Emulators and Speedrunning
6 years ago

I don't know the answer to this, but is Dolphin Emulator allowed for speedrunning? If you don't use tool assists then I don't see what the problem is with this, but I would just like to know if you are or not and why the reason is.

soru likes this
United States

It really depends on the game. Some games/series allow emulators (Dolphin included), while some don't.

coolestto likes this

So would Dolphin be permitted for speedrunning Mario Kart Wii, for example?

United States

Yes, I believe that Dolphin is allowed for "Mario Kart Wii". (It's not an ISO, so it's allowed unless the rule was changed)

Antarctica

Always check with the mods of a game to make sure emulator is allowed.

Dolphin can run faster than console (and I believe it might have some optimizations in it to allow for quicker loads for example) so it might not be allowed for all games. Even if the rules don't explicitly state that emu is banned always double check so you don't get blindsided by a rejection.

But to answer your question of why emulator is sometimes banned, it's because for more recent consoles (PS2, GC, Wii, even N64 with some releases) emulator runs and loads much faster than a real console like I mentioned before. This gives emulator an advantage and so it is often banned or put into its own Misc. category.

EDIT: just looked at the LBs for Mario Kart Wii - I went to submit a run and it said under the console selection box "Emulators are banned" so that answers your question explicitly.

Edited by the author 6 years ago
MASH and soru like this

ok, thanks for the info