Free-to-use Nintendo emulator
Ishiiruka is a free-to-use utility for mobile, which is a mobile port of the popular Ishiiruka Dolphin Emulator. As such, this emulator lets you play games from classic Nintendo consoles such as GameCube and Wii. It even comes with additional features such as letting you use Load and Save States or reconfigure your controller.
As an intuitive app, Ishiiruka is easy to set up and play games with. However, it’s worth noting that it doesn’t come with any games, which are downloaded separately. Other emulators for mobile include ExaGear Windows Emulator and DraStic DS Emulator for Nintendo DS.
Play retro games on mobile
Ishiiruka already helps you save time by supporting two consoles in one app. On one hand, it lets you enjoy GameCube, which was released in 2001 and discontinued in 2007. It was then succeeded by the Nintendo Wii, which became popular for its motion support. Since the Wii had backward compatibility, this means that you can store the games in a single library for easy access.
Also, like most emulators, this also comes with a variety of additional features. For one, the Save and Load states allow you to save or pick up from where you left off, literally at any point in the game. You can also remap controllers, make changes to the soundtrack, or even load cheats whenever possible. Of course, the controls are mapped across your touchscreen device, taking up display space.
One restriction of the app is that it only comes with the barebones emulator, with no games included. You’ll have to look for, and download, the games individually. The Dolphin Emulator mostly supports the GCM/ISO uncompressed dumps. Additionally, these files take up quite the storage, since GameCube games are at least 1.4GB and Wii Games reach up to 5GB of space.
A convenient tool for nostalgia
Overall, Ishiiruka is a great app, especially if your device can handle it. Whether you’re a younger gamer looking to explore retro games, or young-at-heart looking to relive games of the past, this is something you can enjoy right from your mobile device. Aside from emulating GameCube and Wii, it also comes with the standard add-ons expected from emulators. The only challenge is in downloading and storing game files.
