Dreamcast VMU mini-games

[atari2600land]

I don't know if Dreamcast belongs here or in the classic video game part, so excuse me if I put it in the wrong forum. I was perusing the Namco Museum manual for the Dreamcast when I saw a mini-game for the VMU. I don't have a VMU (but want one, if you have a spare, pm me!), but am intrigued by the idea of making games for the thing. My question is how do you go about programming for the VMU, and is there a list somewhere of all the VMU minigames?

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I copied this from Wikipedia. I'm not sure which ones have actually games, but it'll narrow it down.

Dreamcast titles that include VMU games and extra features:

Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoyo no Video Daisakusen
Demolition Racer: No Exit
Dino Crisis
Evolution 2 (12 Hour Clock)
Godzilla Generations (Japanese Version)
Grand Theft Auto 2
Jet Set Radio / Jet Grind Radio [USA]
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
Namco Museum
NFL 2K
NFL 2K1
NFL 2K2
Power Stone
Power Stone 2
Quake III Arena
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3
Sega GT
Sega Rally Championship 2 (Stats and Records)
Shenmue
Silent Scope
Skies of Arcadia
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Soul Calibur (Japanese Version)
Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage
Tech Romancer
Time Stalkers
Tokyo Bus Guide
TrickStyle
Virtua Tennis
Zombie Revenge

I don't know much about programming, but I have played several of the above games and found the VMU features unimpressive. For example, on Silent Scope, you can actually play the entire game on the VMU instead of the TV screen, but it's just a garbled mess.

[j_factor]

They made VMU games for Evil Twin, but due to the rushed release left them off the game. They were available as downloads for a time. I wonder if any other VMU games were released via download.

[kedawa]

You can upload VMU games using the DC, so you'll need to burn a CD if you don't have an BBA or SD card adaptor.
You should be able to develop your own VMU games on PC and play them on an emulator.

[k8track]

I was intrigued, so I did some searching and found this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICnUFWOxWok

Pretty neat demos of a lot of stuff. There's a link to a page with all kinds of VMU games:
http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmu/game/?lg=en&menu=on

I totally want to play VMU Metroid.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I don't know if Dreamcast belongs here or in the classic video game part, so excuse me if I put it in the wrong forum.

The cutoff for modern is the PS2. It's close, but Dreamcast came out right before PS2, so technically it should go in the Classic section. I don't think anyone will care though.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, a lot of those games don't exactly have great VMU minigames, and of the ones that have something worth mentioning, a bunch of them are basic virtual pet raising style things, or really simple minigames. I think some of the more impressive ones I've seen are the ones in TimeStalkers -- there are a bunch of VMU minigames in that game, and some of them are fairly extensive efforts. You do need to play the game a lot to unlock them all, but they put a lot more thought into the VMU games in that title than almost anything else on the DC did.

As for some others, I don't think Virtua Tennis has a minigame. However, while playing it does show the court on the VMU's screen too, and the players move around like they are on screen so you could technically play the game there if you want. It's a kind of neat feature even if it isn't the most useful thing.

[atari2600land]

Hi all, I don't longer need a VMU, I ordered one online.

[Porksta]

Sonic Adventure had a Tamagotchi mini game on it, but man did it suck up batteries.