Since The dreamcast was one of the most underrated consoles of the sixth gen, how many still own the dreamcast and still play games well.

[MDGeistsfavMC5song]

desolder? um... no.. i have a real job, doesnt include soldering.. damn.. now im even more worried..

 

[Zerpina]

And seriously @MDGeistsfavMC5song
For 5 bucks, on arcadesupplycompany dot com you can save your OG Xbox.

Post automatically merged: Apr 12, 2026

desolder? um... no.. i have a real job, doesnt include soldering.. damn.. now im even more worried..

Yeah, you kind of have to desolder them to put a new one in or remove it...

 

[MDGeistsfavMC5song]

And seriously @MDGeistsfavMC5song
For 5 bucks, on arcadesupplycompany dot com you can save your OG Xbox.

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Post automatically merged: Apr 12, 2026

Yeah, you kind of have to desolder them to put a new one in or remove it...

alright.. ill try to handle it.. thanks a lot

 

[Zerpina]

And remember kid-o's..... polarity matters. The stripe on the body of a capacitor indicates the negative side.

 

[MDGeistsfavMC5song]

And remember kid-o's..... polarity matters. The stripe on the body of a capacitor indicates the negative side.

stop it! your just making it scarier! polarity? dammit, Ill just ask my brother

 

[Zerpina]

stop it! your just making it scarier! polarity? dammit, Ill just ask my brother

Its not as bad really as it sounds.
But if you wire a capacitor backward, it can destroy the capacitor, shorten its lifespan or blow it. Usually, it just produces white smoke (which can be toxic) and a popping sound, not something massive

 

[MDGeistsfavMC5song]

this is me typing a letter version of the skull and crossbones... sigh.. wait.. white smoke? yeah no, ill let somebody else handle it.. are old ps2's the same?

 

[Zerpina]

this is me typing a letter version of the skull and crossbones... sigh.. wait.. white smoke? yeah no, ill let somebody else handle it.. are old ps2's the same?

Not so much as the Xbox and PCs from the same era. I think Sony actually used good capacitors, but remember, these are getting on in years now... what, 26 years old?

All capacitors eventually fail like anything else. If you're going to clean it, which is advised, just look them over. If you see any bulging toward the tops, they are bad. Leaking sometimes, which can be a bit trickier to spot from the bottom. Also, make sure to let someone who knows what they're doing work inside your old console. Remember, these things have built-in PSUs and can take a few hours to fully discharge.

I always give something 24 hour's just to be safe, if i have to fool with the PSU

 

[OPT1MUS]

Sadly, I gotta confirm what @Zerpina says...

 

[Kovlak]

I owned two Dreamcasts and I've sold them. I really liked the idea of playing the console, but I've rarely appreciated it fully. I think it comes down to the Dreamcast being, for the most part, a console populated by arcade games, with most of them being hard as balls. Soul Calibur not withstanding.

But I've got an Anbernic 40XX H and I'm planning on giving the console another go.

I'd wager the same criticism on the PC Engine. Pretty interesting library, hard as balls games.

"Why didn't you buy a Sega Dreamcast?"

Because it was somewhat expensive and, as young as I were, I could see the writing on the wall after Sega dropped the Saturn like a bad habit when PlayStation highjacked console gaming from them and Nintendo. It was a great console, but... the PS2 is coming. Although I really liked Soul Calibur, Ready to Rumble and Crazy Taxi at launch.

For an idea of the slant of the gaming market against Sega at the time of the Dreamcast, Sega after being outfoxed by Sony and seeing Saturn slog behind PlayStation badly, driven by PlayStation flooding the market with Blitzkrieg (powerful lightning fast attack) of fresh new classics (Tekken, Battle Arena Toshiden, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot, Ape Escape, Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal, etc.) and a noticeable poorer performance if the Saturn in third party games like the og Resident Evil, was akin to Microsoft going into next gen having lost badly to PlayStation and fumbling hard this generation. There were serious doubts on how Sega could duke it out against Sony and survive in the gaming market. Much like people are now pessimistic about Xbox.

 

[PhaseJump]

Dreamcast was the first Sega platform that just wasn't enough.

Saturn survived on obscure imports from Japan. Dreamcast had a little bit of that going for it, but mostly just built hype from the late homebrew games being pressed and sold commercially after it was long dead.

All Sega platforms are doing better than ever now, but DC in particular still has only slim pickings in Japan that still need translating, and it's closer to N64 territory than Saturn for having a ton of RPGs or adventure games I'd want to play on it.

 

[WokiBakoki]

I still have my Dad's old, beat up DC he's had since it was relevant. He also handed down a big stack of CD sleeves with games, complete with the box art slid in there to make it look nicer. He was a big time pirate way back and so most of my games are on blank discs with handwritten labels. The machine itself is as close to death as a console could be without any apparent signs of damage. To plug a controller in, you don't just put it in till it clicks into place, no no. You have to aaalmost put it in fully, but not quite. Then it works. The same thing applies to the disc hatch. Don't put a disc in and close the lid, it won't spin. Put something just heavy enough to drop the lid but not enough for it to click shut. Then the disc will spin. Hey other than that, it's all there. My Mum's first sight of the internet was through the Dream Key internet disc.

One of the games was some anime game with 3 discs in one sleeve (pictured above). Out of curiosity I put it in, if memory serves the game itself wasn't even in English. It was a visual novel hentai game, so he definitely forgot he burned that off the internet 20 years ago before giving it to me...

Cheers Dad.

 

[Morgana Veil]

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I still have my Dad's old, beat up DC he's had since it was relevant. He also handed down a big stack of CD sleeves with games, complete with the box art slid in there to make it look nicer. He was a big time pirate way back and so most of my games are on blank discs with handwritten labels. The machine itself is as close to death as a console could be without any apparent signs of damage. To plug a controller in, you don't just put it in till it clicks into place, no no. You have to aaalmost put it in fully, but not quite. Then it works. The same thing applies to the disc hatch. Don't put a disc in and close the lid, it won't spin. Put something just heavy enough to drop the lid but not enough for it to click shut. Then the disc will spin. Hey other than that, it's all there. My Mum's first sight of the internet was through the Dream Key internet disc.

One of the games was some anime game with 3 discs in one sleeve (pictured above). Out of curiosity I put it in, if memory serves the game itself wasn't even in English. It was a visual novel hentai game, so he definitely forgot he burned that off the internet 20 years ago before giving it to me...

Cheers Dad.

Sucks about the ol'girl having issues like that.
It may be the physical electromechanical switch at the top of the lid, or the plastic switch that makes contact with it, that is bad. Pretty simple fixes, honestly. As for the controller port, it sounds like either a bad or corroded connection inside the port itself. If it's a controller port board, though, you could replace it for about 50-70 dollars, if you want.

Very cool about your dad being a pirate tho.

 

[WokiBakoki]

As for the controller port, it sounds like either a bad or corroded connection inside the port itself. If it's a controller port board, though, you could replace it for about 50-70 dollars, if you want.

I have 2 controllers to test it and I believe all 4 ports are messed up regardless of which controller I test them with. So it'll be the console itself. I have a number of systems but never use any of them due to emulation ruling nowadays. They're nice to have though, nothing else to go in the TV unit.

Very cool about your dad being a pirate tho.

Oh dude he had everything. Games, movies, shows, music, the lot. I have a vague memory of him saying "Hey, I'm going to the bathroom, if this download bar finishes before I get back can you hit this button?" or something. I was like 8 so I didn't know what it was, now I realize it was Utorrent, no doubt. I had no idea how he got all this stuff, he was just a wizard that made free DVD's. He worked at a printers back in the 00's and I'm sure that's where he got all those blank DVD boxes and CD cases. He'd print the real covers, slide them in and bring them home.

I had an (official) Yugioh DVD with only 3 episodes on it, and watched it over and over because the show was never on TV. So one day Dad boots up the Xbox, sticks in a USB and is like "There you go, there's every Yugioh episode." His finest work was the Wallace and Gromit DVD he made me. The first 3 films with a custom select screen with my name on it. It was MY DVD. I thought that was the coolest thing.

That attitude lives on through me, I don't pay for any services and hook up my girlfriend with free stuff. She loves retro games but can't really work an emulator, so I've done a bunch of gathering games and writing little notes on how to do the basics for her. <3

 

[PlayerJuan]

Yeah, so long as you catch the capacitor soon enough and the electrolyte has not caused irreparable trace rot on the board, you can replace it or just remove it. However, if you don't replace it, you'll have to set the date and time every time you restart it, like a dead CMOS battery on a motherboard.

I'm not really sure what's gone wrong with my Xbox. I hadn't played it for ages then one day I went to turn it on and it seemed to power up for a split second then immediately powers down. But I've just checked it again (probably a few months later) and now only a red LED lights up (I've got a crystal Xbox) but nothing else happens

Post automatically merged: Apr 17, 2026

why cant we have the greatest 2D controller ever from the Sega Saturn and combine it with dual analogs and triggers?

This is the closest you'll get - the Retrobit Saturn 2.4 GHz Wireless Pro Controller - coupled with the Brook Wingman SD - and hope the game you're playing lets you reassign the buttons

 

[Zerpina]

I'm not really sure what's gone wrong with my Xbox. I hadn't played it for ages then one day I went to turn it on and it seemed to power up for a split second then immediately powers down. But I've just checked it again (probably a few months later) and now only a red LED lights up (I've got a crystal Xbox) but nothing else happens

It's one of three things.... most likely a faulty power supply, a dead or dying HDD/Disc drive, or corrosion from a leaking clock capacitor. (Mind you, if it's not a 1.6 Xbox, check the bottom sticker. If it’s from 2004 or later, it's a 1.6 model, which most likely is not a clock capacitor issue.... Check anyhow)

 

[PlayerJuan]

It's one of three things.... most likely a faulty power supply, a dead or dying HDD/Disc drive, or corrosion from a leaking clock capacitor. (Mind you, if it's not a 1.6 Xbox, check the bottom sticker. If it’s from 2004 or later, it's a 1.6 model, which most likely is not a clock capacitor issue.... Check anyhow)

Thanks for all the info, really appreciate that! I'll check later on, but it's not a huge deal as I picked it up years ago for cheap, mainly to play CoinOps (I've since got MAME). But this might mean I might not get to play Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta now though I did watch the capacitor video you posted and that's probably a bit too much for me to do. Plus I'd have to buy a soldering iron and a torque screwdriver.

What if the capacitor has already leaked? Is the Xbox totally gone then?

 

[Zerpina]

Thanks for all the info, really appreciate that! I'll check later on, but it's not a huge deal as I picked it up years ago for cheap, mainly to play CoinOps (I've since got MAME). But this might mean I might not get to play Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta now though I did watch the capacitor video you posted and that's probably a bit too much for me to do. Plus I'd have to buy a soldering iron and a torque screwdriver.

What if the capacitor has already leaked? Is the Xbox totally gone then?

That really depends on whether it has just started. If you break it loose and clean the board with high grade rubbing alcohol (90% or higher) it should be okay. If the traces are damaged or eaten through any important components, it might be salvageable. If you know someone who can replace the tiny traces on the board

Post automatically merged: Apr 17, 2026

*Edit.
You have to remember, this is how big the Traces are on a Xbox Motherboard, and well most every mobo.

Not an Xbox motherboard, but using this as an example... if a trace is ate through and only connects to one other point on the board, you can jump the broken trace like this. However, you need to know where everything goes

 

[PlayerJuan]

Wow! Thanks again for all the info!! TBH all of these repairs are well beyond my pay grade haha but I'll definitely make a note of all of this just in case I can find someone with more skills and tools than me!

 

[Deleted member 913503]

i still have mine and i play it, i'm just super careful with it.

 

[Zerpina]

What makes you say so? I'm genuinely curious.

About his friends wanting PlayStation 2? Well, it did have a larger and better library and, frankly, outlasted the Dreamcast by 12 years, since the Dreamcast's end of life was in 2001, and the PS2's was in 2013..

Unless I misread what they posted

 

[Pearly]

The only gripe I ever had toward the Dreamcast is the controller....
To me, it just isn't comfortable, it doesn't sit right in the hands, ya know?
The Saturn and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive have excellent controllers.

The controller f**king sucks, I still haven't gottent he controller you recommended but I will get it, the saturn like one, would make MVC 2 a dream on it.

Honestly the dreamcast was pretty great, any game that came out on it that was multiplatform, it was the best version of that game at the time.

I will also say that I had only Sonic Adventure and MVC 1 on the machine for a year and a half and I loved every minute of both of them. Psychic Wars was also awesome on it. Most games on the dreamcast were awesome, plain and simple, something oddly fun about most games and being really polished versions of games that were in need of dithering on the playstaion was non existant on the dreamcast, evveryything looked better on the dreamcast, I just wish bleemcast was set up to improve all PS1 games as Tobal 2 on the dreamcast would have been heavenly!!

I still have my dreamcast but those EU clamshells cracked very easily even if they were very presentable at the time. I need to get that controller Zerpina mentioned.

 

[Deleted member 913503]

The controller f**king sucks, I still haven't gottent he controller you recommended but I will get it, the saturn like one, would make MVC 2 a dream on it.

Honestly the dreamcast was pretty great, any game that came out on it that was multiplatform, it was the best version of that game at the time.

I will also say that I had only Sonic Adventure and MVC 1 on the machine for a year and a half and I loved every minute of both of them. Psychic Wars was also awesome on it. Most games on the dreamcast were awesome, plain and simple, something oddly fun about most games and being really polished versions of games that were in need of dithering on the playstaion was non existant on the dreamcast, evveryything looked better on the dreamcast, I just wish bleemcast was set up to improve all PS1 games as Tobal 2 on the dreamcast would have been heavenly!!

I still have my dreamcast but those EU clamshells cracked very easily even if they were very presentable at the time. I need to get that controller Zerpina mentioned.

there's a Saturn controller adaptor for Dreamcast.

 

[Pearly]

there's a Saturn controller adaptor for Dreamcast.

It's a wireless one that Zerpina mentioned in a post at one point, I have become snobbish about wires, I prefer wireless controllers now.

Gone are the days of my childhood sitting on the floor near the tv because the wire wasn't long enough, or my eyesight wasn't good enough? I am not sure

Thanks for the rec though, I definitely would've just gotten on of those and an adapter if I wasn't so bothered by wires.

 

[Zerpina]

there's a Saturn controller adaptor for Dreamcast.

This is the one Pearly was referring to, I suggested.
Link for controller.