If someone is interested in running golang projects on niche hardware perhaps, one pro tip I can suggest but there is way to convert golang 100% into wasm (no js shim or anything required) and the only thing you would need is a wasm library
# Source - https://stackoverflow.com/a
# Posted by TachyonicBytes, modified by community. See post 'Timeline' for change history
# Retrieved 2025-12-29, License - CC BY-SA 4.0
I tried to do it and I can tell you that it works and it works for even the most latest versions of golang, all you need is a wasmengine which I suppose can be ubiquitous.
I built a Go runtime that runs on the Sega Dreamcast, the 1999
console with 16MB RAM and a 200MHz SH4 CPU.
You can write games in Go with goroutines, channels, garbage collection,
and all the language features you'd expect. It compiles using gccgo and
runs on real hardware or emulators.
The project includes 3 game examples Pong, Breakout and Platformer, input handling, audio support, and integrates with KallistiOS (the Dreamcast homebrew SDK).
I just wanted to say how impressive your documentation is. I expected an average readme.md, but not only is your readme great (the performance table is wonderful), but the full documentation is awesome. It pretty much answers all questions I had. Nice job! I wish all projects were like this.
Hey panos! I only had a short look at this for now, and it looks impressive! I'll have to dust off my Dreamcast and get this running.
I looked at gccgo when porting the runtime to n64, but at the time it wasn't updated since go1.18. Can we use Go Generics on the Dreamcast? I see that gccgo is obviously needed to support SH4.
> Replaces the standard Go runtime with one designed for the Dreamcast's constraints: memory 16MB RAM, CPU single-core SH-4, no operating system.
24 total megabytes, with an M, of memory between system and video (another 8 there), single core 200mhz CPU, graphics chip runs at 100mhz. Shenmue runs on it.
Could implement a custom Teams client on top of that. My biggest concern would be TLS and media decoding, but could just proxy the traffic and roll a text only client.
I mucked about with Microsoft Graph a bit before, didn't seem too bad.
> Who is this for?
> ...
> Anyone who enjoys the challenge of severe constraints
Remembering what a powerhouse the Dreamcast was when it came out, and how amazing games like Soul Caliber and Shenmue looked, it's hard to think of the Dreamcast hardware as "severely contained".
yeah, been there, nostalgia hits hard. Dreamcast was a beast of its era, it even had Ethernet! Even the VMU was something extraordinary! Too bad SEGA had to cancel it :(
Many thanks @dontaj much appreciated, indeed documenting the process felt like another project of its own, so I am very happy to hear that! The effective dreamcast Go was inspired from the old time classic https://go.dev/doc/effective_go :D
I am using sh-elf-gccgo (GCC) 15.1.0 which is ok-ish I guess. But in general gccgo tries to be close to Go, but they do not implement all the features. e.g. generics are still missing for example.
You have to use https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76087007/golang-to-wasm-...
# Source - https://stackoverflow.com/a # Posted by TachyonicBytes, modified by community. See post 'Timeline' for change history # Retrieved 2025-12-29, License - CC BY-SA 4.0
go install golang.org/dl/gotip@latest gotip download GOOS=wasip1 GOARCH=wasm gotip build -o main.wasm
I tried to do it and I can tell you that it works and it works for even the most latest versions of golang, all you need is a wasmengine which I suppose can be ubiquitous.
You can write games in Go with goroutines, channels, garbage collection, and all the language features you'd expect. It compiles using gccgo and runs on real hardware or emulators.
The project includes 3 game examples Pong, Breakout and Platformer, input handling, audio support, and integrates with KallistiOS (the Dreamcast homebrew SDK).
* Star Here: https://github.com/drpaneas/godc * Documentation: https://drpaneas.github.io/libgodc/ * Video Tutorial: https://youtu.be/ahMl0fUvzVA
Happy to answer any questions about the implementation!
I also dig the documentation / book styling.
I looked at gccgo when porting the runtime to n64, but at the time it wasn't updated since go1.18. Can we use Go Generics on the Dreamcast? I see that gccgo is obviously needed to support SH4.
24 total megabytes, with an M, of memory between system and video (another 8 there), single core 200mhz CPU, graphics chip runs at 100mhz. Shenmue runs on it.
Glares at Teams.
This does not fare well for Go though.
I mucked about with Microsoft Graph a bit before, didn't seem too bad.
Remembering what a powerhouse the Dreamcast was when it came out, and how amazing games like Soul Caliber and Shenmue looked, it's hard to think of the Dreamcast hardware as "severely contained".