Major changes are coming to the Dolphin Wii/GameCube emulator

The Dolphin Emulator has moved to a new release model, ending the 5.0 era

The wait is over. After eight years the Dolphin 5.0 era has come to a close. No, Dolphin 6.0 hasn’t been released. Regardless, big changes have some to the popular Wii and GameCube emulator. Now, Dolphin is moving past its “Stable Builds” model, is now moving to a new “Releases” model. Soon, new released for Dolphin will become available every few months with version 2407 being available now.

Dolphin is now a stable emulator

Today, Dolphin users can upgrade to the latest build of the emulator without fear of bugs or stability issues. If there are any bugs, they’re usually fixed within hours, and today over 97% of the Wii/GameCube libraries are playable using the emulator. Given that, it doesn’t make sense for Dolphin to have a new “stable release”. In other words, there will never be a 6.0 release of Dolphin. Today, most users of the emulator are best off using the newest build of the emulator, as that’s where the latest fixes and feature upgrades are available.

The Dolphin Wii/GameCube Emulator has a new “Rolling Release Cycle”

Starting now, the Dolphin emulator will have a new “release” every few months. These releases are named after the year and month of their release. This month’s release is “Dolphin 2407”. The first two digits of the release number is its year of release, and the latter two are of its month of release. In spite of this new release mode, newer dev builds will remain available for those who want to look at the latest code commits. Furthermore, hotfixes will be available if bugs are found and fixed. For example, a hotfix for Dolphin 2407 may be be called Dolphin 2407a.

Each new release of Dolphin will come with a new progress report and a changelog for users to look at. This will allow Dolphin users to keep up with Dolphin’s development, and see the new features of each Dolphin release. Last April, Dolphin gained HDR support. That is an example the kind of features that a new Dolphin release could deliver.

(Dolphin’s new logo)

Dolphin’s new logo

This new “rolling releases” model marks a major change for the Dolphin emulator. With this change comes a refreshed Dolphin logo. What’s changed? Basically, this logo is less angular, and softer in appearance, symbolising the emulator’s maturity, stability, and confidence.

You can join the discussion on the future of the Dolphin Wii/GameCube emulator on the OC3D Forums.