- For software that emulates the Wii U, see Wii U emulators.
Emulators (Legacy, via vWii)
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.
The most interesting emulator, really hypervisor, is Nintendont, for GameCube gaming. You can run it directly in vwii HBC, or through a wii usb loader like ulgx or wiiflow as a frontend.
Emulators (Multi-system)
Please notice that Retroarch isn't currently compatible with the Aroma custom firmware. In order to run Retroarch, you will have to boot a legacy cfw like tiramisu, haxchi or mocha.
RetroArch
Available cores
Cores
|
Game/System
|
Recommended
|
81_libretro
|
Sinclair ZX 81
|
TBD
|
2048_libretro
|
Game
|
✓
|
arduous_libretro
|
Arduboy
|
TBD
|
atari800_libretro
|
Atari 5200
|
✓
|
bk_libretro
|
BK-0010/BK-0011(M)/Terak 8510-a
|
TBD
|
bluemsx_libretro
|
MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000
|
~
|
cannonball_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
cap32_libretro
|
Amstrad CPC
|
TBD
|
crocods_libretro
|
Amstrad CPC
|
TBD
|
dosbox_svn_libretro
|
DOS
|
TBD
|
ecwolf_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
fbalpha2012_libretro
|
Arcade/Console/various
|
TBD
|
fbalpha2012_cps1_libretro
|
CPS-1
|
TBD
|
fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro
|
CPS-2
|
TBD
|
fbalpha2012_cps3_libretro
|
CPS-3
|
TBD
|
fbalpha2012_neogeo_libretro
|
Neo Geo
|
TBD
|
fbneo_libretro
|
Arcade/Console/various
|
✓
|
fceumm_libretro
|
Nintendo NES/Famicom
|
✓
|
fixgb_libretro
|
Game Boy/Color
|
✓
|
fixnes_libretro
|
Nintendo NES/Famicom
|
✓
|
fmsx_libretro
|
MSX/MSX2/MSX2+
|
✓
|
freechaf_libretro
|
Fairchild ChannelF
|
TBD
|
freeintv_libretro
|
Mattel Intellivision
|
✓
|
frodo_libretro
|
Commodore C64
|
TBD
|
fuse_libretro
|
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
|
✓
|
gambatte_libretro
|
Game Boy/Color
|
✓
|
gearboy_libretro
|
Game Boy/Color
|
✓
|
gearcoleco_libretro
|
Coleco ColecoVision
|
TBD
|
gearsystem_libretro
|
Sega MS/GG/SG-1000
|
✓
|
genesis_plus_gx_libretro
|
Sega MS/GG/MD/CD
|
✓
|
genesis_plus_gx_wide_libretro
|
Sega MS/GG/MD/CD
|
✓
|
gme_libretro
|
Music player
|
TBD
|
gong_libretro
|
Game
|
✓
|
gpsp_libretro
|
Game Boy Advance
|
✓
|
gw_libretro
|
Handheld Electronic
|
TBD
|
handy_libretro
|
Atari Lynx
|
TBD
|
hatari_libretro
|
Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon
|
TBD
|
jaxe_libretro
|
CHIP-8/S-CHIP/XO-CHIP
|
✓
|
jumpnbump_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
lowresnx_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
lutro_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
mame2000_libretro
|
Arcade/Console/various
|
TBD
|
mame2003_libretro
|
Arcade/Console/various
|
TBD
|
mame2003_midway_libretro
|
Arcade/Console/various
|
TBD
|
mame2003_plus_libretro
|
Arcade/Console/various
|
TBD
|
mednafen_lynx_libretro
|
Atari Lynx
|
✓
|
mednafen_ngp_libretro
|
Neo Geo Pocket/Color
|
✓
|
mednafen_pce_libretro
|
NEC PC Engine/SuperGrafx/CD
|
✓
|
mednafen_pce_fast_libretro
|
NEC PC Engine/CD
|
✓
|
mednafen_supergrafx_libretro
|
NEC PC Engine/SuperGrafx
|
✓
|
mednafen_vb_libretro
|
Nintendo Virtual Boy
|
✓
|
mednafen_wswan_libretro
|
Bandai WonderSwan/Color
|
✓
|
mgba_libretro
|
Game Boy Advance
|
✓
|
minivmac_libretro
|
Mac II
|
TBD
|
mu_libretro
|
Palm OS
|
TBD
|
nekop2_libretro
|
NEC PC-98
|
~
|
neocd_libretro
|
Neo Geo CD
|
✓
|
nestopia_libretro
|
Nintendo NES/Famicom
|
✓
|
np2kai_libretro
|
NEC PC-98
|
✓ slowdown but best PC98 core
|
numero_libretro
|
TI-83
|
TBD
|
nxengine_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
o2em_libretro
|
Magnavox Odyssey2/Phillips Videopac+
|
TBD
|
oberon_libretro
|
Oberon RISC machine
|
TBD
|
pcsx_rearmed_libretro
|
Sony PlayStation
|
TBD
|
picodrive_libretro
|
Sega MS/GG/MD/CD/32X
|
✗ (crash)
|
pocketcdg_libretro
|
Karaoke player
|
TBD
|
pokemini_libretro
|
Nintendo Pokemon Mini
|
TBD
|
prboom_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
prosystem_libretro
|
Atari 7800
|
TBD
|
puae_libretro
|
Commodore Amiga
|
TBD
|
puae2021_libretro
|
Commodore Amiga
|
TBD
|
quasi88_libretro
|
NEC PC-8000/PC-8800 series
|
TBD
|
quicknes_libretro
|
Nintendo NES/Famicom
|
TBD
|
race_libretro
|
Neo Geo Pocket/Color
|
✗ (crash)
|
reminiscence_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
retro8_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
sameboy_libretro
|
Game Boy/Color
|
✓
|
scummvm_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
snes9x_libretro
|
Nintendo SNES/SFC
|
✓
|
snes9x2002_libretro
|
Nintendo SNES/SFC
|
~
|
snes9x2005_libretro
|
Nintendo SNES/SFC
|
✓
|
snes9x2005_plus_libretro
|
Nintendo SNES/SFC
|
✓
|
snes9x2010_libretro
|
Nintendo SNES/SFC
|
✓
|
squirreljme_libretro
|
Java ME
|
TBD
|
stella2014_libretro
|
Atari 2600
|
✓
|
superbroswar_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
tgbdual_libretro
|
Game Boy/Color
|
✗ (white screen)
|
theodore_libretro
|
Thomson MO/TO
|
TBD
|
tic80_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
tyrquake_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
uw8_libretro
|
MicroW8
|
TBD
|
uzem_libretro
|
Uzebox
|
TBD
|
vaporspec_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
vba_m_libretro
|
Game Boy Advance
|
~
|
vba_next_libretro
|
Game Boy Advance
|
~
|
vecx_libretro
|
Vectrex
|
TBD
|
vice_x128_libretro
|
Commodore C128
|
TBD
|
vice_x64_libretro
|
Commodore C64
|
TBD
|
vice_x64sc_libretro
|
Commodore C64
|
✓
|
vice_xcbm2_libretro
|
Commodore CBM-II 6x0/7x0
|
TBD
|
vice_xcbm5x0_libretro
|
Commodore CBM-II 5x0
|
TBD
|
vice_xpet_libretro
|
Commodore PET
|
TBD
|
vice_xplus4_libretro
|
Commodore Plus/4
|
TBD
|
vice_xscpu64_libretro
|
Commodore C64 SuperCPU
|
TBD
|
vice_xvic_libretro
|
Commodore VIC-20
|
TBD
|
vitaquake2_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
vitaquake2-rogue_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
vitaquake2-xatrix_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
vitaquake2-zaero_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
wasm4_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
x1_libretro
|
Sharp X1
|
TBD
|
xrick_libretro
|
Game engine
|
TBD
|
Emulators (Single system)
Arcade
Centipede Arcade
Commodore
Commodore 64
Fantasy computers
CHIP-8
PICO-8
Nintendo
NES
Game Boy
Pokémon Mini
Sony
PSP
Source ports
- ↑ 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.