Difference between revisions of "Sega Dreamcast emulators"

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The '''[[wikipedia:Sega Dreamcast|Dreamcast]]''' is a sixth-generation console released by [[wikipedia:Sega|Sega]] on November 27, 1998 in Japan and later on September 9, 1999 in NA. It retailed for {{Inflation|USD|199.99|1999}}.
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The '''[[wikipedia:Sega Dreamcast|Dreamcast]]''' is a sixth-generation console released by [[wikipedia:Sega|SEGA]] on November 27, 1998 in Japan and later on September 9, 1999 in NA. It retailed for {{Inflation|USD|199.99|1999}}.
  
 
More in depth, it had a Hitachi SH-4 RISC CPU at 200 MHz with 16 MB of RAM and 8 MB of VRAM. Additionally, on the graphic side, the console came with a PowerVR2 GPU at 100 MHz, which theoretically was capable of pushing 3 million polygons/second on-screen. The audio system had a 2 MB audio RAM, which complemented a powerful 67 MHz Yamaha AICA sound processor, with a 32-bit ARM7 RISC CPU core. The audio chip could generate 64 voices with PCM or ADPCM codec and provided ten times the performance of the [[Sega Saturn emulators|Saturn's]] sound system.
 
More in depth, it had a Hitachi SH-4 RISC CPU at 200 MHz with 16 MB of RAM and 8 MB of VRAM. Additionally, on the graphic side, the console came with a PowerVR2 GPU at 100 MHz, which theoretically was capable of pushing 3 million polygons/second on-screen. The audio system had a 2 MB audio RAM, which complemented a powerful 67 MHz Yamaha AICA sound processor, with a 32-bit ARM7 RISC CPU core. The audio chip could generate 64 voices with PCM or ADPCM codec and provided ten times the performance of the [[Sega Saturn emulators|Saturn's]] sound system.
  
In the same year of Dreamcast's launch, Sega released the '''[[Sega NAOMI and variants|Naomi]]''', an arcade system board with similar components to the Dreamcast. Sammy's '''[https://segaretro.org/Atomiswave Atomiswave]''' arcade board was also based on the Dreamcast and Naomi.
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Also, Microsoft collaborated on the Dreamcast's development, and this partnership would continue later with the [[Xbox emulators|Xbox]]. What came out of this was the possibility for games to be developed for an optimized version of '''Windows CE''' (with DirectX) on each disc. However, Windows CE wasn't mandatory to use, and most developers opted for SEGA's development tools instead out of convenience. Even in major emulators, this aspect isn't implemented well.
  
Also, it collaborated with Microsoft on the Dreamcast's development, and this partnership would continue later with the [[Xbox emulators|Xbox]]. What came out of this was the possibility for games to be developed for an optimized version of '''Windows CE''' (with DirectX) on each disc. However, Windows CE wasn't mandatory to use, and most developers opted for Sega's development tools instead out of convenience. Even in major emulators, this aspect isn't implemented well.
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In the same year of Dreamcast's launch, SEGA released the '''[[Sega NAOMI and variants|NAOMI]]''', an arcade system board with similar components to the Dreamcast. Sammy's '''[https://segaretro.org/Atomiswave Atomiswave]''' arcade board was also based on the Dreamcast and NAOMI.
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A few years later, a successor of the NAOMI board was released in 2001, called [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_NAOMI_2 Sega NAOMI 2]. It was a bit more powerful than it's predecessor, including one more Hitachi SH-4 CPU and another PowerVR 2 GPU.
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Only 13 titles were released for this board, although most emulators of nowadays have problems running them, except from Flycast and its forks.
  
 
==Emulators==
 
==Emulators==
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| [http://flycast.dojo.ooo/ Flycast Dojo]
 
| [http://flycast.dojo.ooo/ Flycast Dojo]
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| align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Fightcade}}
 
| [https://github.com/blueminder/flycast-dojo/releases git]
 
| [https://github.com/blueminder/flycast-dojo/releases git]
 
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Revision as of 22:33, 19 April 2022

Sega Dreamcast
DreamcastConsole.png
Developer Sega
Type Home video game console
Generation Sixth generation
Release date 1998
Discontinued 2001
Predecessor Sega Saturn
Emulated

The Dreamcast is a sixth-generation console released by SEGA on November 27, 1998 in Japan and later on September 9, 1999 in NA. It retailed for $199.99.

More in depth, it had a Hitachi SH-4 RISC CPU at 200 MHz with 16 MB of RAM and 8 MB of VRAM. Additionally, on the graphic side, the console came with a PowerVR2 GPU at 100 MHz, which theoretically was capable of pushing 3 million polygons/second on-screen. The audio system had a 2 MB audio RAM, which complemented a powerful 67 MHz Yamaha AICA sound processor, with a 32-bit ARM7 RISC CPU core. The audio chip could generate 64 voices with PCM or ADPCM codec and provided ten times the performance of the Saturn's sound system.

Also, Microsoft collaborated on the Dreamcast's development, and this partnership would continue later with the Xbox. What came out of this was the possibility for games to be developed for an optimized version of Windows CE (with DirectX) on each disc. However, Windows CE wasn't mandatory to use, and most developers opted for SEGA's development tools instead out of convenience. Even in major emulators, this aspect isn't implemented well.

In the same year of Dreamcast's launch, SEGA released the NAOMI, an arcade system board with similar components to the Dreamcast. Sammy's Atomiswave arcade board was also based on the Dreamcast and NAOMI.

A few years later, a successor of the NAOMI board was released in 2001, called Sega NAOMI 2. It was a bit more powerful than it's predecessor, including one more Hitachi SH-4 CPU and another PowerVR 2 GPU.

Only 13 titles were released for this board, although most emulators of nowadays have problems running them, except from Flycast and its forks.

Emulators

Name Platform(s) Latest Version Libretro Core Naomi Atomiswave Windows CE FLOSS Active Recommended
PC / x86
Flycast Windows Linux macOS CI Builds
nightly (Flathub)
Flycast Dojo Windows Linux macOS git
redream Windows Linux macOS 1.5.0 (Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi)
1.2.07 (Android)
DEmul Windows 0.7 Build 280418
reicast Windows Linux r20.04
nullDC Windows 1.0.4 r150 ~
WashingtonDC Linux git ~
Chankast Windows 0.25
Lxdream Linux macOS 0.9.1
Makaron Windows T12/5 ~
MAME Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD 0.264 ~ ~
Mobile / ARM
Flycast Android iOS CI Builds ~ ~
redream Android Linux ARM 1.1.98 (Google Play)
1.5.0 (Raspberry Pi)
reicast Android Dragonbox Pyra r20.04 (Google Play)
Pyra Build
Console
Flycast Switch Xbox One CI Builds
nullDC PSP PSP git 1.2.1 ~
nulldc-360 Xbox 360 git ~ ~

Comparisons

nullDC
Can run a lot of games at great speed on mid-end PC and it's open-source, however, it's no longer developed and the more recent forks have improved upon it.
reicast
Eventually, nullDC's author forked his own project into reicast, with the main objective to widen platform availability to smartphones and tablets. While wider availability is generally a good thing, this resulted in cutting accuracy corners from the nullDC codebase to achieve the speed goals necessary to run on these platforms. Advancements in mobile hardware should have led to the removal of such "hacks"; however lack of developer resources and interest led to long delays in Reicast development, and the codebase remained virtually untouched for years before the RetroArch team began working with it as part of a "Reicast core", later named Flycast.
Flycast
Fork of reicast available as a standalone emulator and as a libretro core. Libretro collaborators, primarily flyinghead, dramatically improved Reicast in areas such as graphics, input, system clock, and Dreamcast VMU. Atomiswave and NAOMI SH-4-based arcade systems have also been added to great fanfare[1], along with support for MAME's popular CHD format. Even full MMU support, which is needed to run WinCE-based games such as "Armada", "Half-Life" and "SEGA Rally Championship 2", has recently been tackled through an experimental branch (anyone following Dreamcast emulation over the years understands what a tough nut this is to crack). Aside from some audio stuttering issues in games such as "Looney Toons Space Race" and "Resident Evil: Code Veronica", this is a highly compatible and accurate emulator.
Flycast Dojo
Fork of Flycast with a focus on netplay features and replay. Also, available on the Fightcade matchmaking service.
redream
Multi-platform and easy to use, but it's closed-source. Compatible with +90% of the Dreamcast library, has a good user interface, is easy to set up, and can run without a BIOS. Runs on low-end machines provided that they support OpenGL 3.1. There's a payware premium version that provides high-definition rendering and additional slots for save states.
DEmul
Has the highest compatibility and accuracy, but it's Windows-only and closed-source. It supports Windows CE games, but in general, they run worse than standard Dreamcast titles. It's also more resource-intensive than other emulators.
Makaron
A closed-source Dreamcast emulator that can properly play Windows CE games.

Emulation issues

For the emulators that are either mature or maturing, a very large percentage of games work well, but some games still have problems and glitches.

VMU emulators

While some Dreamcast emulators can leverage the screen of the VMU while the game is running, none of them allow you to play the minigames developed for it. See the main page on VMU emulation here.

Downloads

References

Dreamcast logo.png
Consoles: SG-1000Master SystemGenesis / Mega DriveCD32XPicoSaturnDreamcast
Handhelds: Game GearVMU / VMS
Arcade: System seriesModel 1Model 2Model 3NAOMI