Secrets of the Dreamcast VMU | Punching Weight [SSFF] 

This is episode FORTY of Punching Weight! I can't believe we've made 40 freaking episodes of this show! Thanks so much everyone!!

People say Nintendo is the most innovative video game company, but no one can touch the wacky inventiveness of 90's Sega.

If Death Standing were released in the DC's heyday you KNOW that BB would be a virtual pet you would have to carry around and take care of on your VMU.

VMU: Beep. beep. Derek: "stop beeping." Also VMU: *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-*

*"IT'S SONIC ADVENTURE, NOW AVAILABLE AT KB TOYS!"* Won't lie, that hurt me a little bit.

"Is this a good way to play Silent Scope on the Dreamcast? Absolutely not! But you CAN do it, which is good enough for me." I love this.

Always good to know when you're playing Illbleed

"i love you" "you can go away" BLOCK 100

The word "Chao" caused me and a friend to have a massive argument about it's pronunciation. He insisted it was "K.O" because it was just "chaos" without the S (like Chaos Emerald). We got ridiculously angry with each other 😄

Derek's face when Seaman rejected him 🤣

Alternate title: How to Enjoy Your VMU with Enough Space for Your Illbleed Save! Keep up the good work, guys!

Just imagine what you could do with a VMU style gadget with today's tech.

If Sega ever makes a Dreamcast classic, we need a sticker on the box that says "The Official Console of Punching Weight." It'll let the people know exactly what they're in for.

"Godzilla game on the VMU" *Matt McMuscles screaming from Montreal*

I remember having my dreamcast in 2001/2002, and I signed up for a Dial-up ISP just so I could play Phantasy Star Online. But when I wasn't hunting, I was using the web browser! It was my first exposure to the internet as a whole, as I didn't have a computer at the time. One of the websites that I randomly found while browsing GameFaqs was a VMU Homebrew website, and I downloaded TONS of games- card games, Pac-man, racing games, pet simulators.. SO much. I used to take it to school with me and play it, raising my Chao on some days, playing Tetris on others. The VMU was incredible.

So you’re telling me that when the VMU is inserted into the controller it turns it into a Wii U Gamepad? NINTENDO WHO?

The VMU was so unique. It would’ve been really cool to see the evolution of it, but RIP Sega hardware

The Dreamcast is the bet console ever. Nothing can change my mind and I have no bias whatsoever.

Man, zombie's revenge is one of those games I played as a kid and never really knew if it actually existed or it was just my imagination

"Look At Chibi Ivy Swinging Her Chibi Heart Out." Aw, so adorable! 😊😊😊

1:13 Ah yes, my favorite game: SoulCalibuR SOULCALIBUR

for all you VMU mini-game enthusiasts out there, I'm pleased to inform that the PSP Power Stone Collection includes the VMU mini-games preserved authentically in their monochromatic pixel glory. They even include a cute little Game and Watch style handheld border around the screen.

Ha! When you started talking about playing a game with just the VMU screen, I immediately thought: Virtua Tennis. Because I actually did that some times.

The VMU is a little mysterious for me: I had a Dreamcast but inexplicably had a memory card with no vmu! Learning about it through vids like this tell me it might not be all it's cracked up to be, but I cant deny just how charmed I am by it (just like with everything dreamcast)

1:10 That is some Scott the woz editing and humor. I like it.

FYI, both the VMU and the PlayStation 1 memory cards have 1 megabit of memory. Not 1 megabyte.

I always hope the VMU would return in newer systems, imagine making one this gen with new screens and rechargable batteries. I could see new games unlocking bonus features with minigames on a VMU that you play on the go. So much potential!

A VMU only has 128k of memory. Only way you'd have a megabyte would be having 4 controllers plugged in with 2 VMUs in each controller.

VMU has 1 megabit of memory which is 128 kb, like ps1 memory card. So, ps2 memory cards had 64 times more space for saves. Never had expirience with VMU games, because i never changed batteries inside :D

It makes me really happy how you have so much fun with your videos.

I find the BEEEEEEEP oddly soothing. Reminds me of the days when Dreamcast was all new and amazing.

I cannot believe you did something about the Dreamcast VMU... This is why we love you

This comment is here to support SSFF for the algorithm Edit: i remember being fascinated by the VMU when i was younger. Also Vitrual On. I heard it (i think) You should cover it if you can

There was one great use that wasn't discussed, so... NFL 2k1 had the ability to pick your plays on the VMU so that you could keep your plays completely private. It was awesome! Awesome video!

Cool video! I've always been curious about these little things, and getting such a detailed look at them is why I love Punching Weight so much! xxx

Just a little behind the Vita, the Dreamcast is my second favorite console of all time. All the stuff like VMUs and others made it so unique and special

Damn bro, you got a hardcore hater on you. A dislike 18 seconds after the upload. For sure he watched it.

Listening to you guys research, write, and talk about the outer fringes of gaming is just my favourite thing. I hope you guys get to do everything you love, but you're so good at this. Thanks for everything you've made so far.

I was really excited for this video and it did not disappoint!

I need that Sonic T-shirt. Where can I buy?

Hey, it’s me, Adam Sandler. I am a fan of SSFF.

I used to download vmu homebrew games via the dreamcast's browser. This led to a 3 hour coach trip playing a fan made version of Outrun. No regrets.

I'm glad you're never stopping. I love you guys!

VMU:beep Derek:Stop beeping VMU:BEEEEEP!

You figure they would have made the batteries rechargeable and charge when you put them in the controller... you know, just some ideas 20 years later lol

Great Video, never had a Dreamcast so it was neat learning all about the VMUs.

That silent scope VMU feature is actually insane. Like, open your mouth wide and say "what???" out loud insane. I really can't believe they did that.

that disc loading noise when a battle is about to happen in Skies lol

Can confirm, I had one of the VMUs and one of the non-VMUs. The best thing to do was to save all of your data onto the non-VMU because they could hold way more storage, and then use the VMU solely for the VMU minigames you could download.

Nothing better than going on RU-vid and seeing an SSFF vid is up

I think Sonic Shuffle uses the VMU a lot in it's game. You forgot to mention that Shenmue also uses the VMU when they teaches you move. The characters never mentions the button combinations (I guess as to not break the 4th wall?) but when you get the move right the VMU makes a sound and shows you the button combo for the move.

Holy crap. I probably put hundreds of hours into Soul Calibur and never noticed the little character on the VMU screen. That's amazing. I think I just never looked at it past the initial logo on boot for any game. So this is all wild to me!

Shenmue had help for moves on the vmu, a thing that's missing on the remasters

I started collecting Dreamcast games back in 2015 and got Sonic Adventure 2 early into things. One of the first things I tried was dropping a chao into one of my VMU. It walked and talked for about five minutes, before asking "What is the meaning of life?" seconds before the batteries gave out and the VMU died.

For me, the most interesting feature of the VMU is the ability to hook two together and use the VMU's controls to initiate file transfers! A feature which, a few years earlier, would have been mind-blowingly innovative. In the pre-internet era, imagine how cool it would have been to just carry around the VMU and trade things like characters or racing game time trial 'ghosts' with friends.

I remember stealing batteries from my mom's T1 calculator for this thing.

great vid :)

Hey, dude!!! I'm the developer of ElysianVMU, thanks for the shout-out! I've been super hard at work on ElysianVMU2 with a bunch of new features and stuff... and let me tell you, we found out even more crazy VMU secrets in the scene in the last few months. First of all, the thing gets overclocked to 6Mhz when it's plugged into the Dreamcast, so it can keep up with communications. It was only now discovered that this 6Mhz clock can be enabled IN STANDALONE GAME MODE, meaning we can now run games at like 10x the speed we used to be able to. Yes, batteries will die rapidly, but there are now mods for AAs and stuff that will take care of that. With the 6Mhz clock, active, and how powerful the VMU's instruction set is, I would expect CPU performance to be on-par with the original GameBoy! We also have a guy who is doing crazy stuff composing music for the little thing and recently discovered a semi undocumented sound mode where the single-tone VMU can generate dual-tones simultaneously. He's playing around with trying to make some crazy music using multiple overlapping tones. EDIT: Oh, a few other things... I was able to contact an old VMU developer rock star who has been missing from the scene for well over a decade... He agreed to release the source to Tiny3DEngine to me, which I've posted on GitHub, along with his BMovie encoder/decoder for playing full grayscale video on the device... So that's a little 3D engine and video playback we now have access to. Want to at least integrate with the BMovie encoder to let you encode videos and export them in ElysianVMU. You can follow the latest news for this kind of stuff on my twitter: @falco_girgis. Anyway, thanks for the awesome video. Subscribed!

Great video as always guys. Keep it up!

You rock. Thank you for another vid. It was great as usual.

I'VE BEEN WAIT ING FOR THIS FOR EVER THANKS I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS

Sorry to be that guy, but the VMU and PS1 were only 128k in size.

Just wanted to say I really love these videos keep up the great work!

Im so happy you brought up zombie revenge and its VMU mini game! that game always gets forgotten, but its one of my favorite games on the dreamcast

Did... Anyone catch the "hey I'm Derek, it's me Derek?"

This is literally the earliest I've gotten here before.

I've been waiting for this video and i'm SURE it's gonna do numbers. fingers crossed!!

God, I love your channel so much. Hi from France btw !

I am engaging with this content to promote it to the algorithm.

Man, makes me wonder what you can do with a Mini-console with today's tech...

Love your channel, it's great to see weird tech like this

fantastic video! Love your research

Everyone always calls it "Pinta's Quest," including you in this video, despite actually being called "Pinta Quest," as shown in this video.

Could you imagine if SEGA Perfected the Dreamcast and waited until Sony and Nintendo released their next systems.

Another awesome video! I remember being in grade school and seeing people with VMUs. I never had a Dreamcast so I missed out!

Hey ssff merry christmas. I'm really liking these kind of random fun fact secret videos uve been doing keep it up.

Yo im still just here for the Engagement TM

Don't like to be THAT Guy, but the VMU (like the Playstation Memory Card). has only 128kb Memory or 1MBit. Sadly you can only access 100kb, 28kb are for the System.

"Now available at K.B. Toys". Man, I miss K.B. That was the "big" toy store in my town. Toys R' Us was a 40 minute drive.

Commenting for the algorithm. Love your content as always SSFF

wait, has he always said "Hey, I'm Derek. It's me Derek" ?

6:28 Stop VMUs From Beeping

Straight up , this is the video I was looking for !

My favorite thing about the VMU is how it beeps extremely loudly to let you know it loves you when you turn on your DC, but if you change the battery to stop that from happening you lose all your data.

The Dreamcast is amazing

Best feature of the dreamcast before the modem!!!

This is like, peak Punching Weight. I've been waiting for this so long! ❤️

Man, i love so much your content, its just so interesting and weird at the same time

PLEASE TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT THE SHIRT

wasnt the ps1 memory card 128kb instead of 1mb？

I'm new to the channel and never owned a dreamcast but damn am I excited to hear about this thanks to binging the other peripheral vids

I was waiting for this since soooo long and I'm not disapointed. 💕

I thought I was gonna be early for this one :(

I'm so early I didnt get checked got uniform at the gate

I remember when I was in my teens we got a Dreamcast and a used vmu, and it always seemed cool, but I never had batteries so I could never play any of the mini games. Great video, keep up the great work!

This is honestly one of the best retro channels on the platform

I loved playing Chao Adventure as a kid. Great video

Waited in line till midnight to get my Dreamcast back in the day. Awesome system and great video Derek! Keep on truckin' brotha !

I'm incredibly glad that you mentioned the homebrew scene and Guacasaurus Mex, specifically. He's got so many good homebrew games out there for the VMU.

As a Dreamcast owner back at Christmas 2000, i was in LOVE with this console and the VMUs were amazing. I even had my own VMU before i had a dreamcast and was taking that VMU to my best buddy who already HAD his Dreamcast and we played some games together and when we played "Vigilante 8 2nd offense" i kept saving my progress since playing in multiplayer mode also added to the singleplayer experience :)