There are certain “What If?” moments in history that are so prevalent that you can’t help but wonder what could’ve happened if history had “gone like it had supposed to” versus how it changed on a dime at times. In the gaming industry, there are numerous entries in that “What If?” list, and some of them are still being found out today! For example, did you know that Grand Theft Auto 3, the title that helped elevate Rockstar Games to new heights, was originally supposed to debut on the Sega Dreamcast? It’s true. They were developing it for Sega’s “revolutionary console” and then stopped after a few months to put it on PS2.
We shouldn’t have to tell you how successful that move was or what happened to the Dreamcast, but the fact remains that many wonder what would’ve happened to both Rockstar and Sega should the Dreamcast have gotten this generational title. However, while this may be relegated to the repository of “What If?” that doesn’t mean that we can’t just…do it ourselves.
As a YouTube video series highlights, a group of gamers named skmp, Falco Girgis, PH3NOM, Frogbull, and jaxyn took the game’s code and have gotten it to work on the Sega Dreamcast. Oh, and they were able to pull this off in just under a month. That’s talent right there.
While they are still working on it right now, they’ve already made some incredible improvements to it via the Dreamcast and made sure to praise Rockstar North for all they did with the original title:
“You guys did an amazing job on this engine,” noted Falco. “I hope you see our work as a reflection of that and can also take pride in it. I have nothing but respect for what you guys accomplished here”.
That’s one of the beautiful things about gaming. You can see a classic title like Grand Theft Auto 3 and think, “There’s nothing that should be done with it.” Or, you can take a risk, take a chance, and see if you can do something truly wild with it. Remember, there are people who have made entire expansions for previously released video games on their own or gone the extra mile to finish games that developers stopped making long ago!
The potential is always in the gamer’s hands, which is why it’s so cool to see things like this. We wish them luck in their porting adventures!
