Dolphin (emulator)

For other uses, see Dolphin (disambiguation).

Dolphin
Original author(s)F|RES, Henrik Rydgård (ector)[1][2]
Developer(s)Dolphin Emulator Project [1]
Initial release22 September 2003; 21 years ago (2003-09-22)
Stable release
2409[3] Edit this on Wikidata / 4 September 2024; 2 months ago (4 September 2024)
Preview release2407-23 (July 5, 2024; 4 months ago (2024-07-05)) [±]
Repositorygithub.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin
Written inC++ and C[4] (GUI: originally in wxWidgets, ported to Qt5 in 2018)[5][6][7]
Operating systemWindows 10 or later, macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, Linux, Android 5.0 or later (only 64-bit), Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S[8][9][10]
Platform
Available in24 languages[13]
TypeVideo game console emulator
License2015:[a] GPL-2.0-or-later[14][15]
2008:[b] GPL-2.0-only
2003: Proprietary
Websitedolphin-emu.org
System requirements
Minimum Recommended
Personal Computer[8][16]
Operating system
CPU x86-64 CPU[11] with SSE2 support.[8]
AArch64[12]		Intel: Intel Core i5-4670K or equivalent.

AMD: Any Ryzen CPU or newer.[8]

Snapdragon 8cx or equivalent[18]
Memory 2 GB RAM or more[8]
Graphics hardware Pixel Shader 3.0, and Direct3D 10 or OpenGL 3 support[16]Modern Direct3D 11.1, OpenGL 4.4, or Vulkan GPU[8]
Input device(s) Any PC input device – mouse and keyboard by default for Wii, mouse by default for GameCubeOriginal Nintendo GameCube controller with USB adapter[19]
Original Nintendo Wii Remote via DolphinBar[20]
Android
Operating system Android 5.0[21]Android 10[22]
CPU AArch64[12]Snapdragon 835 or equivalent[23][24]
Memory 1 GB RAM4 GB RAM
Graphics hardware OpenGL ES 3.0[25]Adreno 540 or equivalent[23][24] with OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan support[26]

Dolphin is a free and open-source video game console emulator for GameCube and Wii[27] that runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S.[9][10]

It had its inaugural release in 2003 as freeware 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[28] and macOS.[29] 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 platforms.

  1. ^ Rydgård, Henrik. "Projects". Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. ^ "PPSSPP". Emulation King. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Release 2409". 4 September 2024. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Dolphin on github.com". 9 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2014 – via GitHub.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference port to Qt (1) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference port to Qt (2) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference port to Qt (3) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Dolphin FAQ". Dolphin Emulator Project. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TC_OpenSource was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b "The best GameCube and Wii emulator now has a standalone Xbox version". Games Radar. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  11. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference obituary-32bit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference remove-armv7-support was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Dolphin Emulator". transifex.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference relicense was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference GOL_Vulkan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ a b "Dolphin Emulator". Dolphin Emulator. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  17. ^ "update min macos version to 10.15 #11361". GitHub. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  18. ^ "Dolphin Progress Report: December 2019 and January 2020". Dolphin Emulator Project. 7 February 2020. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference PCGamer_GC-controllers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ "Hardware Review: Mayflash DolphinBar". Dolphin Emulator Project. 23 August 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  21. ^ "Android 5.0 required for new builds". Dolphin Emulator Project. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  22. ^ "Bumps compile API to 29 (Q) and removes deprecated calls and unnecessary casts". Dolphin Emulator Project. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  23. ^ a b Sarkar, Samit (11 April 2017). "GameCube emulator Dolphin runs very well on Samsung Galaxy S8". Polygon. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  24. ^ a b Ganos, Jason (11 April 2017). "GameCube emulation running perfectly on Galaxy S8". Nintendo Wire. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Dolphin Emulator and OpenGL drivers – Hall of Fame/Shame". Dolphin Emulator Project. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  26. ^ Davenport, Corbin (1 October 2016). "Dolphin emulator adds Vulkan support for Android". Android Police. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference PCGamer_Ethics was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference E64-FOSS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Chan, Matt (2 December 2010). "Dolphin: the Gamecube & Wii Emulator for Mac". OSXDaily. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2017.


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