Emulate Dreamcast Games on your computer with amazing graphics

It may seem like less time, but this week Dreamcast completed 20 years of life, being released in Japan on November 27, 1998. Despite having made relative success, the console was also marked the last video game to be manufactured by Sega, which continued to develop only games.

Still, this does not mean that the video game was bad since until today he missed the great classics, which at the time were unique and brought technologies different from their competitors. Fortunately, reviving some of these classics released for it is not so complicated. So here’s how to play the great Dreamcast classics on your computer:

Important

Before beginning the tutorial, the user should keep in mind that using these emulators themselves is not illegal. However, it is necessary that the BIOS and the games run on these virtual machines are original or have been obtained from original disks owned by the individual. That said, here’s how to run Dreamcast games on your computer:

Getting the emulator

Currently, there are three emulators that can run Dreamcast games efficiently on the computer: Reicast, ReDream, and Demul. For the tutorial, will be used Reicast, since it is completely free and is receiving news frequently.

However, to download it, it is recommended to use Retroarch, a program that brings several emulators to run different video games. In this particular case, it is suggested to use it rather than the main version of Reicast to make settings and adjustments more easily. Here’s how to proceed:

1. Access this link and download Retroarch in the “Installer (64bit)” version;
2. Proceed with the normal installation of the emulator, but when you get to the destination part of the installation, change the folder path to something easier, as suggested in the image below.

Creating folders and placing files in the correct places

Once you have installed the emulator, before you start configuring it, you need to put the necessary emulation files in its folders. Check how to proceed:

1. From the Windows “File Explorer”, enter the folder where the emulator was installed;
2. Then enter the “system” subfolder;
3. Create a folder named “dc”;
4. In it, put the files obtained from your console with the names “dc_boot.bin” and “dc_flash.bin”;
5. Back in the main Retroarch folder, create a folder called “rooms” and put your Dreamcast games in it.
6. By default, it is recommended that Dreamcast games be in one of these formats: CDI, GDI, CHD, or.CUE.

Opening the emulator and making other settings

Now that the essential files for the emulator are already in their proper folders, it is necessary to open Retroarch to continue the process. Please follow these steps:

1. Again, through Windows’s “File Explorer”, go into the “Retroarch” folder and run it. If you prefer, you can also use the shortcut created in your “Desktop”;
2. From the Home screen, enter “Online Updater”;
3. Select the “Core Updater” option;
4. In the list, download “Sega – Dreamcast / NAOMI (Recast). To do this, simply press “Enter”.

At this point, you’re ready to play the Dreamcast games with Retroarch. Still, of course, a good idea is to make some adjustments so that your graphics are upgraded to today’s standards. Here’s how:

1. After you have downloaded Reicast, return to the “Retroarch” start screen by pressing the “delete key”;
2. Select the “Load Content” option;
3. Then navigate to the folder where your game is and select it.

As stated above, now, you should already be watching the game running. However, it is possible to note that the graphs can still be improved. Check out:

1. 1. With the game running, press the “F1” key and enter “Options”;
   2. Under “Internal resolution (restart)”, leave the value “1440×1080” and change the “Widescreen hack (restart)” to “On”. If you have a monitor with more resolution, set the appropriate value for it. For the tutorial, the test was performed in Full HD resolution (1080p);
   3. Press the “delete key” and use the “Close Content” option;
   4. In the “Retroarch” main screen, go to “Configurations” and use the “Save Current Configuration” option;
   5. Finally, just reopen the game.

Now this setting will be loaded as the primary one for the Dreamcast emulator within Retroarch. Whenever you reopen it, games are already loaded correctly with the best graphics.

Controls

As you may have noticed, the issue of setting up the controls within Retroarch has not been addressed. This is because this emulator works differently, already identifying most of the controls automatically.