Wasn't there a version of Virtua Cop released for the DC, that was a saturn-emulated title? If so, has anyone tried anything else with the emu?
from what i know it wasn't emulated.... some people tryed but seems that it can' be done on a dreamcast because tought sh2 and sh4 processors being binary compatible one works on big endian and the other in little endian, so you have to dinarec the code using processing power... and the hardware complexity of the saturn doesn't help at all. some people made an emu that can only run the SSaturn bios as a start
The version of Virtua Cop 2 on the DC was an adapted port of the PC version via the WinCE libs. Nothing to do with the Saturn version.
The DC version is far worse than the Saturn one ! Bloody PC ports. It may look better but it just doesn't have that arcade feel that the Saturn version has. Yakumo
If anything, the Dreamcast's PC-based architecture was more of a problem than the Saturn's complex multi-processor setup because most programmers could take the short development route by porting through the system's support for WinCE. At least on the Saturn companies had to put in some real coding effort to avoid their products from looking second-rate, while on the Dreamcast even Sega's own internal teams grew quite lazy - see the rush jobs that were made of Sega Rally 2 and Virtua Cop 2, for example.
It's on the Sega Smash pack disc that came with DC's way back when. Does it allow light gun? I never tried.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was led to believe that after the poor showing of Sega Rally 2, the Windows CE dev tools were mostly shunned by developers in favour of the Sega OS. Sega Rally 2 was rushed out the door in something like 6 months to meet the launch window I believe.
How exactly was the Dreamcast "pc-based?" Just because it runs WinCE doesn't mean it's like a PC. That's like saying a phone is "pc-based" because it runs a version of WinCE/Windows Mobile. -hl718
Sega Rally 2 was originally being developed for the Dreamcast by one of Sega's own CS teams, but just two months before it was due for release they previewed a 40% complete video-only build during the second New Challenge conference. Those attending this show weren't impressed in the slightest, so at the very last minute (actually, a few short weeks before the Dreamcast's launch in Japan) Sega handed production over to AM3, the group responsible for the arcade version. AM3 had been working on its own PC edition at the time, and was forced to delay this and instead concentrate on a Dreamcast port - this is where the use of Windows CE became so important. I forget the exact site, but somewhere it was reported that some of the programmers spent many full days without sleep over a period of three weeks (yes, that's really how long it all took!) adding the new features that would make Sega Rally 2 in its final form a lot more than just the quick port its previous developers had planned. Suddenly you can forgive the poor frame rate and occasional polygon glitch, though at least they made further improvements for the NTSC-US and PAL releases. P.S. To reply to hl718 there's more to the Dreamcast's similiarities with PC architecture than just its shared operating system - how else can you explain Sega's intention to produce a PCI graphics card with Dreamcast compatibility? The only reason this never got off the proverbial ground is because Sega couldn't afford such a venture, though the requirement of a GD-ROM drive or download service to get Dreamcast software might also have contributed to this project's ultimate downfall. So much for that rumoured set-top box collaboration with Pace as well...
In terms of hardware, the Dreamcast isn't much like a regular PC. Just because Sega had a PC card planned doesn't mean anything - the 3DO isn't like a PC just because of the 3DO Blaster. To my knowledge, WinCE/Katana are development libraries more than operating systems, too. The DC certainly didn't run WinCE in any capacity similar to Windows on a computer.
Alchy is correct. I'm sorry Anthaemia but the Dreamcast's architecture is different than that of a PC and the underlying OS is different. Sure there are some similarities such as having a CPU, GPU and a sound chip, but core components such as the Maple Bus are quite different. The 3DO Blaster was a 3DO on a card. There was the PCFX on a card. The original PlayStation dev kit was a PSone on a card. The PS2 dev kit (TOOL) is a PC with an Emotion Engine board inside. Yet no one would say that any of these are "PC based." Of them all the PS2 is the closest but it doesn't have anything to do with the devkit. -hl718
PS2 is the closest? How does the Vu0,1 setup of the Toshiba E.Engine compare to x86?? PCs are large buckets-small pipes, yet the whole Ps2 philosophy is the exact opposite. XBOX would be a more suitable candidate for PC comparison i believe
WOW! Thats amazing. As much as the frame rate is kind of a hinderence, I still enjoy the game quite a bit. As well i alwasy felt the music matched the kinda game it was. What more suprsing is the orignal dev team was actually working on a pc port. Most companies just do the pc port way later as a way to get some extra money off the game. In fact I was reading ign insiders japan weekly where they translated a special famitsu had where they talke to various dev about their past games. One of the people who worked on street fighter was asked to make a game that would sell cp2 boards since capcom accidently made to many. In 3 weeks he guided his team to make what became the first game in the street fighter alpha serise.
Why yes. Between the DC, 3DO, PCFX, PSone and PS2, the PS2 would be closest to a PC. I never mentioned Xbox in my post so why would you bring the Xbox into a comparison of five systems? If you think one of the other four is more similar to a PC in design, please make the argument, but trying to bring in another console is a strawman. And one wonders why internet discussions always go off topic... -hl718
I understand the scope of your argument now, but previously it seemed as you would suggest that the Ps2 is the closest (genuinly). just a matter of interpretation really, as I ve read many of your posts and know that your hardware knowledge is good. Indeed out of the five the Ps2 is the closest.
The whole point was to show that just because you can do a "system-on-a-card" doesn't mean that the system itself is PC-like. -hl718
of course.if it was anything like a PC it wouldnt be on a Pci card but probably emulated natively on the main system
So the whole Zero/Alpha series was created purely to shift more CPSII boards? You really do learn something new every day!
