Wii U is the Greatest Gaming Hobbyist Device short of a PC. Here's Why. [Image Heavy]

[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

Now I want to hack my Wii U. How easy is it? Is it Wii easy?

Also, PSP is my favorite to mod by far. That's what probably got me into IT and computer science in the first place (learning to figure that all out as a youngin).
I remember Nintendo diehards in middle school being mad because I was playing GameBoy games on my PSP, like I preformed some sort of unholy ritual or something.

 

[Dolobill]

Now I want to hack my Wii U. How easy is it? Is it Wii easy?

Click to shrink...

Getting the Homebrew channel installed on Wii U is not difficult. It will take more effort to get your console to the state that mine is in though. I recommend installing Coldboot Haxchi (CBHC) so you don't have to manually boot into custom firmware after every restart. It will take some research and probably trial and error to get to know all the tools used for creating injects and installing games. As mentioned earlier, Teconmoon's Wii VC Injector is used to convert Wii/GCN isos to installable packages. Nintendont is required for Gamecube compatibility. WUP Installer for installing packages.

 

[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

Getting the Homebrew channel installed on Wii U is not difficult. It will take more effort to get your console to the state that mine is in though. I recommend installing Coldboot Haxchi (CBHC) so you don't have to manually boot into custom firmware after every restart. It will take some research and probably trial and error to get to know all the tools used for creating injects and installing games. As mentioned earlier, Teconmoon's Wii VC Injector is used to convert Wii/GCN isos to installable packages. Nintendont is required for Gamecube compatibility. WUP Installer for installing packages.

Click to shrink...

GameCube Compatibility? Is this like PS2 compatibility on PS3 where it was hidden the whole time if you hacked it?

Why wasnt that feature just in the system like Wii?

 

[PyroPaperPlanes]

GameCube Compatibility? Is this like PS2 compatibility on PS3 where it was hidden the whole time if you hacked it?

Why wasnt that feature just in the system like Wii?

Click to shrink...

Unlike the Wii, the Wii U optical drive isn't able to accept GCN discs. If anything, it will likely jam and break the drive. Nintendo probably figured people might misunderstand the Wii U's capabilities if they sold GCN VC games and decided it simply wasn't worth the risk.

 

[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

Unlike the Wii, the Wii U optical drive isn't able to accept GCN discs. If anything, it will likely jam and break the drive.

Click to shrink...

Is the playback 100% accurate like on Wii?

 

[PyroPaperPlanes]

Is the playback 100% accurate like on Wii?

Click to shrink...

I believe so, yes.

 

[Barn]

Not true. Depends on the Wii. An early gen Wii? Yes those are not good and have a softening filter bug at the firmware level. But later gen Wii's that are still BC? Not even close. They will blow away the Wii U's IQ.

Click to shrink...

Sure, but we're talking about a lot of conditions here that many people won't stretch to -- different gens of Wii, CRT TVs and such. I just mean that for an out-of-the-box type of experience, wouldn't the Wii U be cleaner on a modern TV simply due to having an HDMI output standard (compared to Wii's composite)?

 

[Listai]

Yep, Wii U has bad scaling. It's no good for anything except Wii U games.

Click to shrink...

Yeah the system is really let down by the awful scaling of Wii and GC titles. Even when you set the system to 480p they still look like shit.

That said it's still a great system to mod, but for me the Vita is where it's at with its native psp compatibility and the excellent semi-hardware bc that is used for Ps1 games.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

Sure, but we're talking about a lot of conditions here that many people won't stretch to -- different gens of Wii, CRT TVs and such. I just mean that for an out-of-the-box type of experience, wouldn't the Wii U be cleaner on a modern TV simply due to having an HDMI output standard (compared to Wii's composite)?

Click to shrink...

Yep. In most situations. Even compared to the Wii's component output.

 

[Encephalon]

Maybe it the screen for the Wii u wasn't terrible.

 

[Dolobill]

Maybe it the screen for the Wii u wasn't terrible.

Click to shrink...

The screen is 480p which is a perfect match for Wii and Gamecube games.

 

[Encephalon]

The screen is 480p which is a perfect match for Wii and Gamecube games.

Click to shrink...

I have an LCD TV from 2006 that looks better. It looks blurry, and in my case, it's noticably yellow. I wish this weren't the case; I've kept mine for the virtual console games I own on the Wii side.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

People saying Dolphin is better: playing games on Dolphin is certainly better if you're looking for gorgeous visual, but if you are interested in a hassle-free experience, as close as possible to OG hardware, Wii U is better. Do you want to do a perfect run in FE Radiant Dawn recruiting everyone? You can't, for some reason, Dolphin can't load that many characters. You want to play with a certain car on a certain track on F-Zero GX? You may experience problems. Every game can suffer from stutters here and there and the lesser common games might have some game-breaking bugs. Now, not get me wrong, Dolphin is an amazing piece of software with very high compatibility for relatively low system requirements and we are lucky to have it. But it's not perfect. Nintendo games are also known for their polish and this is in part lost on PC.

For the same reason, I'm not a fan of emulation on low-powered hardware. PSP was a nightmare for me. GBA games sorta worked, but you had to use three different emulators and go heavy with frame-skipping. For SNES you had to tweak the emu settings differently for every game and they were still full of bugs, frame drops or missing sprites. I love my 3DS as a portable emulation machine, but I'm (mostly) sticking to VC Injections, since Nintendo emulators provide a better experience than Retroarch.

 

[GrendelKhan]

I've been too nervous to mod my Wii U but seeing that screenshot of Banjo Kazooie is making me seriously contemplate it.

 

[Listai]

I've been too nervous to mod my Wii U but seeing that screenshot of Banjo Kazooie is making me seriously contemplate it.

Click to shrink...

It's really easy and provided you stay away from the coldboot solutions you can't break anything.

 

[GamerJM]

I think the Wii is superior just because I'd give the fact that you don't have to deal with Nintendont input lag over what's left of Wii U games I'd want to actually play on a Wii U. IIRC Virtual Console games can't be played at their native resolution on a U or something as well, idk if you can set it up on the Wii U or not but playing retro games on a Wii on a CRT is bliss.

 

[deimosmasque]

It's really easy and provided you stay away from the coldboot solutions you can't break anything.

Click to shrink...

Actually how do you mod it now that the eshop is closed? All the methods I've seen require having a legitimate DS game purchased and downloaded on the Wii U.

 

[Listai]

Actually how do you mod it now that the eshop is closed? All the methods I've seen require having a legitimate DS game purchased and downloaded on the Wii U.

Click to shrink...

No there's a browser exploit that you can use, it's more cumbersome but it works just as well.

 

[Meatwad]

Actually how do you mod it now that the eshop is closed? All the methods I've seen require having a legitimate DS game purchased and downloaded on the Wii U.

Click to shrink...

Wii U eshop isn't closed

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

Actually how do you mod it now that the eshop is closed? All the methods I've seen require having a legitimate DS game purchased and downloaded on the Wii U.

Click to shrink...

The eshop isn't closed, it's just the payment method what changed

 

[deimosmasque]

No there's a browser exploit that you can use, it's more cumbersome but it works just as well.

Click to shrink...

But doesn't that one not really work well with the last firmware and goes away after a restart.

Wii U eshop isn't closed

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The eshop isn't closed, it's just the payment method what changed

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I was under the impression if you have no points in the Wii U eshop you can't add more.

 

[Dragonyeuw]

Damn good thread, applaud your efforts in creating it.

 

[Meatwad]

But doesn't that one not really work well with the last firmware and goes away after a restart.





I was under the impression if you have no points in the Wii U eshop you can't add more.

Click to shrink...

you can but if you're in the EU then you gotta do it through the console now.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

I was under the impression if you have no points in the Wii U eshop you can't add more.

Click to shrink...

No. They changed the payment methods so you can only either add fixed amounts of money or use eshop cards, so to get a DS game you'd need to add 10 € or get a 15 € eshop card.

 

[deimosmasque]

Thanks for the info. Going to pull my wii u out this weekend and see if I can mod it.

It's just collecting dust anyways.

 

[Phonzo]

I have a hacked, vita, wii-u, and switch

im set on homebrews

 

[IrishNinja]

shit, OP...you make a good argument here.

wii dethroned OG xbox for best to hack years back, and as an aside, i loved the PSP for PSX emulation (screen size was sharp for it too). this thing really covers the bases though, great thread.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

GameCube Compatibility? Is this like PS2 compatibility on PS3 where it was hidden the whole time if you hacked it?

Why wasnt that feature just in the system like Wii?

Click to shrink...

More than hidden, it wasn't intended. The reader can't take mini DVDs and I get the feeling that Nintendo never intended to do anything GameCube related, but Smash was too big to ignore.

But the compatibility is still there thanks to Wii hardware and Nintendont acts as a launcher for the GC isos

 

[Phonzo]

Which console, not pc, does Saturn best?

 

[julian]

But doesn't that one not really work well with the last firmware and goes away after a restart.





I was under the impression if you have no points in the Wii U eshop you can't add more.

Click to shrink...

You're thinking of the Wii. Wii U used regular dollar values and the eShop is still running and even has regular sales - nothing good, but they're there. Wii U has an account system that tied into the 3DS and even Switch. They can all share the same wallet.

 

[deimosmasque]

You're thinking of the Wii. Wii U used regular dollar values and the eShop is still running and even has regular sales - nothing good, but they're there. Wii U has an account system that tied into the 3DS and even Switch. They can all share the same wallet.

Click to shrink...

You are probably right because for Nintendo purchases I was an early Wii and DS adopter.

Awesome. Glad I was wrong.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

People saying Dolphin is better: playing games on Dolphin is certainly better if you're looking for gorgeous visual, but if you are interested in a hassle-free experience, as close as possible to OG hardware, Wii U is better. Do you want to do a perfect run in FE Radiant Dawn recruiting everyone? You can't, for some reason, Dolphin can't load that many characters. You want to play with a certain car on a certain track on F-Zero GX? You may experience problems. Every game can suffer from stutters here and there and the lesser common games might have some game-breaking bugs. Now, not get me wrong, Dolphin is an amazing piece of software with very high compatibility for relatively low system requirements and we are lucky to have it. But it's not perfect. Nintendo games are also known for their polish and this is in part lost on PC.

For the same reason, I'm not a fan of emulation on low-powered hardware. PSP was a nightmare for me. GBA games sorta worked, but you had to use three different emulators and go heavy with frame-skipping. For SNES you had to tweak the emu settings differently for every game and they were still full of bugs, frame drops or missing sprites. I love my 3DS as a portable emulation machine, but I'm (mostly) sticking to VC Injections, since Nintendo emulators provide a better experience than Retroarch.

Click to shrink...

This is all true. Dolphin is fine for fiddling with HD texture packs and such, but it still has minor compatibility issues and general performance depends on hardware. The more complex the emulated machine is, the more prone the emulator is to have issues, wich is why i'm not a fan of emulation in general when it comes to consoles over PSX (N64 emulation teached me some hard truths)

Also yes, PSP is not that wonderful as an emulation machine, in fact it felt undercooked for anything over 8 bits or that it wasn't PSX.

By the way, regarding this

One of the reasons I got rid of the system though, is that it has a very messy and awkward setup with the console, external power supply, tablet, charging dock, USB storage etc.

Click to shrink...

The clutter can be reduced significantly. While Nintendo doesn't recommend them, pendrives can be used with the Wii U and i in fact didn't have issues with them for months. The higher capacity ones are more expensive than HDDs of the same capacity, yes, but you can also switch between different low capacity pendrives.

Also regarding the Gamepad charger, there are USB charging cables for it and the Wii U delivers enough power via USB to use them.

So you can have a pendrive and the Gamepad charging cable connected in the back and leave the front USBs for GameCube and HID controllers.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

But doesn't that one not really work well with the last firmware and goes away after a restart.





I was under the impression if you have no points in the Wii U eshop you can't add more.

Click to shrink...

youre thinking of the Wii shop. Not the Wii U eShop. The Wii shop is closed on both Wii consoles and Wii mode on Wii U consoles.

 

[Phonzo]

This is all great info.

When i move to my new home im going to further exploit my Wii-U.

It'll be king of WiiU, Wii, and GC games.

Vita does Vita, PSP, PSX, and all the 16bit/32bit console/handhelds.

Switch will do Dreamcast and N64.

 

[Phonzo]

The clutter can be reduced significantly. While Nintendo doesn't recommend them, pendrives can be used with the Wii U and i in fact didn't have issues with them for months. The higher capacity ones are more expensive than HDDs of the same capacity, yes, but you can also switch between different low capacity pendrives.

Also regarding the Gamepad charger, there are USB charging cables for it and the Wii U delivers enough power via USB to use them.

So you can have a pendrive and the Gamepad charging cable connected in the back and leave the front USBs for GameCube and HID controllers.

Click to shrink...

One of the things i hated about my hack Wii-U is the external HDD, too much clutter. You are saying a Flashdrive is fine? most sites say dont use it.

 

[GrendelKhan]

Teconmoon's Wii VC Injector (for Wii and Gamecube). I suggest GBAtemp for tutorials.

Click to shrink...

Dolobill - And what are you using for your N64 injection?

 

[banter]

I've wanted to mod my wii u for a long time now but the combination of me not being too saavy with stuff like that and the sheer quantity of paid content i have on mine scares me out of doing it. I still want to, the guides i find just have so many options and "this or this or this, and if you do this you need this and this but if you do this you need that but can't do the other thing" and it's super convoluted for someone who isn't used to doing this sort of thing.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

One of the things i hated about my hack Wii-U is the external HDD, too much clutter. You are saying a Flashdrive is fine? most sites say dont use it.

Click to shrink...

Well, they have write limits and nintendo don't recommend them so people doesn't either, but they do the job. My first year with my Wii U I was pretty short on money so instead of using a hdd I used a cheap 32 gb Toshiba pendrive I had and it gave me no issues.

And if you have it only for homebrew and injects then the risk of failure is lesser.

 

[JangleLuke]

I've wanted to mod my wii u for a long time now but the combination of me not being too saavy with stuff like that and the sheer quantity of paid content i have on mine scares me out of doing it. I still want to, the guides i find just have so many options and "this or this or this, and if you do this you need this and this but if you do this you need that but can't do the other thing" and it's super convoluted for someone who isn't used to doing this sort of thing.

Click to shrink...

You could go for the standard Haxchi method (as I did).

It basically relegates the access to all of the modding stuff to a singular DS VC game of your choosing.
(that admittedly, you must "sacrifice" in the process and NEVER EVER delete from the system's internal memory)

The only downside is that, if you want to do homebrew stuff, you have to manually boot that game every time you power up the console.

As for the guide, there is a definitive one, but I don't know if I'm allowed to link to it.

 

[Dolobill]

Dolobill - And what are you using for your N64 injection?

Click to shrink...

I believe 64Inject is the latest and greatest tool for adding N64 games. It has the ability to remove the official emulator's ugly dark filter and you can force widescreen. It's been a while since I did N64 injects though and I think I was using older tools.

Edit: Be sure to check N64 Wii U VC compatibility lists first to save some headaches.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

I believe 64Inject is the latest and greatest tool for adding N64 games. It has the ability to remove the official emulator's ugly dark filter and you can force widescreen. It's been a while since I did N64 injects though and I think I was using older tools.

Edit: Be sure to check N64 Wii U VC compatibility lists first to save some headaches.

Click to shrink...

Gotta check out this one. I have been out of the inject scene for a good while

 

[Deleted member 7130]

The screen is 480p which is a perfect match for Wii and Gamecube games.

Click to shrink...

It's a low quality LCD where the WiiU has to compress the picture to transmit to it wirelessly.

 

[LunaSerena]

Cold boot Haxchi is different from stand haxchi? I haven't messed with modding a console, but OP's thread made me motivated to do something with my Wii U - I still have it hooked up, and it would be a waste to simply let it be on my TV stand as decoration.
The GCN games caught my attention - I have my collection, but I handed my GCN to my brother and never saw it again. I'm beating myself for doing that to this day, and I've got to scratch my itch of playing Rogue Squadron somehow.

 

[Water]

You guys always forget that Switch from a certain date are not hackable anymore.

Click to shrink...

True, but you can easily get a modable switch on ebay and not spend anymore that you would versus a normal one by searching serial numbers.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

True, but you can easily get a modable switch on ebay and not spend anymore that you would versus a normal one by searching serial numbers.

Click to shrink...

Yes but I have to hunt for one and pay for it, while every Wii U is hackable

 

[Pargon]

The screen is 480p which is a perfect match for Wii and Gamecube games.

Click to shrink...

That's not necessarily true, since the consoles were designed for analog video and the output likely needs scaling/aspect ratio correction.
As soon as you're doing anything other than displaying 1:1 pixels, you need a considerably higher resolution display than the source.

The 3DS virtual console is a good example of that. Its display is 400x240 - perfect for older 240p games if you play them 1:1. But if you use aspect ratio correction the image is blurred significantly because the display's resolution is low.
1:1 on the left, 4:3 on the right.

Even if it looks wrong for some of these games, I could only ever play them in 1:1 on the 3DS display.
At higher resolutions you can use aspect ratio correction and non-integer scaling and it is barely noticeable.

True, but you can easily get a modable switch on ebay and not spend anymore that you would versus a normal one by searching serial numbers.

Click to shrink...

After having bought used hardware in the past, it's such a hassle to do - because there are so many potential problems and very little recourse.
It's why this is probably not going to go anywhere for me, as I can't seem to find anywhere with new-in-box Wii Us any more, or new (white) Wii Motion Plus remotes.

The clutter can be reduced significantly. While Nintendo doesn't recommend them, pendrives can be used with the Wii U and i in fact didn't have issues with them for months. The higher capacity ones are more expensive than HDDs of the same capacity, yes, but you can also switch between different low capacity pendrives.

Also regarding the Gamepad charger, there are USB charging cables for it and the Wii U delivers enough power via USB to use them.
So you can have a pendrive and the Gamepad charging cable connected in the back and leave the front USBs for GameCube and HID controllers.

Click to shrink...

Huh, you'd think someone at Nintendo might have realized that they could charge the gamepad via USB instead of including a separate charger.
I had enough trouble with external drives on the Wii U (an external SSD) that I wouldn't want to risk it with a pendrive if the system is reliant on that.
From reading up on the hack process, it sounds like you either need to run an exploit every time you boot the system, or run a risky hack that could brick the system if the drive dies. That seems like a lot of hassle.

 

[Phonzo]

That's not necessarily true, since the consoles were designed for analog video and the output likely needs scaling/aspect ratio correction.
As soon as you're doing anything other than displaying 1:1 pixels, you need a considerably higher resolution display than the source.

The 3DS virtual console is a good example of that. Its display is 400x240 - perfect for older 240p games if you play them 1:1. But if you use aspect ratio correction the image is blurred significantly because the display's resolution is low.
1:1 on the left, 4:3 on the right.

Even if it looks wrong for some of these games, I could only ever play them in 1:1 on the 3DS display.
At higher resolutions you can use aspect ratio correction and non-integer scaling and it is barely noticeable.

After having bought used hardware in the past, it's such a hassle to do - because there are so many potential problems and very little recourse.
It's why this is probably not going to go anywhere for me, as I can't seem to find anywhere with new-in-box Wii Us any more, or new (white) Wii Motion Plus remotes.


Huh, you'd think someone at Nintendo might have realized that they could charge the gamepad via USB instead of including a separate charger.
I had enough trouble with external drives on the Wii U (an external SSD) that I wouldn't want to risk it with a pendrive if the system is reliant on that.
From reading up on the hack process, it sounds like you either need to run an exploit every time you boot the system, or run a risky hack that could brick the system if the drive dies. That seems like a lot of hassle.

Click to shrink...

I havent used my modded wii-u in a long time, but im pretty sure you only need to reapply the hack when you do a hard reboot, such as unplugging the system. If you just power it down each time, the hack stays.

 

[Pargon]

I havent used my modded wii-u in a long time, but im pretty sure you only need to reapply the hack when you do a hard reboot, such as unplugging the system. If you just power it down each time, the hack stays.

Click to shrink...

Oh, okay. If putting the system on standby keeps the hack active that's far less of an issue.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

From reading up on the hack process, it sounds like you either need to run an exploit every time you boot the system, or run a risky hack that could brick the system if the drive dies. That seems like a lot of hassle.

Click to shrink...

CBHC isn't that risky. You basically modify a DS game bought from the eShop and you force the Wii U to load it before loading the OS. You break your console if you delete the DS game (which, after the hack, is conveniently renamed DON'T TOUCH THIS) or if your internal system storage fails and at this point, your Wii U is dead anyway.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

You're making me not want o sell my WiiU