Dolphin WASM gets WebGPU backend progress with Wii game shown in Chrome

A developer has shown New Super Mario Bros. Wii running inside Google Chrome. The demo was posted by Chad Hyatt, who also referred to the work as “WebGPU backend progress on Dolphin WASM.”

The test appears to use Dolphin compiled to WebAssembly, with rendering handled through a WebGPU backend. Dolphin is a GameCube and Wii emulator available for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android, but this demo shows the emulator running inside a browser tab instead of a native app.

WebGPU gives web apps access to modern GPU features through a browser API, and Chrome first enabled it in version 113 on Windows, macOS and ChromeOS. Google presents it as a successor to WebGL, with support for modern graphics and compute workloads. The developer also has not shared performance data, device specs or controller details. For now, this should be treated as an early technical demo rather than a ready browser-based Dolphin release.

As with Dolphin itself, the browser version would not include games. Dolphin’s Android listing already states that users must buy and dump their own copies to use them with the emulator. A browser-based version would make Nintendo game emulation easier to access, since users would not need a separate app or local setup. But it would also likely draw legal attention from Nintendo, which has taken a strict approach to emulator projects and unauthorized game distribution.

Source: Chad Hyatt

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