- 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 (as of Retroarch 1.17.0)
| Cores
|
Game/System
|
Recommended
|
| 2048
|
2048
|
✓
|
| cap32
|
Amstrad - CPC/GX4000 (Caprice32)
|
TBD
|
| crocods
|
Amstrad - CPC (CrocoDS)
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012
|
Arcade
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_cps1
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_cps2
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_cps3
|
TBD
|
| fbalpha2012_neogeo
|
TBD
|
| fbneo
|
✓
|
| mame2000
|
TBD
|
| mame2003_plus
|
TBD
|
| mame2003
|
TBD
|
| mame2003_midway
|
TBD
|
| arduous
|
Arduboy (Arduous)
|
TBD
|
| stella2014
|
Atari - 2600 (Stella 2014)
|
✓
|
| a5200
|
Atari - 5200
|
TBD
|
| atari800
|
✓
|
| prosystem
|
Atari - 7800 (ProSystem)
|
TBD
|
| mednafen_lynx
|
Atari - Lynx
|
✓
|
| handy
|
TBD
|
| hatari
|
Atari - ST/STE/TT/Falcon (Hatari)
|
TBD
|
| mednafen_wswan
|
Bandai - WonderSwan/Color (Beetle Cygne)
|
✓
|
| cannonball
|
Cannonball
|
TBD
|
| nxengine
|
Cave Story (NXEngine)
|
TBD
|
| jaxe
|
CHIP-8/S-CHIP/XO-CHIP (JAXE)
|
✓
|
| gearcoleco
|
Coleco - ColecoVision (Gearcoleco)
|
TBD
|
| puae
|
Commodore - Amiga
|
TBD
|
| puae2021
|
TBD
|
| vice_x128
|
Commodore - C128 (VICE x128)
|
TBD
|
| frodo
|
Commodore - C64 (Frodo)
|
TBD
|
| vice_x64
|
Commodore - C64 (VICE x64 fast)
|
TBD
|
| vice_x64sc
|
Commodore - C64 (VICE x64sc accurate)
|
✓
|
| vice_xscpu64
|
Commodore - C64 SuperCPU (VICE xscpu64)
|
TBD
|
| vice_xcbm5x0
|
Commodore - CBM-II 5x0 (VICE xcbm5x0)
|
TBD
|
| vice_xcbm2
|
Commodore - CBM-II 6x0/7x0 (VICE xcbm2)
|
TBD
|
| vice_xpet
|
Commodore - PET (VICE xpet)
|
TBD
|
| vice_xplus4
|
Commodore - PLUS/4 (VICE xplus4)
|
TBD
|
| vice_xvic
|
Commodore - VIC-20 (VICE xvic)
|
TBD
|
| prboom
|
Doom (PrBoom)
|
TBD
|
| dosbox_svn
|
DOS (DOSBox-SVN)
|
TBD
|
| bk
|
Elektronika - BK-0010/BK-0011(M)
|
TBD
|
| freechaf
|
Fairchild ChannelF (FreeChaF)
|
TBD
|
| reminiscence
|
Flashback (REminiscence)
|
TBD
|
| gme
|
Game Music Emu
|
TBD
|
| vecx
|
GCE - Vectrex (vecx)
|
TBD
|
| gong
|
Gong
|
✓
|
| gw
|
Handheld Electronic (GW)
|
TBD
|
| squirreljme
|
Java ME (SquirrelJME)
|
TBD
|
| jumpnbump
|
Jump 'n Bump
|
TBD
|
| lowresnx
|
LowRes NX
|
TBD
|
| lutro
|
Lua Engine (Lutro)
|
TBD
|
| minivmac
|
Mac II (minivmac)
|
TBD
|
| o2em
|
Magnavox - Odyssey2 / Philips Videopac+ (O2EM)
|
TBD
|
| freeintv
|
Mattel - Intellivision (FreeIntv)
|
✓
|
| fmsx
|
Microsoft - MSX (fMSX)
|
✓
|
| uw8
|
MicroW8
|
TBD
|
| mrboom
|
Mr.Boom (Bomberman)
|
TBD
|
| bluemsx
|
MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000 (blueMSX)
|
~
|
| quasi88
|
NEC - PC-8000 / PC-8800 series (QUASI88)
|
TBD
|
| nekop2
|
NEC - PC-98
|
~
|
| np2kai
|
✓slowdown but best PC98 core
|
| mednafen_pce_fast
|
NEC - PC Engine / CD (Beetle PCE FAST)
|
✓
|
| mednafen_pce
|
NEC - PC Engine / SuperGrafx / CD (Beetle PCE)
|
✓
|
| mednafen_supergrafx
|
NEC - PC Engine SuperGrafx (Beetle 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 (PokeMini)
|
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 (Mu)
|
TBD
|
| retro8
|
PICO-8 (Retro8)
|
TBD
|
| pocketcdg
|
PocketCDG
|
TBD
|
| tyrquake
|
Quake (TyrQuake)
|
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 (XRick)
|
TBD
|
| scummvm
|
ScummVM
|
TBD
|
| picodrive
|
Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD/32X (PicoDrive)
|
✗(crash)
|
| genesis_plus_gx
|
Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD (Genesis Plus GX)
|
✓
|
| genesis_plus_gx_wide
|
Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD (Genesis Plus GX Wide)
|
✓
|
| gearsystem
|
Sega - MS/GG/SG-1000 (Gearsystem)
|
✓
|
| x1
|
Sharp X1 (X Millennium)
|
TBD
|
| 81
|
Sinclair - ZX 81 (EightyOne)
|
TBD
|
| fuse
|
Sinclair - ZX Spectrum (Fuse)
|
✓
|
| neocd
|
SNK - Neo Geo CD (NeoCD)
|
✓
|
| mednafen_ngp
|
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color (Beetle NeoPop)
|
✓
|
| race
|
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color (RACE)
|
✗(crash)
|
| pcsx_rearmed
|
Sony - PlayStation (PCSX ReARMed)
|
TBD
|
| superbroswar
|
Super Bros War
|
TBD
|
| numero
|
Texas Instruments TI-83 (Numero)
|
TBD
|
| theodore
|
Thomson - MO/TO (Theodore)
|
TBD
|
| tic80
|
TIC-80
|
TBD
|
| uzem
|
Uzebox (Uzem)
|
TBD
|
| vaporspec
|
VaporSpec
|
TBD
|
| wasm4
|
WASM-4
|
TBD
|
| ecwolf
|
Wolfenstein 3D (ECWolf)
|
TBD
|
Emulators (Single system)
Arcade
Centipede Arcade
Commodore
Commodore 64
Fantasy computers
CHIP-8
PICO-8
Nintendo
NES
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.
Game Boy
Pokémon Mini
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.
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.
