Tag: dreamcast

Last updated: 29MAY2021 (see Changelog for details)

The sixth generation of video game consoles, which included the PS2, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox, and Sega Dreamcast, was a transformative period for both gaming and televisions. Standard (4:3 aspect) TVs were eventually replaced by widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio displays during this time, and many console accommodated this shift. A few Dreamcast games, such as Rayman 2, natively supported widescreen televisions upon release — all you have to do is go into the game settings and change it to 16:9 instead of 4:3. Most other games were natively scaled to 4:3, but many 3D titles on the Dreamcast can be altered to stretch into anamorphic widescreen. This is possible because these games render the 3D environment beyond the 4:3 displayed on a typical TV, and through various hacks we can unlock widescreen Dreamcast for over 100 titles.

These instructions are primarily written for the RetroOZ firmware on the ODROID Go Super or RGB10 Max in particular, since it has a lovely 16:9 screen, but the RetroArch widescreen hack cheats can be implemented in other firmwares such as EmuELEC, ArkOS, and 351ELEC for RG351P/M devices (or other devices with screens wider than 4:3). There are three basic methods:

1. Use the built-in RetroRun widescreen hack or cheats options
   • Available for RetroOZ firmware only
   • Supported platforms: OGS, RGB10 Max
2. Use widescreen hack cheats in RetroArch
   • Available for EmuELEC, 351ELEC, and ArkOS firmwares
   • Supported platforms: OGS, RGB10 Max, or any 3:2 device like RG351P/M, RGB10, OGA, RK2020, etc.
3. Hex edit your games for permanent widescreen
   • Available for ArkOS firmware only (351ELEC may be possible with shell script creation)
   • Supported platforms: RG351P/M, RGB10, OGA, RK2020