What GCN/Wii hardware/software is unemulated?

[Shonumi]

Currently compiling a massive list for various game consoles and trying to determine what's unemulated or not nearly emulated enough to be considered "preserved". I know Dolphin does a lot, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any gaps. So far, I have these written down:

GameCube

• Ohenro-san Pedometer + Walking Pad (WIP -> See PR 7615)
• Game Boy Player (WIP -> See PR 8067)
• SD Card Adapter - DOL-019
• GC Calendar Card - DOL-023
  

Wii

• NDS <-> Wii Connectivity
• Skylanders Portal of Power
• Wii Speak
• Logitech USB Vantage Microphone
• Your Shape USB Camera
• Wii Balance Board
• Active Heart Rate Monitor
• Cyberbike
• THPS Ride Controller
• Rockband Instruments
• Disney Infinity Portal
  

Not sure if there's anything else to add. I know the Japanese version of Animal Crossing (Doubutsu no Mori e+) had an SD version of the standard GC memory card. Is that emulated in any capacity? I know there are plenty of accessories, but to quote myself, I'd like to limit them as such:

Quote:I guess I'm looking for accessories that actually caused the gameplay itself to change in some way. That is to say, when using the accessory, the gameplay is discernibly different or unique. On a technical level, I suppose that would be saying the code accounts for the use of an accessory versus not having the accessory.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Kurausukun]

Are you only looking for additional hardware/peripherals? Because there are definitely parts of the Wii/GC we don't emulate because it would murder the speed.

[Shonumi]

Yeah, nothing internal (like the Wii's Startlet). Mostly games that have unique features Dolphin can't emulate yet, or accessories/additional hardware that aren't supported yet. I think the GC is pretty well covered, but I feel like my list is missing some more Wii stuff. Not looking for Triforce stuff either, maybe some other time.

My goal is to make a list of these kinds of unemulated software/hardware across dozens of game consoles. I feel that if all of this stuff is brought to light, someone may take an interest later down the road. It's not just for Dolphin, but for the larger emulation community too.

[JosJuice]

Do you want to count USB accessories like microphones and the Skylanders portal as unemulated? You can use them in Dolphin, but you need an actual physical one in order to do it, so they're not really "emulated".

[Shonumi]

Yeah, any USB accessory would count as far as I'm concerned, as long as gameplay changes in some way. I forgot that Skylanders wasn't emulated; Dolphin just uses the real hardware. In terms of preservation, it'd be nice to capture the data the portal and Wii exchange and recreate that entirely within Dolphin. I'll add that to the list then, thanks!

[DrHouse64]

If it's not out of your scope, you can add Triforce emulation.

[Admentus]

I would say Wii MotionPlus Remote. Connecting a physical Wii MotionPlus Remote hardware device already works for ages, but it is not emulated as software through Dolphin yet, at least not in the official builds. Perhaps it could work for a DualShock 4 controller. It is just I always prefer my Xbox One Wireless controller above all other control devices. That's the beauty of Dolphin (and emulation in general), being able to use your controller of choice.

And yes, the Game Boy Player. Still waiting for it to happen, even if it takes 50 years .

[mbc07]

The Wii Speak and the Logitech USB Vantage Mic covers most Wii games that supports microphones but they aren't emulated either. A looooong time ago, godisgovernment and degasus implemented partial emulation of them (AFAICT the only part missing was "tunneling" audio from the PC microphones to the emulated mic) but they never finished. If you want to take a look, I think my fork of Dolphin still has their code in a separate branch...

[Shonumi]

@Admentus - I was going to add the WiiMotion Plus controller, but I felt that it's already been emulated before, just not officially with Dolphin. I don't know if it's incomplete in any way (e.g. if certain actions haven't been done in custom builds yet), but if so I would add it. I'm trying to find stuff that hasn't been touched at all, at least not in a manner that is "playable" or preserves some aspect of the game that would otherwise be lost. Thanks for the input though!

@mbc07 - Ah, yes. I always assumed those worked in Dolphin already. Nice catch!

EDIT - Anyone have any information about the Shinkansen Wii controller? The one used for Densha de Go Shinkansen EX? The game can be controlled by Wiimote or GC controller, but I'm not sure the Shinkansen controller is just a glorified Wiimote (i.e. same input, different package), or if it actually does something unique, and the game accounts for this.

[Helios]

The custom WM+ builds were a pretty hacky solution designed to make Skyward Sword work. It didn't work very well for other games, and the UI was terrible. I wouldn't particularly call that preserved