The wii was hacked in 2007 by 2008 we had full homebrew, plus there were a number of modchips available very early on for those that wanted piracy.the wii only got amazing homebrew until the wiiu was released once the wiiu was released all the wii got was retroarch and mgba afaik.
You only got retroarch in 2012 - 2013 ? because the retroarch project didnt exist back then retroarch begun 2012 if I remember correctly.
P.S Im not very good with dates so they might not be completely accurate.