Saving games in Dolphin is quite easy, as it works as you'd expect. The folder is located by default in your Documents folder, which can be changed to wherever you please with the settings. 

If you have a save from another PC or from the internet, you can simply just pop these into your designated folder and it should begin to load them up as usual. 

The benefit of gaming on an emulator is the Save State function, with saves and loads a moment in your game that you're up to, then you can load into it automatically next time you want to play. This is great for games with tough bosses or older games that don't actually have auto or manual saves, forcing you to find a save point to log your progress. 

Dolphin Save States Explained

With your game loaded, head into the main Dolphin menu, where you'd load your games from, and hit Emulation. In the drop-down list, you'll see some options for how to save state. 

• Save State to File
  • Choose where you'd like to save the state. This is great if you intend on using more than one machine with Dolphin. 
• Save State to Selected Slot
  • Choose one of the slots available to save to, this can then be easily chosen next time you need it. 
• Save State to Oldest Slot
  • Overwrite your oldest save state slot. 
• Save State to Slot
  • Will automatically write to an available slot. 
• Undo Save State
  • Will get rid of the last save state

Starting out with Dolphin and emulation? We’ve got the following guides for you!

• Download Dolphin
• How to play multiplayer (offline and online) with Dolphin

About the Author

Joel Loynds

Joel is a a lover of janky games, Magic the Gathering, and going down rabbit holes. For PC Guide he has written about peripherals, the Steam Deck, retro games, news and more.