If there’s one console that deserved a better fate than it got, that console is the Sega Dreamcast. When you look closely at its game library, it’s hard to accept that it bit the dust. Fortunately, the magic of emulators can bring it back, and Reicast is one of the newest, compatible with Android.
One of the best experiences I’ve had in front of a console was playing (and finishing) Resident Evil 2 on a Sega Dreamcast. The console wasn’t mine, but at that time I would have bought one if possible. The West welcomed the Dreamcast with open arms, although its poor sales performance in Japan, combined with Sega’s delicate financial situation and some internal politics, established its early retirement. It lasted less than three years (if we take into account the Japanese launch), yet the Dreamcast remains alive in different ways.
The homebrew community remains strong, and several independent games saw the light after its market exit. And of course, there are also emulators. One of the most popular DC emulators for Windows is Redream, whose latest update is from these last few days. But if you’re looking for one for your Android phone, Reicast is the solution: an emulator from the makers of the already-discontinued nullDC, which works quite well.
The emulator is available on the Play Store, although a warning is necessary: it has specific requirements, such as a dual-core Cortex-A9 SoC at 1 GHz or higher if you want decent speed; an Adreno, Tegra K1, or Mali400 GPU; a copy of the Dreamcast BIOS, which requires a bit of dirty work to put on the device’s memory card; and at least 512MB of RAM.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kATcWC4In2AThe configuration has its tricks, as you can see in the video above, but once you get everything running, who can wipe the smile off your face? Reicast has been in development for several years and has received good feedback on the Google store, although given the complexity of its configuration, there’s always someone who blames the developers rather than taking responsibility for their own incompetence.
More Emulators for Android
Want more emulators for Android? DamonPS2 PRO is a PlayStation 2 emulator, MAME4DROID runs all MAME games, and MagicDOSBOX emulates DOS to run any game from the golden age. Have fun!
