- For software that emulates the Wii U, see Wii U emulators.
Emulators (Legacy, via vWii)[edit]
Most emulators available for the Wii will also work on vWii (virtual Wii) mode on the Wii U, and some of them even support the Wii U Pro Controller or the Wii U Gamepad. However, due to sandboxing, there won't be any performance gains compared to running those emulators bare-metal on a Wii. In WiiVC inject mode you can slightly improve performance by overclocking with c2w_patcher and a patched c2w.img.
Nintendont, while not an emulator, enables the ability to play GameCube games on the Wii U as well, with little compromise.
Emulators (Multi-system)[edit]
Please note that RetroArch isn't currently compatible with Aroma. Support for Aroma is being worked on. For now, in order to run RetroArch, you will have to use an older hack such as Tiramisu (Haxchi and Mocha also both work, but really shouldn't be used at this point).
RetroArch[edit]
Available cores (as of Retroarch 1.19.1)
| Cores
|
Game/System
|
Recommended
|
| 2048
|
2048
|
✓
|
| cap32
|
Amstrad - CPC/GX4000
|
TBD
|
| crocods
|
Amstrad - CPC
|
TBD
|
| anarch
|
Anarch
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012
|
Arcade
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_cps1
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_cps2
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_cps3
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_neogeo
|
TBD
|
| mame2000
|
TBD
|
| mame2003_plus
|
TBD
|
| mame2003
|
TBD
|
| mame2003_midway
|
TBD
|
| ardens
|
Arduboy
|
TBD
|
| arduous
|
TBD
|
| stella2014
|
Atari - 2600
|
✓
|
| a5200
|
Atari - 5200
|
TBD
|
| atari800
|
✓
|
| prosystem
|
Atari - 7800 (ProSystem)
|
TBD
|
| mednafen_lynx
|
Atari - Lynx
|
✓
|
| handy
|
TBD
|
| hatari
|
Atari - ST/STE/TT/Falcon
|
TBD
|
| mednafen_wswan
|
Bandai - WonderSwan/Color
|
✓
|
| cannonball
|
Cannonball
|
TBD
|
| nxengine
|
Cave Story
|
TBD
|
| jaxe
|
CHIP-8/S-CHIP/XO-CHIP
|
✓
|
| gearcoleco
|
Coleco - ColecoVision
|
TBD
|
| puae
|
Commodore - Amiga
|
TBD
|
| puae2021
|
TBD
|
| vice_x128
|
Commodore - C128
|
TBD
|
| frodo
|
Commodore - C64
|
TBD
|
| vice_x64
|
TBD
|
| vice_x64sc
|
✓
|
| vice_xscpu64
|
Commodore - C64 SuperCPU
|
TBD
|
| vice_xcbm5x0
|
Commodore - CBM-II 5x0
|
TBD
|
| vice_xcbm2
|
Commodore - CBM-II 6x0/7x0
|
TBD
|
| vice_xpet
|
Commodore - PET
|
TBD
|
| vice_xplus4
|
Commodore - PLUS/4
|
TBD
|
| vice_xvic
|
Commodore - VIC-20
|
TBD
|
| prboom
|
Doom
|
TBD
|
| dosbox_svn
|
DOS
|
TBD
|
| bk
|
Elektronika - BK-0010/BK-0011(M)
|
TBD
|
| freechaf
|
Fairchild ChannelF
|
TBD
|
| reminiscence
|
Flashback
|
TBD
|
| gme
|
Game Music Emu
|
TBD
|
| vecx
|
GCE - Vectrex
|
TBD
|
| gong
|
Gong
|
✓
|
| gw
|
Handheld Electronic
|
TBD
|
| squirreljme
|
Java ME
|
TBD
|
| jumpnbump
|
Jump 'n Bump
|
TBD
|
| lowresnx
|
LowRes NX
|
TBD
|
| lutro
|
Lua Engine
|
TBD
|
| minivmac
|
Mac II
|
TBD
|
| o2em
|
Magnavox - Odyssey2 / Philips Videopac+
|
TBD
|
| freeintv
|
Mattel - Intellivision
|
✓
|
| fmsx
|
Microsoft - MSX
|
✓
|
| uw8
|
MicroW8
|
TBD
|
| mrboom
|
Mr.Boom (Bomberman)
|
TBD
|
| bluemsx
|
MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000
|
~
|
| quasi88
|
NEC - PC-8000 / PC-8800 series
|
TBD
|
| nekop2
|
NEC - PC-98
|
~
|
| np2kai
|
✓slowdown but best PC98 core
|
| mednafen_pce_fast
|
NEC - PC Engine / CD
|
✓
|
| mednafen_pce
|
NEC - PC Engine / SuperGrafx / CD
|
✓
|
| mednafen_supergrafx
|
NEC - PC Engine SuperGrafx
|
✓
|
| DoubleCherryGB
|
Nintendo - Game Boy / Color
|
TBD
|
| fixgb
|
✓
|
| gambatte
|
✓
|
| gearboy
|
✓
|
| sameboy
|
✓
|
| tgbdual
|
✗(white screen)
|
| gpsp
|
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance
|
✓
|
| mgba
|
✓
|
| vbam
|
~
|
| vba_next
|
~
|
| fceumm
|
Nintendo - NES / Famicom
|
✓
|
| fixnes
|
✓
|
| nestopia
|
✓
|
| quicknes
|
TBD
|
| pokemini
|
Nintendo - Pokemon Mini
|
TBD
|
| snes9x
|
Nintendo - SNES / SFC
|
✓
|
| snes9x2002
|
~
|
| snes9x2005
|
✓
|
| snes9x2005_plus
|
✓
|
| snes9x2010
|
✓
|
| mednafen_vb
|
Nintendo - Virtual Boy (Beetle VB)
|
✓
|
| oberon
|
Oberon RISC Emulator
|
TBD
|
| mu
|
Palm OS
|
TBD
|
| retro8
|
PICO-8
|
TBD
|
| pocketcdg
|
PocketCDG
|
TBD
|
| tyrquake
|
Quake
|
TBD
|
| vitaquake2-rogue
|
Quake II - Ground Zero (vitaQuake 2 [Rogue])
|
TBD
|
| vitaquake2-xatrix
|
Quake II - The Reckoning (vitaQuake 2 [Xatrix])
|
TBD
|
| vitaquake2-zaero
|
Quake II - Zaero (vitaQuake 2 [Zaero])
|
TBD
|
| vitaquake2
|
Quake II (vitaQuake 2)
|
TBD
|
| xrick
|
Rick Dangerous
|
TBD
|
| scummvm
|
ScummVM
|
TBD
|
| picodrive
|
Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD/32X
|
✗(crash)
|
| genesis_plus_gx
|
Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD
|
✓
|
| genesis_plus_gx_wide
|
✓
|
| gearsystem
|
Sega - MS/GG/SG-1000
|
✓
|
| x1
|
Sharp X1 (X Millennium)
|
TBD
|
| 81
|
Sinclair - ZX 81 (EightyOne)
|
TBD
|
| fuse
|
Sinclair - ZX Spectrum
|
✓
|
| neocd
|
SNK - Neo Geo CD
|
✓
|
| mednafen_ngp
|
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color
|
✓
|
| race
|
✗(crash)
|
| pcsx_rearmed
|
Sony - PlayStation
|
TBD
|
| superbroswar
|
Super Bros War
|
TBD
|
| numero
|
Texas Instruments TI-83
|
TBD
|
| theodore
|
Thomson - MO/TO
|
TBD
|
| tic80
|
TIC-80
|
TBD
|
| uzem
|
Uzebox
|
TBD
|
| vaporspec
|
VaporSpec
|
TBD
|
| wasm4
|
WASM-4
|
TBD
|
| ecwolf
|
Wolfenstein 3D
|
TBD
|
Emulators (Single system)[edit]
Centipede Arcade[edit]
Commodore[edit]
Commodore 64[edit]
Fantasy computers[edit]
Nintendo[edit]
Game Boy / Color / Advance[edit]
Gacubeboy: small emulator coded in 8 hours. Uses GX2 graphics but has a lot of graphical glitches. Poor compatibility. No sound.
GBiine: Wiiu Heig-Boy port. Can open a few gbc roms, just the ones designed for dual usage in gbc and original gb, like Links Awakening DX, but in gb mode (no color). Supports saves. No sound.
NooDS: while this emulator is focused on nintendo ds, it can make use of the emulated slot-2 to actually load gba games, which do run fullspeed but with some minor glitches.
Retroarch is generally the best choice. Alternatively, there are good gb/gbc/gba emulators in wii mode, like mgba or vbagx.
LiteNESU: one of the first homebrew programs for the wiiu. Barely a PoC. Slow, without sound, low compatibility. Cant load games from the scard. You'll have to host and load the game from the network, next to the payload, with the old browser method. Or, alternatively, bundle the roms inside the elf executable (16in1) at compilation time. You'd better use retroarch, or the injection method, or one of the emulators on the wii side like fceugx.
Nintendo 64[edit]
Pokémon Mini[edit]
PokeMini by rw-r-r_0644 is an early and obsolete retroarch core.
PokeMiniU is based on the original Pokemini standalone emulator, but it's one of the first homebrew emulators and is full of bugs: tiny screen, lots of graphical glitches, wrong colors...
In both cases, you will prefer the most recent retroarch with the newest pokemini core.
Source ports[edit]
- ↑ Cave Story Engine 2, or CSE2 for short, received a DMCA cease and desist notice from Nicalis, the current IP owner of Cave Story, despite the original Cave Story being a freeware developed by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya.
- ↑ Since the Wii U version of Ship of Harkinian is ported by a different developer (Wii U port developed by GaryOderNichts), it may not always be updated alongside the mainstream ports (Windows, macOS, Linux/Steam Deck, Switch) of Ship of Harkinian, may be due to incompatibility issues in certain updates. Since v6.1.2, the Wii U port was absent for v7.0.0, v7.0.1, and v7.0.2 releases, but returned in v7.1.0 after various fixes were made.
- ↑ As of v8.0.0, Ship of Harkinian supports any PAL ROM of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 or GameCube (SoH Compatibility Checker to check if your ROM is supported). Launch the PC version and locate the ROM to generate an
oot.otr file to place in the soh Wii U app folder. Additionally and optionally, you can load the PAL version of the Master Quest version in the PC version to create an oot-mq.otr to add another game mode.
- ↑ This unofficial Wii U port of the Sonia Mania Decompilation project plays and loads great. Some frames will drop during giant ring special stages when too many 3D assets appear on the screen but performance is arguably bearable. Missing features as of v1.0.3 include screen filters, the 'DLC' option in the main menu doesn't do anything (but 'Encore Mode' works when
dlcEnabled is set to y in Settings.ini) and limited mod support.
