DREAMCAST 101 PROTOTYPE PROLOGUE
LIGHT GUN
ARCADE STICK
While
Built from the same components as Sega's coin-op joysticks, such as the one used by
this
model won’t be
available at will
words.
Virtua Fighter 3tb. Durable, in other
launch, others
include
features
Csee
the
same
page
107).
Boasting an eight-way directional pad, the gun
From: Agetec Release: 9/9/99 Calibur,
From the moment its tech specs were drafted up, a product design team began the long process of creating the look of
can accommodate a VMU or Jump Pack the latter will add force-feedback recoil effects in compatible games.
Price: $39.95
Games: Power Stone, Soul
and more
Dreamcast. As you can see
From: Various Price: From $29.95 Release: 9/9/99 Games: House of the Dead 2
In
below, efforts
some were
of
the
earlier
truly “out there”...
commonplace trigger, action, and gun features a eight-way directional
addition to the
start buttons, the
that can be used to move around the game world firing. The first game to make use of this feature be Sega’s Take the Bullet (page 23). The potential for even simplistic H0TD2- style shooters to include some degree of realtime, directional control is exciting.
pad
while will
The had
RALLY WHEEL
conceptual designs
presumably controller
From: Agetec
ports.
MENU BUTTONS
Price: $39.95
Release: 9/9/99
Dreamcast you skip forward and backward through your game’s menu options. These substitute
Games: CART R Monaco Grand P
the
for
controller’s directional pad, letting
Tokyo Extreme Racer,
first
more in common with William Gibson’s Neuromancer than a games system (although it could pass for a custom Super Hang On controller, perhaps). Its nozzle-like appendages are
Hydro
Thunder,
Hardcore Heat,
and more
Attempt number two mimicked
ACTION BUTTONS Beyond
letting
you
confirm
menu
options, these buttons (which mimic the console controller’s A, B, X,
and
Y
buttons) can be used in
various
honk activate
and (er,
racers
your
the design sensibilities of the Sega Saturn, with the obvious addition of two more gamepad ports. This design also displays one of the earliest prototype names for the system, “Vortex” — just one of several working monikers given to Dreamcast while it was under construction.
to
horn,
headlights,
raise the hood maybe).
Sega’s near-complete design bears many similarities to the production model —
final
except, of course, for the
You can save data
in
the wheel’s built-in
your racing games thanks to
which looks
VMU slot. The VMU window displays
race-related
information
looking at the
TV
(should
windowed
you get bored of
((o)5
Ufe V/
screen).
S/
^Sf
92
SEPTEMBER 99
Official
Sega
Dreamcast
Magazine
like a
CD lid,
22nd century
toilet seat. Eek.