Dreamcast questoin

[Crocket]

I was thinking about buying a new Dreamcast and I was wondering if it would be best to buy an American one or a Japanese one. I ask because I once heard that the Japanese models last longer then the American ones and work better. Probably not even true but felt like asking just to be sure before I make any rash decisions.

[Sosage]

I was thinking about buying a new Dreamcast and I was wondering if it would be best to buy an American one or a Japanese one. I ask because I once heard that the Japanese models last longer then the American ones and work better. Probably not even true but felt like asking just to be sure before I make any rash decisions.

I've never heard about strengths/weaknesses in the hardware between the 2 regions, although I have read about revisions and such. In my experience, I bought a Japanese and American unit at their respective launches and both work just fine today. Actually, my Japanese unit suffered a huge drop onto the floor that cocked up the lens, but it still boots and plays games (and I contend it would still be fine today if I didn't drop it ;P).

In either case, you should be able to use Utopia to boot into any region game. So...yeah! From my XP, just pick one and get playing. :)

[Satoshi_Matrix]

What is at issue isn't the longevity of the hardware, but of the software. The GD-ROM format Sega used is prone to especially prone to disc rot. There have been people who have bought new sealed Dreamcast games, opened them up to literally discover holes in the discs rendering them unplayable. This will happen to CDs and DVDs eventually too, but not for a long time yet. Dreamcast games are not something you should get into collecting because of they are already starting to deteriorate.

So just get a Dreamcast and burn your games onto CD-Rs. They'll rot too of course, but who cares, when that happens burn another one.

Therefore it doesn't matter at all which region dreamcast you get.

[T2KFreeker]

What is at issue isn't the longevity of the hardware, but of the software. The GD-ROM format Sega used is prone to especially prone to disc rot. There have been people who have bought new sealed Dreamcast games, opened them up to literally discover holes in the discs rendering them unplayable. This will happen to CDs and DVDs eventually too, but not for a long time yet. Dreamcast games are not something you should get into collecting because of they are already starting to deteriorate.

So just get a Dreamcast and burn your games onto CD-Rs. They'll rot too of course, but who cares, when that happens burn another one.

Therefore it doesn't matter at all which region dreamcast you get.

I have over 100 Dreamcast discs and have not had one of them Rot. Just saying that I am not so sure how accurate this is as much can be chalked up to Urban Myth.

[Zthun]

If you're going to burn CDs with games, there's a guy who made a hardware emulator that replaces the gdrom drive with a SD card reader. Look up GDEMU and see if that's something you'd be interested in as well.

[T2KFreeker]

You know what, I take that back, I have had "ONE" Dreamcast game fail on me. The reason why? It had obviously been Disc Doctored. So yeah, if you end up with a beat to Hell disc, there is a great chance it will not work. Just saying.

[Tanooki]

Wow I have no idea what that all would set me back (not read the link for my own good right now) but I've never heard of an SD card input for a Dreamcast to replace the disc/laser issue out of the equation. I'd happily have a DC again in a situation like that because it takes the feature out of the picture that causes the problems the most.

[theclaw]

Like the other guys were saying... Pretty much anything like boot discs, proper burnt copies, or otherwise, gets around the region check.

However it must be modified to automatically boot import GD-ROMs in the same way as domestic games.
That's when you consider options such as a replacement BIOS or modchip.

[Zthun]

Wow I have no idea what that all would set me back (not read the link for my own good right now) but I've never heard of an SD card input for a Dreamcast to replace the disc/laser issue out of the equation. I'd happily have a DC again in a situation like that because it takes the feature out of the picture that causes the problems the most.

Right now, I believe his last wave was 100 euros for the unit + shipping. In other words, it would set people back around $150 US dollars. From the reviews I've been reading online, the guy has been kind of a dick to people that ask him questions; he has a short fuse and his temper flairs easily. Unfortunately, he is currently the only one that has this working, so "shut up and take my money" is prevalent. I've never dealt with the guy so I can't comment my own experience; I'm waiting for him to open up preorders again so I can get on the list.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

My Dreamcast works great, I've never heard of this happening ever. I've never encountered disc rot either. Not even with PS1 games which are a few years older then Dreamcast games. I have a bunch of DVD's from about 15 years ago, they all play perfectly, cd's I bought in '97, play perfect.

[otaku]

I've heard stuff like this and don't recall any evidence. I've not bought new games but used which I would assume would be more prone to issues and have had none. That said make some backups but if I'm not mistaken don't the cdroms where out the system faster? Seemed like the DC had to work harder when I had them in instead of a GD rom

[Gameguy]

I've not bought new games but used which I would assume would be more prone to issues and have had none.
If I'm remembering right there were some factory defective discs that came out for some games. If they were defective, they were most likely returned shortly after purchase so you wouldn't come across them used now. Not unless some people just kept them for a piece of interest. New games might be more prone to problems if they're defective and nobody knows about it yet, not until someone opens one and tries to play it.

Using CD-Rs over GD-ROMs wouldn't really wear out the drives any faster, the systems were designed to play standard music CDs so CD-Rs aren't really a problem unless they're poor quality discs or burned poorly. Using GD-ROMs supposedly wore out early drives as they weren't designed properly for them so legit discs could be a problem.

Really the most common problem with Dreamcasts that I know about is with random resetting, it's usually easy to fix though. As for the general question between regional reliability, if there's actually a difference it's usually the Japanese version that's more reliable. They use better quality components in Japan as people there are willing to pay more for them than over here in North America. At least it's this way with certain audio equipment, the Japanese model would use better quality capacitors than the North American model.

[Tanooki]

There were, and my former company was guilty of it back when the DC launched too with Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and Hydro Thunder being entirely jacked up and would not run right at all if at all so they had to be returned to the store for a replacement which has an emblem on the cover(manual) art inside the case so you knew it was 'hot new' as in 'new to work.'