Optical Drive Emulators are devices that mimic the functionality of an optical drive, without the use of original discs. They can be thought of as a “ROM cart for CD-based consoles”. Most require you to remove the original optical drive, but you’ll occasionally find ones that let you keep the drive and load homebrew/backups from hard drives or flash media:
Sega Dreamcast:
This device allows you to replace the CDROM Drive of your Dreamcast with an SD Card Reader, however most Dreamcast games already play CDr’s without any modification (see below):
MODE – USB / SD / SATA ODE: https://retrorgb.link/mode
GDEMU: https://amzn.to/2SgasU3
Here’s another ODE: http://3do-renovation.ru/How_to_buy.htm
Sega Saturn:
Fenrir: https://www.retrorgb.com/fenrir-saturn-ode-review.html
Satiator – Plug & Play ODE: https://www.satiator.net/
MODE – USB / SD / SATA ODE: https://retrorgb.link/mode
Phoebe/Rhea:
https://gdemu.wordpress.com/ordering/ordering-phoebe/
https://gdemu.wordpress.com/ordering/ordering-rhea/
Sony Playstation:
XStation US Seller: https://retrorgb.link/xstation
MODE – USB / SD / SATA ODE: https://retrorgb.link/mode
GameCube:
GC’s can load homebrew and backups using just an SD card reader and an Action Replay, however a true ODE is available that’s very fast. Here’s more info: https://www.retrorgb.com/gamecubeode.html
3DO:
All 3DO’s except the Goldstar will play CDr’s without a mod chip. There is an ODE available for all models though: http://3do-mnemo.com/How_to_buy.htm
Mod Chips:
This page wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t at least mention Mod chips. Almost every disc-based pre-HD system has a mod-chip available to play burned games. You can find the best one for your model system by simply searching Google, but I thought I’d mention the CD-based systems that don’t need mod chips: They just play burned discs with no modification. Please let me know if I missed any:
– TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine CD
– Sega CD
– 3DO (all versions except Goldstar)
– Philips CDi
– Neo Geo CD
– Sega Dreamcast (all versions pre-2001)
– Atari Jaguar CD (untested by me personally)
– Amiga CD32 (untested by me personally)
– Sony Playstation 2 – Can play backed up games from a hard drive and use the GSM Selector without a modchip using Free McBoot (you’ll want to reference this page to see which games need patching). It can also be modded using just a hard drive.
Also, Arasoi from the Shmups forums tested using an SD card instead of a HDD, by using a 2.5″ to 3.5″ IDE adapter and an SD to 2.5″ HDD adapter. He used this SD card with good results:
Burning Discs:
This is a great guide for the best way to burn your discs:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/hacks/how-to-burn-retro-game-images-with-all-free-software