Today I’m thrilled and excited to break the news that another game has been resurrected from the online graveyard thanks to Shuouma! Sega Tetris is now back online! This game was Sega’s own homegrown spin on the classic Tetris formula and was exclusive to Japan. This is actually the second Tetris game that we’ve gotten back online, the first one being The Next Tetris: Online Edition which was revived by Shu back in 2016. There are definitely some differences between these two games though. Sega Tetris takes a more traditional approach to the Tetris gameplay and has a unique, quirky style to it with cool characters and a bright and colorful look. In addition, the game supports up to 4 players online which is should lead to some intense matches. I also have to say that this game has one of the coolest chat lobbies I’ve seen in any of the online games, allowing players to communicate via chat bubbles and convey emotions through various character animations. It’s clear the developers had a lot of fun putting this game together.
In addition to the game being brought back online, I actually made my own little contribution to this project by translating all of the online menus, messages, and dialogs into English. This should make it much easier for everyone to get online and playing, as previously it was bit overwhelming to navigate for anyone that doesn’t read Japanese.
A few things to note about this game: Firstly, in order to play online you’ll need the patched version of the game which is available from the Downloads page. This unfortunately means original discs will not work.
Secondly, your account on the server is linked to the Login ID that you set up in the Dreamcast’s ISP settings. If you set this up as “dream”, which most DreamPi users have, you’ll need to change it to something else. Otherwise you’ll be blocked from connecting to the server. This is to prevent a bunch of people from sharing the same account.
Lastly, while it may not be required, it is recommended that you have the new DreamPi 1.9 DLE update. The TTL increase in this release will increase the odds of matches starting. If you’re unable to start a match and you’re using an older version of DreamPi, this is probably why.
As usual, all this and more will be detailed in the Connection Guide so be sure to check that before going online.
I hope you guys are as excited as I am to see this game playable online again. It’s a real treat, especially considering this game was exclusive to the Dreamcast and never released outside of Japan. Being able to experience this in 2024 with players all around the world is mind-blowing. As usual, a huge thanks goes out to Shuouma for his hard work on this project. I should note that as with any new server launch, you may run into bugs. If you have any issues with the server, be sure to report them in the Dreamcast-Talk post here.