Emulation is often seen as this suspect gray area of gaming that is tolerated but always on the edge. There's a lot of negativity and questions around the merit and purpose of emulation. In contrast to that narrative, the overwhelmingly positive reaction to some of the features added the last few months, including heartfelt reactions from users, make all of the challenges and struggles so much easier.
As we drift further from the heyday of the GameCube and Wii, we've been seeing a greater impact not only on the past generations of gamers, but the current one. It was heartwarming to see long-time users able to play Four Swords Adventures with their kids or friends across the world. The gratitude we received from users finally able to try previously hard-to-access features in their favorite games was so appreciated. We love these games and consoles the same as you, and we want to make sure that they live on.
Sometimes with all the negativity in emulation, it's refreshing to have something that makes both the developers and the users happy. And while we'd love to revel in past accomplishments, there's still so much more work to be done. We graciously thank everyone for their kind words over the past few months, and hope you continue to enjoy using Dolphin Emulator. With that said, it is about time that we get started with the June and July Progress Report.
| Progress Continues We've already had 14862 updates since Dolphin 5.0. Keep up with Dolphin's continuing progress through the Dolphin Blog: June and July 2021 Progress Report. |
| The Dolphin Emulator Wiki needs your help! Dolphin can play thousands of games, and changes are happening all the time. Help us keep up! Join in and help us make this the best resource for Dolphin. |
| GameCube Main Menu | |
|---|---|
| Type | Pre-installed |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Platform(s) | GameCube |
| Release date(s) | JP September 14, 2001 NA November 18, 2001 EU May 3, 2002 AUS May 17, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Utility |
| Input methods | GameCube Controller |
| Compatibility | 4 Playable |
| GameIDs | |
| See also... | Dolphin Forum thread |
The GameCube's Main Menu, commonly known as the GameCube BIOS, is the Initial Program Loader (IPL) of the GameCube and its top level interface, allowing the player to load discs, change settings, and manage up to two memory cards at once. To access these features, the player must either hold A on controller 1, have no disc inserted, or have the lid open as the GameCube logo animates.
Dolphin does not include the GameCube Main Menu by default, and it doesn't need it; it is able to launch games straight from the Dolphin GUI. However, the GameCube Main Menu is fully functional and even capable of launching games.
Download GameCube emulators and play GameCube video games on your Windows, Mac, Android, Linux and iOS devices! Download your favorites GameCube games! You can use them on an emulator or your console too! Gekitou Ninja Taisen! Silence on Tourne! Licht uit, Camera aan! Lights, Camera, Pants! Lights, Camera, Pants! Download Dolwin Emulator #4: SuperGCube GameCube Emulator for Windows 10/8/7. SuperGCube is a GameCube emulator and it allows GameCube games to easily run on a Windows PC, Linux PC or a Mac devices. The SuperGCube is an open source GameCube emulator which was developed with the main purpose of running at least one commercial game completely. A GameCube was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in the United States on November 18, in Europe 3rd of May 2002 and 17th of May in Australia. Nintendo GameCube, also known as GC, was the most compact and the cheapest among the consoles of its generation. At the time of its launch in the US players could buy one of the 12 games: All-Star.
- 1Emulation Information
- 2Enhancements
- 3Problems
- 4Configuration
Emulation Information
Accessing the Menu
As a prerequisite, you must first dump a copy of IPL.bin from a GameCube console. Then disable Skip BIOS in the Dolphin settings. To access the menu from launching a GameCube game, load any GameCube game of the appropriate region, and hold A as the GameCube logo animates. 5.0-3902 added the ability to boot directly to the menu from the Dolphin menu.
Inserting a Disc / Changing Discs
To insert a disc or change discs, right click on any game in the game list and select 'Change Disc', or use File > Change Disc. The GameCube menu has regional lockout mechanism in place, so when there's a region difference between the GameCube menu and disc, you will receive the message 'The disc could not be read'.
Cheats, Savestates, Game INIs Not Working After Disc Change
When emulating a GameCube, Dolphin only recognizes the first thing loaded as the game that is being played. So while changing the disc during the GameCube BIOS menu, for example, Super Smash Bros. Melee was loaded from the Game List, and then change disc and load Super Mario Sunshine, the game cheats, game-specific settings, and even any savestates made will be for Melee and not Super Mario Sunshine.
Enhancements
16:9 Aspect Ratio fix
The Gecko code works for the menu added onto any game with 'Skip Menu' unchecked.
Problems
Disc Swapping Hang
Since at least 5.0-9241, when using Dolphin's 'Change Disc' feature in the GameCube Main Menu, switching between certain combinations of discs will cause the menu to hang. This does not occur on Interpreter. See issue 11503.
Flickering/Stretchy Menu
The start up animation and menu will stretch and distort unless XFB is enabled, either virtual or real will correct for this issue. Fixed with Hybrid XFB in 5.0-5874. This issue still occurs when 'Immediately Present XFB' is checked; uncheck it to fix the issue.
Missing Music/Incorrect Audio
Despite the fixes 4.0-7286 made to the DSP HLE sound by more accurately emulating Zelda ucode, music and effects in the IPL are still missing or distorted. Needs DSP LLE for proper audio. Refer issue 7980. Fixed in 5.0-4452
Configuration
Only configuration options for the best compatibility where they deviate from defaults are listed.
General
| Config | Setting | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Skip GC BIOS | Off | Run BIOS, hold A as the GameCube logo animates to enter |
| CPU Emulator Engine | Interpreter | Fixes disc swap hang |
Version Compatibility
The graph below charts the compatibility with GameCube Main Menu since Dolphin's 2.0 release, listing revisions only where a compatibility change occurred.
Testing
This title has been tested on the environments listed below:
| Test Entries | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revision | OS Version | CPU | GPU | Result | Tester |
| 4.0-5952 | Windows 10 | Intel Celeron J1900 @ 1.99GHz | Intel Graphics HD | At recommended settings on a VPS of 60, The performance of this is at least playable, 60 FPS for the intro. drops down to 30 FPS once you move the cube, and climbs up to 41 FPS. Transitions and editing a file on the virtual memory card makes the FPS die to 15 FPS, and steadies at 25 FPS. Everything else is good and works fine. | Muffin |
| 4.0-6180 | Windows 8.1 | AMD A8-5500 @ 3.2GHz | AMD Radeon HD 7400m | Works fine with said recommended settings. Good for the proper GameCube feeling to your Dolphin Emulator. | JMTestinTest |
| 4.0-6247 | Windows 8.1 | Intel Core i5-3210M @ 2.5GHz | NVIDIA GeForce 610M | FPS: 60 VPS: 60 Works fine under recommended settings. Slightly slower frame rates when managing my virtual memory cards. Screen Position settings do not work. | Wildgoosespeeder |
| 4.0-7286 | Windows 8.1 | Intel Core i5-3210M @ 2.5GHz | NVIDIA GeForce 610M | It's so nice and not startling to not hear screeching under HLE! Too bad the sounds aren't perfect but hey, progress! | Wildgoosespeeder |
| 5.0 | OS X 10.11.6 | Intel Core i7 @ 2.66 GHz | NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB | It works very well! Works almost perfectly with recommended settings. Sound is a bit choppy, but it's nothing major. As previously stated, screen position settings do not work. | TheGamingStar |