The GameCube and Wii systems are emulated by Dolphin. They are only available on the most powerful machines: Raspberry Pi 5 / 500 and x86_64 PC. On other boards the systems simply do not appear.
On the Raspberry Pi 5 the GameCube runs well; the Wii is far more demanding and stays at average performance depending on the game.
| System | Emulator / core (RUN WITH) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GameCube | LIBRETRO DOLPHIN |
default choice, runs inside RetroArch (shaders, overrides) |
| GameCube | DOLPHIN |
standalone Dolphin, supports netplay |
| GameCube | DOLPHIN-GUI |
standalone Dolphin with its graphical interface |
| Wii | DOLPHIN-GUI |
default choice |
| Wii | DOLPHIN |
standalone Dolphin, supports netplay |
| Wii | LIBRETRO DOLPHIN |
libretro core |
Accepted game formats: .iso, .rvz, .ciso, .gcz, .wia, .m3u, .gcm, .dol, .tgc for the GameCube; .iso, .rvz, .ciso, .gcz, .wia, .wbfs, .wad, .elf for the Wii.
Nothing to configure. Recalbox maps every connected controller automatically: on GameCube they become GameCube pads, on Wii they become emulated Wiimotes (Nunchuk on the left stick, L1 and R1 for Z and C, right stick for the infrared pointer).
The
wii.emulatedwiimoteskey you may come across in old tutorials no longer exists: what it used to enable is now the default behaviour. As for thewii.configfile=dummyworkaround, it has become pointless — it stops Recalbox from generating the configuration at all, which is exactly what would cost you the automatic controller mapping.
Most of the settings below can be changed without touching a file, from MAIN MENU → ADVANCED SETTINGS → ADVANCED EMULATOR CONFIGURATION → GAMECUBE (or WII) → Dolphin / Dolphin-GUI Settings section. You will find the internal resolution (from 1x native up to 8x), Dual CPU, GPU sync, anti-aliasing, VSync — and the controller options detailed below.
Every entry in that menu maps to a key in recalbox.conf or in one of Dolphin's configuration files. Both methods are equivalent; the menu is just faster.
To play with genuine Wiimotes you need a Mayflash DolphinBar set to mode 4 (Wii mode). Dolphin handles up to 4 Wiimotes at once.
Plug the DolphinBar in over USB and press its MODE button until you reach mode 4.
Pair the Wiimote with the bar: SYNC button on the DolphinBar, then SYNC button on the Wiimote (under the battery cover).
Enable Real Wiimotes in the Dolphin settings menu, or set it in recalbox.conf, section D3 - Dolphin Controllers:
wii.realwiimotes=1
Reboot and start a Wii game.
Real Wiimotes must not be paired over Bluetooth with Recalbox: they have to go through the DolphinBar for Dolphin to see them.
Tell Dolphin where your sensor bar sits, otherwise the pointer will be vertically inverted. Use the Dolphinbar position setting (TOP / BOTTOM) in the menu, or recalbox.conf:
## bar above the screen (default value)
wii.sensorbar.position=1
## bar below the screen
wii.sensorbar.position=0
For light gun games, the DolphinBar is used in mode 2, not mode 4, and the setup is fully automatic: see Light guns on Recalbox.
You need a USB GameCube controller adapter (the official Wii U model or a compatible one).
Plug the adapter into your Recalbox, then the controllers into the adapter.
Enable Real Gamecube controllers in the Dolphin settings menu, or set it in recalbox.conf:
gamecube.realgamecubepads=1
Reboot: your original controllers are now recognised by Dolphin.
Many GameCube and Wii games pick their language from the console language, not from an in-game menu. Recalbox sets that language automatically every time a game starts, based on your system configuration — there is no point changing it in Dolphin's own menus, it would be rewritten at the next launch.
The language used is the one from the keyboard layout (system.kblayout) when it is defined, otherwise the interface language (system.language). If your games stubbornly start in English while your interface is in another language, it is almost always because the keyboard layout is still set to us:
system.language=fr_FR
system.kblayout=fr
Languages Dolphin understands: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch — plus, on Wii only, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
The GameCube boot animation and menu are not required, but if you want them, drop the IPL.bin file for your region here:
/recalbox/share/bios/gamecube/EUR/IPL.bin
/recalbox/share/bios/gamecube/JAP/IPL.bin
/recalbox/share/bios/gamecube/USA/IPL.bin