How To Setup The Dolphin RetroArch Wii Core | PC & Steam

Looking for how to setup the Dolphin RetroArch Wii core? If you’re anything like me, you have fond nostalgic memories of playing the Wii. I spent so many hours playing Wii Sports with friends.

It’s a shame that Nintendo decided to take the Wii eShop offline, but fortunately enough for us, a handy emulator exists called RetroArch that allows you to easily emulate Wii games.

Dolphin is one of the best Wii emulators for PC and the Dolphin RetroArch core is the best Wii core available. Dolphin is a work-in-progress Nintendo Wii emulator started in 2023 and believe it or not is still regularly updated by members of the community to this day. Dolphin can currently emulate tons of different Wii games all with varying levels of success.

You can play games like New Super Mario Bros Wii, Wii Sports, and even Mario Kart Wii on any device that can run RetroArch! RetroArch is an open source emulation frontend and can be used on all sorts of devices including Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, MacOS, multiple consoles, and tons of others.

This guide will teach you how to setup the Retroarch Nintendo Wii core get set up with the best features on your system. Let’s get down to it!

What You’ll Need

In order to play Wii games, you will need to either use a gamepad to control the Wii hand on-screen or you can use a real Wiimote with the Dolphin core by using a USB Sensor Bar.

Dolphin USB Wii Sensor Bar

$10.85

How To Setup The Dolphin Wii RetroArch Core Standalone version?

Download RetroArch

• You’ll first want to download the RetroArch emulator off their website here. If you’ve already done this step, just make sure you are fully updated and on the most recent stable latest version from here.

Get your ROM file ready

• Make sure you’ve got your Wii ROM ready to test with after getting all set up. The ROM file is the game that you’ll be playing.

Using a controller?

• Also, it’s recommended that you have a USB or bluetooth controller handy to use. While not necessary, using a controller is a much better experience than a keyboard or only a touch screen for 3DS games, but you’re welcome to play however you want!
  
  If you’re in the market for a capable new controller, an 8Bitdo SN30 Pro Wireless Bluetooth controller is a great choice and will only run you about $45 on Amazon.

8BitDo SN30 Pro Wireless Bluetooth Retro Controller

$44.99

How To Download The Dolphin RetroArch Core?

Finding the Dolphin Core

• Once RetroArch opens, select Load Core

• Next, select Download a Core

Downloading the Dolphin Core

• Now you’ll want to scroll all the way down until you see the Nintendo – Gamecube / Wii (Dolphin) core and click on it to download it

• If you already had RetroArch on your device, remember to go back to the main menu screen, select Online Updater and then select Update Core Info Files and Update Databases to make sure you update all of your cores info files and databases

• Once the Dolphin core is done downloading, go back and select Load Core

2. How To Load Your Wii ROM File In RetroArch

Go to Load Content

With the Dolphin core now installed, you can now play some Wii games.

• Go back to the main menu and select Load Content

• Find where you have your Wii ROM saved on your machine and select it
• The game should now start up and just like that you’re all ready to play

How To Install RetroArch Dolphin Core on Steam?

To install the RetroArch Dolphin Core on Steam you will also need to:

• First, right click RetroArch on Steam > Manage > Browse local files.

• Once the Steam folder opens and you see the RetroArch directory, open up the cores folder
• Now install the Wii Dolphin RetroArch core from the RetroArch buildbot here: https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/windows/x86_64/latest/dolphin_libretro.dll.zip
• After installing the 3DS core, extract the files from the ZIP folder you downloaded
• Open up the extracted folder and copy the dolphin_libretro.dll file into your Steam’s “core” folder
• Next, install the Wii Dolphin RetroArch info files from the RetroArch buildbot here:
  https://buildbot.libretro.com/assets/frontend/info.zip
• After installing the info files, extract them from the ZIP folder you downloaded and copy all of them into the “info” folder for your Steam version of RetroArch
• Next open the Steam version of RetroArch and click “Load Core” to check that the Nintendo – Gamecube / Wii (Dolphin) core shows up – if it does, you’re good to go
• You’re now ready to play some Wii games

Additional Dolphin Core Settings, Options, and Features

Supported Dolphin File Extensions

The Dolphin core supports the following file extensions:

• elf
• dol
• gcr
• iso
• tgc
• wbfs
• ciso
• gcz
• wia
• rvz
• wad
• dff
• m3u

Dolphin Core Options

Any settings shown with (Restart) means that the core has to be closed and that newly selected setting will be applied the next time the core is booted up.

• Enable Dual Core: (Used to access all of your computer’s cores)
• Enable Idle Skipping (Has to do with sound)
• Enable MMU: (Involves RAM usage)
• Skip DCBZ clearing (Involves memory)
• Enable FPRF (very few games use this)
• Synchronize GPU thread (Should be used in conjunction with Enable Dual Core)
• Speed up Disc Transfer Rate (Can improve load times)
• DSP HLE emulation VS. LLE (for sound issues)
• DSP HLE is the fastest DSP Emulator Engine. It is very reliable, and only a few titles still have problems with it.

What Games Work With the Dolphin Core?

Compatible Games for the RetroArch Dolphin Core

The Dolphin core doesn’t only run Wii games, but it also runes GameCube games as well. There are tons of games that run well on Dolphin. It’s been around for years and the developers have been working to improve it for a long time.

You can see an entire list of the games that are compatible with the emulator here. Currently, 38% of the games available are perfect, 59% playable, 2.1% starts, 0.3% intro/menu, and 0.5% broken.

You’re now good to go and ready to play some classic Wii games!

Be sure to also check out our guide of the best Wii emulator Android app.

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