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The GameCube and Wii emulator 'Dolphin' can now boot every GameCube game

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Little late on this due to inbox spam (too many games getting released!), but it seems Dolphin [Official Site] the GameCube and Wii emulator can now boot every GameCube game in the official library [Their news on it here].

QuoteEvery single GameCube game can at least boot in Dolphin 5.0. Except one. Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its complex way of using the PowerPC Memory Management Unit rendered it unplayable in Dolphin up to this day. But finally as of Dolphin 5.0-540, this challenge has come and gone: Dolphin can finally boot every single GameCube game in the official library.

That's quite an important milestone for an emulator to achieve and should be applauded. Impressive work from the developers!

They detail why this particular game took so long, so if you like the glorious details go take a gander at their post.

Just remember, ROMS for emulators may not be entirely legal where you live. I still don't understand the law around it here, so I generally steer clear of it all. The choice is up to you though of course.

I personally think emulators are very important to preserve old games and systems! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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Chuckaluphagus Sep 20, 2016
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI went and read the whole piece, it was oddly interesting. I'm left with just one question: Who are these Factor 5 people?

Factor 5
was an independent-but-exclusive-to-Nintendo studio during the heyday of the Gamecube, and were known for pulling off visuals that considered to push the limits of the hardware. Basically, they had the best technical capabilities outside of Nintendo's own in-house teams, and sometimes they surpassed even them.
ElectricPrism Sep 20, 2016
Ah now is the perfect time to remind me why I have never bought a Nintendo Console after Wii.

A long time ago on a cold November night I camped out to get a Nintendo WII on launch - 2nd in line I waited for 2 days with friends and I purchased Twilight Princess and the extended warranty.

Fast forward about 1.9 years and the DVD drive breaks. (Oh no problem - I have a 2 year warranty I thought to myself.) Calling Nintendo resulted in Tech support from what I presumed sounded like a 17 year old girl who insisted that I repeat powering on and off and pressing the A button on my controller instead of listening to my diagnostic or notation of problems. But alas, powering on and off the device did not avail.

She told me I should go to the brick and mortar shop where I bought it and have the warranty replace it. I said that I had bought a lot of games on the Wii Shop -- well over $200 in games NES, SNES, N64 (you name it I bought it) and I needed to have them transfer my account to the new console.

She told me that I wouldn't be able to move any of my purchases to the new console, I forgot the exact BS she excuse she gave me.

So I decided to wait and keep my DLC until the warranty was on the last day and I decided fsck it. I Go in to replace the unit so I could play DVD games again and the store informs me that their warranty center HQ is closed which is located somewhere far away or something I presume and that they can't make good of the warranty I purchased.

So in recollection I bought a Nintendo and an expensive warranty (60-100$?) and they both fsck'ed me over. Twilight Princess wasn't even "brilliant" it was "good", but not "A Link to the Past" good, or "Ocarina of Time" good.

This is why I don't buy Nintendo Games, DLC, etc... and only buy games on Linux that I know will work quite probably for the rest of my life.

I fully support emulation, go ahead and buy the discs, create .iso backups or whatever and play via Disc or ISO.

Not to mention the Anti Aliasing on Nintendo Wii was extremely terrible - rendering at 1080p or 4k requires better AA and resolution to not make the game look like they're stuck in a Time Warp.

You can use the Wii Controllers via Bluetooth and a Wireless Sensor Bar (5$ Ebay?) on Linux PC if you like too.

Nintendo can go jump in a volcano and never come back, and take those damn Miibos or whatever the hell they're called - those crooks are worse than Micro Pay becuase now you have to buy a 60$ game + 20 x $10 toys just to play - $260 to play the new Super Smash Bros, and wait there's more, 60$ for the game, and what 200-300$ for the Console and + $50 per extra controller, and don't forget that each controller will require some $20 accessory, wheel, nunchuck or some other crap.

With Steam & Linux it's simple - games cost between $5-60, a Steam Controller is like $50, a GPU is $150-300 for a decent one.

So FSCK Nintendo, or dd if=/dev/zero of=/Nintendo.

The endless cycle of consuming controllers, accessories, game discs, bookshelf to hold the game cases, game consoles is a nightmare. Console Gen 2 doesn't play Console Gen 1 games, Console Gen 3 require's SD Cards, Console Gen 4 require's RFIQ Potatoes, Console Gen 5 is BluRay but can't play Console Gen 2's DVD. Console Gen 6 requires that you repurchase games in the form of DLC at a premium price because it wont play the DVD/Cartridge you already own.

All these jerks want to extract as much cash as possible while fscking everyone and everything they can.



Meanwhile gaming on Linux be like:




Last edited by ElectricPrism on 20 September 2016 at 7:34 pm UTC
Ehvis Sep 20, 2016
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Quoting: Chuckaluphagus
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI went and read the whole piece, it was oddly interesting. I'm left with just one question: Who are these Factor 5 people?

Factor 5
was an independent-but-exclusive-to-Nintendo studio during the heyday of the Gamecube, and were known for pulling off visuals that considered to push the limits of the hardware. Basically, they had the best technical capabilities outside of Nintendo's own in-house teams, and sometimes they surpassed even them.

Turrican! That's why it sounded familiar.
DMJC Sep 20, 2016
Factor 5 Made Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Rebel Strike, and Rogue Leader. Some of the best console Star Wars games ever made.
GustyGhost Sep 21, 2016
Quoting: ElectricPrism<snip>

Ooh, you're going to trigger the GOL crowd hard with a rant like that. But you just shared your journey that led you to the realization of console's true purpose: to artificially manipulate the prices of games, services and accessories. That $260 you pay just to play SSB is to lock you tightly into a closed ecosystem zoo.

I have a few childhood favorites that I "keep alive" through emulation so projects like Dolphin are a godsend. Other than that, I don't touch console anything with a thousand meter pole.
wvstolzing Sep 21, 2016
Quoting: EhvisTurrican! That's why it sounded familiar.

Yeah they made the amazing Amiga ports of the Turrican series.
I didn't know that they were famous for their Nintendo stuff.
tuubi Sep 21, 2016
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Quoting: GuestWhen will Dolphin ever let me use the actual Gamecube discs?
Nintendo intentionally used a proprietary disc format that is incompatible with normal DVD drives.
Chuckaluphagus Sep 22, 2016
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: GuestWhen will Dolphin ever let me use the actual Gamecube discs?
Nintendo intentionally used a proprietary disc format that is incompatible with normal DVD drives.
Yes and no. They did, but reading that format has long since been solved. The real trick they used is dead simple: the drives in the Gamecube and Wii spin the media in reverse (as compared with a standard DVD drive). I've read that there were all of two computer DVD drive models manufactured that were capable of spinning in reverse, and both of those quickly had custom firmware written to read Nintendo optical media. But they're also long out of production and rare as hens' teeth.

In short, Dolphin can't be used to read Gamecube discs because your optical drive motor isn't set up for it. Surprisingly effective copy-prevention solution.
Nyamiou Sep 23, 2016
For people that don't read the wall of text, understand that Dolphin can now "boot" every games but there is still some of them that aren't going to run that well.
tuubi Sep 23, 2016
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Quoting: ChuckaluphagusThe real trick they used is dead simple: the drives in the Gamecube and Wii spin the media in reverse (as compared with a standard DVD drive).
That's not the only difference though. Read this for some details.

Quoting: ChuckaluphagusSurprisingly effective copy-prevention solution.
Really? Is that why a simple google search tells you exactly how to rip them using a soft-modded Wii? :D
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