When Rockstar Games launched Grand Theft Auto III in October 2001 on Sony’s PlayStation 2, it redefined the gaming landscape. The game’s leap into a 3D open world set a new industry standard, spawning countless imitators from Driver to True Crime that inevitably fell short of replicating its success.

This groundbreaking title cemented Rockstar Games as a major player in the industry, paving the way for its eventual evolution into today’s anti-consumer juggernaut. Despite its original release on PS2, GTA III made its way to PC and later saw numerous re-releases, including the nefarious GTA Trilogy “remaster.”

The game also fostered a vibrant modding community, typical of Rockstar’s PC titles. Yet, some enthusiasts still manage to ask the most baffling questions.

Originally exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation 2, Grand Theft Auto III was eventually ported to Microsoft’s vastly superior Xbox system. It sold over 15 million units worldwide, with 11 million of those on PS2 alone. However, Rockstar notably snubbed SEGA’s ill-fated Dreamcast, which had launched globally before the PS2 but was discontinued by the time GTA III arrived.

Despite the Dreamcast’s brief run and ultimate failure, some still wonder why Rockstar didn’t bother porting one of the most revolutionary games of its era to SEGA’s dying platform. The answer seems obvious, but it remains a curious footnote in the history of gaming’s most influential titles.

A fan project led by SKMP has taken on a challenge no one knew they needed by releasing an alpha build of DCA3, a native SEGA Dreamcast port of Grand Theft Auto III. Built using the KallistiOS software and reverse-engineered from the original game, this ambitious endeavor answers the question, “Why port GTA III to the Dreamcast?” with a resounding, “Why the fuck not?”

The purpose of DCA3 is twofold: to push the Dreamcast’s hardware to its absolute limits and to showcase that a groundbreaking game, celebrated for its complexity and innovation, can run flawlessly on SEGA’s last ever home console.

In September, original GTA III developer Obbe Vermeij expressed admiration for the project, revealing a fascinating bit of history. “The first months of development of GTA III (back in ’99/’00) were done on the Dreamcast,” he noted. “For commercial reasons, we switched to PS2. At the time, we did think it was technically possible to pull it off on the DC, and these guys are actually doing it. Nice one.”

The fan project stands as a testament to both the Dreamcast’s untapped potential and the dedication of a community determined to keep the console alive.

As expected for a project still in active development, DCA3 is a bit rough around the edges. Audio is a little choppy and overly compressed, compromising quality. Despite these limitations, the port is a remarkable achievement. The draw distance is impressively high for the Dreamcast, a console significantly less powerful and older than the PlayStation 2, where GTA III originally debuted.

NPC pedestrians and vehicles populate the city quite actively, contributing to the immersion. Considering that this project has had only about five months of development by a small, dedicated team, the fact that it’s even playable on native hardware is nothing short of astonishing.

The controls map surprisingly well to the Dreamcast’s standard controller (with minor exceptions), and most importantly, players can save their progress to a VMU. However, using a VMU with sufficient free space is strongly recommended. If you’re eager to experience DCA3 for yourself, you’ll need to compile your own alpha build.

The project’s website provides a guide for creating a CDi image to run natively on the Dreamcast.

The requirement to compile your own build, rather than downloading a pre-made .CDI or .GDI file, is a deliberate measure to avoid legal trouble. Players are expected to have a legitimate copy of the game.

This approach likely helps the team sidestep scrutiny from Take-Two Interactive, which has a well-documented history of issuing DMCA takedowns against GTA modders. Given DCA3’s reliance on reverse-engineering GTA III, distributing ready-to-use images would undoubtedly attract legal action from Take-Two’s lawyers.

As long as you own a “legitimate copy” of GTA III for PC, have a Dreamcast capable of playing burned discs or equipped with an optical drive emulator, and can follow the provided instructions, you’re all set to dive into this astonishingly impressive fan project.