Welcome back to part two of The Nomad Junkyard's unrelated Japanese Dreamcast special! Last time we looked at the differences between a Japanese and US Dreamcast, now we're going to have an in depth look at all those little paper inserts that the Japanese love so much.
First up we have the warning guide. What was a minor mention in the US manual is a four page booklet in itself for the Japanese. While you might say it's because they are being more safety conscious, I think they just wanted a reason to draw cute pictures. Every possible scenario of a Dreamcast being abused and broken is played out via a anthropomorphic console. His friends include a sly power cord and a suicidal baby. The Dreamcast's enemies include socks, lightening, pillows, humidifiers and even his friends baby and power cord. OH! And I nearly forgot, the English manuals fail to mention this warning, DO NOT PLACE YOUR DREAMCAST ON AN ELECTRIC BLANKET!!! The more you know, folks.
I'm going to have to claim ignorance on this piece. I do know that the Dream Passport is the Japanese Dreamcast web browser, but I have no clue what yellow hankies and red arrows have to do with it. Supposedly the ultimate outcome is "GET!". And who doesn't love GET!-ting things?
This insert looks to be a trial subscription card for WebTV, an internet service provider that provided similar services akin to SegaNet which then became Earthlink roughly 2 years after SegaNet's launch. Japanese customers are prompted to complete the card and mail it away to receive a webtv launch disc that will allow them to sign up for the service and browse the internet. I particularly like the artwork of the man playing the dreamcast (who looks eerily like me and is oddly not Japanese). The reverse of the card features the BEST drawing I have ever seen of a Dreamcast. If that was on a t-shirt I'd wear it.
This rather unexciting insert describes how to hook your Dreamcast up to a phone line and connect to the internet. I could make a funny remark on the wacky "internet building" on the reverse side, but I won't.
The last two inserts are not too graphically interesting, but if you ever wanted to see what forms for Dreamcast Point Cards and Dreamcast Partners looked like, then marvel at the images below!
Join me in part 3 for a look at the box itself, emblazoned with images of Sega's then Managing Director Hidekazu Yukawa!
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