I asked a similar question on Sonic Stadium but I left out some details; I've owned a Dreamcast for about a year now and I do now have a nice lineup of must have games I'm going to keep an eye out for thanks to Sonic Stadium. But my question for those of you who have a Dreamcast able to connect to the internet/or people who just know what they're talking about is: how should I go about connecting it to the internet? I know DreamPi is always the way to go but I cannot for the life of me ever find a point in time where they're actually in stock, seems like nothing related to internet connectivity is in stock. Is there a list of things I should need to basically make one myself out there somewhere? Also what would be some solid titles to be looking out for after the fact I get my Dreamcast Online? I know of Quake III, and that one homebrew Rocket League type game that's crossplay with PC on Steam, but if theres any other good solid games to look into besides things like PSO, lmk tl;dr DreamPi always out of stock, what should I do and what should I do with my dreamcast after getting it online, sorry for yap sesh.
Without a doubt DreamPi. It supports more games, and most games are built around it instead of the BBA. Get a BBA if you want to do Dreamcast development. Get a DreamPi if you want to go online. Homebrew DC titles are built for the DreamPi, not BBA. This is because if you have a BBA, you're using it for development, which means it's in use while you are debugging the game, which precludes you developing for the BBA itself. People who use DreamPi, typically do not use the BBA for development, they build a coders cable. The logistics means those who are doing indie DC development and want to do an online component will target DreamPi, not the BBA, because developing online components for the Dreamcast is more conducive towards a DreamPi dev setup. There's no need for stock, it's just a Raspberry Pi image with a USB lan adapter with a voltage inducer. You can buy the parts yourself on ebay or such and put it together, you don't have to buy anything from the Dreamcast Live site itself. Looking on ebay for RD04-D400, there are tons of the USB modems available. Here is the tutorial for building the voltage inducer: Things you can do with a Dreamcast online with a DreamPi: connect to the Dreamcast Live website: https://dreamcastlive.net/leaderboards/ Hop on Sonic Retro IRC using Planet Web Play stuff like Phantasy Star Online Download complete Sonic Adventure 2 saves so you don't have to fuck around for Green Hill Zone there is also DC-LOAD-PPP which is one day coming, which will let you forgo a coder's cable or BBA for Dreamcast development.
Is it even worth getting the Dreamcast online in this day and age? You can get DLC on your Dreamcast by burning a CD. Most current websites are incompatible with the Dreamcast web browser. And going from how little activity there is on Dreamcast Live and DreamPipe, online games seem to be dead (despite the fan revivals).
There are a few indie games being worked on that will have cross save support. Meaning you can start a game on your dreamcast, save, then go to your computer, and continue playing the same save (and vice versa). That's probably the most useful upcoming feature of the Dreamcast modem.
With all the hassle? Probably not, but it's something that interests me quite a lot as I just love the Dreamcast. And the few features it have is a neat novelty id like to experience. All that excluding the fact I like to lurk in the Stimulant Discord server (A server dedicated to Dreamcast homebrew) Although I am no means smart enough to actually develop my own. Basically the embodiment of:
It's too much hasstle to get a DC hooked up these days I feel. Shame really as I so fondly remember playing Alien Front Online and the likes of Ooga Booga online and don't think SEGA ever ported to other systems at all Alien Front Online was so ahead of its time
To echo what cooljerk said, it’s really easy to get set up. I just bought a pi from best buy and followed a guide, was up and running in an hour. I haven’t used it for much, but still being able to go to a sonic adventure 2 site through the in game menu and downloading the DLC is super cool.
The guy had them in stock back when I bought mine, but it seems fairly easy to put one together with various parts. Doesn't even require soldering. I would go to Dreamcast Live and just shoot the guy an email, I'm pretty sure he still responds through them.
