Dreamcast keyboard

[+atari2600land]

My local game shop has a Dreamcast keyboard for sale for $15. What do you think? Should I buy it? What does it work with?

[Lost Dragon]

Cannot advise on if it's worth asking price (bought mine back in the day) List of games though:

 

http://segaretro.org/Dreamcast_Keyboard

[xenomorpher]

The Typing of the Dead instantly comes to mind. If you bought a mouse you can use it with the keyboard for Quake 3. Some people have ported older computer games like Quake and Marathon 2 that work well with a keyboard and mouse combo. For the price it seems reasonable judging by what's listed on eBay, but you might get one cheaper eventually if you want to wait.

Edited January 25, 2015 by xenomorpher

[Hyperboy]

Another vote for typing of the dead, Both my boys really upped their keyboard skills by playing this!

[Hyper_Eye]

I think that's a pretty average price for a keyboard with no box and no games. If I saw one locally for $15 I would go for it.

[Reaperman]

I've had one since 'back in the day.' I used it mostly for the web browser (hugely handy for that), though typing of the dead was an option too.

 

The thing of it is that the keyboard's performance is a bit underwhelming. Because of that, I'd rather play the newer typing of the dead games which let me use a nicer controller. For me, I say pass. I'll probably never plug mine in again so it's just taking up space in a box somewhere.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Reaperman

[+Gemintronic]

There are also probably Dreamcast homebrew that uses it including whole operating systems like Linux.

http://dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk/dchomebrew.shtml

 

If you decide a keyboard is actually something useful for you I'm sure we can work out some trade for a boxed one.

[Rex Dart]

Never had the dedicated keyboard, though it is rad. Always used a PS/2 adapter. $15 sounds fair for either.

[Austin]

$15 loose is over priced. You should be able to get a boxed one for $10. I've bought boxed ones for less recently. There are a lot of them out there and they are undesirable for your average gamer. They take up space and might not be used that often.

 

Personally, I think it's a good accessory though. Had one back in the day and used it religiously with my first person shooters that I played online. Typing of the Dead is obviously the ideal game for it, but it works with Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament and Outtrigger as well (along with the mouse for those later three games). There might be other titles you can use it with, but those are the primary ones you would want it for.

[omegadot]

I had one for PSO and QIII, although I just used it for chat. It was a fine enough keyboard but other than for typing of the dead and any homebrew it exists as a novelty for me. I've spent more on worse, though.

[moycon]

I remember seeing these in Best Buy years after the Dreamcast had been discontinued. They were probably in the $10-$15 range new at that time.

Always thought they were cool, but never picked one up. Like others had mentioned they took up too much room. I only used the Dreamcast browser to go online like once (just to say I did it) so no incentive there. You always hear people mention Typing of the Dead in conjunction with the keyboard, so if you do snag it, I'd for sure find a copy of that game as well.

[Video]

I always used it for web browsing back in the day (yeah, it was actually a decent web on TV device) Typing of the dead was the only game I really knew about, though some others could use it for things.

[+thegoldenband]

I use mine with an Atari 8-bit emulator disc. My wife and I have played through a bunch of text adventures that way.

[Austin]

I use mine with an Atari 8-bit emulator disc. My wife and I have played through a bunch of text adventures that way.

 

How is the emulator on the DC? I didn't know it existed. If it's solid I'll have to burn a disc and try it out myself.

[+thegoldenband]

How is the emulator on the DC? I didn't know it existed. If it's solid I'll have to burn a disc and try it out myself.

 

It seems to work well for most things I've tried, though it wouldn't surprise me if some of the more outré games (especially PAL releases) don't work.

 

The version I burned is a bit older (though it had the virtue of coming with a huge archive of games ), and the one annoying bug I've encountered is being unable to get savegames or savestates to work. I think that's been addressed in more recent versions.

[willis]

If you are a Dreamcast fan, then you will most definitely find plenty of uses for a keyboard. However, let me say that $15 for a loose is too high and at that price you should get a boxed one.

[doctorclu]

Used the Dreamcast keyboard while running Linux to log into BBS's. Also enjoyed IRC chat and web browsing till that became too outdated.

 

Atari 8-bit emulator is also good.