Emulation of Dreamcast was made possible in 2004 by the Chankast emulator, which could run many commercial games with only 2GHz processor which is quite an accomplishment compared to the ps2 or gamecube emulation which needs at least dual core on 3GHz. Since then, not much has changed on the Dreamcast scene, we have more emulators, more plugins, but nothing so radical.
Resident Evil : Code Veronica was the first game in the series made for sixth generation of consoles, meaning that everything was in 3D and it could be played as a FPS. It made its debut on the Dreamcast, followed by PS2 and finally to be ported to NGC, never making it to the PC. NGC emulation of the game has way to many glitches and isn’t fully playable, while ps2 emulation need way too much of the raw cpu power, making the Dreamcast emulation the first choice.
Requirements:
Cpu: 2 GHz+
Game image: in order for the game to be playable either on the emulator or the real Dreamcast, game has to be self-bootable, meaning if you boot the game and get the audio player menu, you have to modify the image with tools as FastBoot. Demul emulator is an exception for this (unconfirmed). When switching the CD in the middle of the game, use save game to switch between them. Get it here (nullDC emu and bios included).
Dreamcast BIOS: Google it up.
Emulator choice (see bottom for download links):
Chankast (alpha 0.25) fully playable disc one, haven’t tested the second disc.
demul (v0.5.4 WIP) has glitches everywhere, but changing into the full-screen is painless compared to the other two.
nullDC (1.0.3) has Chankast’s plugins so it could be considered the updated version of the old Chakast, comes in two notable versions: nullDC 1.0.0 b1.6 and nullDC 1.0.3. While the older beta version comes with game pad support , it has in-game bugs preventing player to beat the game (tiger statue). The 1.0.3 version doesn’t have the game pad support so alternatives like JoyToKey have to be used instead. Also, it’s the version used to make this review.
Let’s go to the emulator settings in detail:
Note: Elsemi AICA audio plugin is rather good, but it hangs in certain parts of the game, muting the sfx.
As for graphics, set everything to the max and you are ready to go (anti-aliasing is set by directly modifying the .cfg file Enhancements.MultiSampleCount=2 for an example)
The game:
Yeah, but it’s a way too dark! And no gamma slider built-in, meaning every time you have to manually adjust gamma to be able to see anything in the game. don’t buy a monitor with bad contrast ratio.
Emulator also features many lightning glitches
Grave glitch
Lightning Show
Most notable bug of is the messed up screen involving golden luggers, and later the submarine passage. Chankast and nullDC don’t have framebuffer support so instead of the blurred screen, you’ll get something like this:
Golden Lugers room
Submarine passage is easily overcome by simply navigating through it with the map screen
The main problem of the game is the targeting. I am unable to verify that this is actually a bug or not, but knife is rendered quite useless in this way, and the auto-targeting system usually shoots the enemies in bizarre angles (ricochet?!), while targeting them manually has no effect whatsoever.
Targeting behind your back with ricochet always works in the graveyard (?!)
The only place with framedrop; in fact , it was huge, like watching a slide show.
What causes this particular slowdown only at this one place?
Places of interest:
The point is to lure the trap into falling down, then run into the middle (the circle) place the crystal, wait until it's cracked , then run and pick up the security card. After picking it up, the trap stops falling. First time I actually died is here...
the whole plot in a nutshell
recycled from resident evil 2
:3
No rack...?
Place with 3 super zombies. They can’t die. Each time they respawn... stay dead dammit!
Will be recycled in resident evil 4...
pyjama party gone wrong.
-70°C and they are without frostburns. Lovely.
Eyes of the tiger =3
Too bad you can't actually control the aircraft...
Hint: run away. This one is unstoppable.
If you collect and keep 666 bullets, your firepower will go up three times! (lie)
Read RE:CV Comic for the recap of the whole story; it's quite good regardless of some blatant errors...
Interesting Links:
Let’s Play Resident Evil Code: Veronica X complete walkthrough guide with pics
Dreamcast emulators for PC Download newest builds from here
Hey, congrats for the game review!~ :o
I had to read the first part 2 times and google 20 words but it was…rewarding xD
Also, a funny way of presenting some tips and screenshots from the game :D
Lovely manly Claire and immortal radioactive zombies ftw! XD