Water
GameCube and Wii on PC
Water is a game launcher for Windows that plays GameCube and Wii games. The first time you install one, it downloads the Dolphin emulator, checks it and sets it up. Then Play starts the game fullscreen, with your controller ready.
The GameCube and Wii emulator, set up for you
Water plays GameCube and Wii games with Dolphin, the free, open-source GameCube and Wii emulator made by its own team; Water isn’t affiliated with it. Water downloads its official release, checks it before using it, and sets what each game needs before it starts:
- Fullscreen, straight into the game, with no setup wizard and no settings to open.
- Three times the consoles’ resolution, a sharper picture than they had.
- Saves for each profile, so nobody plays over someone else’s game.
- Your controller mapped: DualShock 4, DualSense or Xbox, with no driver to install. A second controller is player two.
- Two-disc GameCube games change disc by themselves.
- Wii games put a Wii Remote and Nunchuk on your controller: a DualShock 4 or DualSense aims with its motion sensor, an Xbox controller with its right stick.
What your PC needs
Dolphin’s makers recommend 4 cores and a graphics card of its own. Water draws GameCube and Wii games at three times their size, which graphics built into the processor may not keep up with.
Settings › PC Specs in Water compares your PC with each console, and a GameCube or Wii game’s page says how well your PC plays it before you install.
By hand, or with Water
Playing a GameCube or Wii game on a PC by hand is an evening of setup:
- Download the emulator and work through its settings: graphics, saves, controller.
- Find a copy of the game you can trust, and unpack it.
- Point the emulator at it, and map your controller button by button.
With Water, you press Install, then Play.
2,046 GameCube and Wii games
Water lists 2,046 GameCube and Wii games, every one an English release with its cover, screenshots and details, shared by people on the BitTorrent network.
The other consoles Water sets up: PS2 emulator, PS3 emulator, PSP emulator, PS1 emulator, DS emulator, GBA emulator, N64 emulator, SNES and NES emulator, Xbox emulator, and PS Vita emulator.
Try it with a GameCube or Wii game
Your first install is free: Water installs any one game, PC or console, and it stays installed. Press Install: the emulator, the game and your controller are set up by the time you press Play.
