Dolphin
Dolphin is a GameCube and Wii emulator usable on personal computers. As a result of this, both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are playable with the emulator. As Dolphin is currently the most stable GameCube and Wii emulator available for download, it is currently the most popular option for emulating the two games. Its high system requirements, however, have prevented it from attaining the same level of popularity as Nintendo 64 emulators, such as Project 64, though the gradual increase of power in computers intended for gaming have caused Dolphin's popularity to slowly increase.
Outside of its ease of setup and relative stability, Dolphin has since become popular for its use in tool-assisted superplays, especially with JPleal's Perfect Falcon and Perfect Pichu videos. In addition, the emulator allows for the ability to hack textures in both Melee and Brawl, as well as potentially play both games online; both, however, are criticised for extensive desynching problems, though these can be reduced when certain hacks are enabled or disabled, and advances in Dolphin's programming have attempted to reduce these problems. Among the smashers that take part in the small netplay community include Kage.
Melee is stated to run in Dolphin without errors, according to its development team. Brawl, however, requires certain graphical requirements set within Dolphin to properly display the various results screens; in single player modes, the screen focusing on the player's character instead becomes a solid green colour. Barring these graphical flaws, the Dolphin development team has stated that Brawl is fully playable in the emulator.
Trivia
- The emulator's name stems from the GameCube's original working title of Dolphin.
