Retro Fighters Striker DC Controller for Sega Dreamcast

One of my favorite systems to collect for is the Sega Dreamcast.

Back on 9-9-99 when this system came out, I sadly was not aware of it at the time. When Sega pulled the plug on it less than 2 years later, meant there were plenty of games and accessories to be had in the bargain bins at the stores........I was all about my Sony Playstation, and excited for the upcoming Playstation 2. I was finally able to procure a Pre-Owned Sega Dreamcast back in December 2014. I already had a couple Dreamcast games I had picked up at Goodwill that summer and I was looking forward to playing them, Test Drive 6 and Demolition Racer.

Fast Forward to today where I own 3 Sega Dreamcast Consoles, 2 Black "Sports" editions and a regular white one, along with about 10 games (including a Japanese Import), 5 different color controllers, a fishing rod controller and half a dozen different color VMU's (Virtual Memory Units, which is a fancy name for a Memory Card). I will also be ordering an HDMI cable soon for my Dreamcast(s) as well.

Recently I had found that a company called Retro Fighters were releasing an updated Dreamcast controller. I was familiar with them and their updated "Brawler" controller for the Nintendo 64, I never cared much for the original N64 controller myself. But it appears that now they decided to do the same for the Sega Dreamcast. I knew I had to have one, and promptly pre-ordered one off their website. They finally shipped and I received mine about 2 weeks ago.

And here it is

Looks great with the modern controller styling

and when you compare it to an original Dreamcast controller

 Pretty close color match

 Bottom is much shorter, and the cord is finally the right way round

And still retains the dual VMU slots

Speaking of

With a VMU plugged in

The VMU looks a little funny, but I am sure I will get used to it.

I played some Sega Rally with the new controller, and it definitely feels better, more familiar, in my hands. the thumbstick feels much better than the original one, but that's 20 years of technological progress for ya. Overall it is a great update and addition to my Dreamcast Gaming.

My only real complaint.......I wish it came in Black!

Fun with Controllers

I have been playing a lot of games these last few weeks. Dirt Rally 2.0, Borderlands 3, Destiny 2, Grid (Still loving this game!), Forza Horizon 4 and the new Minecraft Dungeons, it plays like Diabo but in the Minecraft world. At least there is one bonus to staying home during this pandemic.

First I fixed my favorite Xbox 360 controller. It would not turn on, even with brand new batteries. So I opened it up and thoroughly cleaned everything with Q-tips and Alcohol, and it Fixed it!

This was the first controller I ever customized

This was before Microsoft released their mostly black controllers, mine was the original black with gray thumbsticks, D-pad and trim. The kit I got also had a black home button, but I used the original for a "stock" appearance.

Next a friends mother was cleaning out her basement and gave me a NES Advantage controller. She did not know if it worked, but just wanted a bunch of stuff out of her basement and her house, so if I did not take it she was just going to throw it away, Nooooooooo I said I'll take it!

I never had one of these before

It was pretty dirty when I got it, Sorry for the bad picture, I forgot to take a before picture as I just worked on it one day while I was watching Netflix so I had to forward the pic from my cell phone I was sent. I took it 100% completely apart, and thoroughly cleaned everything.

Looking Like New!

She also gave me a NES she had sitting in the basement as well, I eventually got that working too (after installing the "Blinking Light Win mod" and the Advantage controller works great!

And because I had a pair of aluminum Xbox One Thumbsticks sitting around, I decided to swap them into my movie surfing/lazy digital game launching/using controller.

I love the Aluminum sticks, feel better than the stock rubber ones and want to outfit all my controllers with them. And just because I had a black D-pad sitting there also, I swapped that onto it as well.

Here is what it looked like originally

Oh but I did not stop there, I had a pair of extra black side covers as well

Original is below

Anyway that's it for tonight, have more to get up soon

More Xbox One Games for the Collection

So a couple weeks ago, Gamestop was running a sale and I picked up a Brand New games I wanted.

Doom Slayers Collection - Just cause $17.49

Borderlands 3 - Super Deluxe Edition $39.99

My daughter who is a huge Borderlands fan (and is considering buying a PS VR just to play Borderlands in VR) was (jokingly) mad. She bought this same edition when it came out for $100.00. I paid $40.00, It pays to wait on picking up Video Games these days.

Then since you all know how I feel about keeping my steelbooks on the game shelf.....

Empty Game Cases for these two games, couple bucks a piece.

Desitny 2 Legendary Collection - $9.99 at Wal-Mart

And from Best Buy

Need for Speed Payback Steelbook (No Game) $4.99

Doom Eternal with Steelbook - $39.99

And some classic Forgotten Realms Games I am a HUUUGE Forgotten Realms fan!

I have been reading the novels & playing the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns since High School

These were on clearance at Best Buy for $17.49 each

Baldurs Gate & Baldurs Gate II

Planescape Torment & Icewind Dale

Icewind Dale is the setting for some of my favorite Forgotten Realms books written by R.A. Salvatore, and his legendary characters Drizzt Do'Urden, Bruenor Battlehammer and their friends.

Texas Chainsaw (A.K.A. Texas Chainsaw 3D)

Texas Chainsaw, also known as Texas Chainsaw 3D - The one where you root FOR Leatherface.

Yes, I realize this movie is seven years old now, and I own it and have seen it twice before, The first I think was on Netflix several years ago when it was first released to streaming, and again two or three years ago when I tracked down and ordered the Blu Ray because I was trying to complete my Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie collection. I do still need Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The New Generation Starring Matthew McCounaughey and Renee Zellweger.

So if this movie is already ancient by today's audience attention spans, why am I writing about it? Well I just watched it again on Hulu, enjoyed it and thought I would share. Why else do people read other peoples blogs? You may have never heard of the movie, may have never seen the movie, or have heard about it, not seen it and wondered if it was any good? Well I am here to tell you, it is.

Not just because the female lead is a cutie (too skinny for my tastes, but cute none the less)

Starring Alexandra Daddario as Heather Sawyer

There is even a action scene in the beginning featuring none other than Mr, Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, 3 From Hell) himself.

The movie takes place immediately after the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre and starts out with a nice bloody action scene, then we meet Heather, and shortly after she gets a letter that she has inherited her grandmothers house, including Leatherface. overall I had a good time rewatching and this watch made me realize that I was rooting FOR Leatherface in the end, not the victims.

Anyway if you like horror and gore, give it watch. It is a good time.

The U.S. Blu Ray and DVD cover is the same image

Update on my Faux Xbox One Elite Controller

I have been playing with my Faux Xbox One Elite controller for a month now, and I thought I would give an update. Original Post HERE And have a few thoughts, comments, opinions.

I have found through playing around with the sticks, that I prefer the "Mushroom Head" Sticks

I have been playing Dirt Rally 2.0 (the most), WRC 7, Forza Horizon 4, Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Borderlands 3 with this controller, for Racing games I use the "standard" style D-pad.

For First Person Shooters I prefer to use the "Elite" D-pad.

And here are the different thumb sticks that came with the kit

Overall I really like the controller, to me it gives the controller more heft, and just feels better in my hands, The Mushroom head thumb sticks, which I originally thought I would not like, are now my favorites and I use them all the time.

There was also another product in the article I read when I decided I wanted to upgrade my controller

Bionik "Quickshot" trigger upgrade

Basically it make you have less of a trigger pull to get a shot off in a FPS, or less pull to get max gas pedal speed in a racing game. I did not like the Gray rubber handgrips, If it were my choice tmy entire controller would be all black. I also read some of the reviews on Amazon that after some time, the gray grips start to peel off. I can see how that would happen with hand sweat and whatnot.

So I did a little searching online and found a pair from another company, that had the grips molded into the piece that gets replaced on the controller, and in black, well except the lock buttons.

So I bought this pair from ModdedZone

They fit great!

 I have been using these for about 2 weeks now and overall I like the grips and when I am using the locks I find it gives me more throttle control in racing games, except for off the line from a dead stop, it takes longer than it should to get going. But, that is just a minor complaint. It is hard to switch it off from the line, then switch it on while trying to keep steady in a race. As far as FPS games, I do not really notice a difference, but I suck at Call of Duty anyway so it could just be me.

Then, just for fun, I decided to get one of these as well

An Xbox One Elite controller case

It came with the accessories as well

That's it for now, but I think I see a pile of Xbox One games I have not posted yet............

Adding to the Xbox 360 Collection

Here are some more additions to my always growing Xbox 360 Collection

First up I picked up the Collector's Edition of a game I already had the regular version of, it did not have the actual game disc, but it did have the Steelbook and all the other Collector's Edition Items:

 Splinter Cell Conviction

That Card is actually a USB Flash Drive

Not bad for $8.00 Shipped

Next up will surprise no one who reads this blog

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bonus Disc!

Which has now exhausted my supply of 3-Disc cases

Next, just a couple upgrades for a couple games I already Had

 Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition

$10.00 Shipped

With all the DLC on the 2nd Disc

Been looking at upgrading my copy for awhile, but for the $20-25.00 It usually sells for, it just was not worth it to me. But, I was surfing Mercari.Com and saw this great condition copy for $10.00 Shipped, so I bought it instantly.

And another upgrade I had been wanting

 L.A. Noire Complete Edition

All the extra DLC comes on Disc 4

The standard copy has 3 Discs (for Xbox 360, PS3 was only 1)

The only 4 disc case I know of for the 360 was Wolfenstein: The New Order. But, all 4 of the discs just stack on top of each other. I do not really care for that option, so will need to figure something else out. Of course once I do, you all know I will share it with you here.

Then the next pickup is kind of strange

First I bought this

Hitman Absolution

Factory Sealed $5.98 Shipped

Then I picked this up

Hitman Absolution Professional Edition

This was $8.xx shipped. Now the auction I saw and bid on was for a used open copy, there were pictures of it opened showing the contents etc.. But when I got it in the mail, The thing was still factory sealed with the 4 clear round stickers, 2 on top and 2 on bottom? And once I opened it up, it looked and smelled (we all know that new game smell) brand new.

Very Nice

And here is my current Xbox 360 Collection

That's it for now, but there is more Xbox to come!