Cheapest way to emu Dreamcast?

What would be the cheapest barebones or mini PC, or maybe a handheld tablet device with a dpad, to play Dreamcast games? I don't mind if the PC has no OS, because NullDC runs on WINE, and Linux distros are easy to install if there is an optical drive. I would want to play Gens, WinKawaks, ePSXe and preferably NullDC (or equivalent compatibility). FBAlpha and MAME are too much of a pain in the arse to set up controls, and I have problems with most CAVE ROMs, and Yabause is still too hit and miss to be of interest, because on different computers I can't get Radiant Silvergun or Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2 running all the time, and classics such as DoDonPachi and Layer Section do not work at all.

So really I just want a multi-console emulation station, either a gaming handheld, or a shoestring Linux desktop, with the Dreamcast on it. What's the cheapest way to go about this? Raspberry Pi is not yet powerful enough for Dreamcast emulation, and needs an internet connection when its setting up. Here, I have no home internet or wi-fi, I have to burn discs or put images on a USB flash drive.

A Dreamcast is still the best way

You can emulate more on the Dreamcast than you can emulate of the Dreamcast

Demul is a better emulator by the way
Reicast is the next best thing and open source and is part of Retroarch


Just check out Retroarch before looking at anything else as most of what you have mentioned is old and out of date now

As for controls I have never had issues with any of the emulators you have mentioned so not sure what troubles you have had

In theory a DC would be best, but not as easy to find at a good price here, and even Sega nerds whisper the pad was substandard for 2D, So one is better off using a desktop and playing with a Saturn or MD USB pad, else using some kind of Mayflash adapter. Besides, only a pre-2K DC plays backups out of the box (there are no originals round here).

When I saw titles like Under Defeat and Shikigami 2 play perfectly on gaming PCs, I was impressed after Yabause disappointed me re; the SS. Is there a compatibility list comparing the DC emus? Its the shootingu interests me, more than anything.

SSF may be a better choice for you if Yabause is not your thing though you should be going with Retroarch anyway that uses a Yabause core and a Mednafen Saturn core for Saturn games with SSF as a fallback

Compat lists for Dreamcast is hard to find I only ever done a boot one kinda as I was using NullDC at the time mostly because I was on lower end hardware and was testing for VGA nothing more the games that do not boot in NullDC did in Demul, at the time GDI images had not really started either, Makaron is also a Dreamcast emu but I only ever used it for Naomi games that work rather well with it and worth a try for your want in Shrumps (A Dreamcast is basically a lite version of the Naomi Arcade system)

I use Demul now more for hacking Dreamcast games then play the result on my actual Dreamcast but I do also own a USB GD-Rom drive so I mostly use GDI dumps so nothing ripped or re-sampled