Emulators on Wii U: Difference between revisions

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{{for|software that emulates the Wii U|Wii U emulators}}  
{{for|software that emulates the Wii U|Wii U emulators}}  


=Emulators (Legacy, via vWii)=
==Emulators (Legacy, via vWii)==
Most [[Emulators on Wii|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.
Most [[Emulators on Wii|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.
[[Nintendont]], while not an emulator, enables the ability to play GameCube games on the Wii U as well, with little compromise.


=Emulators (Multi-system)=
==Emulators (Multi-system)==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Available cores (as of Retroarch 1.22.1)
|+ Available cores (as of Retroarch 1.22.1)
! Cores
! Cores
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| {{TBD}}
| {{TBD}}
|}
|}
===Virtual Console Injection===
===Virtual Console Injection===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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Some have tried injecting alternate ROMs in the available Virtual Console releases with varying degrees of success. Similarly, despite no GCN officially released, gamecube games can be injected on the wiiu home menu, making use of the homebrew nintendont hypervisor. The emulators used internally for Virtual Console are not as accurate as other emulators so compatibility isn't perfect (the only exception are Wii and GCN since they run natively, not emulation).<br>
Some have tried injecting alternate ROMs in the available Virtual Console releases with varying degrees of success. Similarly, despite no GCN officially released, gamecube games can be injected on the wiiu home menu, making use of the homebrew nintendont hypervisor. The emulators used internally for Virtual Console are not as accurate as other emulators so compatibility isn't perfect (the only exception are Wii and GCN since they run natively, not emulation).<br>


=Emulators (Single system)=
==Emulators (Single system)==
 
===Arcade===
==Arcade==
====Centipede Arcade====
 
===Centipede Arcade===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


==Commodore==
===Commodore===
===Commodore 64===
====Commodore 64====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


==Fantasy computers==
===Fantasy computers===


===CHIP-8===
====CHIP-8====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


===PICO-8===
====PICO-8====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


==Microsoft==
===ASCII===
===MSX===
====MSX====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


==NEC==
===NEC===
===PC-Engine - TurboGrafx16===
====PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16)====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


==Nintendo==
===Nintendo===


===DS===
====Nintendo DS====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


===Game Boy / Color / Advance===
====Game Boy (Color) / Game Boy Advance====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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Retroarch is generally the best choice. Alternatively, there are good gb/gbc/gba emulators in wii mode, like mgba or vbagx.
Retroarch is generally the best choice. Alternatively, there are good gb/gbc/gba emulators in wii mode, like mgba or vbagx.


===GameCube===
====GameCube====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


===NES===
====Nintendo Entertainment System====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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LiteNESU: one of the first homebrew programs for the Wii U. Barely a PoC. Slow, without sound, low compatibility. Can't 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.
LiteNESU: one of the first homebrew programs for the Wii U. Barely a PoC. Slow, without sound, low compatibility. Can't 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===
====Nintendo 64====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


===Pokémon Mini===
====Pokémon Mini====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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In both cases, you will prefer the most recent retroarch with the newest pokemini core.
In both cases, you will prefer the most recent retroarch with the newest pokemini core.


===SNES===
====Super Nintendo Entertainment System====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


===Wii===
====Wii====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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|}
|}


==Sony==
===Sony===
===PSP===
====PlayStation Portable====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Name
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[[Category:Wii U| ]]
[[Category:Wii U| ]]
[[Category:Emulators on consoles]]
[[Category:Emulators on eighth-generation consoles]]
[[Category:Emulators on home consoles]]
[[Category:Emulators on home consoles]]
[[Category:Emulators on eighth-generation consoles]]

Revision as of 22:33, 14 December 2025

Nintendo Wii U
Developer Nintendo
Type Home video game console
Generation Eighth generation
Release date 2012
Discontinued 2017
Predecessor Wii
Successor Nintendo Switch
Emulated ✓
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. 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)

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
RetroArch 1.22.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓
Virtual Console N/A Proprietary ✗ ✓

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). A WIP early build can be found here.

RetroArch

Available cores (as of Retroarch 1.22.1)
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 ✓
GAM4980 BBK - Longman A4980 TBD
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_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 ✓
Geargrafx NEC - PC Engine / SuperGrafx / CD TBD
mednafen_pce ✓
mednafen_supergrafx NEC - PC Engine SuperGrafx ✓
fixgb Nintendo - Game Boy / Color ✓
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
ClownMDEmu Sega - MD/CD 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

Virtual Console Injection

Name Latest version Accuracy License Active DS GBA GCN (unofficial) MSX/MSX2 N64 NES/FDS SNES TG16/PCE Wii
Phacox's Injector 1.1.4 N/A GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
TeconmoonWiiVCInjector git N/A TBD) ~ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓
UWUVCI-AIO-WPF git N/A GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

There were VC released for the following systems: DS, GBA MSX/MSX2, N64, NES/FDS, SNES, TG16/PCE. Wii games were released too, but nintendo didn't use the Virtual Console name for some unknown reason.
Some have tried injecting alternate ROMs in the available Virtual Console releases with varying degrees of success. Similarly, despite no GCN officially released, gamecube games can be injected on the wiiu home menu, making use of the homebrew nintendont hypervisor. The emulators used internally for Virtual Console are not as accurate as other emulators so compatibility isn't perfect (the only exception are Wii and GCN since they run natively, not emulation).

Emulators (Single system)

Arcade

Centipede Arcade

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Centipede Wii U 20160128 ? ✗ ✓

Commodore

Commodore 64

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
YAPE 4 U 0.70.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✗ ✓

Fantasy computers

CHIP-8

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
CHIP8 Emulator 2.2-GX2 GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✗ ✓

PICO-8

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
fake-08 v0.0.2.20 MIT (Permissive) ✓ ✓

ASCII

MSX

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Virtual Console (MSX/MSX2) ? Proprietary ✗ ✓

NEC

PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16)

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Virtual Console (PCE/TG16) ? Proprietary ✗ ✓

Nintendo

Nintendo DS

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
NooDS rolling GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ~ (slow at 15-20fps, WIP)
Hachihachi (internal emulator for NDS Virtual Console) ? Proprietary ✗ ✓

Game Boy (Color) / Game Boy Advance

Name Latest version License Active GB GBC GBA Recommended
gacubeboy 1337
9000 		Proprietary ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
GBiine 0.2b Proprietary ✗ ✓ ~ ✗ ~
NooDS rolling GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓
m2engage (internal emulator for GBA Virtual Console) ? Proprietary ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓

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.

GameCube

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Virtual Console (GCN)
(unofficial, uses nintendon't) 		git GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~ ✓

Nintendo Entertainment System

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Heritage (internal emulator for NES Remix) Heri2 Proprietary ✗ ✓
LiteNESU 0.0.0-preR2 ? ✗ ✗
LiteNESU 16 in 1 2016 ? ✗ ✗
Virtual Console (NES/FDS) ? Proprietary ✗ ✓

LiteNESU: one of the first homebrew programs for the Wii U. Barely a PoC. Slow, without sound, low compatibility. Can't 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

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
VESSEL (internal emulator for N64 Virtual Console) ? Proprietary ✗ ✓

Pokémon Mini

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Libretro PokeMini (PokeMini port by rw-r-r_0644) 0.01 ? ✗ ✗
PokeMiniU (PokeMini port by shutterbug2000) 2.2 Proprietary ✗ ✗

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.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Virtual Console (SNES) ? Proprietary ✗ ✓

Wii

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Virtual Console (Wii) N/A Proprietary ✗ ✓
Virtual Wii (vWii) N/A Proprietary ✗ ✓

Sony

PlayStation Portable

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
PPSSPP 1.5.x ? ✗ ✓

Source ports

Name Latest version License Active Recommended Supported games
Cave Story Engine 2 git
archive 		✗[1] ✗[N 1] ✓ Cave Story
Crispy Doom U git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✗ ✓ Doom I–II, Final Doom
EasyRPG 0.8.1 GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓ RPG Maker 2000 and 2003 games
LÖVE Potion 3.0.1 MIT (Permissive) ✓ ✓ Love2D LUA engine
MegaZeux 2.93d GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓ Caverns of Zeus and other ascii style games like ZZT
Ship of Harkinian 8.0.6[N 2]
Nightly build 		? ✓ ✓ The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time + Master Quest (any PAL version)[N 3]
Sonic Mania Wii U git Non-commercial ✓ ✓[N 4] Sonic Mania (Plus)
SpaceCadetPinball git MIT (Permissive) ✗ ✓ 3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet
Super Mario 64 Port git ? ✗ ✓ Super Mario 64
TheXTech git GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓ Super Mario Bros. X (SMBX) and derivatives
  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ As of v8.0.0 MacReady Alfa, Ship of Harkinian supports any PAL ROM of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (including Master Quest versions) for Nintendo 64 or GameCube (SoH Compatibility Checker to check if your ROM is supported). While NTSC ROMs are supported in v9.0.0 Blair Alfa and newer, Wii U and Switch versions have not been updated to v9.0 yet. Launch the PC version of the same version number 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.
  4. ↑ 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.

See also

Emulators on consoles(edit)

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