A new update to Dolphin brings a slew of new updates.
One of the most popular and advanced emulators available, Dolphin, dropped release 2503 today and its update includes a cheat code whitelist, graphics-specific settings for games, time-played tracking, and more.
Making Waves with Dolphin
Gamecube and Wii emulation has led to one of the most developed emulators in recent decades. Dolphin reigns king in that respective scope, but it also exists as one of the longest-developed emulators around.
Dolphin running on a Retroid Pocket 5
Originally dropping its first release over 20 years ago in 2003, Dolphin has been steadily improving ever since. It wasn’t until 2008 that the app became open source, and a short seven months later, the ability to emulate Wii titles was added.
The Wii, even though it is a successor to the GameCube, has the same CPU as the GameCube and slightly improves other aspects of the console like the GPU having an attached chip specifically for security and encryption. Other than that, the Wii features typical standard IO that we see on consoles today like USB ports, an SD card slot, and a standard-sized disc drive.
For the past two decades, Dolphin has been the emulator of choice for those looking to emulate either GC or Wii titles. It has official releases for Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux-based devices.
New Updates, Same Dolphin
The new cheat code whitelist is specifically for hardcore Retro Achievements. When using achievements in retro games, cheat codes can oftentimes nullify the purpose of the achievement altogether.
When Retro Achievements were integrated into Dolphin, users could not use the various cheat codes that add widescreen support, visual changes, or alter music without sacrificing the aforementioned acheivements. With the new whitelist being added for certain cheat codes, gamers can now enjoy both the achievements and the non-cheat cheat codes they love.
Dolphin’s new Time Played feature / Image vis Dolphin
The development team has also added time tracking to see how long you’ve played a game. Dolphin was built during the GameCube era, but over time, seeing the full playtime you’ve dedicated to a game became a popular trend.
There are other notable changes in this update, but they dive deeper into specific title fixes, mapping buttons via a GUI, and improved implementation of the Wii remote. If you’d like to check the exact changes made, the Dolphin team has a well-detailed write-up available on its blog.
New updates like these show that Dolphin is still full steam ahead with everything they’ve been working towards since 2003. Most of these updates are only found in the PC version of the app, but as with all other features, they should arrive on Android in due time.
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