Dreamcast How bad of a purchase would a Dreamcast be in this day and age?

[Haruna_Kamijo]

Emulation is fine for the dreamcast and a lot of the games are available on other systems these days.

Unless you have something really specific in mind like running Seaman I'd suggest playing on an emulator for a while instead.

 

[BigTony]

I bought mine a little over a decade ago for about 50 dollars and satisfied with it. Personally I wouldn't spend more than 100 on one but I have no idea what they are worth. Nice thing about Dreamcast is that you can easily burn games to CDs I would not recommend buying any games for it.

 

[Mr. SyS]

I'd rather get one than a PS6/Helix.

 

[PhaseJump]

Since nobody mentioned it.

Anybody actually buying one needs to consider the board revision if they intend to use a GDEMU.
The 5.20 gdemu clone is the one you want. The cheaper 5.15 models will work but have issues with Skies of Arcadia freezing the intro video until you press start, and there will be a bugged puzzle in RE Code Veronica.

The motherboard needs to be a VA1 version.

You can tell it's likely a VA1 if it's the USA model with a 1 in the circle on the bottom corner. It's a good rule of thumb, but not always the case, people could have swapped shells for less yellowing.

You need to worry about the power supply feeding 12V to the drive and generating heat. Easiest solution to have the whole thing modded up is to replace the power supply completely, drop in the gdemu, properly format and throw in a 512gb sd card to have plenty of space left over for everything.

The VA0 motherboards need extra soldering to the board to distribute power properly, and if you don't know what you're doing, you will roast and kill it with prolonged usage.

 

[tht009]

Last time I checked there was still no good way to emulate the VMU. You can connect a real Dreamcast controller to your PC with a Raphnet adapter, but the VMU won't actually work even though the adapter makes that theoretically possible. Emulator developers seem to be in no rush to fix this. As long as that remains to be the case, a real Dreamcast will be the only authentic-feeling way to play.

 

[dkpopman]

Last time I checked there was still no good way to emulate the VMU. You can connect a real Dreamcast controller to your PC with a Raphnet adapter, but the VMU won't actually work even though the adapter makes that theoretically possible. Emulator developers seem to be in no rush to fix this. As long as that remains to be the case, a real Dreamcast will be the only authentic-feeling way to play.

I've used emulators that display a VMU as a small second window while you play, however I don't know if any emulators let you actually use any of the standalone features it has.

 

[tht009]

I've used emulators that display a VMU as a small second window while you play, however I don't know if any emulators let you actually use any of the standalone features it has.

Same. That's better than no VMU, but I'd really like to see actual VMU compatibility in the future and/or USB reproductions of the Dreamcast controller. I'm kind of picky about using a controller that's exactly the right shape with exactly the right buttons, and one of my least favorite things about Dreamcast emulation is that I have to either use the wrong controller or buy an adapter and a used controller which I haven't done yet but might. Best case scenario, you still have the VMU on your screen instead of your controller. Given the continuing popularity of the Dreamcast I'm kind of surprised that's still the case in 2026.

 

[Haruna_Kamijo]

Most of the time the VMU is just a silly little picture other than a few exceptions like resident evil games.

I think VMU screens are really cool but the cost of a whole dreamcast is a lot to justify for that feature.

You're talking hundreds of dollars for a DC + the stuff it needs vs using your own pc and controllers.

If someone has the disposable money and wants to it's fine but if you're going to pick it up, play it for an afternoon and not touch it again you're kind of throwing away money.

Edit: If you do get a dreamcast be sure to check out dreamcast live to really get the most out of your console.

Dreamcast Live

The best resource for playing online multiplayer Dreamcast games! Connection guide, troubleshooting, leaderboards, downloads, and more! Visit the shop and get your Dreamcast online today with DreamPi!

dreamcastlive.net

 

[Skellerick]

Not bad if the price is right tbh, if you're using on a CRT tv/monitor. Disk drive emulators and PSU replacement are simple enough to do it yourself if you're careful.

 

[Givememyroms420]

I just bought another one.

Dropped in a gdemu, power supply, and I am putting together a noctua fan mount.

I snagged a Dreamcast with a dead CD drive for 40 bucks on eBay last week. Plan on plopping in a GDemu, but is the PSU replacement really necessary? I've heard tons of conflicting stuff about replacing it if you have an NTSC-U model.

 

[Dimcas]

I have a PAL dreamcast and at first I didn't changed the PSU after putting a GDemu in, I did after I noticed that my dreamcast was getting way too hot for my liking so If I was in your place I would do something similar aka just installing the GDemu, play some games for a while like a 1 to 3h gaming session then without turning the console off touching the area right above the power button and if it's too hot (not just warm) for my liking then change the PSU.

 

[DjQuick2008]

games are pricey from what i can see but the thought of owning the system id consider trading my PS5 for it and some decent games.

 

[retrohelix]

Most of the iconic games have been ported and are playable elsewhere nowadays. If you're not into emulation then certainly go for it. If I happened to come onto one for a good deal I'd snag it and an OG copy of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2.

 

[k_rollo]

For those interested, there is a VMU emulator called DreamPotato - https://github.com/RikkiGibson/DreamPotato

It's currently in beta, but the most promising modern attempt. It can connect with Flycast.

 

[Vardalis]

Definitely a worse proposition than it was a decade ago. Then again, if you can get one that can be modded for a reasonable price in good working order, sure. Emulation is probably going to be fine for most of what you want to play besides losing the VMU aspect, but really, the VMU only really had a moderate impact on a handful of games.