A video reveals GameCube titles being flawlessly emulated on the Samsung Galaxy S8, raising questions on how long it would take before Nintendo releases the Virtual Console for the Nintendo Switch.
While Nintendo Switch owners wait for the Virtual Console, it seems that the Samsung Galaxy S8 has leapfrogged the hybrid console as the preferred mobile device for playing GameCube titles.
GameCube Titles On The Nintendo Switch
A rumor from December of last year claimed that the Nintendo Switch will support GameCube titles through the Virtual Console system, similar to how its predecessor, the Wii U, emulated several systems such as the Nintendo 64.
It was said at the time that GameCube emulation on the Nintendo Switch has already been tested and was found to be in working condition, with three GameCube titles already successfully ported to Nintendo's latest console. The three games are said to be Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, and Luigi's Mansion.
With the claims that GameCube emulation was already working, Nintendo Switch owners have grown impatient of waiting for the Virtual Console to arrive on the hybrid console. Nintendo released update 2.1.0 for the Nintendo Switch in late March, but it still did not come with the emulation system.
GameCube Emulation On Samsung Galaxy S8
Beating the Nintendo Switch in presenting a fully functional GameCube emulator, however, is Samsung's Galaxy S8, as demonstrated in a video uploaded by GuruAidTechSupport.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 featured in the video was running Dolphin, an emulator that has been created for Wii and GameCube titles. Dolphin has been available for Android devices for a while now, but it has mostly been an experimental and developmental tool and not as a legitimate way to emulate video games. This is because the performance of the emulator is subpar due to the less powerful specifications of Android devices compared to PCs.
However, with the Samsung Galaxy S8 being powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, the smartphone has proven that not only can it emulate GameCube titles well through Dolphin, but it can also emulate them flawlessly.
The video shows GameCube titles Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros., and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker being played smoothly on the Samsung Galaxy S8. Another video showed Mario Kart Double Dash running properly on the smartphone.
"I was able to get a build of dolphin working that did not have the blue haze issue. It is running very very well as you can see and definitely has me excited for the launch of the S8," GuruAidTechSupport said, adding that he shot the demonstration videos in 1080p at 60 frames per second to showcase how smooth the emulator is running on the Samsung Galaxy S8.
The only major caveat that players may have on running GameCube titles on the Samsung Galaxy S8 are the on-screen controls, which maps the various buttons of the GameCube controller on the smartphone's screen. It is not an ideal setup, but for gamers who have space in their bags while on the go, it will be easy to bring a Bluetooth controller that can be linked to the Samsung Galaxy S8 for playing GameCube titles.
