used dreamcast system with Crazy taxi for $49.99

[thholr]

I know this is used, but the system I got was brand new. It is dated June 2000.
at Link to store

 

[dimwit]

That is a way fun game too. I was thinking of buying another DC for a backup since I have such a large investment in CDRs, errr, I mean games for this.

 

[letian]

how much do they charge for shipping?

 

[littleman]

i got overnight delivery only 8$ lol couldnt wait

 

[letian]

mine arrived, it is a refurbished one
used alright

 

[RBC]

I can only find it for $59.99 on the site w/o the crazy taxi game. The only discount codes I could find on FW (10%) didn't apply to consoles.

 

[littleman]

grr, these people at gamestop BLOW

i ordered on wednesday overnigt. After waiting the one day processing time, I expected it on Friday...however, THEY FORGOT TO SHIP OUT THE PACKAGE! OMG! I just got it today.

 

[letian]

i ordered the same day you did and i used ground shipping
anyways, is yours refurbished too? or is it new like thholr said

 

[baseballfan]

At the risk of restating the obvious, NEW Dreamcasts can be had for $49, and Crazy Taxi is $9.99. I would take new over used/refurbished any day. Just my 2 cents.

 

[olson2cm]

baseballfan: New Dreamcasts for $49 are getting increasingly hard to find. I've been looking in the NY area and all the stores are out of them, so this is a viable option. For those of you recieving used/refurbished systems, are they at least in good condition and come with packaging/cables, etc?

 

[baseballfan]

olson2cm, I see your point. I guess I haven't thought of it that way because I see new Dreamcasts in stores all the time still here (N.Cal).

 

[letian]

mine was obviousely used as you can see few scratches on the dreamcast, and there was a sticker on the bottom says it has been refurbished by sega. But the overall condition of the machine is fine, it works fine too.

 

[ton]

<< olson2cm, I see your point. I guess I haven't thought of it that way because I see new Dreamcasts in stores all the time still here (N.Cal). >>



Where the places you've seen them anyway? I was looking for one more to be my backup for couple days and ended up have to buy used one from ebay instead.

 

[dimwit]

Isn't there a date issue to if you want to play CDRs? The older refurbished ones are older.

 

[Kwad Guy]

That date-beyond-which-it-won't-play-CDRs thing is kinda bogus info.
I have a Dreamcast with a Dec 2000 date that plays CDRs no problem.
Supposedly Oct 2000 was the cutoff, but this is clearly not the case.

On SlashDot, someone who used to work at Sega says that the Dreamcast
machines were originally not going to be able to play CDRs at all.
Then cost considerations with respect to the GDRs that they are
supposed to play lead Sega to modify the firmware so that they
could play CDRs. From my understanding, the mod was not so they
could play CDR retail games (the retail games are all GDRs), but
so that they could play CDRs sent as pre-release games to reviewers
and whatnot. Anyway, Sega made the change, the hackers went to work,
and soon people were playing CDR copies downloaded from the net.
General vendor/softwarehouse unhappiness ensued and Sega was ultimately
convinced to change the firmware so that you could not play CDRs.
But that was very late in the production run, and the no-CDR firmware
chips were used only as the earlier chips ran out...Apparently
(based on my Dec2000 machine), the chips didn't run out for a long
time, at least on some assembly lines.

Kwad

 

[letian]

mine was dated april 2000, made in japan, but i guess it been refurbished doesnt say much about the quality this time.
Anyways, it plays CDRs just fine, I have a question about VMU though, because i am seeing all these games requireds VMU with X many of blocks. How many blocks is there on 1 VMU? and exactly how big is a block in computer terms?

 

[baseballfan]

I believe the Sega brand VMU has 200 blocks of memory, but I don't know what a "block" is in B, or KB or whatever. I've seen non-Sega memory cards advertised two ways - as a number of blocks (800, for example), and as a multiplier of the standard VMU capacity (4X). Hope that helps.

 

[Kwad Guy]

The Sega brand VMUs hold 200 blocks, correct. You can find them
at places like ToysRUs for $10/each. The 3rd party memory cards
(which don't have the V of VMU, that is the small lcd Video screen)
apparently hold from 800 to 1600 or blocks...HOWEVER, many of these
cards get their large capacity through compression. From what I have
read, 3rd party cards using compression are very flakey and should
be avoided. If you get a 3rd party card, get one that either doesn't
use compression, or where you can force compression off...

Kwad

 

[Packy]

Building on what Kwad posted, I've been able to find 800 block Pelican cards which are uncompressed (4 megs) for only $10 (got mine at Software Etc.). It isn't a true 800-block-at-once card... it has a switch which lets you jump between 4 200 block areas. Kinda nice for organizing saves, though.

The 1600 card I've seen was a GameShark-brand one (or something similar) that would let you connect to your computer through USB and download saves off the net. My guess would be that it's compressed, so I'd stay away. I had an option to get one and it was $20, but then I found the Pelican 4meg.

 

[thetaz]

<< Building on what Kwad posted, I've been able to find 800 block Pelican cards which are uncompressed (4 megs) for only $10 (got mine at Software Etc.). It isn't a true 800-block-at-once card... it has a switch which lets you jump between 4 200 block areas. Kinda nice for organizing saves, though.

The 1600 card I've seen was a GameShark-brand one (or something similar) that would let you connect to your computer through USB and download saves off the net. My guess would be that it's compressed, so I'd stay away. I had an option to get one and it was $20, but then I found the Pelican 4meg. >>



levelsix.com sells the Nexus 4 meg cards, (4 x 200) with computer link. I bought one of the 16meg cards at first..but that one kept corrupting saves every week, so I exchanged for the Nexus 4 meg. Works great. Also, with the computer link..you can download the software from the manufacturer (ems.com I think? I can't remember off the top of my head - it says on the memory card's sticker). Also, you can get a flash formatter that will put 241 blocks of free space on each slot. So I converted my 800 to a 964 block card. I've had no reliability problems at all with 241 blocks available on each slot.

 

[Kwad Guy]

LevelSix.com wants $14 for a 4x (4 x 200 blocks, i.e. 4 x storage
of Sega VMU) card that doesn't use compression (good). No PC
link. For the PC link card + cable you're looking at around $22.

Seems like a reasonable price.

Shipping is reasonable but it hurts if you only buy one card...
Priority Mail shipping is $4, so a shipped 4x card is $18...
Buy 2 and the shipping is the same so it gets better...

Kwad

 

[DukeOfAnandTech]

LevelSix posts many deals on ebay. You still pay shipping and all that crap, but you can sometimes get their items for less than they charge on their website, with all their service & other crap too. Just helping to notify the masses, .