On the plus side, the Naomi 2 utilises a unique lockout feature that effectively disables the extra hardware seen in the Naomi 2 affording it backwards compatibility with all original Naomi games and accessories. Sure it has some great games, but only three (five if VF4 upgrades are counted as individual games) are compatible with the standard stick and button control inputs commonly found on arcade machines.
Even future ports to systems with more competent specs such as the Gamecube and PS2 were far from arcade perfect and dropped a number of graphical features seen in the originals.įrom an arcade collector’s perspective, (unless you’re lucky enough to have some sort of steering wheel set up) it’s rather difficult to recommend the Naomi 2 as a must have. Had any Dreamcast ports come to fruition, big compromises would have surely had to have been made to get them running in any sort of playable form on the under-powered console. The DC on the other hand could only handle a paltry 4-6 million polygons with just one light source. It could handle 10-12 million polygons per second with up to six light sources. In all fairness, the Naomi 2’s hardware (while on paper very similar to the Hikaru in that it doubles up on most of the original Naomi's components) was in many ways up to four times more powerful than the DC. At least we got one Naomi 2 related release for our collections though, eh? (more on that disk later) Interestingly enough, the VF.NET disk was supported until as late as the end of 2002, but that wasn't much consolation for Sega’s last line of hardcore fans. In the end, the closest the Dreamcast ever got to a port of the game (or any Naomi 2 game for that matter) was the Japanese exclusive Virtua Fighter 4 Passport VF.NET and History discs that came bundled with Shenmue 2. A port of VF4 was announced to be in development by Sega but alas was cancelled during the initial planning stages and moved to the Playstation 2. As such, not a single Naomi 2 game was ever ported to the system.
On January 31st 2001, Sega announced, they would be ceasing production of the Dreamcast, so by the time the Naomi 2 got into arcades, the company had already begun looking towards a future void of the DC. The Dreamcast's Virtua Fighter 4 Passport VF.NET and History/VF4 Disks In part 2 we took a look at the Hikaru system, and while not essential to understanding this article, feel free to take a look back for a complete perspective of the family.Ĥ.
Much of the information from part 1 (such as how to play Naomi games) applies, so if you haven’t already, then I suggest reading that before making a start here. In part 3, we’ll be covering one of the other systems in the Dreamcast family, the Naomi 2. The Naomi is often described as the arcade version of the Dreamcast, and the true successor to the Naomi was of course the Naomi 2, thereby making the Naomi 2 the arcade version of the Dreamcast 2! Yes? Get it.? Am I right? AM I RIGHT? Well, OK, that was pretty shameless click bait, but you're here now anyway, so why not let us tell you a bit more about the third system in the Dreamcast arcade family. The Dreamcast Junkyard is finally breaking its silence on the topic of the Dreamcast 2… well, sort of.