If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – there has never been a better time to be into Retro Gaming, and fans of Nintendo’s disc-based marvels will certainly be rejoicing this week. We’ve been waiting for GameCube and Wii emulation to come to Nintendo Switch Online for a while now without any results, a fact that has left many looking to the popular emulator Dolphin for playing classic retro games. And now things are looking even more impressive with the arrival of RetroAchievements for so many of our favourite titles – it’s time to experience the greats in a whole new light all over again!
Now on a rolling release cycle with a solid platform that the Dolphin team is wholly confident in and one that is providing amazing results for users all over the globe, it’s safe to say that the emulator has come a long way over the years. Adding integration for RetroAchievements is a move that gives so much back to the gamers who use the emulator too, allowing them to garner achievements like those you see popping up on the screen while playing Xbox games in a service that first came onto the scene back in 2012, four years before Dolphin was born.
And it’s definitely not just me that’s excited about this news; according to PC Gamer in information taken from the Dolphin Blog itself, the RetroAchievements servers crashed entirely 10 minutes after they launched on the emulator. Now that they’re back up, players can earn achievements while playing The Wind Waker, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Star Fox Assault, Luigi’s Mansion, Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes as well as many more from the official list.
JMC47 writes on the official Dolphin blog, ‘Note that in order to get all of the achievements in some games, you might need to start over with a fresh save file. Some games, like Luigi’s Mansion have multiple save slots so this isn’t really a problem. But games like 1080 Avalanche and Super Smash Bros. Melee require starting from a fresh save for many achievements. Don’t worry, though! You can always create a new save folder for Dolphin, backup saves, or use a new memory card file if you want to start fresh without losing save data.’
Players will be able to keep tabs on which achievements they have completed and which ones they still need to tick off to get that ultimate 101% completion feeling. It is worth noting that the achievements are only available on GameCube games as of this moment with Wii titles getting the RA treatment in the coming months. You’ll need a PC to take advantage of the new RetroAchievements feature too; just head to the tools menu in the emulator and make sure that you’ve turned on integration for RetroAchievements.org and signed in!
