For younger folks who might not have been around during this era, these are Sega Visual Memory Units, or “VMU’s.” These are the memory card that the Sega Dreamcast used to store your game saves, but they’re also tiny game consoles too. Some Sega Dreamcast games allowed you to download little “mini games” to your VMU, so you could play on the go before returning to the main title on the Dreamcast.
For example, “Skies of Arcadia” (a FANTASTIC adventure / JRPG game which is long overdue for a remaster or sequel) let you use the VMU to collect gold and XP in a mini game, which would then transfer back to the main game. Super fun!
I remember having a FPS game where it showed your gun/remaining ammo info on the VMU display. Honestly Dreamcast was so ahead of its time in so many ways. If it arrived a year or two earlier or PS2 was a year or two later it probably would go down as one of the best if not the best consoles.
One cool VMU feature was with “NFL 2K2” they allowed you to use your VMU to call plays instead of having it displayed on the main screen. It was great for two player because you could be a bit more stealthy about what you’re calling.
One of the greatest uses of the VMU tech that I got to see as a kid was in Sonic Shuffle, a Mario party clone but used a deck of cards instead of dice. It would deal cards to each player and each on their own VMU in their controller could see what cards they had so you can select the number you wanted to use strategically without the others knowing what you had.
You could call plays on these in NFL 2k5 (edit: 2k1), which was a game changer for playing against your friends. Otherwise they knew something on the screen was coming.
My shit is when 2k first came out on dream cast and it showed the plays you can call. Man shit was ahead of its time. So much fun taking you memory stick around with your playbook stored.
This is a Sega Visual Memory Unit. You cross your eyes to create a 3D image and press the A button on both of them to record that setting. Once you plug both of them in you get sterioscopic 3D on your Sega Dreamcast! Very cool find, OP!
A novel idea that was cool at first, but ultimately having to constantly replace batteries on the VMU was a real pain in the ass. Wouldve been cool if the VMU charged when plugged into the controller rather than using those damn annoying, expensive watch batteries.
Dreamcast did everything right, aside from use CDs instead of DVDs in the age where DVDs were coming to prominence.
With the delays in production of Dreamcast and the eventual drop of not only the PS2 that could read DVD, but the original Xbox a while after- that Sega’s unique and powerful console was doomed to be stuck using the wrong medium in a time when more advanced graphics made many games required to be multi-disc.
The fact it could never play movies, could never play a sizeable game without a few disc swaps, just doomed it’s prospects.
The hardware was incredible, it was nearly as powerful as the ps2/Xbox in such a tiny form function, with an on-board modem and power supply… I still don’t get how they got that to work in the smallest console by far of the 3, but they did.
If it’s had a DVD player in it, the system would have likely been able to resurrect Sega into a main stage player- but the decision to do so would have meant even more delays in a console they were worried about getting out before the PS2- and there is no guarantee that if they did launch after PS2 that they would have even captured any of the market share… but, who knows.
These things were ahead of their time. They made one fatal mistake: They didn’t have rechargeable batteries that charged when they were plugged into the controller.
Between that, and the unfortunate early death of the Dreamcast, the VMU’s potential was never truly realized.
Alas, our technology has advanced past the point where something like this is useful anymore, so we will never really know what could have been, given time and success.
Maybe someone can take one of these and mod it into a retro portable console.
I remember that when i was playing Resident Evil 3 on the dreamcast, my health was displayed on the VMU, and other games had parts of the HUD in it too instead of just the game logo
[deleted]
For younger folks who might not have been around during this era, these are Sega Visual Memory Units, or “VMU’s.” These are the memory card that the Sega Dreamcast used to store your game saves, but they’re also tiny game consoles too. Some Sega Dreamcast games allowed you to download little “mini games” to your VMU, so you could play on the go before returning to the main title on the Dreamcast.
For example, “Skies of Arcadia” (a FANTASTIC adventure / JRPG game which is long overdue for a remaster or sequel) let you use the VMU to collect gold and XP in a mini game, which would then transfer back to the main game. Super fun!
Another awesome aspect of the VMU is that they can either [slot into the Dreamcast controller](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Sega-Dreamcast-Controller-wVMU-FL.jpg/1024px-Sega-Dreamcast-Controller-wVMU-FL.jpg) (the VMU display will show an icon of whatever Dreamcast game you’re playing), or you can [plug two VMU’s together](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Dreamcast-VMUs-Hooked.jpg/1920px-Dreamcast-VMUs-Hooked.jpg) to swap save-files. Incredibly fun and clever design!
The Virtua Tennis minigame was fun on them. Man Dreamcast was fkn amazing.
i had a dreamcast but not one of these as my saves were on the memory card.
Good memories growing eggs in school for Sonic!
I remember having a FPS game where it showed your gun/remaining ammo info on the VMU display. Honestly Dreamcast was so ahead of its time in so many ways. If it arrived a year or two earlier or PS2 was a year or two later it probably would go down as one of the best if not the best consoles.
One cool VMU feature was with “NFL 2K2” they allowed you to use your VMU to call plays instead of having it displayed on the main screen. It was great for two player because you could be a bit more stealthy about what you’re calling.
The only console accessory that has less battery life than a Steam Deck.
I miss my Chao buddy. I hope he’s doing ok.
I seem to remember it showing my health in resident evil code veronica.
The Chao tamagotchi, endless months of fun I had with that it feels like.. I gotta go Youtube it now
Put it in the controller and play some Bob Marley.
A cute gimmick, but one which made for really expensive and low-capacity memory cards.
I remember playing that Chao mini game on these from Sonic Adventure IIRC
We need more modern games that incorporate this again, good companion apps would be very cool for some RPGs or Survival Games.
PocketStation gang rise up!
God I thought these were the coolest things ever. I used to take mine to school to play with.
These were masterful for football games, because you could call plays while playing friends without having to share the screen.
I had a Dreamcast and I have no idea what this is. Crazy .
One of the greatest uses of the VMU tech that I got to see as a kid was in Sonic Shuffle, a Mario party clone but used a deck of cards instead of dice. It would deal cards to each player and each on their own VMU in their controller could see what cards they had so you can select the number you wanted to use strategically without the others knowing what you had.
Man… I actually kinda miss Memory Cards… And local multiplayer… And having friends to play local multiplayer with…
Dude the sonic adventure chao stuff on the vmus was great.
The dreamcast was also my first “online” console.
I remember downloading some busted OP, probably hacked chao for my chao garden that just blasted through each chao course in like 10 seconds flat.
[removed]
You could call plays on these in NFL 2k5 (edit: 2k1), which was a game changer for playing against your friends. Otherwise they knew something on the screen was coming.
My shit is when 2k first came out on dream cast and it showed the plays you can call. Man shit was ahead of its time. So much fun taking you memory stick around with your playbook stored.
This is a Sega Visual Memory Unit. You cross your eyes to create a 3D image and press the A button on both of them to record that setting. Once you plug both of them in you get sterioscopic 3D on your Sega Dreamcast! Very cool find, OP!
A novel idea that was cool at first, but ultimately having to constantly replace batteries on the VMU was a real pain in the ass. Wouldve been cool if the VMU charged when plugged into the controller rather than using those damn annoying, expensive watch batteries.
They were a great idea, but mine couldn’t keep a battery alive for anything
Still best console ever made.
In my head, the Dreamcast startup jingle includes the shrill wail of a dead VMU battery.
This was absolute ingenuity.
cool little idea but a bloody nightmare with batteries.
Dreamcast was the most advanced console for its generation….I will happily die on this hill.
Not so clumsy or random as an SD card. An elegant accessory, from a more civilized age.
Dreamcast did everything right, aside from use CDs instead of DVDs in the age where DVDs were coming to prominence.
With the delays in production of Dreamcast and the eventual drop of not only the PS2 that could read DVD, but the original Xbox a while after- that Sega’s unique and powerful console was doomed to be stuck using the wrong medium in a time when more advanced graphics made many games required to be multi-disc.
The fact it could never play movies, could never play a sizeable game without a few disc swaps, just doomed it’s prospects.
The hardware was incredible, it was nearly as powerful as the ps2/Xbox in such a tiny form function, with an on-board modem and power supply… I still don’t get how they got that to work in the smallest console by far of the 3, but they did.
If it’s had a DVD player in it, the system would have likely been able to resurrect Sega into a main stage player- but the decision to do so would have meant even more delays in a console they were worried about getting out before the PS2- and there is no guarantee that if they did launch after PS2 that they would have even captured any of the market share… but, who knows.
I miss the matte clear electronics of the late 90s
Sega Saturn and Dreamcast were ahead of their time in a lot of ways.
These things were ahead of their time. They made one fatal mistake: They didn’t have rechargeable batteries that charged when they were plugged into the controller.
Between that, and the unfortunate early death of the Dreamcast, the VMU’s potential was never truly realized.
Alas, our technology has advanced past the point where something like this is useful anymore, so we will never really know what could have been, given time and success.
Maybe someone can take one of these and mod it into a retro portable console.
Couldn’t you play like little basic mini games on these things?
Battery dead in t-minus 5 seconds…
The Dreamcast was too good for this world…
Dreamcast was sooooo ahead of its time, and miss these times when there was no pay to win 😔
Especially for copying over your Seaman data to “cheat” the game hehehe
I remember that when i was playing Resident Evil 3 on the dreamcast, my health was displayed on the VMU, and other games had parts of the HUD in it too instead of just the game logo
The Dreamcast was ahead of its time. The universe did it dirty.