Dolphin LaunchBox Integration Plugin

Written By AstroBob

Last updated 1 day ago

Dolphin is the leading emulator for Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Wii, and the LaunchBox plugin provides a streamlined integration for downloading, updating, and configuring it inside LaunchBox.

With this plugin, LaunchBox can download Dolphin automatically, keep it updated, set up a LaunchBox-ready emulator profile, enable portable mode, and configure RetroAchievements support. Users should still expect to configure their controllers manually inside Dolphin on first launch.

📊 Capabilities Matrix

Capability	Availability	Notes
Download & Configure	✅	Official builds are downloaded and extracted automatically
Update and Reinstall	✅	Version check, update, and reinstall supported
LaunchBox Emulator Profile	✅	Preconfigured profile with associated platforms
Portable Mode	✅	`portable.txt` is created automatically
Dependency Files	N/A	GameCube and Wii do not require BIOS files
RetroAchievements Integration	✅	Credentials and scan support available
Automatic Controller Configuration	❌	Users need to configure controllers inside Dolphin
Bezel Download Integration	❌	This feature is not supported for Dolphin

⬇️ Download and Configure

LaunchBox downloads Dolphin directly from its official releases and extracts it to LaunchBox\Emulators\Dolphin.

No additional manual installation steps are required to get the emulator itself into place. Once installed, LaunchBox can create a usable emulator entry for supported Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Wii platforms.

🔄 Update and Reinstall

LaunchBox can check the installed Dolphin version and compare it against the latest available release.

Updates replace Dolphin with the newer version while preserving existing configuration files where possible
Reinstalls clear the Dolphin folder before extracting the new files, which can remove local configuration changes

This gives users a straightforward way to either keep Dolphin current or reset it to a clean state.

⚙️ LaunchBox Emulator Profile

The Dolphin plugin creates a LaunchBox emulator profile with common defaults already in place, including associated platforms and standard emulator settings.

This makes Dolphin ready to use from the LaunchBox side immediately after installation, without needing to create a separate emulator entry manually.

📁 Portable Mode

By default, Dolphin stores data in the user's profile folders. The LaunchBox plugin forces Dolphin into portable mode by automatically creating a portable.txt file in the Dolphin folder.

This keeps Dolphin's configuration and related files inside the LaunchBox directory, making the setup easier to manage and move between systems.

🧩 Dependency Files

Dolphin does not require BIOS files for Nintendo GameCube or Nintendo Wii, so dependency file management does not apply here.

For that reason, this capability is marked N/A rather than unsupported.

🏆 RetroAchievements Integration

Dolphin supports RetroAchievements integration through LaunchBox. The plugin can sync credentials and Hardcore Mode settings in a similar way to other supported emulator integrations.

In addition, LaunchBox can use Dolphin's available tooling to help determine whether supported titles in your library are RetroAchievements-compatible.

🎮 Automatic Controller Configuration

Dolphin does not automatically configure controllers in the way this documentation category is intended to describe. Users should expect to open Dolphin and configure their controllers manually on first launch.

After that initial setup, Dolphin can be used normally through LaunchBox, but controller configuration is still something the user needs to handle within Dolphin itself.

🖼️ Bezel Download Integration

Dolphin does not support bezel downloads through The Bezel Project. At present, this capability is limited to specific emulator integrations such as RetroArch and MAME.