Nintendo emulator Dolphin is coming to Steam this year

Nintendo emulator Dolphin is coming to Steam this year, though it’s already available on its website for fans who don’t want to wait.

Dolphin is used to emulate Nintendo’s Wii and GameCube consoles on PC, allowing fans to play a number of Nintendo games without owning their relevant console. However, as Dolphin’s website points out, fans still require owning a copy of the game to play them legally.

Dolphin’s newly-launched Steam page reiterates that point, stating fans “must own an original copy of any game you want to use with Dolphin”.

“Dolphin Emulator is your one-way ticket to nostalgia if you’re looking to relive classics from the big N’s cube-shaped and motion-controlled consoles,” continues the Steam page. “Return to an era of gaming before the advent of microtransactions and experience a diverse library of thousands of titles that were released for these consoles over a span of 15+ years.”

While the emulator is designed to make Nintendo’s older consoles playable, it also advertises a number of modern-day quality-of-life features including 4K resolution, networked multiplayer, and controller support.

“Dolphin can surpass the capabilities of the original hardware with enhancements like increased resolution, widescreen hacks, HD texture packs, and patches to increase the frame rate,” stated the development team.

“While playing a game, features like quick saves (save states), slow motion, and turbo can make playing through annoying sections a breeze,” they continued. “You can even take your favorite local multiplayer games online with Dolphin’s built-in netplay.”

Dolphin is already free to download on its website and will be launched on Steam in the second quarter of 2023. Like Dolphin’s existing version, the software will be open-source and free to download when it comes to Steam.

In other gaming news, MultiVersus is shutting down until 2024 — sparking backlash from fans who paid for premium versions and microtransactions.