Sega · Home console · 1998 Experimental

Dreamcast emulator for PC

Nostyra plays Dreamcast games through Flycast at 1280×960 (2× the console). Flycast's built-in HLE BIOS boots most games without a BIOS file.

Written by vivusk, Nostyra maintainer Last reviewed 29 October 2026 Based on the Nostyra README and release notes

Game files

TOSEC .gdi + tracks, Redump .cue + (Track N).bin, .chd (GD-ROM or CD), DiscJuggler .cdi and .m3u playlists.
A disc is recognised by its IP.BIN (SEGA SEGAKATANA), never by its extension.
The first scan hashes the largest data track of each disc (about 1 GB per game).

BIOS and saves

Settings → BIOS → Sega Dreamcast → Add BIOS file takes your own dc_boot.bin (2 MiB, checksum verified) for the real boot animation.
Each game has its own VMU memory cards in its save folder; a multi-disc game shares them.

Controls

South / east / west / north = A / B / X / Y; LT / RT are the analog triggers; left stick = analog stick.

Known limits

Run-ahead and rewind are off. Save states are about 36 MiB each.
Not yet: Naomi / Atomiswave, rumble, VMU screen, keyboard / mouse / light gun, more than two pads, resolution options, Vulkan.

Sega Dreamcast at a glance
Emulator core	Flycast (GPL-2.0-or-later)
Status	Experimental
File types	`.gdi`, `.cue`, `.chd`, `.cdi`, `.m3u`
BIOS	Not needed (HLE BIOS); optional own `dc_boot.bin` via Settings → BIOS
RetroAchievements	Yes (softcore)
Graphics	DirectX 12 or Vulkan, plus OpenGL 3.3
Platform	Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit

Core project: Flycast. The core is downloaded from the libretro buildbot on first play and is never bundled with Nostyra.

Before you start

Nostyra does not include, download or link to Dreamcast games or BIOS files. Use games you own, dumped from your own cartridges or discs. See the disclaimer.

Features for Dreamcast games

Save states A save state stores the whole emulated machine at one moment, so you can continue from any point, not only where the game lets you save. PS4, PS5 and Xbox controllers Nostyra reads gamepads through SDL3. Gamepads work out of the box, and the Controls editor shows Xbox or PlayStation button labels to match your pad. The DualSense (PS5) has been tested by the maintainer. RetroAchievements RetroAchievements is a community service that adds achievements to classic games. Nostyra supports it on 14 systems using rcheevos, the same library RetroArch uses. Resume When you quit a game, Nostyra saves a resume point. The next time you press Play, it asks whether to continue from there or start fresh.

Play Dreamcast games with Nostyra

Free and open source. Portable zip, no installer, no account.

Download for Windows

macOS (planned) Linux (planned) iOS (planned) Android (planned)

Version 0.1.0 · 25.9 MB zip · Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit

Hosted on GitHub Releases. First time? Read the install guide.