About This File
Did you know cheat codes can be applied to Dreamcast games to make them play in true anamorphic 16:9 widescreen?
Yes you can. The Flycast core even has these hard coded with an option to automatically apply them when available.
What is this project and why am I doing this?
I discovered that some games with cheats available had a lot of pop in. So I decided to test every game with a widescreen cheat to see which worked with no pop in and log all this information down.
Most of these work, with a negligible amount having pop in or other issues. All of this info will be in the list below.
I am providing RetroArch config files for the games that actually work in 16:9. With these you can simply drop them into RetroArch.
With widescreen hacks and cheats turned off in the core options, you can rest assured only games with working widescreen will be activated. And the rest playing as per normal/your settings.
The resolution has been set to 1440x1080 and VMU1 setting used for memory card management. Everything else, aside from the widescreen cheats and hack option, is default.
With the natively widescreen games, some actually have widescreen cheats available and have better results.
Other widescreen games that have a 16:9 option will need a per game override config file (provided) to set RetroArch itself to 16:9. This is due to Flycast/RetroArch not auto adjusting to 16:9 when selected in game.
A game specific core options file will also be provided for the native widescreen games. This will have widescreen cheats and hacks turned off so it will not clash if you have these turned on.
I also tested the core widescreen hack on the entire USA/European library and some Japanese games. This yielded only a small amount of games that actually work with this function. Cheats are almost always far better.
Needless to say this has taken quite a while with multiple passes made.
I spend hours doing this so you don't have to Creating a 'definitive' pack for play..... not display.
Important: Ensure your games are the correct region. A lot of the cheat codes for widescreen are Region specific. With the European or Japanese version taking precedence over the USA version.
USA versions are always my default. Sometimes the USA cheat didn't work but the USA or Japan version did.
This makes this list the 'Widescreen' list. Ensure your games are the correct region.
Please also check the name of your games and the config files are the same otherwise they will not work. Redump naming conventions used.
Also, remember we are forcing widescreen on games that did not support it. Some menus and UI elements may still be stretched or within the 4:3 space.
Where do I put these files? Easy. RetroArch/config/Flycast - place the config files here
Below is the list of games that have been broken down into 4 categories: Native Widescreen Games, Games Working with Widescreen Cheats, Games Working with Widescreen Hack, Games With Cheats that Do Not Work
Native Widescreen Games
AeroWings | (USA) | Native Only |
Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers | (USA) | Use native widescreen over Cheat Code |
F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa | (USA) | Use native widescreen over Cheat Code |
MSR - Metropolis Street Racer | (USA) |
Use Cheat over Native Widescreen Has a unlockable 16:9 option. However cheat codes work better. |
Rayman 2: The Great Escape | (USA) | Use native widescreen over Cheat Code |
Starlancer | (USA) | Native Only |
Test Drive: V-Rally | (USA) | Native Only |
Tokyo Highway Racer / Tokyo Xtreme Racer | (Europe) |
Use Cheat over Native Widescreen. Runs at 50fps/PAL |
Tokyo Highway Racer 2 / Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 | (Europe) | Use Cheat over Native Widescreen |
Toy Commander | (USA) | Native Only |
Toy Racer | (USA) | Native Only |
TrickStyle | (USA) | Widescreen option doesn't save. Manually select it in game every play session |
Wacky Races | (USA) | Native Only |
Games Working with Widescreen Cheats
18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker | (USA) | |
4 Wheel Thunder | (USA) | |
AeroWings 2: Airstrike | (Europe) | Game Runs at 50Hz - 25fps |
Alien Front Online | (USA) | |
Blue Stinger | (USA) | |
Bomber Hehhe! | (Japan) | |
Bomberman Online | (USA) | |
Buggy Heat | (Japan) | |
Cannon Spike | (USA) | When locked on the target is slightly miss aligned. Playable |
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 | (Japan) | |
Carrier | (USA) | |
Charge 'n Blast | (Europe) | |
ChuChu Rocket! | (Europe) | |
Coaster Works | (Europe) | |
Cosmic Smash | (Japan) | |
Crazy Taxi | (USA) | |
Crazy Taxi 2 | (USA) | |
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram | (USA) | |
D2 | (USA) | |
Daytona USA | (USA) | |
Dead or Alive 2 | (USA) | |
Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm | (USA) | |
Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern | (USA) | |
Dynamite Cop | (USA) | |
Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future | (Europe) | |
Evolution 2: Far Off Promise | (USA) | |
Evolution: The World of Sacred Device | (Europe) | |
Fighting Vipers 2 | (Europe) | |
Floigan Bros.: Episode 1 | (Europe) | |
Fur Fighters | (USA) | |
Gauntlet Legends | (Europe) | Has a black bar at top of screen. Playable. |
Godzilla Generations | (Japan) | |
Godzilla Generations Maximum Impact | (Japan) | |
Golem no Maigo / The Lost Golem | (Japan) | |
Headhunter | (Europe) | |
House of the Dead 2, The | (USA) | Black bars in 4:3 space during cut scenes. Will need calibrating. |
Illbleed | (USA) | |
Karous | (Japan) | |
La Mans 24 Hours | (Europe) | |
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver | (USA) | |
Looney Tunes: Space Race | (USA) | |
Maken X | (USA) | |
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes | (USA) | |
Millenium Racer - Y2K Fighters | (Unl) | |
Mortal Kombat Gold | (USA) | |
Nightmare Creatures II | (USA) | |
Outtrigger | (Europe) | |
Pen Pen | (Europe) | |
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein | (USA) | |
Power Stone | (USA) | |
Power Stone 2 | (USA) | |
Project Justice | (USA) | |
Propeller Arena | (Unl) | |
Rainbow Cotton | (Japan) | |
Re-Volt | (Europe) | |
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 | (Europe) | |
Record of Lodoss War | (Europe) | Hud and menu elements don't line up. Playable. |
Red Dog: Superior Firepower | (Europe) | |
Resident Evil Code: Veronica | (USA) | |
Rez | (USA) | |
Rippin' Riders Snowboarding | (USA) | |
Samba de Amigo | (Europe) | |
Seaman | (USA) | |
Sega GT | (Europe) | |
Sega Marine Fishing | (USA) | |
Seven Mansions: Ghastly Smile / Nanatsu no Hikan - Senritsu no Bishou | (Japan) | |
Seventh Cross: Evolution | (USA) | |
Shadow Man | (Europe) | |
Silent Scope | (Europe) | Miss aligns target overlay on enemies when zoomed out. Playable. |
Skies of Arcadia | (USA) | |
SoulCalibur | (USA) | |
Space Channel 5: Part 2 | (Japan) | |
Spawn: In the Demon's Hand | (USA) | |
Star Wars: Episode I: Racer | (USA) | |
Super Magnetic Neo | (USA) | |
Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition | (Europe) | |
Surf Rocket Racers | (Europe) | Game Runs at 50Hz - 25fps PAL |
Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing | (Europe) | Slight pop in on bike models, barely detectable playing at full speed. |
Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage | (USA) | Slight pop in on models. Playable |
Time Stalkers | (Europe) | |
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 | (USA) | |
Vanishing Point | (Europe) | |
Virtua Fighter 3tb | (Europe) | |
Virtua Tennis 2 | (Europe) | |
Wetrix+ | (Europe) | |
World Series Baseball 2K2 | (USA) | |
Zero Gunner 2 | (Japan) | Slight pop in. Playable. |
Zombie Revenge | (USA) | |
Zusar Vasar | (Japan) | |
Mr. Driller | (Europe) |
Games Working with Widescreen Hack
Chaos Field | (Japan) |
F1 World Grand Prix | (USA) |
F1 World Grand Prix II | (Europe) |
Fire Pro Wrestling D | (Japan) |
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX | (USA) |
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater | (USA) |
WWF Royal Rumble | (USA) |
Games With Cheats that Do Not Work
Biohazard: Code: Veronica Complete | (Japan) | Cheat will pick this version up and apply cheat codes, unfortunately they do not work. |
Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro | (Japan) | Cheat Misplaces health bars and menu systems. |
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 | (Japan) | You can see the edges of the backgrounds. |
Confidential Mission | (Europe) | Cheat deactivated from core with reason 'only works on real hardware' |
Deadly Skies | (Europe) | Lots of pop in |
Death Crimson 2: Meranito no Saidan | (Japan) | Lots of pop in |
Death Cromson OX | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Frame Gride | (Japan) | Lots of pop in |
Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise From the Ashes | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Half Life | (Unl) | Cheat deactivated from core with reason 'not working' |
Jet Grind Radio | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Kao the Kangaroo | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Kiss Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child | (USA) | Cheat deactivated from core |
Max Steel | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Napple Tale: Arsia In Daydream | (Japan) | Cheat deactivated from core |
NBA 2K2 | (USA) | Cheat deactivated from core |
Sega Rally 2 | (USA) | Cheat deactivated from core |
Shenmue | (Europe) | Lots of pop in |
Shenmue II | (Europe) | Lots of pop in |
Slave Zero | (Europe) | Euro version goes to console/bios menu and wont play the game |
Sonic Adventure | (USA) | Cheat causes pop-in on the right hand side of the screen only. |
Sonic Adventure 2 | (USA) | Cheat causes pop-in on the right hand side of the screen only. |
Sonic Shuffle | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition | (Europe) | Cheat deactivated from core |
Tennis 2K2 | (USA) | Cheat only stretches to 16:9. Use Euro version (Virtua Tennis 2) to get this to work |
Test Drive La Mans | (USA) | Cheat doesn't work. Use Euro version (La Mans 24 Hours) to get this to work |
The Ring: Terror's Realm | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat | (USA) | Cheat only stretches to 16:9. Use Japan version (Buggy Heat) to get this to work. |
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation | (Europe) | Cheat deactivated from core. |
Ultimate Fighting Championship | (USA) | Cheat causes camera to not be aligned. Euro vers has major pop-in |
Virtua Athlete 2K | (Europe) | Cheat deactivated from core |
Virtua Tennis | (USA) | Lots of pop in |
Volgarr the Viking | (Unl) | Cheat deactivated from core |
Edited by Warped Polygon