To play retro Dreamcast games on your Android, you will need to follow 4 simple steps.Â
- Download the emulator
- Download the ROMS
- Import the ROMS in the emulator
- Start playing
Choosing an emulator is easy, following is the list of popular Dreamcast emulators apps in this article. However, most emulator has a built-in way to download ROMS, to avoid copyright claims from Google Play. Therefore you’ll have to download ROMS separately either by extracting it from your old devices or using third-party sites such as CoolRoms, DopeRoms.
Table of Contents
Best Dreamcast Emulators
1. Reicast
When it comes to Dreamcast emulation, Reicast is one of the most popular and feature-filled applications for Android. As the Reicast developers say, the app is not perfect, it cannot play every Dreamcast game under the Sun. However, it can play most Dreamcast games including the popular ones like Sonic and Resident Evil. What’s more, is that the app is very simple to use. For instance, to play the Dreamcast games, all you have to do place all the game bios files inside the DATA folder in the Reicast folder and you are good to go. The app will automatically recognize the game files and with just a few taps, you can start playing the game straight away. There is no additional setup required.
What’s more is that since you have to manually place the bios files, you can place them anywhere in your phone. i.e. on phone memory or in the external memory. Just make sure the “Reicast > Data” folder structure is maintained and you will be good. On supported games, Reicast can play Dreamcast games in HD. Of course, being an emulator, you save the game progress with just a few taps.
All in all, if you are looking for good Dreamcast emulator then Reicast is the choice. Like I said before, the app is not perfect but it works for a majority of Dreamcast games.
Price: Free and has no ads.
Does the app come with built-in games or bios? No, you should have your own games.
Download Reicast
2. RedDream
RedDream is another highly compatible Dreamcast emulator with great support and user interface. Just like Reicast, RedDream supports High Definition games on supported titles. Though RedDream is like a new kid in the block compared to Reicast, it supports a wide range of Dreamcast games all the while being easy to use. In fact, just like Reicast, you just add the bios files to the game library and the RedDream app will take care of everything for you. You don’t have to configure anything. It just works.
Keep in mind that while Reicast supports Android version 5 and up, most devices are not compatible due to some hardware requirements.
One of the best things about RedDream is that it is not only in active development but if you go to the RedDream website, you will see a compatibility list. This list will contain all the games that are compatible and able to run in RedDream Dreamcast emulator. As of writing this, RedDream is capable of playing over 500 Dreamcast games without any problems whatsoever. So, if you want to know if your favorite game will work with RedDream or not, just take a look at the compatibility list and you will have your information.
Price: RedDream is free and has in-app purchases to unlock some game emulator features like High Definition. The in-app purchase costs you a one-time fee of $5.
Does the app come with built-in games or bios? No, you should have your own games.
Download RedDream
3. VeMUlator
If you are on full nostalgia mode and are looking for much older and awesome games then VeMUlator is for you. In case you are wondering, VeMUlator is a VMU emulator that is mainly designed to play the older Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit games. Being a VMU emulator, you can play almost all the standalone and memory dump mini-games without any problems. This includes common file extensions like bin, vms, and dci. Just keep the files in the “VeMUlator > roms” folder structure and the emulator will detect the playable games automatically.
Keep in mind that the user interface of the app is a bit wonky but you will get used to it pretty quickly. The best thing about VeMUlator is that it has support for Gamepad or controller.
To make the games look pretty, the emulator supports different color schemes. Add to that, as long as the settings are configured properly, the emulator can instantly save your game progress by writing data to the flash files. To get you started, the app also comes with five built-in games like PacMan and Snake.
Price: The base app is free and has ads. For ad-free experience and to unlock save feature, you need to perform in-app purchases.
Does the app come with built-in games? Yes. However, they are specifically designed for this emulator and not the original Dreamcast VMU games.
Download VeMUlator
5. ZXTune
Ok, this is not necessarily an emulator but I couldn’t help myself. ZXTune is a chiptunes player that can play a wide range of music from different devices like Dreamcast, PlayStation, Atari, SNES, Sega, etc. Being a chiptune player, the app supports a wide range of file formats. Add to that, the app can integrate with music catalogs like ZX Spectrum.
To put it simply, if you are into nostalgia and like old school chiptune music then you will enjoy this app.
Price: The app is completely free and has no ads.
Does the app come with built-in games? Not applicable.
Download ZXTune
