Dreamcast third-party Visual Memory Units

From Sega Retro

The Sega Dreamcast's Visual Memory Units are an interesting peripheral, but as memory cards they have several flaws. The built in-screen made them comparitively more expensive than memory cards found on rival consoles such as the PlayStation, and because of its design, a VMU is limited to about 128kB (1Mb) of storage - 200 "blocks" in Dreamcast terms.

Considering the original PlayStation matched this storage space in 1994, and the PlayStation 2 could offer a whopping 4MB (32 times more memory than a VMU) for less money, it was often considered a wiser idea to go down the third-party route, investing in memory cards which lack the VMU's exclusive features, but are significantly cheaper as a result. There are other reasons for this too - having a memory unit with a screen in the second controller port in a Dreamcast controller is a pointless exercise, as you'll not be able to see it, and cards without screens don't require their own batteries.

Dozens of memory cards were produced for the Dreamcast, usually 128kB (1Mb; 200 blocks), 256kB (2Mb; 400 blocks) or 512kB (4MB; 800 blocks) in size. For cards larger than 128kB there is usually a switch to toggle between blocks of 200. Sega later produced their own Dreamcast 4x Memory Card in response to these ideas but these were not as widely released. The most notable card is the Massive Memory Card Plus which contains 1MB (8Mb; 800 blocks) of save game storage.

This page lists all of the memory cards we know about. It is likely incomplete.

3A Games

Dreamcast, (512kB)
MemoryCard3AGames4Mb DC Box Front Green.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (512kB)

MemoryCard3AGames4Mb DC Box Front Blue.jpg
Card

EMS

Dreamcast, (512kB)
MemoryCardNexus4Mb DC Box Front Green.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (512kB)

MemoryCardNexus4Mb DC Blue.jpg
Card

Innovation

Dreamcast, (512kB)

4Mega.jpg
Card

Intec

Dreamcast, (128kB)
MemoryCardIntec DC Box Front.jpg
Cover

Joytech

Dreamcast, (128kB)
1MbMemory Joytech Black Box Front.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (128kB)
1MbMemory Joytech Blue Box Front.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (512kB)
4MbMemory Joytech Black Box Front.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (512kB)
4MbMemory Joytech Orange Box Front.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (512kB)
4MbMemory Joytech Blue Box Front.jpg
Cover

Mad Catz

Dreamcast, (512kB)
MadCatzMemoryUnitRed Box Front.JPG
Cover
Dreamcast, (512kB)
MadCatzMemoryUnitBlue Box Front.JPG
Cover
Memory MadCatz Blue.jpg
Card
Dreamcast, (512kB)
MadCatzMemoryUnitPurple Box Front.JPG
Cover

Naki

Dreamcast, (256kB)
NakiMemoryCardBlue.jpg
Cover
Dreamcast, (256kB)

MemoryCardNaki DC Orange.jpg
Card

Nyko

Dreamcast, (256kB)
MemoryCardNyko2Mb DC Box Front Blue.jpg
Cover

Performance

Dreamcast, (128kB)
MemoryCardPerformance Box Front.jpg
Cover
MemoryCardPerformance1Mb DC.jpg
Card
Dreamcast, (128kB)

MemoryCardPerformance1Mb DC Alt.jpg
Card
Dreamcast, (128kB)
MemoryCardPerformance1Mb DC Box Front Blue.jpg
Cover
MemoryCardPerformance1Mb DC Blue.jpg
Card
Dreamcast, (512kB)
MegaMemoryCard DC Box Front.jpg
Cover
MegaMemoryCard.jpg
Card
Dreamcast, (512kB)

MegaMemoryCard DC Red.jpg
Card
Dreamcast, (512kB)

MemoryCardPerformance4Mb DC Green.jpg
Card

Skillz

Dreamcast, (256kB)

SkillsX2M.jpg
Card


Sega Dreamcast
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