Nintendo GameCube emulators

Nintendo GameCube

GameCube in "Indigo" with matching controller and memory card inserted
Developer	Nintendo
Manufacturer	Nintendo, Foxconn
Type	Home video game console
Generation	Sixth
Release date	September 14, 2001
Discontinued	February 2007
Predecessor	Nintendo 64
Successor	Wii
Emulated	✓

For emulators that run on the Nintendo GameCube, see Emulators on Nintendo GameCube.

The Nintendo GameCube (GCN/NGC) is a 32-bit, sixth-generation console released by Nintendo on November 18, 2001, for $199 ($362 in 2026). It has an IBM PowerPC Gekko CPU at 486 MHz with 24 MB of RAM and an ATI Flipper GPU at 162 MHz. Nintendo, Namco, and Sega later designed the Triforce arcade board based on the GameCube, releasing titles for it the following year. Unlike PlayStation 2 or Xbox DVD playback support, the GameCube didn't have playback support for mini-DVD movies. However, a special version of the GameCube that could play DVD-Video, audio CDs and VCDs was released by Nintendo and Panasonic, called the Panasonic Q.

Nintendo released the successor, the Wii, in 2006, which was revealed to have very similar (albeit more powerful) hardware and compatible interfaces. This meant the Wii could run GameCube games natively rather than via emulation. While this was removed in later revisions, as well as the vWii mode in the Wii U, the hardware is still similar enough that GameCube games can be run via certain homebrew programs, with Nintendont being the most popular and easy to use.

Compatibility layers (...)

Name	Platform(s)	Active?	Latest version	License	Compatibility	Triforce	Recommended? (overall)
Nintendont		✓	git	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	99.61% 1020 out of 1024 reported titles	✓	✓
Devolution		✗	r206	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	?	?	✗
DIOS MIOS (Lite)		✗	2.11	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	?	?	✗

Native

Name	Platform(s)	Active?	Latest version	License	Compatibility	Recommended? (overall)
Wii Backwards Compatibility		✗	v6	Proprietary	No documented issues	✓

Comparisons

Emulators

Dolphin

The emulator of choice for the GameCube and the first Wii emulator. It is updated on a near-daily basis and has great emulation of almost every game, though some games have known bugs on their issue trackers. It is the first emulator to boot the full game catalog of a sixth-generation home console (Before any emulator for the same generation rivals like the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and Xbox) and did so in September 2016. The developers maintain a wiki containing known bugs, tips, user-provided tests, and much more for every game.

Ishiiruka-Dolphin

A fork of Dolphin optimized towards performance at the cost of accuracy and stability in the process. It is no longer updated and has been superseded by the main version of Dolphin.

pureikyubu

An open-source Nintendo GameCube emulator which initially started development under the name Dolwin in 2004; it could boot and run some commercial games and demos. Nowadays, pureikyubu is designed to be a research emulator for developers, with accuracy being a priority.

gcube

An early, short-lived GameCube emulator created around 2004 by developer monk. Despite the emulator's promising rapid progress, the project was discontinued in 2005 at version 0.4, with gcube's source code released afterward. The source code was mirrored to GitLab in 2017, with the emulator having received many major updates since it was originally discontinued. However, the project has remained abandoned since it was initially mirrored.

Dolphin (Nintendo)

Nintendo made an emulator for Windows that was also called Dolphin. This official program doesn't run commercial games and has no connection to the open-source project.

Hagi

An official GameCube/Wii emulator developed by Nintendo European Research & Development (NERD). Hagi has been used primarily for re-releases on the Switch, such as Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Pikmin, and Pikmin 2. It uses automatic button remapping based on memory.

Nintendo GameCube - Nintendo Classics

Another official emulator. Released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 and available for the members of Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Supports local and online play (up to four players), and includes a CRT filter and in-app button remapping. Users are limited to the selection of games Nintendo chooses to make available on the service. Accuracy is high, though input lag, analog stick emulation (fixed in version 1.6.0), and single frame drops every 16-17 seconds remain issues.

Compatibility layers

Nintendont

While not technically an emulator, Nintendont is a compatibility layer that allows you to play GameCube games on the Wii and even the Wii U. It's compatible with nearly all GameCube titles (and Triforce games, too) and supports extra features such as memory card emulation along with support for additional controller input options such as the USB GameCube controller adapter, Classic Controller Pro, Wii U Pro Controller, and even the Wii U GamePad.

DIOS MIOS (Lite)

Another compatibility layer for the Wii (but NOT Wii U) that allows you to play GameCube games. The main version allows users to load games off of a USB device, while the "Lite" version loads games from an SD card. Nintendont serves as a direct successor to this project, making DIOS MIOS entirely obsolete.

Enhancements

Please only include recommended emulators in this table. Do not bump or spam GitHub threads, issues, or feature request pages.

Name		Dolphin
Controls	Disguise peripheral support through passthrough Tricking the software into thinking that the original controller was connected even though they identify themselves with different device IDs. When a game tries to identify a connected 'nearly the same internally' controller, emulator will tell it that the equivalent original controller is connected instead, allowing it to work.	✓ Dolphin Progress Report - Release 2506
	Input lag mitigating	✗
	Mouse injector	~ There is a third-party Mouse injector tool that can help you with this on GitHub
	Real peripheral support (passthrough) Ability to passthrough USB HID devices or Bluetooth adapter for emulated system.	✓ Dolphin wiki - Bluetooth Passthrough Dolphin wiki - USB Passthrough
	Turbo button	?
Graphics	Better texture filtering Enhancement option for providing better texture filtering methods comparing the original hardware had.	Dolphin's anisotropic filtering enhancement is not emulation of the consoles' anisotropic filtering. In fact, Dolphin completely ignored all anisotropic filtering requests from the game entirely! Dolphin's enhancement was everything or nothing, and there was no way to only enable anisotropic filtering just for the textures that would have used it on console. As such, it was impossible to get console-matching texture output - without the enhancement some textures would be too soft, and with the enhancement some textures would be too sharp. It was never quite right. This has been changed recently though! If Dolphin's texture filtering is set to 'Default' and a game requests anisotropic filtering, Dolphin will now listen to the game's request and apply the specific anisotropic filtering it asked for (this way it will be emulation of the hardware feature, not enhancement).
	Pre-rendering anti-aliasing (SSAA, MSAA)	✓
	Ray tracing (DXR, VRT and MRT)	Implementing ray tracing in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future. However you can try "Screen-Space Ray Traced Global Illumination" shader using ReShade. See here and here
	Resizable internal resolution	✓
	RTX Remix	Implementing RTX Remix technology in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future. Besides, Dolphin already supports most of RTX Remix features such as access to assets, texture replacement and post-processing effects etc. On top of that you can use ReShade.
	Super-resolution techniques (DLSS, XeSS, and FSR 2+)	Requires access to the depth buffer and temporal data like motion-vectors so it's quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future. Besides, any GPU that can use DLSS can run Dolphin at 8k native with ease anyway.
	Texture packs	✓ Dolphin lets you dump game textures and also replace game textures with new custom ones.
	True color rendering This enhancement forces the precision of colors output to the console's framebuffer to use the full 8 bits of precision per channel. It is useful especially on non-CRT displays, producing nicer looking gradients. Read this for more information. It is useful especially on non-CRT displays, producing nicer looking gradients.	✓
	Widescreen and ultra-widescreen hack To get full native widescreen, try Swiss. This can even run on a real GameCube/Wii if you wish.	✓
Performance	Frame generation technologies (LSFG, DLSS-FG and SM, XeSS-FG, AFMF and FSR FG)	Implementing frame generation technology in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future, however post-processing techniques such as motion interpolation is quite possible. Input latency will be a crucial factor, but its impact likely varies depending on the specific technique employed, it's recommended to use after applying the "internal frame rate hack" and "skip presenting duplicate frames option". While AFMF or LSFG can be used with Dolphin, please be aware that some visual glitches and artifacts may occur at this time.
	Internal frame rate hack	✓
	Overclock	✓
	Preload optical disc image to RAM For users with sluggish multi-platter HDDs or plagued by horrible seek times, this enhancement might offer smoother experience, potentially reduced power consumption; it also shines when disc images reside on a network drive. Although keep in mind that preloading image would take some time, and it will require additional amount of RAM capacity.	✓ Dolphin Progress Report- Release 2603
	Rendering latency reduction technologies (LatencyFleX, Reflex, Xe-LL and Anti-Lag+)	While most emulators offer frame pacing or framebuffer latency control options, implementing rendering latency reduction technologies isn't currently feasible. This is likely doesn't offer enough benefit to justify the development effort.
Post-processing	AI-powered filter (Freestyle)	?
	Filters	✓
	Inverse tone mapping compatible	✓ Dolphin Progress Report - February, March and April 2024
	Post-rendering anti-aliasing (FXAA, TXAA, and MLAA/SMAA)	✓
	Post-rendering scaling (Sharp bilinear, Lanczos, and FSR 1)	✓
	Shader chain	WIP GitHub - Shader Chain Pull Request Dolphin had a DolphinFX project for OpenGL backend, but it's now obsolete.
Quality of life	Automatic emulated controller connect/disconnect Automatically connects or disconnects emulated controllers when a new or current controller is connected or disconnected.	✗
	Automatic updater	✓
	Automatic region switching	?
	Big Picture Mode	WIP Dolphin forums - Big Picture Mode
	Built-in Cheat manager	✓
	Built-in custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes For using this on Windows, you need CRT Emudriver. Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility".	Exclusive to libretro core at the moment. Also there is a project for achieving software emulators like libretro cores and GroovyMAME send the raw RGB data over a network to a core running on MiSTer, it basically turns the MiSTer into a GPU for the emulator allowing for easy setup and use with CRT TVs/Arcade monitors.
	Built-in mod editor and manager	There is a pull request for adding graphics mod editor/manager to Dolphin. In the meantime, you can use Graphics Mods; an exciting new feature introduced in 5.0-16763 that allows users to modify games through a method of defining targets and then applying actions to those targets. Rather than hijacking the game's code with PowerPC assembly (game patches) or general memory editing (Action Replay codes), graphics mods work inside Dolphin's rendering pipeline, altering Dolphin's output exclusively. Graphics Mods work in two parts - the action, and the target. The action is how the graphics mod should affect Dolphin's rendering pipeline, i.e. "delete an EFB Copy", while the target is the only thing that is specific to a given game, such as "this is the hash for the EFB Copy I want to remove." This is a very simple example for demonstration purposes, but Graphics Mods are able to do a lot within Dolphin's rendering system, such as apply any shader to an EFB Copy. Currently, Dolphin supports three actions: Skip, Move, and Scale. These are modifications to the target groups. In addition to this, Dolphin has some built-in Graphics Mods that apply to certain target groups. These include "Native Bloom" - scaling the "Bloom" target group down to the correct resolution, "No Bloom" - skipping any texture labeled in the "Bloom" target group, and "No HUD" - skipping any textures under the target group of "HUD". You can define these or your own Target Groups in any game through using Dolphin's Texture Dumping tool or EFB dumping tools.
	Built-in patch manager	?
	Built-in save manager	✓ You can always use Main Menu emulation capability of the emulator to manage your game saves.
	Command-line options	✓
	Index/Compatibility databases Many modern emulators incorporate database-driven per-game overrides to apply targeted fixes or tweaks for quality-of-life (QoL) improvement without requiring users to manually edit global config files for each title. This approach allows quick, centralized application of workarounds for specific games, such as graphics fixes, timing adjustments, or compatibility flags, while keeping the emulator's default settings intact. This auto fix feature shouldn't be confused with "Per-game profiles" enhancement feature.	✓
	On-screen display Showcases messages, controller input state which is useful for speedrunners, performance data, active settings, and various notifications.	✓
	Pause/Resume emulation	✓
	Per-game profiles	✓
	Portable and stealth Useful enhancement feature for non-personal computer use or plug-and-play scenarios. However, the software may still require the necessary prerequisites and dependencies for your operating system if it is not statically linked.	✓
	Streamable compression format	✓
	Variable refresh rate	✗ Dolphin forums - Thread question about gsync vrr
TAS features	Fast forward/Turbo speed	✓
	Macros/Scripts/Lua	✓
	Movie recording/playback	✓
	Frame step (forwards and backwards)	✗
	Rewind	✗
	Save states	✓
Misc.	Ambient sounds simulation Simulation of audio from original hardware and environments, such as mechanical hard drive, floppy diskette, and optical drive noises (e.g., head seeks, spin-up/down, tray loading, disc spinning, and clicking), variable CRT flyback transformer whine (the classic high-pitched "coil whine" that dynamically changes pitch based on screen brightness and content), arcade cabinet effects (e.g., fan hum or button rattles), and other background ambient noises.	✗
	Audio filters and presets Simulation of characteristic playback limitations and coloration of vintage consumer audio hardware, such as CRT television speakers, arcade cabinets, handheld consoles, early PC sound outputs, and low-fidelity integrated speakers. These filters are not intended to be perfectly accurate recreations, but rather to evoke the tonal qualities, distortion, bandwidth limits, resonance, and compression associated with 8-bit and 16-bit era devices. Examples include mono or narrow stereo output, reduced frequency response, speaker cone distortion, mild saturation, aliasing, and preset lo-fi profiles inspired by classic TVs, portable game systems, radios, and retro multimedia hardware.	~
	Debug features	✓
	EmuVR support	~
	File browser Lets the user look at the ROM's internal files.	✓
	Free Look Free Look is an enhancement feature that allows manipulation of the in-game camera.	✓ Dolphin wiki - Free Look
	Netplay This shouldn't be confused with Broadband Adapter emulation, see hardware features and peripherals.	✓ Dolphin - Netplay Guide
	RetroAchievements	✓ GameCube support for RetroAchievements became available on July 15, 2024 for Dolphin on Windows, Linux, and macOS, and on November 22, 2025 for Dolphin on Android. The libretro core version of Dolphin does not support achievements.
	Rich Presence (RPC) Allows the emulator to share real-time game session details (e.g., current game title, level, boss, playtime, or custom status) with external applications. This enables features such as displaying what you're playing on your profile, inviting friends to spectate, or triggering join-in-progress functionality where supported.	✓ GitHub - Rich Presence (RPC) Pull Request
	Screen translator Using optical character recognition (OCR) and other techniques, this feature can provide live translation of in-game text, text-to-speech for visually impaired users, and more — either on demand or automatically.	✗ You can use RetroArch's AI Service or the standalone offline bquenin's Interpreter.

Hardware features and peripherals

Please only include recommended emulators in this table. Do not bump or spam GitHub threads, issues, or feature request pages.

Name				Dolphin
Hardware features	Controller rumble			✓
	Dolby Surround as Dolby Pro Logic II			✓
	Game Disc			~
	Progressive scan			✓
	System BIOS			✓
Peripherals	Controller port	ASCII Keyboard		✓
		Dance Mat	Active Life Dance Mat	✓
			Dance Dance Revolution Dance Mat	✓
		DK Bongos		✓
		Game Boy Advance cable		✓
		Racing wheel		✓
	Game Boy Player			✓
	Inrou-Kun pedometer & Botan-San walking pad			✗
	Memory card slot	Calendar Card		✗
		GCI folder		✓
		Microphone		✓
		SD Card Adapter		✗
		USB Gecko		✓
	Serial	Broadband adapter		✓
		Modem adapter		✓
	Triforce baseboard			✓
	Unlicensed	Advance game port		✓
Misc.	Disc scratch simulation Similarly to cartridge tilting on cartridge-based systems, people intentionally scratch their discs to make a particular glitch work more reliably.			No emulator currently includes built-in disc scratch simulation, as it would require low-level emulation of optical drive error correction, which is not implemented. As a workaround, you can try the external Real-Time Corruptor (RTCV) tool. It is a real-time memory/data corruption tool for inducing glitches during emulation, which might mimic some effects of a scratched disc (e.g., visual/audio artifacts or crashes). However, it is not a true "disc scratch" simulator, as it works on live memory rather than simulating physical disc read errors.
	Dummy peripherals			✓
	Joy Carry Cartridge Game Boy Advance connectivity			✗
	Power light			✗

GC/GBA Cable

Nintendo produced a special cable (DOL-011) that allowed connectivity with the Game Boy Advance in specific games. Up to four ports could be taken up for the game. While the third-generation Pokémon games are the prime example of it being used in conjunction with Colosseum, XD, or Pokémon Box, they aren't the only games to do so. Some GameCube games lets the player(s) use the Game Boy Advance as a controller.

Dolphin includes a GBA core based on mGBA that is tied to GameCube emulation, allowing for a very stable connection that works with features such as save states and netplay. Dolphin can also connect to standalone versions of mGBA or VisualBoyAdvance-M; this is necessary for some less commonly used features or cases where the GBA has to be disconnected from the GameCube. Both can be enabled by going into the controller settings and assigning the GBA to one or more ports. The general config menu also allows you to specify a GBA ROM to be used if using the built-in GBA core.

Nintendont includes support for the GBA link cable hardware, but only through the GC controller ports on the original Wii (model RVL-001). It is currently not supported through any USB adapters.

Bongos

This special controller is used with Donkey Konga and other Donkey Kong Jungle Beat released for the GameCube.

Dolphin supports this controller via the GameCube controller adapter.

Nintendont is known to support this controller through the GC controller ports on the original Wii (model RVL-001). It is currently unclear whether the controller is supported through any USB adapters.

Game Boy Player

This add-on plugged into the bottom of the GameCube and allowed it to play Game Boy / Game Boy Advance games on a standard television; it had provisions against Game Boy Advance Video cartridges by returning an error after booting them to prevent piracy. The launcher even supported the GBA-GCN link cable, where the Game Boy Advance would serve as the controller. Some GBA games like Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Drill Dozer took advantage of the add-on by adding rumble support. The hardware is essentially a peripheral containing Game Boy Advance hardware, which means that recreating it would require simultaneous emulation of a GameCube and a GBA, including BIOS files for both.

After years of anticipation, Dolphin now officially supports Game Boy Player hardware and its associated features. This integration was made possible via Pull Request #14535.

Hardware variants

Triforce

Triforce hardware system (side-rear view)

The Triforce is an arcade system board developed jointly by Namco, Sega, and Nintendo, with the first games appearing in 2002. The system hardware consists of a retail GameCube motherboard, with custom devices interfacing with the EXI, SI and DI, and a custom IPL. As of 2026, the Dolphin emulator supports the Triforce.

You have two options for Triforce emulation

1. Main Dolphin builds (recommended): Triforce support has been part of Dolphin since 2512-395. A setup guide is in the Dolphin announcement, linked here. Multiplayer support is present, though a guide is still being written for the Dolphin wiki. Though it is in a mostly working state, there are still some issues being worked on, such as the Key of Avalon games still being unplayable.

2. Wii: Triforce games can also be run on a Wii using Nintendont. Triforce support is somewhat incomplete, and lacks features such as LAN connectivity, internal saving (for things such as high scores or F-Zero AX time attack ghosts), and GameCube memory card reading. Mario Cards and F-Zero License Cards can be emulated for the Mario Kart Arcade GP games and F-Zero AX respectively, but linking F-Zero AX to an F-Zero GX save is impossible.

Game-specific features

Name			Dolphin
Card reader types	Deck reader		~
	IC card reader		✓
	Magnetic card reader/writer		Dolphin has built-in support. Also, YaCardEmu project support emulating the various magnetic cards for arcade cabinets.
	OWABI card		?
Force feedback			✗
GD-ROM			✓
Input	Touchscreen		✓
Memory card slot			✓
NamCam			✓
Networking	Ethernet	Link	✓
		Online	✓
		Satellite terminal	✓
	RC-232C		✗
Output	Lamps and LED lights		✗
Pokémon Battrio	Memory keys		✗
	Pucks		✗
Upgradable RAM			✗

Panasonic Q

The Panasonic Q GameCube console.

The Panasonic Q (sometimes referred to as GameQ by GameCube fans) is a hybrid version of the GameCube with a DVD player manufactured by Panasonic in cooperation with Nintendo. The system was officially released only in Japan. A feature of its main competitors, the Xbox and the PlayStation 2, the GameCube lacked commercial DVD movie playback functionality due to the use of the Nintendo optical discs format for games and the correspondingly small disc tray. Initially, the Panasonic Q could only play games and DVDs from Japan; however, a modified version, which could play American games and DVDs, began to be sold from Import shops, making it a popular console to import from Japan. The unit was priced at around ¥41,000 JPY, and the modified version was priced at ¥46,000 JPY. The Panasonic Q is capable of using almost all the GameCube hardware upgrades. A special version of the Game Boy Player was designed for the Q because the Player was designed to fit onto the bottom of the GameCube, and the Q's different bottom form factor kept the Player from being installed. Other features of the Panasonic Q include a backlit information LCD, a front-loading slot disc tray, an optical sound output supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, a separate subwoofer jack, DVD remote control, and a stainless steel chassis. These high-end features, as well as the aforementioned multimedia playback capabilities, have made the Panasonic Q a popular console to collect.

The Q system was licensed by Nintendo, released on December 13, 2001, and was discontinued on December 18, 2003, due to low sales.

• Dolphin has no support for this variation.
• See this dedicated page for more information about home media playback support for emulation software.

External links

• Dolphin Wiki - The most comprehensive wiki for the Dolphin emulator and games. Good for any fixes/tweaks/settings you should know beforehand.

Nintendo(edit)

• Consoles: Color TV-Game • Nintendo Entertainment System (Family Computer) • Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Family Computer) • Nintendo 64 • GameCube • Wii • Wii U • Nintendo Switch • Nintendo Switch 2
• Handhelds: Game & Watch • Game Boy/Color • Virtual Boy • Pokémon Mini • Game Boy Advance • Nintendo DS • Nintendo DSi • Nintendo 3DS
• Arcade: Aleck 64 • Namco ES3 • Triforce
• Related: Family Computer Disk System • Satellaview • 64DD • Super Game Boy • e-Reader • Amiibo