Quote Originally Posted by treismac View Post
I had no idea that emulators for the Dreamcast run on CDs, and I don't have an idea of how convenient it is or isn't. I had read that the Dreamcast was a good means of emulation so it seemed liked a worthwhile means of playing emulation on a TV over a computer monitor.

I posted this thread at 3:30 am after about two or so hours of various Dreamcast research. Emulation and controller adapters were an afterthought. I was fairly certain there were adapters of some kind for newer generation controllers, but I was hoping for recommendations/ or acknowledgement that there were some for older systems (Atari 2600, NES, Genesis, etc). I would have been more specific, but, in addition to being very tired, I believe that open-ended questions sometimes get better responses. By the way, embedding a Google url is far more prickish than clever. If you can't be funny when being a jerk, be civil.
Dreamcast doesn't have any means to read data other than a disc. There are no harddrives, flashdrives, or anything of the ilk as this kind of technology was not available at the time. (Unless someone has a crazy mod that I haven't heard of).

My first question was intended to be inquisitive, not prickish. I personally never used my DC to play emus, my Xbox/PS2 to watch DVDs, my PS3 to play BluRay, etc etc. I believe the excessive wear and tear shortens the life of the system. You may have had a valid reason for doing this, I wouldn't know. If you really wanted to play emulators via a console, I would suggest a modded Xbox. Here, the wear and tear is placed on an easily replacable hard drive, and the underlying hardware is more robust and powerful.

Given that you can now make emu boxes and hook them up to your TV for dirt cheap, it really seems like the way to go. The initial cost will be more, but a) no additional wear and tear on a dedicated console, b) faster and easier to transfer data with either a direct Internet connection or flash media and c) you have tons more options when it comes to controllers

Perhaps maybe even consider a system like the Ouya (http://www.ouya.tv/). Only $100, and many emulators are reported to be available at launch.

To answer your other question, as others have stated, there are a wealth of emulators available on the DC: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/thr...-For-Dreamcast

In regards to your comment about contoller adapters, it was supposed to be prickish. You [admittedly] asked a vague question that could have been easily determined in less time than it took you to type out your question. >.>

With specific mention to your question about adapters for classic controllers, that's a good one. I can't honestly say I've seen one - but per the previous points, is there a point any more? Are you dead set on emulating on your DC? If so, I can't imagine that it would be terribly difficult an nes controller and DC controller together if you are handy enough with a soldering iron (could be a fun project). I think the hardest part would be finding a DC controller PCB that is small enough to fit inside an NES controller shell....it which case you might consder an NES Advantage.