Wii U without the Gamepad.

[kinisonkhan]

When I decided to mod a Nintendo Switch, I was going to give my old Wii U to my brother, but then realized it wasn't going to handle GameCube, Wii or Wii U games. Since I kinda promised him my old Wii U, I bought a used Wii U on Ebay (console, sensor and power supply, no gamepad) and was able to mod it using my gamepad and tiramisu. Encountered problems getting Mupen64 to work. Didn't have Nintendont installed and didn't have the nincfg.bin in the root of the SD Card (WiiVC Injector fixed this). But now that its working, I have a few questions.

Will my brother have any issues once I disconnect my Wii U Gamepad? - He has two Wiimote controllers he can use (from the Wii I gave him 3 years ago) and I plan on giving him a N64, GC & SNES controller (along with the adapters from raphnet), but he wont be modding or configuring anything, so im thinking he wont really have any problems not having a Gamepad controller connected, yes?

Also, since my original Wii U was modded using Haxchi CFW (then recently with tiramisu when it got an update), do I need to apply Haxchi (or anything else) to the Wii U im setting up for my brother?

 

[Hayato213]

You will need a gamepad, most games require a gamepad, if you go into system setting you need a gamepad also.

 

[godreborn]

some games will not work without the gamepad. kirby and the rainbow paintbrush come to mind (very good game imo). you won't be able to go into system settings as already mention. I think most games should work, but it's kinda hit and miss with wiiu specific games. I'd suggest just giving him your wiiu. did you say you have a switch? almost all touch pad type games can be played with a controller, like captain toad.

 

[TheDerpyDolphin]

As stated above, System Settings requires the GamePad. Mii Maker and I believe Internet Browser do as well, along with the occasional homebrew app that doesn’t work with a controller. Probably best to see if you can find a working used GamePad off the internet or a second hand gaming/hobby store

 

[fringle]

As all other have said a Wii U is pretty useless without a gamepad. My kids broke a couple of years ago but luckily enough I had one I could lend them so they could at least use the Wii U until I fixed theirs. If for some reason the view changes on the TV all they will be able to do is watch a bunch mii's run around looking stupid since it can't be changed back to view the games without the gamepad.

 

[Ryab]

When I decided to mod a Nintendo Switch, I was going to give my old Wii U to my brother, but then realized it wasn't going to handle GameCube, Wii or Wii U games. Since I kinda promised him my old Wii U, I bought a used Wii U on Ebay (console, sensor and power supply, no gamepad) and was able to mod it using my gamepad and tiramisu. Encountered problems getting Mupen64 to work. Didn't have Nintendont installed and didn't have the nincfg.bin in the root of the SD Card (WiiVC Injector fixed this). But now that its working, I have a few questions.

Will my brother have any issues once I disconnect my Wii U Gamepad? - He has two Wiimote controllers he can use (from the Wii I gave him 3 years ago) and I plan on giving him a N64, GC & SNES controller (along with the adapters from raphnet), but he wont be modding or configuring anything, so im thinking he wont really have any problems not having a Gamepad controller connected, yes?

Also, since my original Wii U was modded using Haxchi CFW (then recently with tiramisu when it got an update), do I need to apply Haxchi (or anything else) to the Wii U im setting up for my brother?

The system is basically unusable without the gamepad. You cant play quite a few games or even reach system settings without the gamepad.

 

[kinisonkhan]

Yikes, looks like I need to cough up $100 for a used Gamepad, even though hes not going into the settings.

 

[godreborn]

Yikes, looks like I need to cough up $100 for a used Gamepad, even though hes not going into the settings.

there's not a lot that requires the gamepad, but going into system settings does. I never get my gamepad out, considering I can just use the pro controller or wiimote. some homebrew requires an update. libwiidrc is the library that requires the gamepad, but generally speaking, this is likely after the wiimote or pro controller was coded into the project.

 

[SylverReZ]

The system is basically unusable without the gamepad. You cant play quite a few games or even reach system settings without the gamepad.

And there's also the problem of using a gamepad from another region, although this can be fixed with the System Config Tool.

 

[godreborn]

And there's also the problem of using a gamepad from another region, although this can be fixed with the System Config Tool.

strangely, the gamepad is the only controller that is region restricted, makes no sense. you can use the wrong region with system config tool or some sort of kiosk app.

 

[SylverReZ]

strangely, the gamepad is the only controller that is region restricted, makes no sense. you can use the wrong region with system config tool or some sort of kiosk app.

I know. Just Nintendo being Nintendo as always I guess.

 

[godreborn]

I know. Just Nintendo being Nintendo as always I guess.

I don't know about the nes, but the super nes is when they started region locking stuff. yet, you could use some piliers to un region protect your system. fuck you, Nintendo!

 

[SylverReZ]

I don't know about the nes, but the super nes is when they started region locking stuff. yet, you could use some piliers to un region protect your system. fuck you, Nintendo!

Probably because there were so many unlicensed games for the system such as what Wisdom Tree did (before Color Dreams) who created bible games.

 

[Ryab]

I don't know about the nes, but the super nes is when they started region locking stuff. yet, you could use some piliers to un region protect your system. fuck you, Nintendo!

Region locking was pretty much the standard until around 2013. Which was after the Wii U launched.

 

[tmnr1992]

As long as he doesn't go to the settings menu or play any game that requires it there shouldn't be any problem. I haven't really used mine for the past few months since I've been playing games that don't require the gamepad.

 

[maf23]

When I decided to mod a Nintendo Switch, I was going to give my old Wii U to my brother, but then realized it wasn't going to handle GameCube, Wii or Wii U games. Since I kinda promised him my old Wii U, I bought a used Wii U on Ebay (console, sensor and power supply, no gamepad) and was able to mod it using my gamepad and tiramisu. Encountered problems getting Mupen64 to work. Didn't have Nintendont installed and didn't have the nincfg.bin in the root of the SD Card (WiiVC Injector fixed this). But now that its working, I have a few questions.

Will my brother have any issues once I disconnect my Wii U Gamepad? - He has two Wiimote controllers he can use (from the Wii I gave him 3 years ago) and I plan on giving him a N64, GC & SNES controller (along with the adapters from raphnet), but he wont be modding or configuring anything, so im thinking he wont really have any problems not having a Gamepad controller connected, yes?

Also, since my original Wii U was modded using Haxchi CFW (then recently with tiramisu when it got an update), do I need to apply Haxchi (or anything else) to the Wii U im setting up for my brother?

Do I understand you bought a used Wii U and got it to work with your existing Wii U gamepad? I am in the same situation but the WiiU I got used without gamepad only boots to the Wii U screen. Did you experience that before you linked up your existing conttroller? I was afraid to try fearing I would lose operating of my working Wii U. I also thought someone may have bricked it trying to hack into it and it would be fruitless to try. Saving it for spare parts for now.

 

[NinStar]

Do I understand you bought a used Wii U and got it to work with your existing Wii U gamepad?

As long as the gamepad is from the same region as the console it will work, no matter the model.

 

[maf23]

Can you switch it back and forth between consoles or to you need to transfer profiles each time? I tried unsuccessfully to sync the console with my existing working Wii U gamepad. Still stuck on WiiU boot screen. Does that mean the system is bricked? I must say the Wii U is the most confusing system I have ever owned.

 

[godreborn]

Can you switch it back and forth between consoles or to you need to transfer profiles each time? I tried unsuccessfully to sync the console with my existing working Wii U gamepad. Still stuck on WiiU boot screen. Does that mean the system is bricked?

should be able to. I think it uses a wlan 5GHz connection, which they make dongles for to where you can even sync to a pc. I have a panda dongle that's supposed to be for this, but I think you need full linux to set it up, and I use wsl2 for my linux needs.

Post automatically merged: Dec 28, 2022

oh, I just remembered. I had a wiiu on 5.3.2, when that was the latest exploitable. it was a 32GB, US wiiu, which came with no gamepad. I had no issues toggling the gamepad between both that and my normal wiiu.

 

[kinisonkhan]

Do I understand you bought a used Wii U and got it to work with your existing Wii U gamepad? I am in the same situation but the WiiU I got used without gamepad only boots to the Wii U screen. Did you experience that before you linked up your existing conttroller? I was afraid to try fearing I would lose operating of my working Wii U. I also thought someone may have bricked it trying to hack into it and it would be fruitless to try. Saving it for spare parts for now.

No problems taking the Gamepad from my original Wii U setup and pairing it up with a console I bought on Ebay which didn't come with a gamepad. No problems re-syncing it back either.

I can confirm that you can use the Wii U without the Gamepad, but it definitely needs it for modding & install purposes.