Chao Adventure for Sega Dreamcast VMU

Released: September 9, 1999
Platform: Dreamcast VMU
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: Compilation

Before getting into some of the details of the game, let's take a look at the VMU. The VMU, or Visual Memory Unit was a part of what made the Dreamcast unique. Serving as the memory card, it held 128K of information, unimaginable by today's standards now that consoles come equipped with hard drives capable of gigs worth of information, it was arguably limited in 1999.
However, it was more than a memory card. It had a screen (hence "visual" which displayed 48 dot (width) x 32 dot (height) Monochrome graphics, (that's 37 mm width x 26 mm height according to Internet sources.)

The visual component functioned in two distinct ways. As a memory card, the VMU plugged into the Dreamcast's controller, and provided extended graphical elements. In many games this meant simply that the logo would appear, or that generic animations would occur that players never paid attention to (i.e. in Soul Calibur). Other games used the screen for important functions. InNFL 2K the VMU could be used to select plays so that a live opponent couldn't see the play being picked on the screen. In D2's arctic atmosphere the VMU featured quite the useful compass. The VMU screen was underused, to say the very least.

Some games, however, contained mini games which could be played on the VMU. Featuring a D-pad, two action buttons, and two internal CR-2032 lithium batteries, the unit could play games on the go. The VMU game that I remember most is Chao Adventure which came with launch titleSonic Adventure.

Not quite a virtual pet, it's hard to say how to classify it. It was more of an extension of the Chao Gardens sub game within Sonic Adventure. The Chao (pronounced "chow") can be hatched in the Chao Gardens within the game, and can then be entered into races. But it's going to lose every race unless it becomes more powerful. The way to power it up is to play Chao Adventureon the VMU.

Being a curious gamer and excited about my new Dreamcast that I picked up on launch day, I gave this a shot. I carried my VMU in my pocket for a few days and "played" Chao Adventure. This really consisted of walking around until it falls down or gets into a fight, (in which case it requires assistance), it sleeping, wanting attention, and food.

Food was obtained by playing card matching games. Once the item is won, it can be fed to the Chao, which will receive new attributes, like running faster. Supposedly two VMUs could be linked to mate Chaos, through I never tried this, as I lost interest in the game rather quickly and didn't do the whole Chao Gardens thing. Please note that I am writing this all based off of my memory of a game I played 10 years ago. My Dreamcast batteries are all dead, and there's zero information about this game on the net.

There are other VMU games, most of which came from earlier titles. It seems that as everyone's VMU batteries began to die the third party developers quit bothering to add VMU games to new releases. (Those batteries weren't cheap then, and they still aren't now, especially given the rate that they get sucked up. I think mine lasted all of two weeks.) VMU games were free, and could be exchanged on Planetweb's network.

Today, there is an active homebrew scene for VMU development. There are versions of Tetrisand Pacman sure to keep the Dreamcast diehards entertained. I even saw a hardware mod that allows the VMU to be powered by three AA batteries.

The VMU definitely had its flaws. When Microsoft announced Xbox, I asked J Allard why, since they were clearly inspired in their controller design by Dreamcast, didn't they include a screen or a VMU device. The response was that they had considered it. Turns out that Microsoft had conducted focus groups, but the groups wanted a color screen and higher resolution. The technology to make that a reality and affordable didn't exist then. My hope is that this will work its way back into controller design. Perhaps as an LCD touch screen built-in to the actual controller.