Emulator

Looking at a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxLKb-IHYCo) it seems like the greyed out buttons is always the case, but it looks like they were able to boot the game. I don't know if that video is emulated or real hardware (it's in 480p so it might be real hardware).

If you select "view -> show log configuration" and then set the level to info and check all log types, you should get more info in the log window.

Thanks. I've ordered a copy of the game and will take a look when it arrives (which might be up to a week from now).

It was marked as working on the Wiki in May 2013. You could try Dolphin 4.0 (November 2013) or 3.5-1334 (May 6 2013); if one of those does work then we'd know this was an old regression.

I tried the different versions you suggested, and they both have entirely different problems from the latest dev build. 4.0 doesn't even boot and just hangs on a black screen forever, while in 3.5-1334, I can select a file, but the entire game is plagued with seizure-inducing graphical glitches.

UPDATE: After I deleted my SYSCONF, the game booted on 4.0. I can select a file on it, but it still has graphical glitches, although the ones on 4.0 are less severe.

UPDATE: I tried creating a file on 4.0 in order to see if that fixed anything regarding the latest dev build. It did not. The file is there, but I can't select or interact with it whatsoever.

Can you try doing a binary search to determine which version this started happening in? The first 4.0 version is on page 524 and the first 5.0 version is on page 336, so you check a build from page 430 and then if that one works, you know the first broken build is between page 430 and 336 so you test, say, page 380; if it doesn't work you know the first broken build is between page 524 and 430 so you test, say, page 480, and then just repeat until you're down to one page and then one build on the page. If this doesn't make sense, I can do it when my copy arrives. But knowing the exact version an issue started in makes it a LOT easier to determine what caused it and how to fix it.

Also, just to make sure, you have been able to get other games (or e.g. the Wii Menu) to work on recent versions of Dolphin, right? I want to make sure it's not something like the A button not working for you on modern versions.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll be sure to try it and inform you of how it turns out.

Every other game I have works on my copy of Dolphin, and the A button is fully operational. I know this because A) It registers as being pressed in the controller mapping menu when I press it, including during active gameplay, and B) Solitare and Mahjong has a save data warning screen that requires pressing A in order to bypass, so I wouldn't be able to access the file selection screen if my input didn't function properly.

Ok, here are my findings.

4.0: Can select file, graphical glitches.
5.0-9: Cannot select file, graphical glitches.
4.0-4448: Can select file, less severe graphical glitches.
4.0-7298: Can select file, slightly more severe graphical glitches (things like menu icons and the statistics on the other side of the card on the title screen appear in 4.0.4448, but not here.)
4.0-8376: Dolphin crashes upon hovering over file, graphical glitches.
4.0-8947: Cannot select file, graphical glitches.
4.0-8664: Cannot select file, minor flickering/graphical glitches.
4.0-7886: Dolphin crashes upon hovering over file, graphical glitches.
4.0-7605: Can select file, graphical glitches (largely identical to 4.0-7298).
4.0-8125: Dolphin crashes upon hovering over file, graphical glitches.
4.0-7745: Ditto.
4.0-7700: Ditto, but graphical glitches less severe.
4.0-7664: Ditto, but graphical glitches more severe.
4.0-7607: Can select file, graphical glitches (see 4.0-7605)
4.0-7630: Crashes, worse graphical glitches.
4.0-7620: Crashes, minor graphical glitches.
4.0-7612: Can select file, par-for-the-course graphical glitches.
4.0:7614: Can select file, very minor graphical glitches.

So, the verdict's out. The game stops being accessible with version 4.0-7620. This list was made as I was testing, in the order of versions I tested, so it's kind of stream-of-consciousness. Apologies if it doesn't make sense and/or is difficult to read.

One thing to check is if dual core makes a difference since that can cause graphical glitches in some games (more for the versions where you saw graphical glitching; I'd be surprised if it makes a difference with actually pressing the button).

4.0-7620 seems like a bit of an odd version for behavior to change on, as I wouldn't expect a change to how graphics stuff works to impact whether or not a button can be clicked ingame. But, developers do weird things sometimes, so it's certainly possible.

I tried both enabling and disabling dual core on a version that crashes (4.0-7886) and a version that doesn't register any hovering (4.0-8664), and it didn't make any difference.

The only thing I noticed that was different between bootups was the severity of the graphical glitches, but I'm honestly starting to suspect that the severity is random and not dictated by the version or any setting.

The above pull request was merged in the following version

5.0-19358 -> https://dolphin-emu.org/download/dev/2e9b7f1192ad4bd3dcd8edf33b5312093f944492/