GBA on DC at all?
- Thread starter toneman77
- Start date
Sadly the dreamcast is probably not fast enough.. yeah yeah it was fast enough to reasonably emulate the PSX, but just look at what kind of PC is required to emulate the GBA at full speed, consider that dreamcast is 200mhz, and draw your own conclusions 
It probably could be done with very advanced techniques like dynamic recompilation but noone skilled enough is interested.
It probably could be done with very advanced techniques like dynamic recompilation but noone skilled enough is interested.
Tagrineth
Dragony thingy
DC probably doesn't have the sprite muscle to do it.
Saturn MIGHT be able to pull it off, though.
PSX has a 33.4MHz 32-bit processor, an external Geometry Transformation Engine (GTE), rasteriser, and APU.
GBA has a 12~16MHz (I've heard both figures) ARM7, with a sprite processor and basic APU.
DC should be able to run the ARM7 with ease, but just like SNES, the sheer sprite work will cripple the poor thing.
It's fun, how Saturn actually kicks DC's ass in a few things ^_^
Saturn MIGHT be able to pull it off, though.
PSX has a 33.4MHz 32-bit processor, an external Geometry Transformation Engine (GTE), rasteriser, and APU.
GBA has a 12~16MHz (I've heard both figures) ARM7, with a sprite processor and basic APU.
DC should be able to run the ARM7 with ease, but just like SNES, the sheer sprite work will cripple the poor thing.
It's fun, how Saturn actually kicks DC's ass in a few things ^_^
Not fast enough, my ass... If it can run a SNES Emu with sound at full speed I'm pretty da*n sure it can run a GBA...Theres currently a GBA in progress but heres a Gameboy Color Emu
http://consolevision.com/dreamcast/emus/gameboy/
http://consolevision.com/dreamcast/emus/gameboy/
cooliscool
Nintendo Zealot
JX030389 said:
Erm, the Snes and GBA are two different systems with different hardware. Just because the Dreamcast is powerful enough for a Snes emu does not mean it is for the GBA. The gba's hardware is about 4x more powerful than the Snes's. What Tagrineth means is that the Dreamcast wasn't really optimized for 2D processing. It's a lot more capable when it comes to 3d. So, the GBA, being a 2D processing beast, would be hard to emulate acceptably on a 3D optimized machine. Just so happens that the Saturn was (and prolly still is) one of the most powerful 2D processing systems ever.. :drool:
The next release of DreamSNES is said to be full speed. More optimizations must've been done.
As for the Saturn, I was also thinking SNES, Genesis, SegaCD and even 32X emulation may be possible. The 32X emulation seems possible as the Saturn already has twin SH2 processors. Are those SH2s clocked above those of the 32X or at the same speed?
As for the Saturn, I was also thinking SNES, Genesis, SegaCD and even 32X emulation may be possible. The 32X emulation seems possible as the Saturn already has twin SH2 processors. Are those SH2s clocked above those of the 32X or at the same speed?
Tagrineth
Dragony thingy
Lillymon said:
I won't believe it until I see it.
If it's true though... it's ABOUT DAMN TIME they learned some real SH4 ASM.
SNES and Genesis would be very painful to emulate on Saturn. SNES especially. I've been checking things out and unfortunately, not as much as I'd hoped can be offloaded to the graphics processors (IIRC, Mode 7 is surprisingly compatible with VDP2 but other than that, can't do a whole lot). Interestingly enough, though, the CPU and sound could very easily be done - sound by the 68k and CPU by one SH2.
A lot of Genesis can be done, though. Genny's main processor is a 68k, and Saturn has a (higher-clocked!) 68k in it - but it isn't quite the same processor, and the 68k is still needed to access the Saturn's sound hardware, so it isn't as simple as one would hope.
And 32X is totally out of the question. The SH2's in 32X are slower than Saturn's, which means you'd need something to control timing (say, the 68k...), but then you have nothing to do graphics or sound, which are both totally different in Saturn.
And SegaCD is also impossible. It has an additional 68k over Genesis (which is already very taxing).
Hexidecimal
Emutalk Bounty Hunter.
It's doubtful that a GBA Emulator would ever run well on a Dreamcast, unless a lot of tricks were used, IE, the SegaGen Sound Trick, (which cripples sound). I've been playing Metroid Fusion on my setup, and for the large eel boss, i had slowdowns, and in the reactor silo when the screen is loaded with roots and those bee like enemies as well. Not horrible ones, but you could see things slow down a bit. (I will beat Metroid Fusion eventuall, Damn SA-X keeps killing me on the way to the 2nd floor after the auxillary power is restored....DAMN YOU SA-X)
Beat it today, what a game. :king:
Beat it today, what a game. :king:
Last edited:
I know that the original question is a year old, but there is a GBA emulator in development for the DC at the moment, and also one that was never released but was fullspeed (this was a year ago, and the author did not want to release it while the GBA is still commercially viable. it is not fake because the author is a very trusted member of the dreamcast community.)
as for frangows' question, no there are not any emulators of the snes or genesis for the saturn, although i think there may be a SMS emulator, i cant recall.
as for frangows' question, no there are not any emulators of the snes or genesis for the saturn, although i think there may be a SMS emulator, i cant recall.