker "Tails" - webmaster@sega2000.com O Co-editor: Steve - steve@sega2000.com O DC Questions: Please send to - Steve@sega2000.com >>>> www.DreamcastWeekly.com - Official Website! ---------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, 1998-9 Graham Parker - WEBMASTER@SEGA2000.COM Written and edited by Graham Parker. No parts may be copied without prior permission. I would have to send out my group of highly trained thugs otherwise, who will have a tea party with you until you crack and your mind turns into jello... MMmmmmm.... Sweet Sweet Jello.... hehe. Oh and finally... ----------------- Just 40 days to go until Star Wars comes out here. I wonder how early I can get tickets for opening night... hmmm...