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How to download Atari 800/c64 emulators and play them on a Dreamcast?


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I have enjoyed seeing all of the amazing games for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family. I can't find any that work properly because unless you have the equipment to test fuses and stuff, you are screwed. Since I can't seem to get my hands on a home computer that works properly, I pretty much gave up and decided to look for an emulator. After watching LGR's review of the C64, One shot showed him playing C64 on a Sega Dreamcast. Can anyone give me a tutorial or something to get Atari 800/c64 emulators on a disc and play them on a Dreamcast? Thanks.

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Computer people are throwing away these days will play these games on an emulator. Look in a craigslist under free or even solicit an interest for a free system for projects. I'm sure you'll find a PC. In fact, someone one here might have one sitting in their garage that they would give to you. In fact, you could even pick up a Raspberry Pi 3 and play them on that and you should be able to get everything for < $50 for sure.

 

As far as running an emulator on a Dreamcast, I just did a quick Google search and did find one for the C64 but not one for the Atari. Since the PC's are usually where these emulators get created first, again, I think you'll be better off getting your hands on an old PC instead of modding a system that was never really meant for stuff like this.

Of course, if you're set of an emulator for the Dreamcast, there are plenty for smart and dedicated retro folks here so one of them might be able to help.

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Well, it's been over a decade since I've played with my Dreamcast.We used to use two programs mostly, Padus Discjuggler, and Nero, to burn Dreamcast games. I made an Atari800dc disc for myself years ago, and if you can manage to get a Discjuggler image burned onto a CD, you can try mine. It's pretty big, so I won't try and attach it here. There were even 'cdi2nero' converters, Nero was easier to get, you often got a copy when you bought a CD writer for instance.

 

http://kaito.crons.us/Atari800-dc.cdi

 

I tested that image in a Dreamcast PC emulator, and it boots to the Atari self test. Which reminded me, you need a Dreamcast keyboard to do anything, like get into the emulator menu to select disk images, or run binaries directly.

 

As far as rolling your own, there is a README on the cd, It tells you to set up the Atari800 config file. But then you have to produce an a Dreamcast image with the emulator and all your Atari files, and I think we used to use a program name dir2boot for that.

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Never ran the emulators on the DC but I have a selection on the Xbox and the real problem is that most of these emulators have long since stopped being updated so the emulation quality is ok but lack the needed fixes that newer PC driven emulators have, also as Charlie mentioned above, you need extra hardware to use them easily, virtual on screen keyboards are ok but are bloody awkward and if your flavour of games are text adventures then you will hate the DC in no time if forced to use a virtual keyboard and game pad to input the text.

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I found an old site on the wayback machine, turns out you may be able to use the emulator without a keyboard.

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20050404170103/http://httpd.chello.nl/~m.schuitemaker/atari/

 

 

 

 

 

Starting Atari 800/130/320 games and programs

 

Once it started up, you will see the Self Test screen from the Atari 800. Just press the left trigger to enter the actual emulator.

To load up an Atari 800/130/320 game or program do the following:

  • Select "Disk Management" and press A
  • Press A again
  • You see all your disk images, choose the one you want to play and pres A
  • The game is now loaded as Disk 1
  • Press the right trigger
  • Select "Select System" and press A
  • Select the system the game or program is made for, choosing for the Atari 320XE usually with all games/programs
  • Select "Reboot (Cold Start)" and press A , this will load the game and unloads any game that was in the virtual drive
  • To exit a game press the left trigger
  • To select another game, just follow these steps again.
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I did test out an Atari 800 emulator running off the Dreamcast back in the day when they were new. And I was pretty impressed with the emulation of Hawkquest running on it. I connected a PC keyboard and that ran fine - all running off a CD with emulator and game(s) on it. While Hawkquest ran fine - you could not play far into this game - as it did loads/saves from disk -

which you can't do on Dreamcast - to continue far into the game.

You do have all kinds of choices these days - and I don't think Dreamcast is great for emulators - unless you like buying a lot of blank CDs to do it with?

 

You can get the Intel PC on a Stick - I do have one and Altirra works fine with it - though I do not use it enough. You do need the multi-USB hub though - and this is a good option if you have a wired USB keyboard/mouse (or wireless?) to use with it. Just use USB flashdrives - which are cheap these days.

 

Or maybe go for a Nvidia K1 Shield Tablet? While it's a cheap (but powerful) tablet - it's ideal to run emulators (and their ROMs/etc) on this. You do need the extras which will cost extra as such. OTG cable will connect a keyboard/controller. This will accept microSD cards up to 128 gig (Transfers to MicroSD is done on a PC, so you manually take it out of the tablet - to plug it to the PC - and after transfer - you then insert it on to the Tablet)

- and all the various emulators do run fine on this. I don't know what the latest emulated systems it can handle well? It handles PSP, PS without problems. Don't know about the Saturn, Dreamcast? Gamecube? I haven't run every emulator - but I'll guess N64 should be fine?

The Altirra emulator does not run on this - but it's Android equivalent is not too bad? I'm still trying this out.

Mame runs fine - but I can't seem to get it working off the microSD card - and putting all the Mame ROMs on the internal memory - simply does not give you room for the other stuff you'd rather have there. I think it might run alright from the microSD card? But getting it to point towards it - is very confusing indeed - and is very tiresome to go through the menu options to try getting it to go. Even getting it to work from the internal memory - was no easy task. You can of course delete all the ROMs of games you'll never run in Mame - but you always run the risk of accidentally messing with games you like running - because of how the parent ROM(s) may not be so obvious as to which game(s) they are for?

I don't know if there is a list somewhere which shows the parent ROMs for the all time classic coin-op games in Mame? Such a list will enable me to delete easily all those ROMs I won't ever run anyway - but take up so much internal memory space.

Edited by kiwilove
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I did test out an Atari 800 emulator running off the Dreamcast back in the day when they were new. And I was pretty impressed with the emulation of Hawkquest running on it. I connected a PC keyboard and that ran fine - all running off a CD with emulator and game(s) on it. While Hawkquest ran fine - you could not play far into this game - as it did loads/saves from disk -

which you can't do on Dreamcast - to continue far into the game.

You do have all kinds of choices these days - and I don't think Dreamcast is great for emulators - unless you like buying a lot of blank CDs to do it with?

 

You can get the Intel PC on a Stick - I do have one and Altirra works fine with it - though I do not use it enough. You do need the multi-USB hub though - and this is a good option if you have a wired USB keyboard/mouse (or wireless?) to use with it. Just use USB flashdrives - which are cheap these days.

 

Or maybe go for a Nvidia K1 Shield Tablet? While it's a cheap (but powerful) tablet - it's ideal to run emulators (and their ROMs/etc) on this. You do need the extras which will cost extra as such. OTG cable will connect a keyboard/controller. This will accept microSD cards up to 128 gig (Transfers to MicroSD is done on a PC, so you manually take it out of the tablet - to plug it to the PC - and after transfer - you then insert it on to the Tablet)

- and all the various emulators do run fine on this. I don't know what the latest emulated systems it can handle well? It handles PSP, PS without problems. Don't know about the Saturn, Dreamcast? Gamecube? I haven't run every emulator - but I'll guess N64 should be fine?

The Altirra emulator does not run on this - but it's Android equivalent is not too bad? I'm still trying this out.

Mame runs fine - but I can't seem to get it working off the microSD card - and putting all the Mame ROMs on the internal memory - simply does not give you room for the other stuff you'd rather have there. I think it might run alright from the microSD card? But getting it to point towards it - is very confusing indeed - and is very tiresome to go through the menu options to try getting it to go. Even getting it to work from the internal memory - was no easy task. You can of course delete all the ROMs of games you'll never run in Mame - but you always run the risk of accidentally messing with games you like running - because of how the parent ROM(s) may not be so obvious as to which game(s) they are for?

I don't know if there is a list somewhere which shows the parent ROMs for the all time classic coin-op games in Mame? Such a list will enable me to delete easily all those ROMs I won't ever run anyway - but take up so much internal memory space.

Would a ps2 be good for Atari 8-bit/C64 emulators?

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Would a ps2 be good for Atari 8-bit/C64 emulators?

 

While I did buy a PS2 when they were on the market - I never got around to buying any games for it (or have it mod-chipped). I actually stopped playing the latest videogames at this time and turned into a collector of emulators and their ROMs/etc. I sold off the new PS2 - without even switching it on.

I lost all interest In the PS2 and never followed up on that scene. While I did test out the Dreamcast - and got various emulators running on it - it was for a friend - who probably didn't play them.

 

You can probably pick up a used PC (more convenient if you went for a laptop) that is around 5 to 10 years old - at a cheap price and they can run 8-bit and 16-bit emulators without any problems at their full speed (normal speed). Altirra is a superb Atari emulator that runs only on PCs - and anyone who's a fan of coin-ops - will get hold of Mame. You can play the best of both worlds - the home computers of their time have had their brilliant home produced games produced by hobbyists as such - the best of them turned into professional game developers.

And it's actually quite nice to see the development of videogame design - most games tend to be copies of some other game - probably added with something new (if they chose to do so) and there are those which seem to be completely original and very different - which you don't see as much of in coin-op games.

 

You can see at the current pricing for laptop PCs these days - that they are affordable - those without dedicated graphic chips - versus the expensive ones.

People are always upgrading their PC hardware - such that the second hand / used market can't price too high.

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While I did buy a PS2 when they were on the market - I never got around to buying any games for it (or have it mod-chipped). I actually stopped playing the latest videogames at this time and turned into a collector of emulators and their ROMs/etc. I sold off the new PS2 - without even switching it on.

I lost all interest In the PS2 and never followed up on that scene. While I did test out the Dreamcast - and got various emulators running on it - it was for a friend - who probably didn't play them.

 

You can probably pick up a used PC (more convenient if you went for a laptop) that is around 5 to 10 years old - at a cheap price and they can run 8-bit and 16-bit emulators without any problems at their full speed (normal speed). Altirra is a superb Atari emulator that runs only on PCs - and anyone who's a fan of coin-ops - will get hold of Mame. You can play the best of both worlds - the home computers of their time have had their brilliant home produced games produced by hobbyists as such - the best of them turned into professional game developers.

And it's actually quite nice to see the development of videogame design - most games tend to be copies of some other game - probably added with something new (if they chose to do so) and there are those which seem to be completely original and very different - which you don't see as much of in coin-op games.

 

You can see at the current pricing for laptop PCs these days - that they are affordable - those without dedicated graphic chips - versus the expensive ones.

People are always upgrading their PC hardware - such that the second hand / used market can't price too high.

Thanks! :D Works great! You know of any good C64 emulators? Also, what is a good PC controller for these emulators?

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Thanks! :D Works great! You know of any good C64 emulators? Also, what is a good PC controller for these emulators?

 

One of the other guys here can better answer this query - as I haven't run a C64 emulator for a long time now - been too busy with other things to do.

Just say what hardware you are currently using... Usually the most popular emulator tends to be the better one - so if you got a choice of more than one - you should know which one to try first.

I did purchase one of those SNES controllers with a USB plug - but it's not my favourite controller because it feels too soft and mushy (cheap in build quality). I would still like one of this type but with a better build quality/feel to it.

 

I think any PC in the 10-20? year range can run 8-bit emulation of any hardware at their normal speed. Especially if it's a medium-to high end PC of that era. Same with the early coin-ops for Mame - that the early to mid? 80s games should run fine. My all time favourite is Shanghai - while not an action game - it's a pleasant way to pass the time away.

 

Harvey

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One of the other guys here can better answer this query - as I haven't run a C64 emulator for a long time now - been too busy with other things to do.

Just say what hardware you are currently using... Usually the most popular emulator tends to be the better one - so if you got a choice of more than one - you should know which one to try first.

I did purchase one of those SNES controllers with a USB plug - but it's not my favourite controller because it feels too soft and mushy (cheap in build quality). I would still like one of this type but with a better build quality/feel to it.

 

I think any PC in the 10-20? year range can run 8-bit emulation of any hardware at their normal speed. Especially if it's a medium-to high end PC of that era. Same with the early coin-ops for Mame - that the early to mid? 80s games should run fine. My all time favourite is Shanghai - while not an action game - it's a pleasant way to pass the time away.

 

Harvey

One more question for ya. I've noticed that some of the games I was testing (Berzerk, Q*bert, Missile Command, etc.) did not respond. (I'm using the keyboard {for now} and can't find out which key you use to start the game.) The arrow keys and Ctrl buttons all work.

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One more question for ya. I've noticed that some of the games I was testing (Berzerk, Q*bert, Missile Command, etc.) did not respond. (I'm using the keyboard {for now} and can't find out which key you use to start the game.) The arrow keys and Ctrl buttons all work.

 

The Atari 400/800/etc hardware had the Start, Option, Select, Reset as console buttons - most? Atari emulators will map these to the (F)unction keys - so if using the Atari 800 emulator on Dreamcast - maybe you do need the keyboard plugged in? And try the Function keys there F1 to F4? One of these is for START - F1?

Some games do require the START key pressed - and game options are accessed via Option/Select. Like in Blue Max - you need to go to the options screen, and choose Reverse Control, if you want to pull up for take off/climb. Otherwise the default for this game - is the otherwise way round, which is not 'natural'.

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