Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Dolphin Emulator VS Cemu

Compare Dolphin Emulator VS Cemu and see what are their differences

Dolphin Emulator logo Dolphin Emulator

Official website of Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator. Download the latest version (5. 0-5763) now or ask questions on our forums for help. Enter your search in the box aboveDownloadDownload the latest version of the Dolphin Emulator (5.

Cemu logo Cemu

Highly experimental software to emulate Wii U applications on PC.
  • Dolphin Emulator Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-02
  • Cemu Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-19

Dolphin Emulator features and specs

  • High Compatibility
    Dolphin Emulator supports a wide range of GameCube and Wii games, ensuring that most titles run smoothly.
  • Graphical Enhancements
    The emulator allows for resolution improvements, texture enhancements, and other graphical tweaks that can make old games look significantly better.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Dolphin Emulator is available on various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, providing flexibility to users.
  • Customizable Controls
    Users can configure and customize game controls to their liking, whether using a keyboard, mouse, or game controllers.
  • Save States
    The emulator supports save states, allowing players to save and load their progress at any point in the game.
  • Active Development
    The emulator benefits from an active community and frequent updates, ensuring ongoing improvements and new features.

Possible disadvantages of Dolphin Emulator

  • Hardware Intensive
    Running Dolphin Emulator can be demanding on system resources, requiring a relatively powerful CPU and GPU for optimal performance.
  • Game Compatibility Issues
    Despite high compatibility, not all games run perfectly, and some may experience bugs, crashes, or performance issues.
  • Setup Complexity
    Configuring the emulator and optimizing settings for specific games can be complex and time-consuming for less experienced users.
  • Legal Concerns
    While the emulator itself is legal, downloading ROMs of games you do not own may violate copyright laws in some jurisdictions.
  • No Official Support
    As a community-driven project, Dolphin Emulator does not offer official customer support, leaving users to rely on community forums and guides.
  • Occasional Glitches
    Some games may exhibit graphical or audio glitches that can detract from the gaming experience.

Cemu features and specs

  • High Performance
    Cemu offers high performance and can run games at higher resolutions and frame rates than the original Wii U console.
  • Compatibility
    It has a high compatibility rate with a large library of Wii U games, allowing users to play a wide range of titles.
  • Graphical Enhancements
    Cemu allows for significant graphical improvements, including anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, and custom shaders.
  • Frequent Updates
    The development team regularly updates Cemu to fix bugs, add new features, and improve overall performance.
  • Community Support
    A strong community provides plenty of support, mods, and resources to enhance the gaming experience.

Possible disadvantages of Cemu

  • Complex Setup
    The initial setup can be complicated for those unfamiliar with emulators and may require additional configuration to get games running optimally.
  • Hardware Demands
    Cemu can be resource-intensive and requires a relatively powerful computer to run games smoothly, especially at higher settings.
  • Legal Issues
    Using Cemu may involve legal concerns, as running the emulator requires dumping game files and firmware from a Wii U, which may not be straightforward or within legal boundaries for all users.
  • Inconsistent Game Performance
    Not all games run perfectly on Cemu, with performance varying greatly between different titles and requiring tweaks for optimal experience.
  • Limited Controller Support
    Some users might experience challenges when configuring controllers, especially if they want to replicate the Wii U's unique gamepad features.

Dolphin Emulator videos

Ultimate Guide to Dolphin Emulator

More videos:

  • Review - Dolphin Emulator Vs. Gamecube
  • Review - Dolphin Emulator for Android Review!

Cemu videos

12 FULLY Playable CEMU Games! (Wii U Emulator) 2020

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Nintendo Wii U emulator for PC: Cemu (install guide: setup / config / tutorial)
  • Review - Cemu Full Setup Guide Easy to Follow

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Dolphin Emulator and Cemu)
Gaming
69 69%
31% 31
Emulators
68 68%
32% 32
Gaming Tools
70 70%
30% 30
Roms
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Dolphin Emulator and Cemu

Dolphin Emulator Reviews

  1. Can’t get anything to work

    I downloaded the most recent stable version and the most recent beta version separately to attempt the following

    Downloaded ROMS from the dolphin website to not have them register as games or allow me to upload them onto dolphin even under instruction of various YouTube tutorials

    Downloaded ROMS from other sources that checked out as safe from Reddit users and other review websites, result was a little different, it would give me an error code of 00000000 and would eventually crash the entire app.

    Ultimately this was a waste of hours of my time trying to get it to work only leaving me angry and disappointed.

  2. suggestions?

    everything is good. but i wanted to make simulate analog stick on keyboard. put it in smooth (A,1,2). but when i press opposite direction. it doesn't center itself. it just continues from where it is. can you make an option when other button presses it center automatically? i know there's more input but I can't find tutorial videos how it works.


Best emulators for Android in 2023
Dolphin Emulator is one of the most famous emulators on the planet thanks to its compatibility with pretty much everything on the GameCube and the Wii. It runs on many devices, the development team is very transparent in what they're working on with blog post updates every few months, and the team even worked to preserve Nintendo Update Server (NUS) support by creating a...
7 Best Mac Emulators For Gamers In 2022
The Dolphin Emulator has been in development since around the time the GameCube was released, and has seen plenty of breakthroughs and updates since that time.
Source: retrododo.com
15 best emulators for Android to play old favorites!
Dolphin is an interesting browser. It was around for a while, left, and it’s back now. The developers promise that it’ll stick around for a while this time. This is the only somewhat decent GameCube and Wii emulator on Android. It lets you play ROMs of games from both systems with relatively competence. It’s still in active development, though, so there are bugs. It has most...

Cemu Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Dolphin Emulator should be more popular than Cemu. It has been mentiond 150 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Dolphin Emulator mentions (150)

  • Replay old video games
    GameCube/Wii: Dolphin is the best GameCube/Wii emulator in my opinion: Download Dolphin. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Rokid Max Review and Many Tips
    Though these consoles did not support stereoscopy originally, the Dolphin emulator can add it and output SBS. My experience was a bit mixed. Your mileage may vary. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Am I the only one tired of the remakes?
    You install Dolphin emulator, go into settings and make a folder for your games where it says "directory", and then you just stick your game in the folder. That's pretty much all there is to it, that's why I think Dolphin is the best emulator. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Local Co-op Action RPGs on PC
    Platform: Gamecube. The remaster scrapped the local co-op entirely (booo). This one is a bit tricky but works perfectly once setup properly in Dolphin. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Any way to play without emulator?
    Emulators (especially dolphin) are very easy to run, so if you take some time to follow the quickstart guide I think you'll find it's not too hard to follow. Sites like vimm's lair are what I use for all my game roms and don't have any malware. Source: over 1 year ago
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Cemu mentions (39)

  • Backing up cemu for use on new windows installation
    You'll have to install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 X64 Redistributable: vc_redist.x64.exe from http://cemu.info/ again, but yeah, thats it. If you have any change to the cemu.exe file you'll have to also do it again. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Wii U USB Helper Emulation Download Error
    You download Cemu yourself from https://cemu.info and follow the Cemu setup guide from https://cemu.cfw.guide/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Who exactly is this? Just bought the Game.
    If you hop on over to r/roms though they have a pinned megathread which links to trusted sources (often on a site as reputable as archive.org). Grab the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition .wua from here and run it on CEMU instead of trying to locate the PS3 version. Wii U emulation is much further along so this will run better anyway and CEMU doesn't require additional BIOS for setup iirc. Source: over 1 year ago
  • How to not get a computer virus?
    CEMU has an official site you download the emulator from: https://cemu.info/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • I've only seen good things online, but I get horrible performance in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
    Using latest Stable (1.26.2f from https://cemu.info/), in Desktop mode, Options > Graphics API set to Vulkan, Async Compile enabled, vs 3 CPU, it's 60FPS like 99%+ of the time, with a slight hitch now and then when something 'new' is loaded/shown. Source: almost 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Dolphin Emulator and Cemu, you can also consider the following products

PCSX2 - PCSX2 a Playstation 2 emulator for android, Linux and Mac

Yuzu - An experimental open-source emulator for the Nintendo Switch

RetroArch - RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.

OpenEmu - Console and Arcade video game emulator for macOS.

J2ME Loader - J2ME-Loader is a J2ME emulator for Android. It supports most 2D games and also 3D with some limitations (Mascot Capsule 3D games don't work). Emulator has a virtual keyboard, individual settings for each application, scaling support.

Citra - Citra is a work-in-progress emulator for the Nintendo 3DS.