Marc Cellucci discusses canceled RPG for the Dreamcast’s VMU

9:53pm, 7th of Jan '09

Posted by George. Filed under George, Retro, iPhone/iPod. Tagged with Canceled, Dreamcast, interview, RPG, VMU.

You remember the VMU, visual memory unit, for the Sega Dreamcast? It hasn’t been that long has it? It might not be as amazing as it was back in 1999, but it was mind blowing to me back then. It was like a little game inside a bigger game! What if someone told you that you could play a full RPG on that thing? Marc Cellucci has left Sega, but in a recent interview with Siliconera he talks about his canceled RPG:

“The one I think I can mention is one I was working on in the Sega.com days — it was an RPG for the VMU. It was a side project being done by about three of us, and we had a full world map, scrolling engine, and game design all fleshed out, when the plug got pulled from on high. In retrospect, they were probably right… I don’t see a VMU RPG changing the fate of the Dreamcast! We still wanted to make it, though.”

Marc Cellucci started his job at Sega doing web work for Dreamcast Network, then started writing for Segasports.com, Sega.com and SegaNet. After this he went to Japan to study Japanese for a couple of years, got a job at marketing. But he went back to Sega, got a Job with AM3 arcade division and worked on the successful Dinosaur King franchise.

What does he do now? He has his own company called Mission One and they’re bringing a Pachinko game to the iPhone. The game is called Sho Chiku Bai and the music is composed by Norihiko Hibino. (worked on Metal Gear Solid series and upcoming Ninja Blade)

[Source Siliconera]

Comments on this article

There have been 16 responses to this article.

Wouldn’t it be better to introduce Cellucci before showing off his incomplete ideas?

cube_b3

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 2:50 am.

No, we are innovative.

George

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 3:07 am.

The V in VMU stands for VISUAL, not virtual.

I can’t believe people have yet to get that right. THERE’S NOTHING VIRTUAL ABOUT IT!

Gamerschoice

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 3:33 am.

And as much as I hate to point this one out, the ‘i’ in iPhone is lower case (stupid Apple).

Gamerschoice

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 3:35 am.

I haven’t taken Journalism as a major but I know that the 5 W’s follow a simple order.

Who = Mark Cellucci
What = VMU Rpg
When = 2001
Where = Sega.Com
Why = Because he was innovative

News writing follows a simple outline, your not being innovative your being higgledy-piggledy.

cube_b3

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 4:05 am.

And Cube “your not being innovative your being higgledy-piggledy.”

“your” should be “you’re” :)

Graham

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 5:18 am.

I wish I could edit it now :P.

cube_b3

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 7:01 am.

loved playing them mini games on the vmu…if only the battery wasnt so bad..

farmer pancho

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 7:55 am.

battery life*

farmer pancho

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 7:56 am.

@Farmer Pancho.

Yeah Sega really should have looked into some batteries like you get in Mobile Phones/DS/PSP/Cameras. Ones that would charge when then VMUs were in the controllers.

I guess that battery technology wasn’t really quite ‘there’ in 1999.

Graham

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 11:37 am.

Sega had more then 3 plans for VMU on the table, I think one of them would’ve brought watches back into the main stream.

A VMU/Watch was in development with exponentially larger storage space… I am guessing it would’ve had SD card support. Prototype dummies were even shown.

A VMU//MP3 player was also in the works and the prototype was shown, although it was a working prototype rather then a sexy prototype dummy so it was double the height of a VMU and had an ugly metal body.

cube_b3

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 1:13 pm.

Man I loved the VMU, especially the Chao games you could get on Sonic Adventure 1/2.

CapnCloudchaser

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 2:32 pm.

I remember playing Chao Adventure in my freshman year of High School. I was so fun to play! Sega had an innovative idea and delivered it!

segamon

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 6:22 pm.

I loved the VMU a ton as well. My favorite times were when I was playing Skies of Arcadia. Whenever I would have to quit, I would pull out the VMU and take it with me. I would then play Pinta Quest whenever I got the chance; in the car, on the school bus, and often in the middle of class. I burned through a ton of CR2032s! By the time I got back I would have so many items; everything from Pyrum Boxes to Riselem boxes! Man, good times…

Volvagia

Posted January 8th, 2009 at 6:38 pm.

Haha, I would always search the internet for new homebrew games to download to my VMUs. I think my favorite was a very impressive version of Pac-Man. I always thought the VMU was an excellent idea, and I’m sure we would have seen really incredible things from it if the Dreamcast hadn’t died so quickly.

Although the VMU concept (and feel free to correct me if I have my dates wrong) actually started with the PS1. I forget what the device was called, but it worked as a memory card and you could download some FF8 minigame on to it (despite it not being released outside Japan).