Sonic Adventure’s Dreamcast online features restored

For those who played Sonic Adventure when it was originally released alongside the Dreamcast back in 1999, we fondly remember battling it out in the game’s World Rankings to gain the best times.

Sonic Adventure was one of the earliest games to implement an online leaderboard feature, thanks to the Dreamcast’s built-in modem. However, that functionality has been lost due to SEGA no longer updating the Sonic Adventure website, where the rankings were hosted.

But thanks to the tireless efforts of the Dreamcast community, Sonic Adventure’s World Rankings features have been restored. “Dr Teamcast” published the announcement on the Dreamcast Talk forums, where he offered instructions on how people can access the new rankings system.

“To use the newly restored world rankings, simply use DreamPi DNS 46.101.91.123 and use the ‘Internet’ option in the Main Menu of Sonic Adventure as normal,” he wrote. “You need a Dreampipe BB account to upload rankings. This is needed for username and e-mail since the SEGA login once saved to flashrom is now defunct. Registration from Sonic Adventure has been tested and working.”

According to some of the users who’ve tested it, it appears to be working well, but there have been a few bugs to squash.

To get your Dreamcast online these days, you’ll probably have to get a DreamPi, which utilizes the Dreamcast’s built-in modem and connects to a wired ethernet port that will give you full compatibility with all Dreamcast online games. You can purchase a DreamPi here.

For more information, be sure to check out the full forum post.