Skip to content

Emulator Experimental

Jump to bottom
digdat0 edited this page Jul 24, 2026 · 2 revisions

Systems: GameCube (gc), Wii (wii) · Runs as: homebrew NRO · Status: experimental — read this before you get your hopes up

Best effort: these are moving targets built by small teams and hobbyists. Everything here can change or break between releases. Treat this page as "what's possible," not "what's supported."

HaulNX creates gc and wii folders so your library is organized if you collect for those systems — but the honest position is that the Switch cannot properly emulate them. These are consoles a generation or two beyond what the Switch's hardware handles. What follows exists, and is fun to poke at, but is not a way to actually play these libraries.

PS2 has moved off this page. It used to live here alongside GameCube and Wii, and for years that was the right place for it. NetherSX2 changed that — lighter PS2 games now genuinely play on Switch, so PS2 has its own page.

If you want games you'll actually finish, stick to the systems on the wiki home — through PS1, Dreamcast, PSP, and the handhelds, the Switch does great.

GameCube / Wii — DolphiiN

DolphiiN is a Switch port of Dolphin. On an overclocked Switch a handful of lighter GameCube games are playable-ish; most GameCube games are slow, and Wii is largely out of reach (and its motion/pointer controls are a separate problem).

  • Get it: search the Homebrew App Store or the GBAtemp homebrew forums for the current DolphiiN build — there's no single stable home for it.
  • Needs: an aggressive overclock, docked, and patience. No BIOS is required for GameCube; some setups want a Wii NAND for Wii.
  • ROMs: sd:/roms/gc and sd:/roms/wii — GameCube as .iso/.rvz, Wii as .wbfs/.iso/.rvz. .rvz is the compact modern format.

PlayStation 2 — see NetherSX2

PS2 is the one system that graduated off this page. Use NetherSX2 — it has its own guide.

Play!, the other PS2 emulator with a Switch build, is still around (project, purei.org), but its compatibility and speed are far behind NetherSX2 on this hardware. Reach for it only if you're curious.

The realistic alternative

If you own these games and want to actually play them, they run beautifully on a PC (Dolphin for GC/Wii). The Switch build of this app is for the systems it can do well — let gc and wii be library folders you sync elsewhere.

Clone this wiki locally