Dolphin is a
free and open-source video game console emulator
A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass ...
for
GameCube and
Wii that runs on
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
,
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
,
MacOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
Android,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
,
Xbox Series X and Series S
The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, ...
.
It had its
inaugural release in 2003 as
freeware
Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...
for Windows. Dolphin was the first GameCube emulator that could successfully run commercial games. After troubled development in the first years, Dolphin became
free and open-source software and subsequently gained support for Wii emulation. Soon after, the emulator was ported to Linux
and macOS. As mobile hardware got more powerful over the years,
running Dolphin on Android became a viable option.
Dolphin has been well received in the IT and video gaming media for its high compatibility, steady development progress, the number of
available features, and the ability to play games with
graphical improvements over the original consoles.
Development
Origins (2003–2006)
Dolphin was first released in September 2003 by Henrik Rydgård (ector) and F, RES as an experimental GameCube emulator that could boot up and run commercial games. Audio was not yet emulated, and the overall performance quality was very poor. Many games crashed on start up or barely ran at all; average speed was from 2 to 20
frames per second
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
(FPS). Its name refers to the development code name for the GameCube.
Dolphin was officially discontinued temporarily in December 2004, with the developers releasing version 1.01 as the final version of the emulator. The developers later revived the project in October 2005.
Open source, Wii emulation, and 2.0 release (2007–2010)
Dolphin became an open-source project on 13 May 2007
when the developers released the source code publicly on a
SVN repository on
Google Code
Google Developers (previously Google Code) , application programming interfaces (APIs), and technical resources. The site contains documentation on using Google developer tools and APIs—including discussion groups and blogs for developers usi ...
under the
GPL-2.0-only license.
At this point, the emulator had basic Wii emulation implemented, limited
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
compatibility and a new
GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
using
wxWidgets
wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows) is a widget toolkit and tools library for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for cross-platform applications. wxWidgets enables a program's GUI code to compile and run on several computer platforms with mini ...
.
The preview builds and unofficial SVN builds were released with their revision number (e.g., RXXXX) rather than version numbers (e.g., 1.03). As with previous builds, differences between consecutive builds are typically minor.
![Wii-gamecube-compatibility](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Wii-gamecube-compatibility.jpg)
As of February 2009, the software was able to successfully boot and run the official Wii System Menu v1.0. Shortly after, almost all versions of the
Wii system software
The Wii system software is a discontinued set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a game disc, allowed Nintendo to add a ...
became bootable.
By April 2009, most commercial games, GameCube and Wii alike, could be fully played, albeit with minor problems and errors, with a large number of games running with few or no defects. Adjustments to the emulator had allowed users to play select games at full speed for the first time, audio was dramatically improved, and the graphical capabilities were made more consistent aside from minor problems.
By late October 2009, several new features were incorporated into the emulator, such as automatic frame-skipping, which increased the performance of the emulator, as well as increased stability of the emulator overall. Also improved was the Netplay feature of the emulator, which allowed players to play multiplayer GameCube and Wii games online with friends, as long as the game did not require a Wii Remote. The emulator's
GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
was also reworked to make it more user-friendly, and the
Direct3D plug-in received further work.
On 12 April 2010 Dolphin 2.0 was released.
3.0 and 3.5 releases (2010–2012)
By the end of November 2010, the developers had fixed most of the sound issues such as crackling, added compatibility with more games, and increased the overall emulation speed and accuracy.
In June 2011, version 3.0 was released.
Strange user interface behavior, crashes, graphical glitches and other various issues were fixed. The release notes state that the majority of games "run perfectly or with minor bugs.”
The release featured redesigned configuration windows, an improved LLE sound engine, new translations, added support for the Wii Remote speaker, EFB format change emulation, graphics debugger and audio dumping among several other new features. The 3.0 release removed the
plug-in interface in order to “allow for a much better integration with the other parts of Dolphin.” The developers also added a
Direct3D 11
Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware a ...
video back-end and an
XAudio2
XAudio2 is a lower-level audio API for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 8, the successor to DirectSound on Windows and a supplement to the original XAudio on the Xbox 360.
XAudio2 operates through the XAudio API on the Xbox 360, thr ...
audio back-end.
On 25 December 2012, version 3.5 of Dolphin was released, featuring support for emulating the
GameCube Broadband Adapter
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
and
Microphone
A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publ ...
accessories. It introduced a FreeBSD port, free replacement for the
DSP
DSP may refer to:
Computing
* Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal
* Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing
* Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...
firmware, and the WBFS file format.
Port to Android and 4.0 release (2013)
On 6 April 2013, the Dolphin development team released the first builds for
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
's
Android mobile operating system. As of September 2013, only a handful of devices contained the hardware to support
OpenGL ES 3.0
OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES or GLES) is a subset of the OpenGL computer graphics rendering application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D computer graphics such as those used by video games, typically hardware-accele ...
, with Google officially supporting the standard in software since July 2014 with the introduction of
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Games ran at an average of one frame per second. The developer has cited the
Samsung Galaxy S4
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succe ...
as one of the first phones capable of playing games at higher speeds, but even it would have considerable performance limitations.
On 22 September 2013, version 4.0 of Dolphin was released, featuring back-end improvements to OpenGL rendering and OpenAL audio, broader controller support, networking enhancements, and performance tweaks for macOS and Linux builds.
Months later, versions 4.0.1
and 4.0.2
were released, fixing minor bugs.
Drop of legacy technologies, accuracy improvements, and 5.0 release (2013–2016)
On 12 October 2013 (4.0-155), Direct3D 9 support was removed from the project, leaving Direct3D 11 and OpenGL as the two remaining video back-ends. The Dolphin Team explained this, stating that the plug-in was "inherently flawed" and that trying to evade its several flaws "wasted time and slowed development."
On 19 May 2014, the Dolphin Team announced that
32-bit support for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
and
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
would be dropped.
The Dolphin Team stated that it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the 32-bit builds, and that the 32-bit releases simply offered an inferior experience compared to their
64-bit
In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit CPUs and ALUs are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A compu ...
counterparts. Furthermore, the vast majority of their users were already using 64-bit CPUs, and most users of 32-bit builds were 64-bit compatible yet were using 32-bit by mistake. The combination of these factors made 32-bit support unnecessary. 32-bit Android builds suffered from similar issues, but ARMv7 support remained for another year until the
AArch64
AArch64 or ARM64 is the 64-bit extension of the ARM architecture family.
It was first introduced with the Armv8-A architecture. Arm releases a new extension every year.
ARMv8.x and ARMv9.x extensions and features
Announced in October 2011, AR ...
JIT was ready and devices were available.
![GBPlayer Usage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/GBPlayer_Usage.jpg)
Throughout 2014, several features were implemented into Dolphin, including disc loading emulation, native support for GameCube controllers,
perfect audio emulation, and bug fixes for problems which had been present since the emulator's earliest days.
Memory management unit
A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), is a computer hardware unit having all memory references passed through itself, primarily performing the translation of virtual memory addresses to physical a ...
(MMU) improvements allowed many games to boot and work properly for the first time.
Improvements towards the emulator also allowed for it to run well on
Android using the
Nvidia Tegra
Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...
processor, albeit with minor difficulties.
In coordination with the developers of the ''
VBA-M
VisualBoyAdvance (commonly abbreviated as VBA) is a free emulator of the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance handheld game consoles as well as of Super Game Boy and Super Game Boy#Super Game Boy 2, Super Game Boy 2.
Besides the Direc ...
''
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
emulator, support for
linking GameCube and Game Boy Advance games was implemented into Dolphin in March 2015.
On 25 May 2015 – the Dolphin Development team announced that they had successfully
re-licensed the code base from "GPL-2.0-only" to "GPL-2.0-or-later" in order to improve
license compatibility
License compatibility is a legal framework that allows for pieces of software with different software licenses to be distributed together. The need for such a framework arises because the different licenses can contain contradictory requirement ...
with other
Free and open-source projects and be able to share and exchange code with them.
In August 2015, the Dolphin developers announced further improvements with audio and throughout December 2015 the Dolphin project fixed audio issues on TR Wii Remotes.
Two months later, in February 2016, a
Direct3D 12
Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware a ...
back-end was mainlined after months of development.
On 24 June 2016, version 5.0 of Dolphin was released, making various fixes and additions to the emulator.
Post-5.0 developments (ongoing)
Development of a
Vulkan-based graphics renderer began in June 2016.
After a month, the developer announced that it is “now feature-complete" and that it's "time for clean-ups/bug-fixing/performance work.“ Development of the renderer was still done in a dedicated
branch
A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...
for the next few months until the code was finally merged in October 2016.
In September 2016, Dolphin's developers announced the emulator was now able to boot all official GameCube titles. The last title to be supported for boot-up, ''
Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', had been particularly difficult to emulate due to the game's use of the
memory management unit
A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), is a computer hardware unit having all memory references passed through itself, primarily performing the translation of virtual memory addresses to physical a ...
.
Triforce
The is a fictional artifact and icon of Nintendo's ''The Legend of Zelda'' series of video games. It first appeared in the original 1986 action-adventure game ''The Legend of Zelda'' and is a focus of subsequent games in the series, including ...
emulation was removed due to lack of maintenance.
In March 2017, support was added for the
Wii Shop Channel
The Wii Shop Channel is a former digital distribution service for the Wii video game console. The service allowed users to purchase and play additional software for the Wii (called Channels), including exclusive games (branded WiiWare), and game ...
.
Two experimental features, both of which never reached maturity, were removed in May 2017: The
Direct3D 12 renderer – which found a suitable replacement in the Vulkan back-end – and the alternative CPU emulator
JIT
Jit (also known as jiti, jit-jive and the Harare beat) is a style of popular Zimbabwean dance music. It features a swift rhythm played on drums and accompanied by a guitar. Jit evolved out many diverse influences, including domestic chimurenga, ...
IL.
Continuing this year's earlier work on graphics performance-related matters, Dolphin developers implemented a solution for the long-standing problem known as
shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
compilation stuttering.
The stuttering is caused by the emulator waiting for the graphics driver to compile shaders required for new environments or objects. The solution that the ''Ubershaders'' – in development since 2015 – present to the problem was to emulate the Wii's and GameCube's rendering pipeline by way of an
interpreter running on the host system's
graphics processor
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
itself until a specialized shader has been compiled and can be used for future frames, at a lower cost to performance.
18 August 2017 marks the culmination of work started in late 2016 when the
cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software ...
MMORPG ''
Dragon Quest X
''Dragon Quest X: Awakening of the Five Walkers Online'', also known as is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. It is the tenth mainline entry in the '' Dragon Quest'' series. It was ...
'' was added to the list of playable games just two months before support for the online functionality of the Wii version was dropped.
The addition relied on a number of features that had been previously added to the emulator simply for the sake of accuracy, such as support for the
Wii Shop Channel
The Wii Shop Channel is a former digital distribution service for the Wii video game console. The service allowed users to purchase and play additional software for the Wii (called Channels), including exclusive games (branded WiiWare), and game ...
. Support for Wii File System, an encrypted
file system that was originally designed for the
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
, was also added after a rigorous amount of
reverse engineering.
In the first half of 2018 Dolphin's developers deprecated the
wxWidgets
wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows) is a widget toolkit and tools library for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for cross-platform applications. wxWidgets enables a program's GUI code to compile and run on several computer platforms with mini ...
GUI toolkit
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...
and replaced it with one based on
Qt because the original GUI toolkit's limitations stood in the way of implementing new features.
Among the other newly introduced features were ''Asynchronous Shader Compilation'' similar to
Ishiiruka, an auto-update feature, and integration with
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
.
In the summer of 2018 Dolphin's Vulkan renderer was brought to macOS via
MoltenVK
MoltenVK is a software library which allows Vulkan applications to run on top of Metal on Apple's macOS, iOS, and tvOS operating systems. It is the first software component to be released for the Vulkan Portability Initiative, a project to hav ...
and the Android version was brought back to
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...
with monthly updates. In April 2019, Dolphin added 3 new features; unification of common video backends, a NetPlay Server browser, and Wii MotionPlus emulation. The Direct3D 12 renderer was also brought back.
During the time-frame between November 2019 and January 2020, support for
Windows 10 on ARM was added. According to the developers, “
turned out to be quite easy” because support for AArch64 hardware has already been present as part of the Android port.
In the May and June Progress Report for 2020 the Dolphin team unveiled a new compression format, based upon the WIA format, called RVZ. The article claims that RVZ, compared to the NKit format, properly emulates load times.
Additionally, the article claims that RVZ approaches or excels the file sizes of "scrubbed" WIA and GCZ disk images while remaining lossless.
In the December 2020 and January 2021 Progress Report, the Dolphin team reported that support had been added for emulating
Nintendo DS Connectivity with various Wii titles. The article stated that this development would not lead to Dolphin and DS interoperability, either with physical hardware or with another emulator.
This new emulation fixed a crash present in ''
Driver: San Francisco'' and other games that attempt to initiate DS communications.
In May 2021, Dolphin added support for
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
on ARM64, which had been a heavily requested feature following the announcement of the
Mac transition to Apple Silicon
The Mac transition to Apple silicon is the process of changing the central processing units (CPUs) of Apple Inc.'s line of Mac computers from Intel's x86-64 processors to Apple-designed systems on a chip that use the ARM64 architecture. CE ...
.
In July 2021, the Dolphin team announced the integration of the mGBA emulator into Dolphin, allowing a Game Boy Advance emulator to run within Dolphin simultaneously to simulate
GameCube-GBA connectivity. In addition to supporting transfer of data to and from emulated GBA titles, up to four Game Boy Advance instances can be simultaneously active in Dolphin at once, making multiplayer in games that require the GBA such as ''
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures'' and ''
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles'' is a series of video games within the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise developed by Square Enix. Beginning in 2003 with the game for the GameCube, the series has predominantly been released on Nintendo gaming ha ...
'' viable within Dolphin locally and via netplay.
In June 2022, the Dolphin developers announced that subsequent versions would not run on
Windows 7
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...
,
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
and
Windows 8.1. The primary reasons cited for dropping support for these operating systems were that less than 2% of users and none of the developers still used them, making developing and testing on them difficult, and that the emulator's dependencies such as
Qt no longer supported them.
In July 2022, Dolphin developers released a graphics mod infrastructure, allowing you to make graphical changes while a game's images are being rendered. In September 2022, the
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
version added a native
Metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
graphics backend, which featured improved performance over the
Vulkan
Vulkan is a low- overhead, cross-platform API, open standard for 3D graphics and computing. Vulkan targets high-performance real-time 3D graphics applications, such as video games and interactive media. Vulkan is intended to offer higher perfor ...
backend running via
MoltenVK
MoltenVK is a software library which allows Vulkan applications to run on top of Metal on Apple's macOS, iOS, and tvOS operating systems. It is the first software component to be released for the Vulkan Portability Initiative, a project to hav ...
.
Features
![Calonnec classiquewiimote](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Calonnec_classiquewiimote.JPG)
Features of Dolphin include the ability to start games regardless of
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
, record
tool-assisted speedrun
A tool-assisted speedrun, or tool-assisted superplay (TAS ), is generally defined as speedrunning an Emulator, emulated game. During development of the speedrun, the framerate is slowed down to allow precise inputs to be done with ease. Splicing, ...
s, and the use of
cheat codes
Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself (a cheat code implemented by ...
with
Action Replay
Action Replay is the brand name of a cheating device (such as cheat cartridges) created by Datel. The Action Replay is available for many gaming systems including the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable, PlaySt ...
and Gecko. Functions of the original
GameCube controllers and Wii Remotes can be mapped to PC controllers.
The emulator allows for the use of real GameCube controllers through the use of a USB adapter
and
Wii Remote
The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...
s through
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
connection.
Controller expansions are also supported, including the Wii MotionPlus adapter, Wii Nunchuk, Classic controller, Guitar, Drums, and Turntable.
Two kinds of network play are supported by Dolphin: Emulated local multiplayer and
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC) was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download ...
.
The first only works among Dolphin users. It applies to games that by default have no online option. The second kind is for online gameplay for
WFC supported Wii games with other Dolphin users as well as real Wii users.
Game progress can be saved on virtual
GameCube Memory Card
GameCube accessories include first-party releases from Nintendo, and third-party devices, since the GameCube's launch in 2001.
First-party and licensed Controllers GameCube controller
The GameCube controller was released alongside the console a ...
s, emulated
Wii flash memory, and
save state
A saved game (also called a game save, savegame, savefile, save point, or simply save) is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game.
From the earliest games in the 1970s onward, game platform hardw ...
s. Dolphin features a Memory Card Manager which allows transfer of save files to and from virtual GameCube memory cards.
In conjunction with an integrated
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
emulator, Dolphin supports
linking GameCube and Game Boy Advance titles.
Independent of Wii controllers
Dolphin does not require
Wii Remote
The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...
or
Nunchuk
is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person w ...
for all games. For example, ''
New Super Mario Bros. Wii'' requires Wii Remote, or Wii Remote + Nunchuk for the Wii hardware console, but any controller can be used to play the game from Dolphin.
Graphical improvements
![Anti-aliasing demo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Anti-aliasing_demo.svg)
Like many other console emulators on PC, Dolphin supports arbitrary resolutions,
whereas the GameCube and Wii only support up to
480p
480p is the shorthand name for a family of video display resolutions. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The ''480'' denotes a vertical resolution of 480 pixels, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels and 4:3 ...
.
Dolphin can load customized
texture maps
Texture mapping is a method for mapping a texture on a computer-generated graphic. Texture here can be high frequency detail, surface texture, or color.
History
The original technique was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974.
Texture mapping ...
.
These can also be of higher resolution than the original textures. The emulator also has the ability to export a game's textures in order for graphic artists to modify them.
Dolphin can output
stereoscopic 3D
Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...
graphics on any platform Dolphin runs. Special hardware such as
Nvidia 3D Vision
Nvidia 3D Vision (previously ''GeForce 3D Vision'') is a discontinued stereoscopic gaming kit from Nvidia which consists of LC shutter glasses and driver software which enables stereoscopic vision for any Direct3D game, with various degrees of co ...
is also supported. The ability to play games in stereoscopic 3D is a feature the original consoles never had, although Nintendo did originally plan to release a stereoscopic 3D add-on screen for the GameCube.
Additional features to further enhance the graphics quality are also available. Dolphin supports
spatial anti-aliasing
In digital signal processing, spatial anti-aliasing is a technique for minimizing the distortion artifacts ( aliasing) when representing a high-resolution image at a lower resolution. Anti-aliasing is used in digital photography, computer graphi ...
,
anisotropic filtering
In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering (abbreviated AF) is a method of enhancing the image quality of textures on surfaces of computer graphics that are at oblique viewing angles with respect to the camera where the projection of the ...
, post-processing pixel
shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
s, and a
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
hack for forcing widescreen output on games that do not support it natively. Games can also achieve higher-than-intended
frames per second
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
.
Reception
The Dolphin emulator has been well received by the gaming community, with the program's ability to run games at a higher resolution than the GameCube and Wii's native 480p resolution receiving particular praise from the gaming community.
''
PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' editor Wes Fenlon called it "one of the only emulators to make many games better" and praised it for continually "making major, sometimes huge improvements to compatibility and performance".
''Wololo.net'' praised the system's high compatibility.
Dolphin has been used by some people as a tool to mitigate certain shortcomings for gamers; in 2012, business owner and father Mike Hoye, who had been playing ''
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'' with his daughter and realized that the game referred to the main character as a male individual regardless of the inputted name, changed all of the game's cutscene dialogue text to refer to a girl instead of a boy by editing it through a hex editor, testing out the game's ISO using Dolphin. The emulator's Netplay feature has been described by ArsTechnica to be serving as an alternative to the discontinued
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC) was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download ...
.
, Dolphin has approximately daily active users, according to Dolphin's
opt-in
Opt-in email is a term used when someone is not initially added to an emailing list and is instead given the option to join the emailing list. Typically, this is some sort of mailing list, newsletter, or advertising. Opt-out emails do not ask ...
analytics.
Variants & forks
Dolphin Triforce
![Triforce arcade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Triforce_arcade.svg)
A version of Dolphin made to emulate the
Triforce arcade system titled ''Dolphin Triforce'' was in development by the Dolphin team, but was eventually disabled after development priorities shifted and the feature became unmaintained.
Downloads of Dolphin Triforce are still available from the website and the source code is available from GitHub in a dedicated repository.
Dolphin VR
Dolphin VR is a
third-party project aimed to extend Dolphin with the ability to play games “in
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...
with accurate life-size scale, full FOV
ield of view a 3D HUD, independent aiming, and the ability to look around.”
HTC Vive
VIVE, sometimes referred to as HTC Vive, is a virtual reality brand of HTC Corporation. It consists of hardware like its titular virtual reality headsets and accessories, virtual reality software and services, and initiatives that promote appl ...
and
Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016.
In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...
are supported.
PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
tested a few games with Dolphin VR.
Metroid Prime
''Metroid Prime'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the ''Metroid'' franchise and the first game in ...
and
F-Zero GX
''F-Zero GX'' is a 2003 racing video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Nintendo for the GameCube console. It runs on an enhanced version of the engine used in ''Super Monkey Ball''. ''F-Zero AX'', the arcade counterpart of ''G ...
received especially high praise with one editor feeling “childlike wonder when playing Metroid Prime in VR” and another stating that “F-Zero
sthe thing that sold me on Dolphin VR”.
The latest release is 5.0 and the source code is hosted on
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continu ...
.
License incompatibility
The
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft (" ...
maintains the position that GPL software cannot be combined with Oculus SDK's license.
DolphiniOS
DolphiniOS is a
third-party
Third party may refer to:
Business
* Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller
* Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party
* Third-party insurance, such as a Ve ...
fork
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...
of Dolphin for
Apple iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
.
It is not available on the
App Store
An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...
, instead being distributed through a
Cydia
Cydia is a graphical user interface of APT (Advanced Package Tool) for iOS. It enables a user to find and install software not authorized by Apple on jailbroken iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices. It also refers to digital distribution pl ...
repository for
jailbroken devices, an ''AltStore'' repository, or an
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners ...
package for
sideload
Sideloading describes the process of transferring files between two local devices, in particular between a personal computer and a mobile device such as a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet, portable media player or e-reader.
Sideloading ...
ing.
DolphiniOS used to be monetized by having beta releases be available earlier to
Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a com ...
s; their Patreon program has been paused and they claim that they are now permanently discontinuing this practice.
Along with this they also announced that the project would be going on hiatus due to the lead developer going on break.
The first pre-release version went public on 9 December 2019 with the 1.0 release following a week later.
Version 2.0 has been released only a month later on 9 January 2020. The 2.0 version supports physical controllers, among other new features.
Version 3.0 was released on the 20 June 2020.
Notable new features include the ability to display your games in a grid, the ability to update the Wii System Menu like on the desktop version of Dolphin, the ability to install WAD files to the Wii NAND and the ability to change disc while the emulator is running.
Versions 3.1.1 and 3.2.0 beta 1 have been released since the hiatus announcement. Rumble and motion control support was added for
DualShock 4
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...
s and DolphiniOS now functions properly for users of the Odyssey jailbreak.
A writer from Wololo.net wrote regarding the performance of DolphiniOS: “On my iPad Pro 10.5-inch (A10X), Mario Kart Wii works pretty well and playing through the first two tracks of the Mushroom Cup provided excellent results!"
The source code is hosted on
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continu ...
.
Ishiiruka
![Ishiiruka Dolphin logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Ishiiruka_Dolphin_logo.png)
In reaction to the
removal of Direct3D 9 support, Dolphin developer Tino created an unofficial
fork
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...
called ''Ishiiruka'' on 18 October 2013. The name is Japanese for
Dall's porpoise
Dall's porpoise (''Phocoenoides dalli'') is a species of porpoise endemic to the North Pacific. It is the largest of porpoises and the only member of the genus ''Phocoenoides''. The species is named after American naturalist W. H. Dall.
Taxono ...
. Although the focus is Windows with Direct3D 9 and 11 support, Linux versions also exist.
The fork attempts to remedy performance problems present in Dolphin such as microstuttering due to
shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
compilation,
however, it relies on asynchronous shader compilation to achieve this, which is not a full solution and in some cases results in pop in. Ishiiruka serves as base for the canonical client of the ''
Super Smash Bros. Melee''
netplay communities ''Faster Melee'' and ''SmashLadder''.
John Linneman of
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
talks in the October 2016 ''
Metroid Prime
''Metroid Prime'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the ''Metroid'' franchise and the first game in ...
'' episode of their ''Digital Foundry Retro'' video series about Ishiiruka. He compares playing Metroid Prime via Ishiiruka to playing it on original hardware, Wii and GameCube, and
upstream
Upstream may refer to:
* Upstream (bioprocess)
* ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford
* Upstream (networking)
* ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry
* Upstream (petroleum industry)
* Upstream (software ...
Dolphin. Linneman argues that “the benefits
f emulation
F, or f, is the sixth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#Let ...
kind of outweigh any of the smaller issues that you might encounter”. He continues to point out features of Ishiiruka that “allow you to push the visuals beyond what you can achieve using standard Dolphin. For instance, you can add lots of cool additional enhancements like
depth of field,
ambient occlusion
In 3D computer graphics, modeling, and animation, ambient occlusion is a shading and rendering technique used to calculate how exposed each point in a scene is to ambient lighting. For example, the interior of a tube is typically more occluded ...
, various types of
color correction
Color correction is a process used in stage lighting, photography, television, cinematography, and other disciplines, which uses color gels, or filters, to alter the overall color of the light. Typically the light color is measured on a scale kno ...
and a whole lot more
It's also worth noting that this version of Dolphin helps avoid the shader compilation stutters that plagued the official release of the emulator and it leads to a much more fluid experience.”
As with Dolphin, development is hosted on
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continu ...
.
PrimeHack
PrimeHack is a version of Dolphin created by shiiion that has been modified to play ''
Metroid Prime: Trilogy'' on PC with keyboard and mouse controls. Two variants exist of PrimeHack – one is based on
Ishiiruka,
the other one on Dolphin proper.
The latter is as of October 2019 the focus of development
after it laid dormant between February and October 2019.
The source code is hosted on GitHub.
See also
*
List of video game console emulators
The following is a list of notable video game console emulators.
Arcade
* Visual Pinball
Atari
; Atari 2600
* Stella
Nintendo
Home consoles
; Nintendo Entertainment System
* FCEUX
* NESticle
* Nestopia
; Super NES
* Snes9x
* ZSNES
; ...
*
Cemu
Cemu is an open-source Wii U video game console emulator, first released October 13, 2015 for Microsoft Windows as a closed-source emulator developed by Exzap and Petergov. Experimental builds currently support Linux, and experimentally macOS in ...
– Wii U emulator
*
Citra – Nintendo 3DS emulator co-maintained by Dolphin maintainer Mat M./Lioncache
*
Yuzu
Yuzu (''Citrus junos'', from Japanese or ) is a citrus fruit and plant in the family Rutaceae of East Asian origin. Yuzu has been cultivated mainly in East Asia, though recently also in New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Italy, and France.
I ...
- Nintendo Switch emulator
*
PCSX2
PCSX2 is a free and open-source PlayStation 2 emulator for Windows, Linux, and macOS that supports a wide range of PlayStation 2 video games with a high level of compatibility and functionality. Although PCSX2 can closely mirror the original gam ...
– Another
sixth generation console emulator (PlayStation 2)
*
PPSSPP – PlayStation Portable emulator by Dolphin co-founder Henrik Rydgård
*
VisualBoyAdvance
VisualBoyAdvance (commonly abbreviated as VBA) is a free emulator of the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance handheld game consoles as well as of Super Game Boy and Super Game Boy 2.
Besides the DirectX version for the Windows pl ...
– Game Boy Advance emulator compatible with Dolphin's Link Cable emulation
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, Free and open-source software, Video games
Arcade video game emulators
GameCube emulators
Wii emulators
Android emulation software
Free and open-source Android software
Linux emulation software
MacOS emulation software
Windows emulation software
Free video game console emulators
Free software programmed in C++
Software that uses Qt
Software that uses wxWidgets
Software that was ported from wxWidgets to Qt