I’m using redream on Android. It works fine, although sometimes it slows down on my Motorola g6
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Illbleed First Impressions
- Absolutely loving everything about the setup for this one, lol. These high school kids are so dumb, they’re great. I honestly think the bad voice acting is to the game’s credit. And just to hammer home that the cheesiness of everything is intentional, we get a scene with some zombie communicating in grunts at the ticket gate, and then in the fake cemetery we’re treated to a tune that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Scooby Doo movie.
- The gameplay itself though will take more time to get used to. The game really doesn’t do much to teach you anything, so you kind of have to just accept dying pretty quick while figuring it all out. And you really need to make sure you pick up the horror goggles (hidden in a far corner away from the path you need to take) before you just get destroyed by all the traps. It’s an odd game design choice, making you have to find said goggles instead of just starting you out with them.
- I think the game actually looks… pretty good? The graphics hold up all right in this one IMO. Obviously dated by today’s standards, but the general art direction behind it all seems sound.
- Controls seem fine too, and I appreciate the camera options.
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Wow, I though the same too! The graphics are actually rather nice!
I think it’s because the low-poly graphics of the ear heighten the bizarre horror. I felt the same when I replayed American McGee’s Alice some months ago. The “bad” graphics of the era fit perfectly with the dreamyness of all.
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Splatterhouse First Impressions
- So this is another one of those arcade games that you can’t just win with enough quarters – you’ve got to git gud. I’m up for the challenge, but we’ll see if I can actually make it through all the levels by the end of the month.
- It’s a pretty slow and clunky beat-em-up… reminds me a lot of Altered Beast, more than any other game in the genre. (Perhaps understandable – more fluid and quicker-paced games came in later years.)
- Obviously the main selling point for this one is its gore-filled haunted environments. And on that front at least, the game certainly delivers! The first couple levels are short, but filled with all sorts of ghastly imagery. Loads of much more violent games have released since this one of course, but it’s interesting to see this much of it in an 80s game.
- I just like the sound of batting enemies with your weapons (be it a meat cleaver, or just a wooden beam), and smashing them into the wall in the background. Very satisfying, heh heh heh heh.
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Were you able to get Illbleed working yet? Don’t want you to miss out on this one, if you’re at all interested.
I guess first thing to check – do other games work for you on Redream? I’ve been able to play Illbleed just fine without any issues, and my old laptop is nothing to write home about. If it’s just the game file that’s an issue, maybe try a different one. (I’m not sure if I’m using a CDI or GDI file – try the opposite kind if one type doesn’t work.)
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Managed to get through the first stage (or “movie”) of Illbleed. What an absolute fever dream this game is, lol. I’m loving it. The learning curve for this one has been a bit steep, but once you work out each of the game mechanics it becomes more manageable and fun. Some tips:
- Make sure you get the goggles (horror monitor) before entering the hotel! You won’t be able to disable traps without it, so you’ll just be dead meat after a minute or two.
- You’ll want to find all the items you can, and the location of them is marked by your “sixth sense.” Most of the time you won’t see the item itself – you have to hit A at the right spot. Your sixth sense also alerts you to ambushing enemies though… so be ready for a fight if it feels like it’s about time for another one.
- Err on the side of caution for traps, but try to use all the hints available to you so you don’t waste too much adrenaline. Use your goggles when one of your senses is beeping strongly, so you know it’s a close trap. The monitors are sight, sound, and smell, so sometimes that can help you narrow down which object nearby you should mark as a trap. Sometimes though it’s just not going to be clear which of the spots your goggles target on will be the trap, and you might have to just mark 2 or 3 spots to be safe. You get some adrenaline back when you’ve marked the correct spot and walk over to it (disabling the trap). If you’re running low on adrenaline, there are items to help replenish it.
- One way you can die in this game is from blood loss. If you’re injured and bleeding, the red bar at the bottom will continue to increase if you’re running around. Either let it heal naturally (by waiting a bit) or use an item to stop the bleeding.
- Combat in this game is… not great. But it is manageable if you know what you’re doing. When confronted with an enemy, you’ll be stuck in an enclosed space (one room, or section of a hall). If you have the bat, you can handle the common enemies of the first level. I would usually run around to avoid an attack, then swing 2-3 times (Y button), then run away again. You also have a dodge button (A button) for when you’re cornered, and from what I can tell so long as you time it right you can dodge literally any attack. Also good to keep in mind: if you defeat a monster, you get some adrenaline back.
- There is also a helicopter landing square in each combat arena. (Which I find both hilarious and delightful.) To escape enemies, you have to mash the B Button while standing on the square. Of course, the monsters won’t stop attacking you, so this can be tricky to do without getting hit a couple times. What I would do is have the monster chase me to the far edge of the area, and when it’s in an attack animation I hurry back to the helicopter square and mash B. The ladder lowers slowly, so you will probably need to repeat this process 2 or 3 times to get it to fully lower.
- Don’t forget you can jump in this game! (X button) Unlike most survival horror games, your character can jump onto small ledges, which can lead to items you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise.
- Eventually you will come across a hospital room that will allow you to spend money to recover your various stats. I imagine this room will be more useful in later levels for upgrades and such (certain items you find seem necessary for them). So you probably want to get as much money as you can in each level, and this is accomplished by meeting certain requirements when finishing the level (disabling enough traps, having your various stats above certain points, etc).
- On the item menu (start button) you can press left and right to move from the consumables screen to documents and other special items. There comes a point when you need to use some special items to get into the next part of the level.
- The map (Y button) is very nice in showing you the path you’ve walked the last little bit. I really appreciate this in horror games, where I tend to easily get lost. The map is especially helpful when you get to a maze-like section…
- When you come across the “boss” monster of this level, I don’t think there’s any point in attacking it. Just make your escape and run, run, run. (This segment of the level was probably my favorite. Surprisingly intense, with that dramatic Psycho-esque music! Love the way the monster just appears around the corner when you least expect it to, lol.)
- Eventually you will have to fight the boss, but it isn’t much harder than regular enemies. But will you be able to save your friend? My friend was already dead… So I clearly did something wrong at some point. I think? Guess I’ll have to look this up, but I’ve been enjoying working this game out as I play it. I imagine you can continue to play the game, but won’t get the best ending if any of your friends die.
- After the grand finale, you’ll get a card pass. To finish the level you have to use it at a device a ways before the actual gate that it opens to complete the level. (It’s weirdly kind of far from it, and I was confused for a bit how to actually end the stage.)
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I haven’t, no. I read that Redream might not support as many games as other emulators. But it’s my only choice for macOS is seems. I don’t have a Windows machine that I can install it or or that can handle emulating anything. I’ll try Retroarch on Android, but so far my luck with Retroarch has been limited.
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Bummer! Pretty much every game I’ve tried in Redream works great for me, but I’m on Windows so I can’t say anything about how it’d work on a Mac. Also no idea how well Retroarch works for Dreamcast. I’ve personally liked Redream a ton because that’s the first Dreamcast emulator to not give me a ton of problems to (attempt to) work through.
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Maybe I’m doing something wrong. What are your steps to get it working? Anything special?
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You can try redream on android too 
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If you’re having issues with a particular system or emulator i’d really recommend doing a search for ‘{name of what you are using} {name of system} compatibility list’. you might find settings to force or more info on what’s up. the only old things i have issues with seem to be Saturn and PSX 2
Dolphin has a pretty nice forum for this purpose for GCN and Wii as well as high resolution texture packs.
heheh pretty gnarly man you picked some very metal games for this month 
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first half hour or so impression of Splatterhouse
This is a scrolling fighter game that plays like a buncha stuff. its pretty simple controls. not hard… oh wait. poltergeist boss room.
WHAT THE HELL?
dumped every artificial quarter ‘continue’ in that second stage to continue to die at the boss. i can pretty much have a full stack of health until the eye painting comes out, but there’s really no way i can surmise to actually get attacks in without getting hit in response. its just too fast, so even if you can land a strike, you cant get back in the corner in time to ready another.
EDIT: here we have a great example of a era where you had two types of game design. the one that lets you continue exactly where the life ran out of your quarter and continue, or the design that pushes you back and forces you to do the same thing over and over again until you ragequit. 
I went back with save states and managed to figure a way to do the second stage boss battle: Basically you
Summary
stay in a corner and punch to hit the first book, then when the chair decides to play with you its a matter of before it gets too close to you, sending a drop kick towards it before it can jump higher just before it attacks. if you lead into the chair before it begins its ‘jump attack’ its fairly easy to get the pattern down. then when the knives come out. figure out whether to stand up and punch or duck and kick (it only takes a few attempts before you can see which its gonna be) then the hard part which i couldnt figure out is that painting. the trick is to get in the center of the screen and just pummel it fast. do it quick and you can land multiple strikes. if it gets away it will then be time to attack it from the other side. after this painting dies though ,watch out you didn’t win just yet.its about to give you the finger by crashing down the chandelier before the boss fight actually ends. Jeez. dont think i’d ever have figured this one out.:
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Sorry for the late response. From what I recall it was rather straightforward compared to most emulators – this guide might help though. Just to check, did you try other Dreamcast games? Did any of those work?
Is it a security-related error?
Yeah this seems to be Splatterhouse’s early difficulty spike. I keep dying there as well, though I feel I’m slowly learning the patterns better… (And looking at the summary of your strategy, I think we’re approaching that boss pretty much the same way.)
Difficulty aside, it’s a cool idea for a boss though! I remember liking the poltergeist stage in the Master System game Master of Darkness. Well-worth a playthrough for classic Castlevania fans.
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Redream runs and shows the game icon once loaded but it crashes as soon as I try to launch the game. I’ll try another game and let you know.
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Illbleed Level 2 Thoughts
- So I didn’t realize this until after I finished level 2, but between levels you can visit other places in the amusement park – there’s a photo place to save, a hospital to buy upgrades, and a store to buy items. If you have the money, you might as well spend it right?
- As for level 2… leave it to Illbleed to establish the main gimmick of the game (the goggles, for disabling traps) in the first level, and then not have that be a thing at all for the second level.
- That said, I didn’t mind the change of pace. This level was mostly about avoiding those giant worms (presumably inspired by Tremors). Escaping the worms isn’t so hard, but each encounter with them will make your heart rate jump up a decent amount, so the bigger concern is needing to avoid a shock death…
- Hilarious story for this one, especially that ending. Love this stupid game, lol.
- As is so often the case for survival horror-ish games, I got stuck on a couple puzzle-solving segments. My tips for this level are: remember you can jump, and use the wrench on each billboard you can. More specifically, the three Dummy-themed movie billboards. These will serve as paths to walk on across the sand where the giant worm (final boss) is. You have to jump from the cars to the billboards and so on, all the way to the gas canisters. At which point you need to use the flamethrower item at the exact right spot the game wants you to.
- Some good news… I did manage to save my friend this time! I definitely did not finish the level’s time limit though. You really gotta speedrun these levels to get the full money prize award! ._.
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Illbleed Level 3 Thoughts
- I played as Michel for this one, after giving her a couple upgrades at the park’s hospital. Not all that different from Eriko, but she starts with a fair amount more adrenaline. Unfortunately she also crawls on the floor when scared by an enemy, which usually means getting hurt 1 or 2 times if I don’t mark their ambush points…
- Level 3 is trap-disarming for the first half, and then fighting off lots of enemies in the second half. Eventually you have to turn into a wooden doll – which is unsettling, but thankfully combat is a bit easier in that form. Didn’t have much trouble for this level, though I was stocked up on items.
- The boss for this was… interesting lol. I also managed to rescue Randy. And I found his brain. I’m wondering if that’s a requirement for saving him, or if you can save him without him ever getting his brain back.
- Overall this level wasn’t as engaging story-wise, but it was legitimately a bit creepier. Like, it’s still all very ridiculous, but the macabre elements of this level’s setup actually got to me a bit.
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I could have sworn i played this game before but i haven’t. I had played the SD cutesy version of this game on NES which is cool and i think had a similar boss fight. And yes, a great idea for a boss fight, all these bosses were really cool actually and they are very intense and chaotic battles, but ugh, having to repeat it over and over again isn’t the most fun thing to do on a home console
from what i recall of dreamcast emulation, some emus dont like certain file formats (CDI vs GDI for instance) if you get a crash on launch it could be that. you could try another file format (from another sourcE) or pop it into NullDC to see if it likes it.
i’m not familiar with redream and only used standalone NullDC for the dozen or so things i’ve played. Never had issues really that i remember beyond some japanese game trying to fool it into being in english via firmware replacement.
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Illbleed Level 4 Thoughts
- Definitely my favorite level so far. A haunted department store! What a fun premise. Plenty of great traps to deal with here. And everything is out to get your money this time. (Interestingly, you get paid for the level up-front.)
- The BBQ chef is my new favorite character, lol. Be sure to go to his place without any meat, for some great dialogue from him. And when you do go there with meat, I suggest just bringing one… instead of say, fifteen. You’ll see why!
- I had a very close call in this level. I was caught by surprise when I had to deal with three sandworms at once – and no choice but to fight them. I had save stated toward the end of the arduous battle, but didn’t realize my health was already going down on its own for the last bit of it. I didn’t want my extra-upgraded Michel to die, but she seemed doomed to thanks to the time it takes to transition from the battle mode to exploration mode. I kept trying to save her, and luckily managed to open the item menu by mashing start button during said transition. She had literally 0 health, but I got her to eat a steak dinner for full recovery. Whew!
- The sheer lunacy of this level is just too good. But also the creativity: After dealing with the giant cockroaches and the BBQ chef, I had to face an evil doll who I assume is related to Chucky. Tag, hide-and-seek, and jump rope… but all with my life on the line. I thought this whole section of the level was an absolute riot.
- The final boss for this one is my favorite so far too. Because, like, you’re not even supposed to fight it, lol. Sadly it took me quite a while to realize this, since I’m so bad at noticing things and somehow missed the staircase in the back corner…
- I’m very bad at puzzles in survival horror games. I had to look up a guide for those safe codes, since I can never solve riddles. I only found two of the safes, but that’s probably okay.
Two movies to go!
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Illbleed Level 5 Thoughts
- The most meta level (so far?) I guess? So a serial killer that looks like Pepsi Man is on the loose at the Illbleed park, and actual workers are being murdered. (Or… are they real workers? Who knows.) Of course, we entered the movie theater for this level, so it could all still be staged…
- At any rate, the level is framed like a murder mystery, and in true Illbleed fashion it’s all as ridiculous as can be. You have to try to guess who the killer is, but, like… it’s all such nonsense, lol. I thought it was hilarious though.
- Other than that it’s a pretty normal(?) level, though there was a frustrating maze-like part that I had to resort to a guide for because I got lost for a long time. T_T
- Over 100 people die every day at this park! Very cool.
- So the new character you work with, Jorg the news reporter, is apparently based on Jorg Tittel, who did publicity work for Crazy Games (the dev team for this game). Jorg even got to voice himself. And what a wonderful job he did! =)
I’ll also note that I’ve started level 6… and even just a few minutes into it, I can tell this will be the most WTF stage of them all. I mean… it’s Toy Story. Like actual knock-off Toy Story, starring actual knock-off Woody. But in hell. This is already amazing.
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