Released in 1996, the Sega Model 3 is a fourth-generation arcade board developed by Sega in collaboration with Lockheed Martin. A true powerhouse for its time, it followed the earlier Model 1 (Virtua Fighter) and Model 2 (Daytona USA), and marked a major turning point with far more realistic 3D graphics, detailed textures, and smooth animation at 60 frames per second.

Thanks to this advanced architecture, iconic titles like Virtua Fighter 3, Scud Race, and Daytona USA 2 were born. Long difficult to emulate properly, Model 3 support — already available on PC — is now a reality on Raspberry Pi 5 with Recalbox, opening the door to a new generation of legendary arcade games on our retrogaming systems.

Daytona USA 2

This support is currently available via version 10, exclusively for our patrons. It's still an experimental version under development, but the first results are very promising — and fully compatible with the upcoming RGB DUAL 2, both on CRT screens and modern monitors.

This means you can now enjoy cult titles like Daytona USA 2, SEGA Rally 2, Virtua Fighter 3, and Scud Race in all their glory. With its ability to render a million polygons, 32 levels of transparency, and an advanced lighting system supporting up to four light sources, the Model 3 pushed technical limits and gave developers a hard time when attempting console ports — especially to the Dreamcast. The board was so powerful for its era, with several hardware improvements (Step 1.5, 2, and 2.1), that it clearly outclassed home consoles.

Testing SEGA Rally 2 on Recalbox V10 with RGB DUAL 2

Today, thanks to ongoing hardware and software advancements, we’re thrilled to finally experience these iconic games, which are an essential part of arcade history, with some of the most popular cabinets ever produced.

If you're testing Model 3, the Recalbox developers would love to hear your feedback on our Discord, especially in the Patron and Patron Alpha channels. The team is actively working to fine-tune emulator resolution, and we’re here to help if you encounter any bugs or issues.

We’d also like to thank Pit64 for his work on this integration, along with Beubeud and digitalLumberjack!

Testing Virtua Fighter 3 on Recalbox V10 with RGB DUAL 2

Testing Scud Race on Recalbox V10 with RGB DUAL 2