Does this mark the return of Gunstar Heroes, Bonk, Keith Courage and Alex Kidd to the gaming scene?

Sega have released details on their downloadable gaming plans, and fans of the old school Mega Drive and PC Engine systems are going to like what they hear.

Starting next February, gamers in Japan will be able to select from a catalogue of around 300 titles for download to their Dreamcast, at a charge of between 100 and 300 yen (around 60p to £1.80) per game. The download will take around two minutes and it's expected that the game will reside in the Dreamcast's system memory until the power is shut off. Apparently the games will be made available for one-time use only, although Sega believe that due to the low cost, gamers will still make use of the program.

The 300 or so games available for the service will originate from Sega's catalogue of games for the 16bit Mega Drive (Genesis in the US) and NEC's catalogue of games for the PC Engine (Turbo Grafx in the US). It's not yet known which games will be made available, but Sega made specific mention of Sonic, Outrun, Pac Man, Puyo Puyo and Columns, and the likes of Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, Yu Yu Hakusho, Strider, Bonk, JJ & Jeff and Legendary Axe may make a grand return to the gaming scene.

The games themselves will run on the Dreamcast through the use of a special GD-ROM. Many are speculating that the GD-ROM will contain emulators for the Mega Drive and PC Engine, effectively turning the DC into a highly advanced system capable of playing any game designed for the older systems. Sega have yet to specify how this GD-ROM will be distributed.


Courtesy of IGN.com