Flycast

Open-source emulator for Sega Dreamcast and the Naomi and Atomiswave arcade boards.

Verified facts: 5 of 5
Alternatives ranked: 3
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Flycast

Flycast is a free, open-source emulator for Sega's Dreamcast console and the closely related Naomi, Naomi 2 and Atomiswave arcade boards. It began as a fork of reicast and has become the most widely used Dreamcast emulator, both as a standalone app and as a core inside RetroArch. It offers upscaling, widescreen hacks, Vulkan and OpenGL renderers, online play for supported titles and save states, with a graphical interface that is easy to set up. Builds are available for Windows, macOS (via Homebrew), Linux (via Flathub), Android (via Google Play) and Xbox consoles, while iOS support was dropped. It is licensed under GPL-2.0 and costs nothing. Like other emulators, it needs your own game images and, for the arcade boards, BIOS files.

Best for: Players who want Dreamcast and Sega Naomi arcade games on PC, Mac, Linux or Android.

What works

Covers Dreamcast plus three Sega arcade boards in one app
Available on desktop, Android and even Xbox
Graphical setup with upscaling and widescreen options

Why people leave

No iOS version any more
Arcade games need separate BIOS files
Documentation lives on a third-party wiki

Top Flycast alternatives

See all 3

1
RetroArch
Runs Flycast as a core alongside many other systems, with shared settings, shaders and netplay.
66.5
2
MAME
Broader arcade coverage, including Naomi boards, if you want one emulator for a whole collection.
62.6
3
Supermodel
Covers Sega's earlier Model 3 arcade board, which Flycast doesn't emulate.
59.6

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Flycast: common questions

Is Flycast free?

Yes. Flycast is free, open-source software.

Is Flycast open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at flyinghead/flycast.

What platforms does Flycast run on?

Flycast is available for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.

What are the best alternatives to Flycast?

The highest-ranked Flycast alternatives right now are RetroArch, MAME and Supermodel. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 3 Flycast alternatives

Flycast facts

5 of 5 verified

Emulated systems: Dreamcast, Naomi, Naomi 2, Atomiswave; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “Description: Flycast is a multiplatform Sega Dreamcast, Naomi, Naomi 2 and Atomiswave emulator.”
License: GPL-2.0; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “License: GPL-2.0 (GNU General Public License v2.0).”
Android: Google Play; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “Install Android Install Flycast from Google Play .”
Linux: Flathub; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “Install Flycast from Flathub”
iOS: Dropped; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “iOS Due to persistent harassment from an iOS user, support for this platform has been dropped.”