First stable version of Dolphin (GC) Emulator Released

[NewDeli]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

NewDeli, you are a moron.

Morons don't judge others hastily, that's one thing I like about them. Patient people with traditional ways. Manhood is of the essence my friend. ahem

Originally Posted by killergorilla

why you mentioned 'sole use of cartridges'

I am reflecting on Nintendo evolution compared to Sony's, and decisions about how they stored their game data by the time the N64 was released inevitably come up.

Guys @ nintendolife.com put it nicely :

After the amazing NES and SNES, people expected the N64 to run away with the industry and put Sony and Sega in the shade. It didn't happen. Nintendo decided to stick with carts while its rivals picked cheaper discs, and this not only put customers off but also made software houses think twice about supporting the system. Losing former ally Squaresoft was possibly the biggest blow to Nintendo's pride, and the company went on to produce the best selling Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation.

Having said all that, the N64 was home to gaming experiences that simply were not possible on rival machines. Games like Goldeneye, Zelda, Starfox 64 and of course Mario 64 were (and still are) solid-gold classics. With Virtual Console support, now is probably a good time to reassess this often misunderstood console.

PS2 plays PS1 titles and doesn't need any elaborated virtualization technique to achieve this, I believe due to the optical media versatility.
Wii may well play GC titles but fails at playing the whole Nintendo catalog (N64 most notably). The approach there has more to do with emulating in the proceedings and retro-gaming folks in the audience targeted at. Notable differences being :
a. I assume it's more difficult to know about VC progress as a project since I doubt the results are publicly shared
b. well, VC games comes at a price

[killergorilla]

You really need to learn about efficient use of language.

Then you might actually get your point across in less than 18 pages.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Then you might actually get your point across in less than 18 pages.

If there ever was one to begin with.

[NewDeli]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Why bother with a shitty emulator, anyway..

It's not a bad emulator actually. In a few years, it might well allow playing many more titles with feats such as HiRes textures packs, shaders...

As Tero said, GC games look great on a monitor (even via YouTube to some extend), whether games from this generation should be played exclusively on the real thing is debatable IMHO.
I would bet a few guys here enjoy an N64 quickplay or two with Project64.
Just give it a few more years (or continue to ignore it, the choice is yours).

[stefcep2]

Originally Posted by seuden

I don't get what you mean.

I mean multiplayer gaming in the living room with mates that come and visit you and you visit them in person as opposed to the whole online gaming/online "virtual" friends you never meet in person thing.

In my country one of the Wii's selling point is advertised as people getting together and playing multiplayer games in the living room. I'd say its been a fcator in its sales success.

[stefcep2]

Originally Posted by NewDeli

For me, playing PS1 games on a PS2 makes the PS2 worth owning for "console retro-gaming" (let's call it that way). Buying a GC just to play those few (admit it, its catalog is far from covering every genre) titles alone in my 'computer room" is not something I would be inclined to do (at least, not until the wii or its successor offers similar backward compatibility, if you get my point).
:

iIadmit it: there are less games available for GC. I don't know why that happened. i think there are about 600 games in the catalog. In my case I only miss PES not being available. PSE 6 is the only game I have for a PS2 I won in a lottery.

But there are some absolute gems for it, and built-in 4 player is great. For $20 its a terrific value console. Get a purple or black one, plug it in with SCART or component on a 16:9 screen and the graphics look great.

Interestingly when my son had his mates over, they brought their PS2's and XBOX's, but it was the GC that they always played.

I always felt that the GC shared some Amiga ideas: fast loading and writing to storage media, efficiency of resources, innovative software.

We don't own a Wii/XBOX 360/ PS 3 and i don't plan to either.

[sneeker]

Ive been playing about with it, got a few games upto yet, ordering a converter to use the gamecube controller with my pc as well.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/lv?k...LuNqLjSCSk8rfg

That is a pretty good compatibility guide of gamecube/wii games with dolphin.

[NewDeli]

I am impressed with Dolphin progress, yet I think that list is quite optimistic to say the least. Such "Big hits" as Resident Evil 0, Tomb Raider or Metroids don't play fine here, and I have a decent enough configuration and adjusted settings.

Also, "ingame" doesn't necessarily mean the game is playable
e.g. the cutscenes cannot be skipped, hence one has to wait forever for the "ingame" moments bearing the smoother framerate.

[killergorilla]

Originally Posted by NewDeli

I am hoping for Nintendo's next console to allow seamless playing of a few more GC titles (something probably made difficult because of the sole use of cartridges)

You do realise that sentence makes NO sense whatsoever. The Wii already plays all gamecube games perfectly, none of which are cartridge based.

Originally Posted by NewDeli

For me, playing PS1 games on a PS2 makes the PS2 worth owning for "console retro-gaming" (let's call it that way). Buying a GC just to play those few (admit it, its catalog is far from covering every genre) titles alone in my 'computer room" is not something I would be inclined to do (at least, not until the wii or its successor offers similar backward compatibility, if you get my point).

So you love the PS2 because it plays previous generation games....

But you are knocking the Wii because it plays previous generation games...

[NewDeli]

Originally Posted by NewDeli

I am hoping for Nintendo's next console to allow seamless playing of a few more N64 titles (something probably made difficult because of the sole use of cartridges)

fixed.

[killergorilla]

Well we got there in the end. (at least the bit about cartridges anyway).

[NewDeli]

If the GC had succeeded in making enhanced versions of each and every of their big hits (from their own franchises, Mario, 007, Killer Instinct...), it would have been easier to forget about wii limitations in terms of playing N64 games.

Imho, only Mario Kart (and the Smash Brawl stuff) was a major and noticeable improvement over the N64 counterpart.

[killergorilla]

I would much prefer new games to enhanced versions of old games, so I'm glad Nintendo didn't spend a load of money enhancing older games.

If you want to call it a limitation of the Wii that you can't play cartridge games on it then so be it, but that's a different topic of conversation

[TCD]

Originally Posted by NewDeli

If the GC had succeeded in making enhanced versions of each and every of their big hits (from their own franchises, Mario, 007, Killer Instinct...), it would have been easier to forget about wii limitations in terms of playing N64 games.

Hmm, you don't own either a GC or a Wii right? You just emulate them on your PC. How would you know about the limitations of playing N64 games on the Wii?

[NewDeli]

N64 emulation on the wii (wii64) is based on Mupen64, and it's not endorsed or supported by Nintendo AFAIK.
cf. http://emulatemii.com/wordpress/?page_id=33

[TCD]

But you never played any games on a real Wii?

[NewDeli]

No, I didn't. I think they may well lost their soul with all the new marketing positioning, family oriented accessories, and easy as stamping on kittens games.

[TCD]

Ah, okay. Hopefully someone with one can comment on how good/bad the emulation on 'the real deal' is then.

[NewDeli]

http://emulatemii.com/wii64/compatList

[T_hairy_bootson]

You do realise the virtual console emulates many N64 games perfectly right? right?