Issue with Dreamcast and Skies of Arcadia

So I just got a Dreamcast (used) to play a couple of old games. I tried today to boot up Skies of Arcadia. The Dreamcast wouldn't boot from the first disc (stuck at black screen before title screen), but if I boot from the second disk, press to start a new game, then insert the first disk when it tells me to, it works fine. I also tried booting another game, which boots no problem.

Trying to figure out if this is an issue with the Dreamcast or the game. Anyone have any insights? Thanks!

Hm - could be smudges or scratches on the disc 1 preventing the boot from loading correctly. A pretty small scuff or smudge could cause a problem, in theory. The DC laser might be getting weak, too, which could cause disc read errors.

Thanks. Going to see if I can find another DC to test it on. If it is a problem with the DC laser, anything can be done or do I just have to get another one?

You can actually replace the lasers on these things pretty cheap. I am not sure about DC but I know on ps2 you can also adjust the laser distance which can compensate for its laser weakening. So there's hope if you discover it's your system

That's good to know. I tried Arcadia on a different Dreamcast and got the same problem, so I'm guessing it's a disk issue. Probably just going to see if I can get a new disk 1, if not I'll just keep going with the current work-around.

Cool - it's not a burned copy, is it? Because then it could just be the poor quality of the burn

No, not a burned copy, rather a copy I bought used (can't really return it since I waited a bit before actually playing it, my mistake I guess)

ugh, I bought a sack (literally) of DC games once from some dude - I was so excited by my "score", but half of them wouldn't read because of disc errors. They were visibly scratched, though

That sucks. At least some of them worked....