Even more Flashback.

So, it’s looking like its turning out to be an all Flashback weekender! This time around, I’ve got it running on the Dreamcast of all systems!

Sadly, there wasn’t an official port of Flashback released on the almighty Dreamcast, but some clever boffin has produced one based on the REminiscence Project – http://cyxdown.free.fr/reminiscence/

‘REminiscence is a rewrite of the engine used in the game Flashback from Delphine Software. This program is designed as a cross-platform replacement for the original executable and uses the SDL library’

 

Playing Flashback on the DC is also a  great way to test  out a piece of  kit I’ve had in my drawer for ages now and have not really had much use for it until now.

This is my Dreamcast SD adaptor, a cool little addon that came out a few years ago that allows you to run Dreamcast software directly from an SD card. No more loud CD noise!

I brought mine quite cheaply off eBay and they’re easily available if you fancy giving one a go yourself. I’ve heard of a few problems with the Dreamcast reading certain brands of SD cards and I’ve only every used Sandisk cards myself and these seem to work out o.k. The SD card needs to be formatted as Fat32.

You will need two bits of software to get this running (plus any homebrew apps/games you wish to run). The software is called Dreamshell and you can pick it up at most DC sites. Here’s where I got mine from –

http://theisozone.com/downloads/dreamcast/homebrew-apps/dreamshell-400-rc-1-by-swat/

Once you’ve unpacked the archive, copy the entire DS folder to the root of your SD card and then burn the .cdi image to a blank CD. I’ve  used ImgBurn @ x4 speed for mine.

Insert the SD card into the adaptor and place the adaptor into the Dreamcast’s serial port at the back. – It’ll only fit one way but be careful when inserting the adaptor, mine was a bit flimsy!

I’m not going to fit much on a 2Gb but it’ll do for  the odd bit of hombrew BOR.

Insert the Dreamshell boot CD and switch on the Dreamcast.

After a a while you’ll have an O/S type interface on screen with various tools for doing all manner of funky stuff. There’s plenty of documentation about  Dreamshell on the web but for me, I’m just interested in going to the File Manager, browse the contents of my SD card and launching the Flashback image. Navigating around the O/S is a bit of pain with the joypad and would be better if used with the DC keyboard etc (which i don’t have at the moment) The analogue stick doing a pretty good job as an emulated mouse pointer and after a bit of practise it doesn’t take to long to get used too.

Flashback on the Dreamcast!

It plays just like any other version of Flashback I’ve played before except one thing…the Dreamcast joypad isn’t exactly the most ergonomic of pads especially after coming directly from using the 3DO pad. However, it’s Flashback….on the Dreamcast….Hell yeah!