The GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin will be available on Steam later this year

Developers have announced that Dolphin, an outstanding emulator for GameCube and Wii games on PC, will soon receive a version for Steam.

Dolphin will be released on Steam in an early access version for free download. The release date is currently set for the second quarter of 2023, and the emulator already has a page in the store where you can add it to your wishlist.

The developers have stated that they will release more information about the Steam version's features after launch. "We are excited to finally share our experiment with the world," they said. "This is the result of months of hard work, and we look forward to it soon being in the hands of users!"

On the Dolphin page on Steam, it is emphasized that the emulator does not come with any games, and users must have an original copy of any GameCube or Wii game they want to use with it. "This is simply a tool for running legally obtained copies of these games. Once you have dumped your game copies into a compatible format, you can run them directly in the emulator."

The emulator supports modern controllers, 4K resolution, fast saving, network multiplayer mode, and in some cases, when hacks and fixes are available, features such as increased frame rates and widescreen aspect ratios. Community mods are supported, and it is completely open-source.

Dolphin has almost as long a history as the consoles it emulates. Its first version was released in 2003, just two years after the GameCube's inception, but it did not work very well. After a successful revival as an open-source project in 2007, it received support for the Wii, as well as clients for Linux and Mac, and is now one of the most stable emulators. If the Steam version simplifies launching on the Steam Deck, that alone makes it worth the download.