What is Dolphin Emulator used for?

Dolphin Emulator is an open-source emulator that lets you play GameCube and Wii games on a PC with enhancements. It is a good fit for playing GameCube and Wii titles on a computer.

Is Dolphin Emulator open source?

Yes. Dolphin Emulator is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at dolphin-emu/dolphin and is written mainly in C++.

Is Dolphin Emulator free?

Yes. Dolphin Emulator is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host Dolphin Emulator?

Yes. Dolphin Emulator can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What are some alternatives to Dolphin Emulator?

Similar open-source tools in the Games & Emulation category include PCSX2, PPSSPP and RPCS3. SaaS products in the same category include BacklogShuffle, BlueStacks and CurseForge.

Is Dolphin Emulator actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Dolphin Emulator was on 2 October 2026. The project has 16k stars on GitHub.

Dolphin Emulator: open-source games & emulation

About Dolphin Emulator

Dolphin is a GameCube and Wii emulator, allowing games for these two Nintendo platforms to be played on a PC with improvements. It is written in C++ and published as free and open-source software, with a project website at dolphin-emu.org.

The repository carries topics for emulation, GameCube, Wii and C++, and the license is listed as 'Other', so the license files should be checked for exact terms. No further feature details were available from the source material, so users should consult the project website for supported platforms, requirements and setup.

Key features

GameCube game emulation on PC
Wii game emulation on PC
Written in C++
Open-source project

Good fit for

→Playing GameCube and Wii titles on a computer

Built with: C++
Tags: emulator; gamecube; wii; gaming; emulation; cpp; retro

Dolphin Emulator: questions and answers

What is Dolphin Emulator used for?: Dolphin Emulator is an open-source emulator that lets you play GameCube and Wii games on a PC with enhancements. It is a good fit for playing GameCube and Wii titles on a computer.
Is Dolphin Emulator open source?: Yes. Dolphin Emulator is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at dolphin-emu/dolphin and is written mainly in C++.
Is Dolphin Emulator free?: Yes. Dolphin Emulator is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host Dolphin Emulator?: Yes. Dolphin Emulator can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What are some alternatives to Dolphin Emulator?: Similar open-source tools in the Games & Emulation category include PCSX2, PPSSPP and RPCS3. SaaS products in the same category include BacklogShuffle, BlueStacks and CurseForge.
Is Dolphin Emulator actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Dolphin Emulator was on 2 October 2026. The project has 16k stars on GitHub.