The Dreamcast may have been Sega's final stab in the world of gaming hardware, but the company really threw everything at making the console a success – including features like online connectivity, memory cards you could play games on and the ability to hook the system up via VGA for a sharper picture.

If you were lucky enough to have experienced a Dreamcast running via VGA back in the day, it was akin to the leap to HD we'd see a few years later – it just looked incredible, even compared to RGB SCART. This feature is also responsible for a cool hidden secret, which has recently been unearthed by engineer and Romhacker Derek Pascarella, who is currently working on a translation patch for Capcom vs. SNK 2.

The oddity relates to the notifications which pop up during rounds, pointing out stuff like blocks and first attacks.

(1/8) One of the wildest things I've ever, EVER seen in all my years of romhacking...

As we continue making progress in our English translation patch of "Capcom vs. SNK 2" on the Dreamcast, playtester @ontortita noticed something odd... pic.twitter.com/vgFQxpNCxg

— Derek Pascarella (ateam) (@DerekPascarella) November 22, 2024

"As part of the localization, we've changed a few of the HUD notifications," explains Pascarella. "For example, instead of 'BLOCKING' seen in the JP version, we've opted for the Western 'PARRYING'.
Actually, both textures were already baked into the game, we just had to change the reference."

However, when one of the game's playtesters ran the new version through a VGA connection, the old 'BLOCKING' notification appeared.

(7/8) Enter our genius graphics hacker I mentioned earlier, @TheCodeAlwaysWs!

He was able to analyze this non-VGA-only "reference" file and simply swap pointers for things like "PARRYING", just as he did before.

Automatic overscan margins are preserved, and it works perfectly! pic.twitter.com/T3QjHLWuMy

— Derek Pascarella (ateam) (@DerekPascarella) November 22, 2024

"I was baffled until I eventually discovered the game actually renders its HUD elements with different margins (thus using different "reference" files) in VGA mode as opposed to Composite/S-Video/RGB mode," says Pascarella. "It AUTOMATICALLY takes into account overscan. I don't know ANY other game that does this!"

Pascarella and his team have now factored this into the hack. "In the end, this was a very interesting, and dare I say exciting, romhacking mystery adventure," he concludes. "As I said, I've never, ever seen a game programmed to accommodate CRT overscan margins automatically."

Posted: Nov 26, 2024 11:17 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/11/dreamcast-is-still-offering-up-wild-tech-secrets-25-years-on