Other Some new information about the Dreamcast zip drive, the mysterious cancelled accessory from Sega

[Sega Dreamcast Info]

I was able to speak with someone who worked on the unreleased module project, the Zip Drive Dreamcast.

He tells us more about this mysterious accessory, including the reasons for its cancellation.

To read below :

The history of the Zip Drive Dreamcast, a cancelled accessory | SEGA Dreamcast Info

The Zip Drive Dreamcast was designed for the last Sega console. It was never commercialized. The marketing department of Sega Japan didn't see the need for a Zip Drive and didn't see a big use for it. IOMEGA, an American company, was in charge of designing this device. The goal was to...

en.sega-dreamcast-info-games-preservation.com

 

[ItsMeMario]

Whaaaaaattt ?! :'D

Lol, I love the zip drive and have various versions of it here....but this IS new !

And he got tons of zip disks at home ? z0mg put them on eBay I pay what you want !!!1 x'D

 

[GiroNeko]

That's so awesome!!

But it's kinda a bum how it didn't work out.

 

[NikeX]

Absolutely fascinating. I remember the 2018 eBay Auction.

 

[Greg2600]

They intended to allow gamers to make homebrew on it? Wow, I'm sure that would have been a mess.

 

[redbackbugsnax]

I had no idea about this!! Looks cool, sucks that it wasn't ever released

 

[Americandad]

They intended to allow gamers to make homebrew on it? Wow, I'm sure that would have been a mess.

How so? Seems like a more convenient take on the PSX Net Yaroze approach.

 

[Greg2600]

How so? Seems like a more convenient take on the PSX Net Yaroze approach.

Honestly, I think it would have simply been rife with emulation and rom piracy from 8 and 16 bit consoles, maybe PC stuff as well. I mean, how would they (SEGA) get dev tools out to the homebrew community? Cannot imagine that making any fungible sense. Now, if it would have simply meant enhancements like mods and content that PC games often featured back then, that's a different story. However, the end user could directly change PC code, whereas a DC game was on a disc that could not be altered. They would have had to build in the content enhancement capabilities, which nobody really ever allowed in the console community. Preferring to offer them as DLC.