Hardware Review: Mayflash DolphinBar

[MayImilae]

A new article has been published on the Dolphin blog - https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2014/08/23/dolphinbar-review/

Feel free to discuss the article on this thread.

[Thethiala]

I was interested in this product already before they contacted the Dolphin team. Now that the major kinks have been worked it's definitely a good purchase at that price. I just ordered one myself, 23$ including international shipping. This and a couple of GC to USB adapters are basically mandatory accessories to Dolphin in my opinion.

[Blaziken584]

I am looking forward to buying one of these, it seems extremely useful, though potentially not as useful as the article would have me think at least. Personally, I've never had any connecting issues ever. I use this bluetooth adapter > http://waa.ai/4Chh < and it works absolutely perfect. In Mac OS X at least, all I have to do is plug it into my computer, go into Dolphin's Wiimote settings and hit the sync button and it's instantly connected.

Also, I wasn't aware that using a Wiimote as a GC controller was ever an issue, it was always simple and easy for me. Same with any other emulator, I just connect it and configure the controls flawlessly. I installed WJoy to connect my Wiimote to my computer (even easier than Dolphin, I just hit any button and it connects even faster than it did before) and it's connected to the computer. Then I just go to the GCPad settings in Dolphin, select the Wiimote and that's it. Nunchuk and everything works.

I've barely used Dolphin on Windows, so potentially it's a nightmare, but on OS X, it really couldn't be any easier. Oh and I am using one of the -TR Wiimotes with Wii Motion Plus built in, what is dubbed the nightmare Wiimote haha.

Though this would help at least to the extent that I won't need my Wii U in vWii mode all the time when I want to play Wii games that require the sensor bar, so that should be handy as my battery powered sensor bar was absolutely terrible and I had to actually resort to using candles which worked perfectly... in fact it works better than a real sensor bar in some cases because you can position them really close to each other so you can play closer to the monitor.

[delroth]

Yeah, the real issue is Windows. OS X and Linux have way less Wiimote issues.

[Link_to_the_past]

The combo seems great for the desktop i have, i will probably buy it since the price is decent even with international shipping costs added (about 23 euros total). The only problem is my debit card is canceled because i didn't use it and i have to sort that out first.
Btw major did you use an extension cord with it and if yes did it bring you any troubles? Also is the usb cable of the device fixed (can it be removed and replaced instead of extended in a sense)?

[Saint Chewy]

I will probably end up buying this looks like a great addition.

[Shonumi]

Nice! Since I already have a USB-Bluetooth adapter, it's not loss to me if it only serves as a sensor bar (well, I will be losing another USB port, but I have so many...) I think I'll pick up one.

I'm pretty sure the "Dolphin" in DolphinBar obviously refers to the emulator. I don't recall any other emulator like that having inspired commercial hardware to such a degree. Pretty awesome when one considers that.

[MayImilae]

Linktothepast Wrote:Btw major did you use an extension cord with it and if yes did it bring you any troubles? Also is the usb cable of the device fixed (can it be removed and replaced instead of extended in a sense)?

I did end up having to use an extension cord, hence why I whined about it in the article . But I already had an extension cord and USB hub set up in front of my monitors for line of sight on my bluetooth adapters, since it had some spare ports free I just plugged it into that.

Blaziken584 Wrote:I am looking forward to buying one of these, it seems extremely useful, though potentially not as useful as the article would have me think at least. Personally, I've never had any connecting issues ever. I use this bluetooth adapter > http://waa.ai/4Chh < and it works absolutely perfect. In Mac OS X at least, all I have to do is plug it into my computer, go into Dolphin's Wiimote settings and hit the sync button and it's instantly connected.

We have VERY little information on how OS X handles wiimotes. Just what pauldachz can offer, really. Even the -TR guide for OS X is probably wrong as it is, but we just don't have the information to confirm. I keep bugging delroth to buy me a macbook pro to test with, but no dice so far.

[mandark]

as the article mentions the problems with using the wiimote with FPS games: anybody interested in doing this might want to check out the usage of WiiMouse (http://home.exetel.com.au/amurgshere/wiimouse.phtml) in conjunction with my Addon-DLL (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58937230/WMAddons/WMAddons-v1.0.zip). it includes several freelook-modes, that make the wiimote usable in FPS-games much like the Razer Hydra.

[Topken]

By the way there are no purchase links for the DolphinBar on either the mayflash site or the wiki page. Only click through link on the wiki page leads back to the review. So its just a circle there. Figured I would bring it up since as I said there are no links to allow you to buy the DolphinBar currently listed on this site. I see no buy or purchase button on the Mayflash listing for it either.

Even tho the Review states this at the bottom

"Links to purchase the Mayflash DolphinBar are available on our Recommended Accessories page, and it is available on Amazon and Playasia."

While the Wiki page says this about it

https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/guides/recommended-accessories-dolphin/

under Bluetooth Dongle

"DolphinBar

The Mayflash DolphinBar is a combination Bluetooth Adapter/USB Sensor Bar that supports Wii Remote Pluses and has many benefits over a traditional Toshiba Stack Bluetooth adapter. See the review for more details. "

and under Sensor Bars

"DolphinBar

The Mayflash DolphinBar is a combination Bluetooth Adapter/USB Sensor Bar that combines a solid sensor bar with Wii Remote Plus supporting Bluetooth. See the review for more details. "

and both statements have the word review linked to the review with 0 links to purchase it from amazon or Playasia listed. So yeah it this oversight could be rectified that would be great help to those who are new or are looking for links so that they get the right product.