You Can Now Play GTA 3 on the Sega Dreamcast
The Sega Dreamcast port of Grand Theft Auto 3 has been in development for the better part of the past year.
Fun fact: Rockstar North initially planned on releasing Grand Theft Auto 3 for the SEGA Dreamcast, which is easily one of the biggest "What Ifs" in video game history. Some modders weren't content leaving things at that, though.
We can never turn back time and see what would've happened to the SEGA Dreamcast, and SEGA as a company, had Rockstar gone forward with releasing GTA 3 on the Japanese video game company's last video game console. We can, however, at least enjoy the 2001 action-adventure title on the sixth-generation video game console some twenty or so years after it was phased out on the market.
The SEGA Dreamcast port was first teased in July 2024 before it was officially revealed and even got a shoutout from one of the original developers of Grand Theft Auto 3, Obbe Vermeij, the former Technical Director who's gotten real chatty about GTA development facts over on X, formerly Twitter.
After putting in work over the course of the past year, the developers - Forgbull, Falco Girgis, and Stafenos - have released what they're referring to as an Alpha build, which you can access on https://dca3.net/.
Don't let the "Alpha" fool you. The developers did a great job of making GTA 3 playable on the SEGA Dreamcast from start to finish. If you're curious about checking it out yourself, you'll need a PC copy of GTA 3 to create the .CDI image. The developers have also created a useful guide to help you with the process.
According to Vermeij back in September 2024, if the developers can get GTA 3 to run on the SEGA Dreamcast, then a SEGA Dreamcast port of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is within the realm of possibility, with the former Rockstar Games developer describing both as "basically the same game."
