Playing GTA III on Sega Dreamcast Feels Like a Missing Piece of Gaming History

High-quality capture gameplay video with additional commentary ^^

Game Title: Grand Theft Auto III (DCA3)
Developer: DMA Design
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Modders: DCA3 Website
Release: Canceled During Development
Platforms: Dreamcast (Canceled), PS2, Xbox, PC, Mobile, and more

I’m collecting, playing, and reviewing every single officially released Sega Dreamcast NA game in order of release, but I thought it would be fun to add in some fan ports and, eventually, indie releases here and there. You can read more about my process and the project as a whole right here.

Grand Theft Auto 3 never released for the Sega Dreamcast, but Grand Theft Auto 2 did. Following that release, Rockstar and DMA Design actually began work on GTA 3 with the intent of targeting the Dreamcast as the primary platform. Development started, but after Sega’s confidence in the console started waning and the commercial viability wasn’t as promising, development shifted to the PlayStation 2 instead.

Then, Sega pulled out of the hardware business and the rest is history.

I don’t think GTA 3 on Dreamcast back in the day would have had as big of a cultural impact as it did if it had released on Dreamcast first and I also don’t think the game would have “saved” the platform. It just never happened.

Truth be told, the Dreamcast was dead before it ever released and its short lifespan had very little to do with the power and technical aspects of the console, or the quality of its library. There are lots of reasons the Dreamcast failed, but the console itself and many of its games were excellent and remain fantastic even to this day.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about this fan port. Using the PC version of GTA 3 as a base, the folks behind the DCA3 project managed to bring the entire game over to Dreamcast and it’s honestly remarkable. The game looks great, plays (mostly) smoothly even in its beta form, and feels like it could have and should have released on the platform all those years ago.

In short, it’s like getting to experience a missing piece of gaming history.

You can follow the instrucitons to create your own CDI file using the PC version of the game as a base which will run on an emulator or on an actual disc if you burn it yourself.

Notably, there just aren’t really any games quite like this on the Dreamcast officially. Shenmue is probably the closest comparison you can make, as it pioneered so much of what eventually became standard open world game design, but the action, freedom, and admittedly sheer violence of GTA 3 definitely would have filled a void for Dreamcast owners. And honestly, I think it would have felt very natural.

Dating back to the Genesis, Sega’s platforms were marketed as the “cool” and “edgy” choice for gamers that wanted to break free of childish stereotypes and level up their gaming. GTA 3 served as that tipping point for the industry as a whole and it would have fit in perfectly on the Dreamcast.

But alas, it just never happened.

The version that I have on disc is not the most updated build of the project, so if you go and build your own CDI file and burn it or play it in an emulator, then you may end up with something more stable than what I have. But even still, the version I’ve got is fully playable from start to finish and really doesn’t have many technical issues at all.

The biggest problem I notice with this version I have is that there is very bad pop-in when driving fast and poor draw distance. You can actually toggle the draw distance in the settings, which is a surprising touch for a console game, but that obviously impacts the framerate. I just leave it on the default setting.

Everything else feels and plays great. Admittedly, I do find myself missing the second analog stick for camera control, as is the case with basically every 3D third-person Dreamcast game, but you get used to it quickly.

Overall, I’m blown away. They did an amazing job on this port and it really feels like an official product.

Now in regards to the case I got. I ordered that from this Shopify account, which produces professional-quality game cases and cover art, as well as reproduction discs, and full-color manuals. What draws me to this store is that they don’t just burn bootleg copies of rare games that are hard to come by, but they create official-looking cases and artwork even for games that were never released.

GTA 3 is just one recent example, but you can order a case, disc, and manual for games like Propeller Arena—a canceled flight combat game that was finished but shelved due to the events of 9/11—and many others. It’s really great stuff.

I don’t know if I’ll ever actually play all the way through GTA 3 on Dreamcast, maybe I will later in my review series once allll of the bugs are worked out. But for now, it looks great on my shelf and feels like I filled a void with a missing piece of game history. That’s totally worth it.

I’m still working on my Blue Stinger review, I want to do the game justice and since I’ve never played it before so I’m trying to give it a fair shake. Work has been busy lately as well! I even returned to Forbes as a contributor, where I’m covering the worlds of retro and MMO gaming, so you can find my stories here if you’d like.

Check out the table here if you want to know what’s coming up on the list of full Dreamcast game reviews and how my collection is coming along. I’m closing in on 80 Dreamcast games soon!

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