Dreamcast Controller & VMUs

[TeamXlink]

What colors of Dreamcast controllers and VMU's are the ones to watch out for?

Are the green transparent controllers/vmus worth more?

[Macabre]

The yellow set is the hardest to locate in the US. Next people claim that the red controller would be 2nd hardest, but honestly its not very rare when you see that many up for grabs.

Idk very much about pal controllers.

Japanese controllers are a very different story. As I pictured in my post about plugs, those all came from japanese controllers. They have both the color variation, and also a millennium edition. Some of the matching colors from both runs don't even match (their green is the same as ours, but their millennium green is more lime iirc). Their millennium run also includes more exotic colors (pink for example, being a common unpopular one that is easy to find). I have yet to see a japanese released red or yellow controller, but (obviously) i'm searching high & low for those two plugs. (do be careful, as its common for people to sell boxed "pink" ones as a japanese "red" one, it helps to understand a little kanji as the lower right of the box blatantly states what the color of the controller is).

I'm not even sure what the rarest controller the japanese have produced.




Other than the color runs, you can also keep your eyes out for people selling the sega direct point return controllers (wood grain, carbon black, ect). These were colored controllers sold by their website from the points you collected from buying dreamcast merchandise. These also usually had a matching vmu (sold separately), and is also the only way that the rare "color run" dreamcast systems were sold (like my "all black" system, or the silver+black system that keeps resurfacing on ebay).

Imo those controllers are hardly desirable, as most of their paintjobs seem to be rather ugly, or entirely dependent on the actual type of look your game room has (who wants a leopard print controller...?) They usually sell for around $50, and the vmu's around $40. Worth picking up only to resell if you find one very cheap.

[AdamKoralik]

Possibly some of these videos I did will help you:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P8zj15E9b0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QELe4jlyHE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og0Swp8D5PM[/youtube]

[TeamXlink]

Alright, well in terms of rarity and price for North American Controllers and VMUS What would be the order?

North American Controllers
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Yellow Controller
Red Controller
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Standard White Controller


North American VMU
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Yellow VMU
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Standard VMU

[Macabre]

Idk if I'm any help when it comes to pricing. When it comes to sega stuff, that I actually want, a reasonable price will still sell it to me.

Take for example bayonetta collecting crap. I was initially unhappy with the game, but after a few months (after i sold my pre-order & repurchased the $20 new copy from walmart), I'm finding myself very fond of the game (with the music turned off...), and have thus started collecting official crap related to it...including the English written pal hardcover strategy guide. I picked up a factory sealed copy for... Lets just say more than $100, less than $200. Go look on ebay how much that thing is worth to some people.



I was willing to pay a certain amount for a yellow controller and yellow vmu for my colored controller collection. I was also willing to pay a certain amount for my black keyboard, black bba, black vga, & dc link cable. I paid far to much for each of those things, as I got what was available at the time.


I can honestly say, that occasionally, yellow controllers & vmu's come on ebay and usually sell for ~$30ish each. It really depends on the likelihood of it being posted, and your wallet + desire to own said object.

Anything past the yellow, and contriversally the red, to me, would theoretically have the same value, minus the original.

Why you can't take any of my current advice; I already have a yellow vmu, and don't value any I see for sale past the fact that its just another memory card.



OH! I forgot, there is also the sega sports (black) controller released per system. It is reasonably rare only due to the # of released systems, and the fact that it is (generally) tied to that system. Finding the controller sold on its own is fun for scrapping it for black parts, but with that logo on its cover...yuck. I would price it just below the yellow controller (usually $10ish).


There's also the point that most of the best deals when pricing hardware is that you will save big in buying someones dreamcast lot.

[nnorton44]

There is an all clear Japan controller?

[dark]

I'll also warn you guys in case it matters as a collecting thing - in the Japanese market there were bootleg 3rd party produced controllers which have the exact same mold as the sega controller, and which come in some different colors. You can tell it apart as on the top it doesn't have the DC logo/swirl, instead that area is blank (but has an indent for the logo to go). The box also looks like the official sega controller box for Japan with the same fonts and stuff, only it says in a few places "Dreamcast compatible controller" instead of "Dreamcast controller". I don't know how many colors these came in, and if the colors vary slightly from the sega colors, but I have a transparent pink one at any rate

[Neohound]

I'll also warn you guys in case it matters as a collecting thing - in the Japanese market there were bootleg 3rd party produced controllers which have the exact same mold as the sega controller, and which come in some different colors. You can tell it apart as on the top it doesn't have the DC logo/swirl, instead that area is blank (but has an indent for the logo to go). The box also looks like the official sega controller box for Japan with the same fonts and stuff, only it says in a few places "Dreamcast compatible controller" instead of "Dreamcast controller". I don't know how many colors these came in, and if the colors vary slightly from the sega colors, but I have a transparent pink one at any rate

Some years ago I bought three supposedly official black smoked controllers and they were all useless. The plastic used was very poor|(as was the build quality)and the triggers in particular didn't have the same smoothness as I was used to. I cut my losses and flogged them as spares on ebay for a £5 lot !! I never got to know whether they were from a bad batch of officially made controllers or simply fake ones.

[Titanren12]

I'll also warn you guys in case it matters as a collecting thing - in the Japanese market there were bootleg 3rd party produced controllers which have the exact same mold as the sega controller, and which come in some different colors. You can tell it apart as on the top it doesn't have the DC logo/swirl, instead that area is blank (but has an indent for the logo to go). The box also looks like the official sega controller box for Japan with the same fonts and stuff, only it says in a few places "Dreamcast compatible controller" instead of "Dreamcast controller". I don't know how many colors these came in, and if the colors vary slightly from the sega colors, but I have a transparent pink one at any rate

I actually recently came up on a "clear" controller, not knowing if it was the official Japanese version or a 3rd party bootleg version. As I suspected, based on a pretty accurate description from above. This pretty much fits the bill.

In case anyone wonders what this looks like. Thanks for the clarification.