The Nintendo Wii U is a homebrew beast. Here's why

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The Wii U was a system that Nintendo would rather forget. But for modders, it's nearly the perfect console which can play the (almost) entire back catalog of Nintendo games that game before it - and many other emulators and homebrew. While modding the Wii U isn't anything new - in today's video we take a look at the most up to date homebrew environment known as Aroma that not only makes the Wii U easier to hack, but it also makes it the experience so much better. Let's check it out.
▶ Up to date Wii U hacking guide : wiiu.hacks.guide/
▶ Aroma Download - aroma.foryour.cafe/
TimeStamps :
00:00 - 00:59 - Intro
01:00 - 02:33 - Sponsor
02:34 - 03:45 - The old method - HaxChi
03:46 - 06:27 - The new method - Aroma
06:28 - 06:58 - Region Free is easy with Aroma
06:59 - 07:54 - Pairing a PS5 Dualsense with Aroma
07:55 - 10:05 - Emulators/Homebrew
10:06 - 11:18 - Dumping Wii U physical discs
11:19 - 12:23 - Conclusion
12:24 - 12:43 - Outro
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#WiiU #Aroma

[@ModernVintageGamer]

bit.ly/3UAQC93 - 🚀 JOIN HAWKED and get free rewards when you download with my link!

[@lilmul123]

You don’t play this garbage, MVG, why you lyin’?

[@user-it8yh8tu7d]

What is the likelihood of after market Nintendo compatibles becoming popular?

[@user-it8yh8tu7d]

I have a scientific paper in the works on an arbitrary disassembler.

[@Roge9]

noooo... Really? @@lilmul123

[@Beanzops]

I eat the cotton candy from my walls

[@OneCentWonder]

The Wii U is very similar to the Vita, abandoned by their companies as soon as they released only to be saved by the amazing homebrew scene

[@poorsoul8492]

Nintendo tried WAY HARDER

[@DARKON219]

They are quite similar. They both even have completely unused expansion ports: Vita 1000 on top and Wii U gamepad on bottom.

[@SasuHol]

Vita was not abandoned in Japan.

[@novelezra]

I think the VITA would still be looked well upon even without its incredible hacking scene. But the Wii U? God no. One of the worst libraries ever.

[@First_Grafter]

I have a Vita and honestly don't really get the excitement Jailbreaking and the homebrew is kinda jank and I can't think of many games that are good or fun to play on it I think it's one of if not the most beautiful and fun looking handheld but it kinda disappointed me No hate on anyone who worked/works on it or who enjoys the Vita though

[@BossBelsham]

Wii U was one of those tech marvels that gave us a glimpse into the future. No doubt it was a prototype for the switch, but 10 years from now this will pop up again as a “must own” for niche gamers.

[@Priception]

I would not call the Wii U a "tech marvel" especially since its CPU is weaker than the Xbox 360s

[@turbochargedfilms]

​@@Priception form factor, not specs

[@leonro]

​@@PriceptionThe marvel is how it is able to stream 60fps video with near-lossless quality and very low latency; it was released at a time when most TVs didn't have proper low latency game modes, so the gamepad screen was usually updating before the TV. It works even better than, say, the PS Portal, which relies on your router as a middleman. Furthermore, there was no other console that could play console-quality games on a handheld-like device. To simply resume the console's value to its specs is disingenuous, otherwise the Wii would be the most worthless since it's a gamecube with a system-wide 50% overclock.

[@Priception]

@leonro You act like streaming a lossless image feed to a screen wirelessly as never been done before prior to that point. Also I like how u say "No console could play console quality games on a handheld like device". When the Wii U wasn't a handheld it was a home console. Makes me think u don't even own one. Lastly, the difference is that the Wii launched as a very cheap system and was at least more powerful than all previous 6th gen systems, while the Wii U was weaker in many ways than the PS3 and 360 but also cost almost as much as the far better and more powerful PS4.

[@legoboy7107]

@@Priception He meant "console quality games on a handheld like device" as in the gamepad, you could play the console games on the gamepad in decent quality, which was a handheld controller, though of course you couldn't get too far away from the console itself. But just being able to play a console-quality game on a handheld-like thing such as the gamepad at all is what he's talking about, even if it has portability caveats.

[@tijuanatacotoker]

Playing nearly every DS game (some exceptions like Pokemon Black/White and its sequels) on the tv is peak greatness.

[@RevolutionFalls]

I’m sorry, but you misspelled sequel

[@readycheddar]

Agreed. Playing Chrono Trigger DS a few years ago on my TV was awesome :D

[@manoftherainshorts9075]

connecting PC to a TV screen isn't an option?

[@tijuanatacotoker]

@@manoftherainshorts9075 Is this a video about PC's or one about the Wii U? Do PC's have touch screen capabilities the same way a GamePad does?

[@StevenWagstaff]

Nintendo DS on the WiiU is great. I agree there.

[@wannafedor4]

The Wii U was and still is something very special to me. It was the first game console I ever played. The first computer I was allowed to use. I remember sitting on my couch after school, booting up the Wii U, and jumping into a game of Splatoon. Miiverse was still there, so was TVii. I had gotten the Wii U for Christmas, and it was from my uncle. He was very caring, but I don’t remember much about him. He died in 2018, and that made it so I would never get rid of my Wii U ever. Not even if I could get a million dollars, I’m not getting rid of it. It means so much to me and it started lots of things in my life. My love for hacking. My knowledge of computers. Thanks, Uncle Kevin. Thanks, Nintendo.

[@neroultimate1]

My condolences man but it’s so cool hearing stories like these especially from a younger perspective because when I first dabbled with Nintendo it was when I walked in on my uncle playing Street Fighter 2 for the SNES. Fell in love with video games immediately & never looked back. Unfortunately he passed from Cancer but it’s life. Anyway thanks for sharing your story & reading mine!

[@idkanymore3382]

lmfao zoomer cringe right here

[@neroultimate1]

@@idkanymore3382 chill 🤣

[@cameronn2572]

@@idkanymore3382 god damn lmao

[@flameboi4209]

​@@idkanymore3382dude, leave him alone. He was just sharing his experience with the wii u

[@boredstudent]

I modded my Wii U, which I had since 2012. I also have a 2TB Western Digital external hard drive connected to it. It's hands down a great console these days.

[@olevet75]

isnt 2tb overkill for wiiu

[@user-fj8wr8jh4e]

@@olevet75 Just barely.

[@victorvillacis6764]

How are you able to get pass the 300game limit?

[@IAm-zo1bo]

​@@victorvillacis6764you dont

[@tonyatliss3709]

Sell me one

[@ferna182]

Hey, speaking of the WiiU, there's a lot of people out there with a broken WiiU (broken nand). The vast majority of them are not aware they can work around the issue with a simple SD card nowadays that you don't even need to solder into the console! That's a cool video idea I think...

[@awesomereviews1561]

Yeah good idea

[@nathankean7968]

Have a link or what I can specifically google for that

[@Hypershell]

Yes, PLEASE. I had a system that started maybe one out of every 20 attempts and had to replace it back in the day. It was quite a chore and I'd appreciate anything that protects my hardware's longevity.

[@ferna182]

​@@nathankean7968 I'm not sure I can post a link but google gbatemp upgrade wiiu storage, you want to do the rednand route.

[@Ultravore]

On many WiiU systems that "seem" to have a broken NAND there is just a broken entry point into the OS. there is a way to fix those consoles for cheap using a Raspberry Pi Pico. Just search here on YT there are videos on that topic.

[@Adam-fz6sj]

I also suggest you backup your SD card just in case it gets old like mine did and corrupts and you cannot play games added by your own account. Even if you do backup the NAND it can mess up while reinstalling and not recognize the old SD card but for some reason recognize a fresh one.

[@CorruptedDogg]

One of the great features of the console is also its backwards-compatible Wii mode, which also includes Gamecube compatibility! You can launch into the Gamecube mode through homebrew and you can even inject the Gamecube games directly onto the Wii U's main screen so that you don't even have to launch the virtual Wii to play them. Although, there is one major caveat: the video output in Wii and GC mode is pretty dark and muddy compared to the native Wii U output, which only supports limited RGB colorspace. Meaning Wii and GC games look dark and desaturated on the Wii U. Hope that issue can be fixed someday!

[@NEConforti]

Wii is one family of consoles that showed up when I finally had the opportunity/skills to dive into modding. It came out right at that sweet spot in high school when I really started tinkering and had a little base to work from. The WiiU came along and I continued on the same path. My kids still play them to this day and we have 7 Wiis and 2 Us. I have all of my consoles from the last 25 years and beyond, but something about firing up the Wii just hits different. I have one I've recently picked up and I hadn't really tinkered with them since eShop went down. Glad to see a simple path forward for us "holdouts" lmao!

[@Tylerthecreatorlover66]

Who needs 7 wiis?

[@leonro]

​@@Tylerthecreatorlover66Maybe the dude is one of those guys who have 7 kids, and might have wanted each of them to inherit a Wii to play with their families. I just hope they have enough Wii remotes.

[@NEConforti]

@@Tylerthecreatorlover66 A few spares and one wherever there is a TV. It kinda just started as people giving me Wiis and now we're here. Now that they can be had for less than $20 at most thrift stores I kinda have to buy them when I see them. But I do that with all the consoles to be fair. 🤣

[@NEConforti]

@@leonro The problem is the batteries. 🤣 I have a nice little stash of Wiimotes.

[@sleepingkirby]

I feel like the Wii and WiiU was the last console built to attempt to be user friendly/comfortable. The switch feels like a game where they try to make you play games their way.

[@Tsuroerusu]

A note on doing a full NAND backup: Even people who do not plan on modding their Wii U should absolutely do a NAND backup because of the issues with NAND chips dying. With a NAND backup in hand, if your NAND dies, you can use Voultar's NAND aid kit to replace it with an SD card, and your Wii U will come back to life.

[@Tayte25]

The Wii U was not a terrible system, yeah it maybe wasn’t the most popular. But imo it’s one of the most underrated console’s ever

[@blubblurb]

The games have been amazing. Most games are now on the switch though but before the switch, it was such a nice console.

[@JoemamaTheHybrid]

I love it for the fact that it can output digital or analog signal. I mainly use mine for Gamecube games on a CRT

[@lordsosa9383]

dude i dont care

[@JoemamaTheHybrid]

@@lordsosa9383 neither did your parents, now you comment shit like this

[@sarcasticmcspastic]

@@lordsosa9383 dude nobody cares that you don't care

[@lordsosa9383]

@@sarcasticmcspastic dude you wanna fight because i still dont care whatcha gonna do about it punk

[@lordsosa9383]

@@sarcasticmcspastic hahahahahahahahahahahha soft sweet man bring it on punk

[@MegaManNeo]

Another reason to use Aroma is Pretendo which aims to bring back Online modes to Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 1 and other games, including Miiverse. Other than that, thanks for pointing out how to sync my other controllers via Aroma, MVG. Felt kinda stupid while trying to do so :,D

[@Glaggle]

Bring back? Online still exists.

[@MegaManNeo]

@@Glaggle Yes, for like a couple of weeks. Pretendo as the name suggests is a preservation project of the WiiU's and 3DS' online functionality.

[@SSJPENGUIN]

Including Miiverse? I've had Aroma for about 2 months but I was unaware of this!!!

[@gerardoexber]

Bought one used in 2023. Played many games and enjoyed my time with it. USB died and with it my games & saves. Will set it up soon to continue playing from a disc drive this time.

[@Tuathband]

USB port can probably be fixed handy enough. It's probably just a blown cap or something simple.

[@gerardoexber]

@@Tuathband Thanks for replying. My WiiU's usb ports are fine, it's the usb drive that stopped working. PC doesn't recognize it.

[@GXShade]

​@@gerardoexber Is the USB drive a thumb/flash drive or hard drive/SDD?

[@shawndasilva]

@@gerardoexberwould it happen to be a western digital or Seagate?

[@gerardoexber]

@@shawndasilva it's a Kingston 128gb usb drive

[@andysledge]

Bought a Wii U just for Nintendont to play gamecube games with the hdmi, insane

[@AshLordCurry]

The HDMI is one of the best thing about it

[@TheSergeyJW]

Would also recommend trying to run Wii/Gamecube games in 480p mode, as your TV's upscaling might be a tad better that Wii U's internal upscaler. There's even homebrew to automatically load into the vWii mode in 480p, without changing it manually in the settings every time.

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

The Wii U being able to natively play GameCube, Wii, and Wii U titles is pretty damn cool.

[@overwatch761]

@@TheSergeyJW Yea, it's built into Aroma also with the option to choose not only resolution but it fixes the Wii scaling - great piece of kit. GCN running at 480p via Nintendont with 16:9 patches through Wii U is the way to go.

[@TheSergeyJW]

@@overwatch761 hell yeah, I'm currently playing the GameCube Harry Potter games that way, looks really good.

[@mannduro]

These reacuring updates on moded consoles incl. Emulators are the best of this channel. Would like to see an update on NVIDIA shield capabilities.

[@TravisStamper]

I have been modding the WiiU for years and it plays any nintendo game I have threw at it. Thanks for the video and the deep dive Dimitri.

[@mjfilho33]

Even the Switch? 🤨

[@DurzoBlunts]

Ultra sun and Moon???

[@rony_rst]

GTA Chinatown Wars?

[@leonro]

​@@rony_rstThat should work if there's a way to inject DS games into the virtual console. Wii U could officially run any Nintendo console at the time other than gameboy, gameboy color, gamecube, and 3ds. And the first three are easily solved through modding, though I wouldn't really want to play gameboy games on it. Only 3ds and switch games are unplayable on the console.

[@rony_rst]

@@leonro you can pretty easily play GC via the vWii and Nintendont. The injection method for the Wii U is not totally compatible with all DS games. As far as I know, Chinatown Wars is one of these examples

[@thingsiplay]

7:05 Oh man, region locking controllers is such a Nintendo move. I mean, they didn't do that before and after (right? am i right?), but hearing that just does not surprise me in the slightest.

[@Cobalon]

ignore my previous reply, I did not see controllers in your comment 💀 yeah nothing like that has been done before or since, I'm guessing they only did it for the Wii U because it came with a gamepad that was meant to already be paired to the console, so differentiating between regions for it makes like 1% of sense

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

A single Gamepad acts like a KEY to a WiiU. Tha´s why they did it. You don´t owning a gamepad means you own a KEY to your machine. And thus you cannot use this machine.

[@nathanddrews]

Aroma looks like the mod I've been looking for. Launching everything from the main menu front end is perfection.

[@StaticVapour590]

Getting WiiU to run homebrew or backups has for sure gotten easier over the years. Good video!

[@Flyzoola]

Oh, I remember when I got my Wii U in 2019 and used your video as a "guide" to install Haxchi cause I thought "maybe I'll sell it as some point" NOPE. I still play it to this day, I love that console. Thanks for everything MVG! Edit: I dont need to do any of this stuff anymore right?

[@TheXeroLink]

This makes me so happy to learn. I never was able to find a new pro controller for my Wii U that didn’t have drift or wasn’t dirty…I got a Wii U in 2019 for peanuts and since then I’ve enjoyed some of the games like WW HD and TP HD and things I missed out on as well as several great games in the eShop. When that closed I packed it up and put it away because I felt its usefulness was at its end…however learning this is a thing, I fully intend to pull it out and get it modded! Thanks!

[@freakdave]

Thanks for covering the Wii U

[@garydiamondguitarist]

A modded Wii U is awesome; I've had mine for about 7 years now. It's worth having for Nintendont which does GameCube titles and the vWii, all upscaled to 1080p via HDMI easily and is therefore way cheaper trying to get that on a regular GameCube/Wii system working via HDMI, whereas the Wii U is available for so little money due to it's relative unpopularity. It's also pretty great for other stuff like DS, Genesis, SNES etc. I've always liked it. Original GameCube controllers work great on it with the USB adapter from Smash, even WaveBirds.

[@retromod6488]

A failed lesson in marketing with the name of the console “why do I need to buy a Wii U when my kids have a Wii already?”. It’s actually a cool system with some solid games - many of which that were simply rereleased for the Switch and became hits.

[@KyriosHeptagrammaton]

Nintendo Land and Tropical Freeze are two of my favourite games of all time, it's a real shame people didn't realise the potential of the Wii U at the time.

[@bcj842]

I bought a NAND bricked one from my cousin for 15 dollars. Not a bad deal for a fully working GamePad and set of cables. Bought a nice, working Wii U box off of eBay for about $60 and went to work on it. I've installed all the Wii U games I want, but I haven't even begun to explore its backwards compatibility. That is a rabbit hole that I will have to go down eventually. I love the Wii U. I didn't have one during its heyday but I never disliked it. Such a cool sleeper hit. Modding it is a must.

[@GearSeekers]

I was just thinking about my Wii U a few days ago and the state of homebrew and it's almost like you read my mind!

[@Negrodomaus]

People are sleeping on the modded Wii U, but it's VC offerings are better than what I can pay for on NSO Switch right now.

[@Negrodomaus]

@mendaix Yeah, thats true. Especially with the official wireless controller.

[@jam560]

​@mendaixNes games are also much worse on wii u with terrible input delay. Snes games are still worse than on switch but they are acceptable on wii u

[@HolyDoomfish]

@@Negrodomaus I don't have it, but the official N64 wireless controller is probably a must have here because I tried playing N64 NSO games with the pro controller and the joystick sensitivity is totally off. It's way to sensitive which makes some games nearly unplayable and also not enjoyable. :(

[@lucasrem]

@@HolyDoomfish he never did try to play the games, on checked if they run

[@ryancampbell955]

I bought a used Wii U in 2018. It came with Mario Kart, Super Mario 3D World, and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. It also had Nintendoland pre loaded. It quickly became one of my most played systems. Over the years I picked up some more titles for it and it continued to be a popular system in our house. My daughter also learned how to play Mario on the Wii U and we had a blast playing 3D World together. I don't think the Wii U was a great system, but I think it gets more hate than it deserves.

[@AdamStremcha]

I'm happy to see this kind of content again, good stuff man

[@taruninja881]

This is what I needed to finally mod my WiiU. Great content as always MVG!

[@chemergency]

Being able to play Gamecube games through HDMI with the use of Nintendont makes Wii U worth owning for alone.

[@guns2rosesofficial]

This is gonna be my task this afternoon 🤘

[@HeavenlyKnight96]

I love how you kinda made this look like an infomercial. Black and white for old and busted, color for new hotness.

[@Poketroid23]

The way the plugins work reminds me of the PSP, that thing is a beast. Great video, I'm going to have to dig my Wii U out of storage and set it up as a GC/Wii/Portable console replacement, I only have so much desk space.

[@grumpywolfgaming]

Modded my wii u a couple years ago, it has been by far the best emulation system I have ever used.

[@RazyDiesel]

The Wii U continues to be one of, if not; the most underrated console in gaming history. It is truly remarklable how it's hardaware capabilities and base foundation for a system, were taken full advantage of by modders. Special shoutout to Tiramisu, Aroma, active homebrew devs that keep pushing the boundaries by even adding Priiloader to the VWii! (Prior to now, it was impossible to install and would case a brick). Great video as always MVG.

[@Priception]

Remarkable is a big stretch. The system was underpowered and overpriced with a pretty lack luser online and was behind the X360 and PS3 in terms of features, let alone the XOne and PS4. I really don't understand where this "Wii U was great" sentiment has come from and I'm guessing it's by people who've never owned a Wii U.

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

I’d say Dreamcast takes the cake for most underrated console of all time. The fact that its library was so stacked even with Sega deep in the red is insane.

[@Priception]

@ThomastheDankEngine8900 The Dreamcast and PS Vita I would say are underrated systems. The Dreamcast was the most powerful system of its time and had pretty advanced features for the day. But flopped because it was the successor to the Saturn.

[@ericp631]

​@@Priception failed products, especially video game consoles tend to gather the most diehard of supporters always showing up everywhere to sing it's praises and defend their purchase. Their fanbases may be small, but insanely loyal and passionate.

[@Priception]

@ericp631 I know. I used to be one of them. But I grew up and realised sometimes u just make a bad purchase, and that's okay. The thing is. I don't hate the Wii U, I had good times with it. But that doesn't mean I think it's a good system, and I do wish I bought an Xbox One or PS4 instead.

[@_Banjo_]

We are blessed to have MVG and WiiU Content! My older wiiu is running homebrew from the older hacking methods. I have picked up another one recently with the Zelda theme so i was hoping to get around to "hacking" it before the closure. This video was a great reminder but also some nice peace of mind knowing theres a newer method

[@RenegadeX28]

Recently found my Wii U and connected it. I have the 8GB white version. I'm definitely installing homebrew. This is going to breathe new life into it for sure.

[@johnnybyrd300]

I was an avid Wii U supporter and have a pretty extensive digital legal library. Having that said, I run Haxchi as well and Nintendont and Wiiflow are amazing on this console! Retroarch as well!

[@Glaggle]

Haxchi in 2024? update that shit dude

[@DonnieDarko311]

@@Glaggle mine also runs on Haxchi.. why not? I did this mod 2 years ago...

[@johnnybyrd300]

@@Glaggle if it ain't broke don't fix it, ya?

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

It’s surprising the Wii U sold so much worse than the Xbox One when it had way better games.

[@oscarzxn4067]

The Xbox One had better marketing to not confuse players with it's weird name, it did have a way better first year than the Wii U (the Wii U barely had anything on it's first year while the One got 2 Forzas, MCC, Dead Rising 3, Sunset Overdrive or Titanfall as console exclusives) so the interest on the console didn't completely lose momentum, and also had multiplatform titles unlike the Wii U to gain sales from millions of casual people who play Fifa, Madden, COD, Minecraft or GTA who didn't jump to the PS4.

[@Kraaketaer]

Thanks for making this! I modded my Wii for homebrew back when that was growing obsolete, but never got around to doing the same for the Wii U that's been sitting in storage for a while. Would honestly be great to get this done if for no other reason than the ability to play GC and Wii titles (and some Wii U titles I don't want to re-buy on the Switch) on a native HDMI console. And of course a little emulation box isn't anything to scoff at either. I absolutely hate Nintendo's power bricks though, so I'll wait until I can mod it for USB-C PD power first (which honestly shouldn't be too hard), that way I can run the console and gamepad charging off a single much smaller adapter too.

[@JackStavris]

Will do this on my Wii U as I never hacked it with the previous Virtual Console method. Does this method also allow homebrew on the Wii mode, or is it just in the Wii U mode? Unless homebrewing the Wii mode is redundant.

[@TheErwinK007Archive]

I just purchased one a few hours ago, literally, this is perfect timing.

[@udance4ever]

nice. u get a good deal? I found someone willing to let go of theirs for $125 w all the major Mario games (3D, smash bros, Maker, Kart, SMB, etc) & was so tapped out spending over the holidays - I kinda regret it now! 😭

[@jam560]

​@@udance4everi got mine with the gamepad for 50 usd. Got some wii motes and a pro controller after the fact

[@butchdeadlift7551]

Funny, Ihad bought my first Wii U right before his video on it 4 years ago lol.

[@TheErwinK007Archive]

​@@udance4ever I got a 32GB model complete with Pro Controller, Wii Remote and Nunchuck, SMM, Lego City, Xenoblade Chronicles and Skylanders Imaginators for 110€ around the block in supreme condition. I'm also not impressed of the console as of right now. I can see how people thought this was a upgrade to the Wii. I am very dissapointed you can't control Wii games with the gamepad. WHY? It would be so easy to just map the same buttons to the gamepad and code a virtual cursor with the right thumbstick..

[@lucasrem]

@@TheErwinK007Archive if it's simple, why don't you do it, it's an open community of developers ! good luck !

[@GiSWiG]

On my desk, my gaming PC sits on the right. On the left, a Switch, GameCube and of course a Wii U. They all connect to an HDMI switch that passes through an mClassic to my 32" 1440p monitor. The upscaling to 1440p with the mClassic works great for all systems. The audio comes out the monitor through a ground loop noise isolator to a SoundBlaster X4 and then optical out to Logitech Z625 speakers. Because it is a standing desk, it gives a great feel for arcade games.

[@kameleongreen]

Ok, that standing desk angle just gave me all types of ideas... I have one that I never stand at, but doubling as an arcade?! Thank you good sir for this inspiration!

[@GiSWiG]

Not only that, but they are not that expensive if you build one (recommendation for everyone reading this). I got the legs and top separately. Legs were around $200, and the top, which is a cheaper unfinished butcherblock, 6' x 2' x 1.5" for $150-ish. It can hold more weight than any particle board desk for around the same price. There seems to be a growing trend to get two drawer cabinets and rest a butcher clock on top. You can still add those outside or inside the legs. I have an 8x2 cube organizer on its side on the left that doubles as an L of an L-shaped desk. For the top, I'd recommend at least a sealer for ~$10 more and sanding/routing the top front edge a good 1/2 inch to keep your wrists and arms comfy. You'll need something to hold all your cables like a tray. I have a 'Mount-it Modesty Panel' (search amazon) that holds all cables with the only cables from the desk setup are the power strip plug and speaker cables. Cable management is a breeze (and comfortable) when you can sit under your desk and not laying on your back on the floor. @@kameleongreen

[@wussup12345]

This shit sounds like a paid ad lol quit shilling

[@mariobatguy]

and its crazy that you could've just used the gaming pc to emulate all of those games lmao

[@keplen3073]

@@mariobatguy some people like playing their games natively if they can, on real hardware

[@awesomeguy2009]

Yup, got all my Gamecube backups (that's the main reason I modded mine lol) and it's fantastic tbh. Having 3 generations of Nintendo games natively on one console is amazing! Plus all my virtual console and indie games, which you can download if you mod your U, since the eShop is down now. I still haven't scratched the surface of homebrew games, applications and other non Virtual Console emulators lol. The possibilities are so vast! 👍

[@theblubus]

woah. This is what I've been waiting for 💖 I haven't modded my WiiU because it was a tedious process booting into a state that would allow me to run homebrew and backups. Now I can have my way with the hardware. Very excited to streamline the system

[@garydustin]

Love our modded Wii U. Being able to use our PS5 Dualsense controllers has really breathed new life into the Wii U for my family.

[@TheDiabeticHiker]

Hey MVG, Great video highlighting the Wii U. One big discovery/development back in late 2023 is prior to then, if you ever factory reset your Wii U without removing the exploit first, then the Wii U would not boot. And you would need a nand writer to copy your backup to the WiiU and solder a few things to get it going again. Works, yes but a pain. But in late 2023, an exploit was discovered where if you had a bricked Wii U (like mine), that all you would need was a Raspberry Pi Pico (bought for $12 at Radio Shack in town), some free software, and I was back up in running in less than 5 minutes. The Raspberry Pi Pico exploit is something you could highlight in a follow-up video. Pretty interesting stuff, and now, people who have a "bricked" WiiU, can fix it in 5 minutes if they have a Raspberry Pi Pico. Super easy. Anyway - great video and highlight!

[@axlefoley6330]

The wii u wasn’t a bad console, there just wasn’t much outside of first party games to play on it. Yes the game pad was a little cumbersome for some but it was fine for my massive hands

[@DemsCreates]

I've been putting off modding my Wii U for months now, this video is the encouragement I needed!

[@Hypershell]

Don't forget the WiiU is also the only way to play the uncensored version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Nintendo really dropped the ball with Encore on the Switch...

[@aq0245]

Once you start doing custom injects for individual games, the fun really begins. Be careful there is an eventual limit to the homescreen

[@Monsuco]

The Wii U is such a strange little console. Like the Sega Dreamcast, it was a commercial failure despite having a great library and being quite innovative for its time. The fact that it can natively play Wii U, Wii and, with a little homebrew wizardry, Gamecube titles alongside being able to emulate most anything in the 5th gen or below and emulate a DS is pretty amazing.

[@Zalkova]

It also has more exclusives than PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series combined. Tells pretty much about modern gaming.

[@TheCoolDave]

I modded mine a long time ago, lots of games on external drive. Nice to see it's still up and running with new hacks. I never knew how good the WiiU was, till I hacked it, some really amazing games for the system. It's too bad it was named WiiU, everyone thought it was just a fancy Wii

[@DapperIndividual]

The biggest problem ive had with the Wii U is that you can only have 300 pieces of software on the menu at a time, and if you want any more you need to delete some. This sounds like a lot but i was setting up my Wii U to be my "everything" console with a lot of the older Nintendo consoles. I ran out of space before i even got to GameCube.

[@schtum1]

Me as well, I think that if someone cracked the display limit it would be unbeatable as a multi gen console.

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

No. You can create another profile and get another 300 items there. You just cannot have more than 300 items on a single profile. WiiU can have as much as 10 profiles (online and offlilne). tw: the 300 limit cannot be overcome since it´s relying on simply having 15 items per page on 20 pages = 300 items. You cannot have more than 20 pages of items.

[@thingsnerdsdo6862]

The trick is to use the emulators to load the games and not put the games in the menu at all. That will give you access to thousands of games, though not as easy as just clicking on the menu. Same problem exists on the 3DS. Same solution.

[@CarsandCats]

Make sure you mod the vWii as well. Use a USB y-cable for your external drives. I have mine setup as follows: 2TB WiiU games, 2TB Wii games, 2TB GameCube games. You CANNOT leave them all connected at the same time.

[@ssj99gohanisthebest48]

You could’ve just had a hard drive for all 3

[@iamdmc]

why not 1 drive for all 3 systems?

[@shawndasilva]

@@ssj99gohanisthebest48if I remember correctly it’s because you can’t

[@CarsandCats]

Impossible at this time.@@iamdmc

[@davidmcgill1000]

@@iamdmc Wii U wants its own proprietary format on the hard drive and no other drive connected. Surely the Wii and Gamecube are happy enough on their own FAT32 drive.

[@blendernoob64]

I was honestly so close to selling my Wii U, I only hold on to it for sentimental value because I played it in middle school. But I remembered the Wii U was one of the last systems that supported analog output. I would love to see how the Wii U homebrew scene can take advantage of CRT users like me. Native 240p support would be freaking awesome for many games.

[@sandman8920]

I love my WiiU. I’ll never get rid of it, actually playing twilight princess at the moment.

[@Denis-tf8fl]

My modded Wii U has been played more than any other console and still gets almost daily use. Endless backlog of quality nintendo games going back decades on actual Nintendo hardware. I recommend getting upgraded battery for controlpad. Awesome gallery shooters on the wii. Dozens of mario games, almost every zelda game ever made, infinite pokemon, kirby...

[@iamdmc]

which battery did you go for? I'm weary of the explody chinesium ones especially leaving the gamepad docked while I'm away from home or asleep

[@Ultravore]

@@iamdmc I am using the big 6600mAh one that is beeing sold on amazon. it is physically much bigger than the original one. nintendo left a lot of space in the gamepad because they probably wanted to release a bigger battery themselves at some point. the runtime is great. gets you a full day of gaming on it without charging, but it ads a good amout of weight to the gamepad. it doesn't bother me when using it but it's probably not for everyone.

[@iamdmc]

@@Ultravore is that the "Pickle Power" one?

[@Ultravore]

@@iamdmc yeah that is the one but check the other offers. It is beeing sold with different names but if you compare the pictures it is exactly the same product. One seller offers it a little cheaper.

[@StanleyOpar]

Nothing like an another MVG video about a consoles niche usefulness to continue to drive up the rates from sellers

[@bluu48]

This console was always great. Modded yesterday it's incredible having wii gc games on the home menu directly

[@marcwurth4448]

Awesome Video and awesome Community! I could get warm with the wii-u at Launch and the second attempt 4 month ago with everything Set Up nintendont/wii/Nusspli paired with an 2tb harddrive. For me it was to slow and Limited but understand why so many find it so charming. But because of this i really feel in Love with wiiu wii and qameqube again and bought mayflash for Dolphin for PC and Steam Deck

[@ragalthor]

Now I want a WiiU.

[@THSBOD]

This is my preferred way to play GameCube games because 1. It uses the vWii back-compat so it is "native-ish" if that makes sense (not your typical x86 -> PPC emulation on most machines). So the emulation accuracy is pretty much perfect (to my eyes, but I'm not an expert). 2. GameCube controller works out of the box (the adapter that comes with Smash works to connect via USB). I wonder if other accessories would work like the Mario Party microphone and DK bongos 🤔 never tested it but I assume if it worked on a real Wii then it would work there too.

[@ajpetix]

The ability to run GameCube games via an HDMI cable is a huge selling point for me to get my Wii U fully modded. Unfortunately the Mario Party microphone uses a memory card slot, which the Wii U doesn't have. The rest of the accessories should work, though!

[@Ultravore]

the GC -> GBA link cable is not supported by nintendon't unfortunatly, the bongos should work just fine.

[@DarkBowser64]

@@Ultravore The reason for this is that the GCN controller adapter (physical or otherwise) simply lacks the "data" lines in the cable connector that the GC/Wii had. So anything that actually transmits data rather than inputs to the GC/Wii, will not work, including the GCN to GBA cable.

[@jayluck8047]

Props for yet again blowing my mind with content I’ve either never heard of, or could have dreamed of.

[@npc_code]

The WiiU was my first big console so it has a special place in my heart. I am glad there are hacks like this giving it a new live.

[@VertexIMG]

so true, Wii U became my fave console of all time because it lets me play GameCube games while I'm on toilet. it also lets you play all generation of Nintendo game up to Wii U.

[@acciid]

Important to be able to game while logging out.🪵

[@harunaluna314]

Please revisit Nintendo switch security system

[@tubinonyou]

I'll be looking into purchasing a Wii U now. Thanks for the video!

[@monchopr3511]

Very underrated console. :) Hope to see an updated video about PS Vita and PS Vita TV. 😎 Keep it up MVG. Thanks gor show so much love for retro community too.

[@joey0373]

Theres only one issue i have with the wii u and i have not find the solution yet, and that problem is the wii u does not allow more then 300 block (games) on the main menu. When installing more then 300 games (of any-type) the system will tell u that it cannot display all games on the menu, and to delete some games to see them show up on the main menu. If you know a solution to this issue that would be a great help MVG!

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

Create another user. If the apps are all offline and not requiring online, you can creae an offline-user. Another profile. This profile can then store anoher 300 applicatons. You can have 10 users (10 profiles) on a single WiiU which equals 3000 applications max then.

[@joey0373]

@@user-in3br2qs8x interesting, ima check that out right now

[@p3k41]

Still waiting on someone to bring DevilutionX to the Wii U, would love it on the gamepad!

[@skyleite]

That sounds like a fun project

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

Why do you wan a pocket-calculated game on a WiiU supercompuing-machine? Wasted ressources! WiiU can soon run AI-tasks! You really want Diablo 1 on WiiU? Lol I rather would want WiiU calulate an OWN AI, and then watch HOW it runs that Diablo 1-game.

[@cameronn2572]

@@user-in3br2qs8xwhat are you even talking about

[@skyleite]

@@user-in3br2qs8x Cringe

[@weeblbob233]

This is great. I could never get the previous mod to work so hopefylly this time I can give new life to my wiiU.

[@andreidoanca4262]

Big up MVG for posting these sort of videos. Even if I haven't an Wii U, I still find them interesting!

[@arbiter1272]

I love my Wii U, I use it more then the Switch because of how many games I can play on it.

[@keijijohnson9754]

Not to mention you don't need a paid subscription to play online or classic games.

[@daddykarlmarx6183]

I mean there are cool things you can do with it but i just never could justify picking one up, i already have a modded wii which can run wii and GameCube and most wii u games are on switch, plus Wii u can be emulated fairly easily now for the like 3 games not on switch

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

1) WiU can run gamecube games a lot faster! This means games which ran like ass on Gamecube, and run like ass on emulators run perfect and bugfree and flawless on WiiU now through OC-ability. A WiiU can run gamecube-games at lke ~300 fps with this function called "C2W". So yes. This means a WiiU is MORE POWERFUL than the world´s fastest PC in this discipline. 2) Emulators of WiiU cannot do same things which WiiU does. Not even close. WiiU can run Half LIfe 2 or G-Mod now! Yes. It emulates them! And it can run other Source-games or run stuff like "Portal 1" or "Portal 2". Btw. WiiU has about 300 games which aren´t on Switch. 3) A WiiU will soon be able to run first AI-tasks. Because it can via Linux 3-Core script. It is allready being worked on. AI-Tasks are typically written in python. and Python is a perfect language to run on WiiU.

[@IcarsisTV]

What 2TB usb drive do you suggest using?

[@andlinux]

I love my Wii U, I bought one last year around this time just to play ZombiU, but like in the video the homebrew scene is very large and now I'm still trying things and play games on it.

[@SullySadface]

0:25 Your TV has seen better days Thought I was the only one playing BotW with a Dualsense. Weird.

[@kenpe1455]

But isn't there a problem with certain ram memory and if you don't power it up regularly the console will die?

[@Dudester100]

I thought that was a myth?

[@kenpe1455]

@@Dudester100 nope, look up wii u nand issues. Some wii u versions have bad nand chips it seems. And quite prevelant.

[@damian9303]

@@Dudester100it happened to me after factory resetting the system, and I left mine plugged in since the day I got it. There should be a PSA for that stuff, I was able to find only a select few Reddit threads explaining the issue but no actual solution.

[@shattered-reflection8045]

What is your opinion of a a Wii versus the virtual Wii? I've read that there are some issues with virtual Wii but I personally am not sure. I'm currently running. Wii Flow on my original Wii but would really like to use the Wii u instead for all of the improvements. Also, how is the Nintendont compatibility?

[@davidt3563]

Another great video! Love your content my dude!

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

Stock Wii u outputs a horrible blurry picture in Wii mode but there is plugin to fix that making Wii u a great alternative for Wii games over the real wii

[@robvanwanst4262]

Which plugin would that be?

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

@@robvanwanst4262 don't remember, google it.

[@Joao-hf1qm]

​@@robvanwanst4262 wich one?

[@robvanwanst4262]

@@Joao-hf1qm I'd like to know, too ^^

[@RyanParreno]

My experience with the Wii U is the high fail rates of the console itself (three consoles have broken down on me), while my spare GamePads are sorely underutilized. We need modders to finally figure out how to get GamePads working outside the Wii U console, so we can play the games on more powerful hardware. It's not hard to find Wii U optical drives from China. This will inevitably be the only way left to play Wii U games and I'm surprised the community isn't taking this more seriously. They need to start working on it today

[@Anas7ergun]

Unfortunately i had the same experience, the right analog has started to drifting and i was unable to move the controller to be able to aim with the bow in BOTW, and that was only after 2 years. Some weeks later the psu got bronken and maybe has fried the console, because after purchasing a new one i was unable to boot the console.

[@skyleite]

The WiiU gamepad uses a proprietary connection, it's not Bluetooth like other modern controllers. Someone would have to not only reverse engineer the protocol itself, but also build and mass produce a dongle for it, all so we can use the bulkiest handheld gamepad in existence. Emulators already have support for emulating the gamepad and showing it on screen. What's more likely to be made is a way to integrate that with a full blown console like the Steam Deck or the Nintendo Switch. It might even already exist.

[@cameronn2572]

Gamepads's tech is outdated and the thing is bulky and uncomfortable. Almost all of what you would need in a gamepad can be found in any smartphone, plus more. Emulation should be more than fine without having the original gamepad with it's giant 480p screen

[@bobboberson8297]

my gamepad's rumble and speakers are both broken. I've heard other people mention their broken rumble too. My gamepad charging cable has also failed about a year ago but somehow nintendo still had some replacement cables in stock on their store lol

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

That will never be possible as WiiU uses a CUSTOM USB 2.0 bus for all GPU, bpu (cpu has 10 buses unlike a standard cpu oday) and even he gamepad uses this. You cannot "emulate" this. For this reason you also cannot break WiiU´s USB-protocol. Because a PC cannot read it. A WiiU uses simply way more advanced tech than "PC". PC is so outdated. PC is an invention of 1970s. WiiU used Windows-11-tech in ~2012 allready (Asynchronic cpu-cores = big/Small cores). WiiU used "TMP 2.0" similar security before Windows 11 even demanded it. When did Windows 11 came out again? Around 5 years later or so. Still has much worse latency. A WiiU has NO measurable latency in ALL USB-buses (Cpu, gpu) and for ALL periphery. Which makes it way more advanced than a PC, wih combined similar abiliies than a modern "AAI". Games show you can blow into the microphone and in REALTIME, the character on the touschreen can jump. No other machine can do this. A WiiU can even emulate a full PC now as it can run games like Half Life 2 or G-Mod or even Poral 2 or oher source games. (And it could run "Fortnite"-rom from PC, x86 emulated) last year with ~25 fps. And that was last year, with no optimizing and running on the small cpu cores. With Linux WiiU and the new SMP-Patch it will be possible to achieve 10x faster performance, aka ~250 fps for Fortnite running in SOFTWARE. Because you tell the game o run on he BIG core (Or "performance-core" (PC) like it´s called in Windows 11). You would even be able to render this game in 8k or 16k on a WiiU, since it`s not stuck to the Gpu´s resolutions any longer. So the output would still be limited to 1080p of the HDMI. But internally rendered it would be in 8 or 16k. WiiU will furher more emuate a Switch and other platforms such as PS3 in realtime soon with the big-cpu core support in Linux now.

[@TheFrantic5]

I've been glued to my Steamdeck lately, but I probably should follow that guide to copy the games off. Thanks for the info!

[@OG_MrRubberDucky]

Ah I miss my Wii U, I gave it to my dad but after this video I might just steal it back for a bit. Finally something amazing that I can replace my CBHC installation with, third-party controller support is just amazing!!! As to why I'm that excited about this small tidbit, long time ago you had to run some coded by somebody Java server, plug your controller into your pc and play on your Xbox controller that way and it was dreadful as simple cable unplug usually meant console would hard-freeze. Glad to see this scene keep evolving like this, I still remember when it was very rough and people weren't sure what's possible and what isn't yet. Better region unlock is also nice and Homebrew apps not needing to be packaged into a seperate installable app anymore is also something I didn't expect.

[@zfighter3]

Not mention of n64/ds injection? That's my favourite part. I have almost the entire nintendo library playable up to 3ds on wiiU. Ive gotten some games listed as incompatible working. I think people underestimate how much you can do on WiiU.

[@opal817]

the Wii U having more and better exclusives than PS5 is something I never would have predicted lol

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

WiiU was made for gameplay. Not for Movie-games. PS5 is full of movie-games.

[@liminal_head]

I recently started modding consoles, starting with my Wii and I'm absolutely hooked. I really need to get my hands on a Wii U next. ❤

[@jakobxr]

Just dusted mine off and home brewed it this past week, so happy to see this video uploaded today

[@overlordalfredo]

I love the WiiU it is a great system, that many people hate for how it was advertised and never given it a chance. *Hacked or not this system is great!*

[@rometherevenant8749]

Looks like I'm buying a Wii u

[@alexlefevre3555]

I just had a few of these come in from a local retro shop for repair and refurb, and one even had a gamepad. I was super excited to turn these into the monsters MVG says they can be. It's all real.

[@paulj5336]

Thanks MVG. I've wanted to do this for a long time but I'm a bit anxious that i will muck it up.

[@Horrid_Gaming]

Way to start a morning

[@MarzMindset]

Yep lol

[@jules9424]

If they could somehow figure out 3DS emulation on Wii U, then the entire Nintendo library from Wii U and before would become available on a single console.

[@SomeRandomPiggo]

It might be possible with Citra, I'm not sure if it has any architecture specific code though, Wii U is PowerPC based

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

@@SomeRandomPiggo No. You need to run LINUX on WiiU first. Without WiiU Linux it will NEVER be possible. Then you need a SPECIAL compiler which compiles a special SMP-Ability into your Linux for WiiU (Custom WiiU LInux Kernel!). The compiler allready exists! then you need a special SCRIPT BEFORE you start the application! which tells the processosr you want this "Citra"-emulator executed on Core 1 (because Core 1 is much more powerful on WiiU´s cpu than Cores 0 or 2, which are just "helper-cores"). And then it will work. You cannot automatically shove execution from Core 0 to Core 1 or vice-versa. WiiU uses asynchronic multicores.You need to start on a certain core first and then you need to KILL that application first before you can use another application on that core! You need a script each time you want to use this way more powerful cpu-core. So for every program a SCRIPT Is required.

[@SomeRandomPiggo]

@@user-in3br2qs8x Interesting, don't know much about Citra's inner workings but I'm assuming it has a software renderer which should be quite easy to port to the Wii U's native OS

[@user-in3br2qs8x]

@@SomeRandomPiggo Correct. Btw: It doesn´t matter because WiiU´s Linux does NOT have GPU-accelleration to begin with! so everything works with software-rendering only.

[@antaresyoung9614]

Oh man, I'll have to dig out my old wii u! Thank you for this video- I was always worried about trying to mod it and breaking it somehow, but everything you've shown looks remarkably stable and back-up forward. 👀

[@AbdAbdAbdAbd]

7:13 if you have UDPIH you can pair any region locked gamepad to any console, you can use a raspberry pi pico or even oddly enough a nintendo switch on CFW.