Homebrew Official Retroarch WiiU (wip.)

[CrashMidnick]

I have done testing on almost all cores included for Aroma RA.

Very nice compatibility and great upgrades to the Wii in some instances. However, there are definitely issues with some cores the Wii handles much better.

I won't go into detail yet, i need to complete testing to give accurate comparisons. For now, MAME 2000 does not work, MAME 2003 works but has issues, FBA also works but has issues. These 3 arcade emulators work better on Wii in my experience so far opposed to Wii U.

Pokemini, REmeniscence do not work, Atari 800 has no sound. It is moot to worry about this since Wii plays these fine.

I list these issues because i have not seen any sort of core working / not working list here. So many pages to read, maybe i missed the info.

Anyhow, i will continue to test the remaining cores then put effort into making a solid parent FBNeo set together.

If anyone could help me, is there a way to prevent/fix the UI from going vertical when pressing Home button when playing a Vertical arcade game?

Did you test Amiga CD32/Amiga CDTV games ? On regular RA for Tiramitsu/Haxchi, CD based games are broken since the beginning of PUAE/PUAE 2021.

 

[RunningSnakes]

Did you test Amiga CD32/Amiga CDTV games ? On regular RA for Tiramitsu/Haxchi, CD based games are broken since the beginning of PUAE/PUAE 2021.

I have not tested Amiga yet, thank you for the info.

What image format are you using for PUAE?

 

[sasja-san]

How is shader support? The Wii U is too underpowered to support something as demanding as CRT Guest Advanced, isn't it? Which ones are stable?

You replied under my big set-up-your-shaders post (pictures & everything), and you still ask?

Go back to page 746 and read. I would link, but I'm not allowed yet...

 

[CrashMidnick]

I have not tested Amiga yet, thank you for the info.

What image format are you using for PUAE?

CHD, ISO, Cue/bin and CCD.

This is a known problem : https://github.com/libretro/libretro-uae/issues/578

 

[BlazeHeatnix]

You replied under my big set-up-your-shaders post (pictures & everything), and you still ask?

Go back to page 746 and read. I would link, but I'm not allowed yet...

I replied a page after you and I can't keep track of what's posted in 750 pages. Don't be a dick.

Anyway, how is DS emulation? I'd like to be able to play TWEWY on the Wii U since it's broken via injection.

 

[CORE]

Desmume = C2W-Wii
NooDS = Wii U
Injects = Wii U

DSi and DSi Enhanced Games seem to have issues via Injected but most I have tryed run very well.
Desmume with C2W applied probably wont do much.
NooDS looks promising.

 

[Vultix93]

Is the latest build the one in page 711?

 

[TonyNESgri]

Hi there!
Can I drag the latest build onto my SD? Or do I need to delete and replace my old RetroArch folder by the new one to avoid file conflict? My current RetroArch is Aroma-based, but I believe it is the alpha version

 

[azy77]

Hi there!
Can I drag the latest build onto my SD? Or do I need to delete and replace my old RetroArch folder by the new one to avoid file conflict? My current RetroArch is Aroma-based, but I believe it is the alpha version

I did this 7 step process (page 738) by willicious that worked for me perfectly:

1) With your SD card in your PC, backup your existing Retroarch folder somewhere on your PC
2) Delete all Retroarch files and folders from the SD card (SD\retroarch) (SD\wiiu\apps\retroarch.wubh)
3) Copy the latest Retroarch build onto the SD card and then put the SD card back into the Wii U
4) Fire up the Wii U and open Retroarch. This will generate a config file and allow you to test that the basic build is working
5) Power off the Wii U, remove the SD card and put it back into your PC
6) Copy any roms, savestates and remap files from your previous Retroarch folder to the new one on the SD card. DO NOT copy any cores (although you can copy savestates and remaps from the "cores" folder)
7) Put the SD card back into the Wii U, fire up Retroarch

Hopefully, everything should work fine. You might have to set some stuff up manually again but it should all at least work.

 

[ikaros2]

Is the latest build the one in page 711?

I believe so.

 

[TonyNESgri]

I did this 7 step process (page 738) by willicious that worked for me perfectly:

1) With your SD card in your PC, backup your existing Retroarch folder somewhere on your PC
2) Delete all Retroarch files and folders from the SD card (SD\retroarch) (SD\wiiu\apps\retroarch.wubh)
3) Copy the latest Retroarch build onto the SD card and then put the SD card back into the Wii U
4) Fire up the Wii U and open Retroarch. This will generate a config file and allow you to test that the basic build is working
5) Power off the Wii U, remove the SD card and put it back into your PC
6) Copy any roms, savestates and remap files from your previous Retroarch folder to the new one on the SD card. DO NOT copy any cores (although you can copy savestates and remaps from the "cores" folder)
7) Put the SD card back into the Wii U, fire up Retroarch

Hopefully, everything should work fine. You might have to set some stuff up manually again but it should all at least work.

So...I finally got the time to update RetroArch. I did everything you said. I also copied the .cfg files from my previous RetroArch folder. The app seems to work fine, but when I launch a PSX game (either with or without the BIOS), the game's turning quite slow, so is the music. Why tho? I feel like this update is a demake...Or did I forget to toggle something on?
If there isn't any solution as for now, I will stick to the previous version for Aroma, since it was working pretty well.

 

[azy77]

So...I finally got the time to update RetroArch. I did everything you said. I also copied the .cfg files from my previous RetroArch folder. The app seems to work fine, but when I launch a PSX game (either with or without the BIOS), the game's turning quite slow, so is the music. Why tho? I feel like this update is a demake...Or did I forget to toggle something on?
If there isn't any solution as for now, I will stick to the previous version for Aroma, since it was working pretty well.

Try it with only the roms, thumbnails, bios etc from the old build but without transferring any old config files, especially retroarch.cfg? That's the only thing I can think of that may be causing a conflict.

Have a read of pages 738/ 739 as there may be some further info on ps1 clock settings there.

 

[ploggy]

Hey all we have a new build!

There has been a few changes compared to the last Aroma build..
SD:/ path is back, going forward SD:/ will be the main path for Retroarch. this does mean there is some kind of cross compatibility with Tira CFW now but in my quick tests loading Aroma cores on Tira was pretty slow :/ (but it did load)
(Note: Aroma Pcsxrearmed/Picodrive and maybe Amiga cores wont play nice on Tira due to Dynarec/Thread changes between Aroma/Tira CFW's so probably best to still keep Aroma/Tira cores separate)

Core sizes have been reduced by a couple MB too!

If all goes well this will be the version of Aroma RA that will make its way to Libretro buildbot, so please give it a try and post any RA issues you find

Note2: This version does have some main cores missing (Pcsxrearmed/Picodirve/Amiga this is because of the lack of Dynarec and Thread support that was implemented separately by @vrda in the previous build, but hopefully once this test build is given the all good and added to the buildbot those changes will be added back pretty quickly.

I will still Leave the link to the older build in my sig since that has the missing cores

Hopefully I haven't missed anything

Here's the new build to test. LINK (comes with an updated Retroarch Wuhb file too)

 

[RunningSnakes]

Hey all we have a new build!

There has been a few changes compared to the last Aroma build..
SD:/ path is back, going forward SD:/ will be the main path for Retroarch. this does mean there is some kind of cross compatibility with Tira CFW now but in my quick tests loading Aroma cores on Tira was pretty slow :/ (but it did load)
(Note: Aroma Pcsxrearmed/Picodrive and maybe Amiga cores wont play nice on Tira due to Dynarec/Thread changes between Aroma/Tira CFW's so probably best to still keep Aroma/Tira cores separate)

Core sizes have been reduced by a couple MB too!

If all goes well this will be the version of Aroma RA that will make its way to Libretro buildbot, so please give it a try and post any RA issues you find

Note2: This version does have some main cores missing (Pcsxrearmed/Picodirve/Amiga this is because of the lack of Dynarec and Thread support that was implemented separately by @vrda in the previous build, but hopefully once this test build is given the all good and added to the buildbot those changes will be added back pretty quickly.

I will still Leave the link to the older build in my sig since that has the missing cores

Hopefully I haven't missed anything

Here's the new build to test. LINK (comes with an updated Retroarch Wuhb file too)

Thank you for the update, I will install and test soon. I noticed PrBoom core is missing, was this intentional or overlooked?

 

[ploggy]

Thank you for the update, I will install and test soon. I noticed PrBoom core is missing, was this intentional or overlooked?

That's my bad, it will be added today

EDIT: Prboom done

 

[RunningSnakes]

I want to thank you again for time spent and your expertise, I only leave constructive thoughts how this can be further improved.

After testing 8-10 cores, all work very well for me. I have not run into any issues using the few cores I have tested but there is a glaring problem (at least for me) that prevents me from using this 1.21.0 build over your previous 1.19.0 build. The A / B buttons are reversed in the Menu, which honestly must be fixed...this is also an issue with current Wii RA releases...making normal navigation a chore.

The gamepad shows as much, which buttons for commands,...so this is definitely a libretro issue.

Clearly, the A button should always be the "Select" button with the B button always being the "back out" button when in Menu.

Maybe it cannot be changed in newer releases but hopefully it is an oversight.

 

[woooody]

Hey all we have a new build!

There has been a few changes compared to the last Aroma build..
SD:/ path is back, going forward SD:/ will be the main path for Retroarch. this does mean there is some kind of cross compatibility with Tira CFW now but in my quick tests loading Aroma cores on Tira was pretty slow :/ (but it did load)
(Note: Aroma Pcsxrearmed/Picodrive and maybe Amiga cores wont play nice on Tira due to Dynarec/Thread changes between Aroma/Tira CFW's so probably best to still keep Aroma/Tira cores separate)

Core sizes have been reduced by a couple MB too!

If all goes well this will be the version of Aroma RA that will make its way to Libretro buildbot, so please give it a try and post any RA issues you find

Note2: This version does have some main cores missing (Pcsxrearmed/Picodirve/Amiga this is because of the lack of Dynarec and Thread support that was implemented separately by @vrda in the previous build, but hopefully once this test build is given the all good and added to the buildbot those changes will be added back pretty quickly.

I will still Leave the link to the older build in my sig since that has the missing cores

Hopefully I haven't missed anything

Here's the new build to test. LINK (comes with an updated Retroarch Wuhb file too)

Thank you for continuing this effort.
I tried this 1.21.0 build and it worked mostly fine, but I'm sharing some issues I encountered:

• Launching games with the fbneo core displays a DSI error (rom files are fine since they worked with the core in previous builds).
• Pressing the Home button during game launch now brings up the Home menu instead of the quick menu.
• The mgba core is not included.

The A / B buttons are reversed in the Menu, which honestly must be fixed...this is also an issue with current Wii RA releases...making normal navigation a chore.

This can be changed in Settings.
Settings > Input > Menu Controls

 

[ploggy]

I want to thank you again for time spent and your expertise, I only leave constructive thoughts how this can be further improved.

After testing 8-10 cores, all work very well for me. I have not run into any issues using the few cores I have tested but there is a glaring problem (at least for me) that prevents me from using this 1.21.0 build over your previous 1.19.0 build. The A / B buttons are reversed in the Menu, which honestly must be fixed...this is also an issue with current Wii RA releases...making normal navigation a chore.

The gamepad shows as much, which buttons for commands,...so this is definitely a libretro issue.

Clearly, the A button should always be the "Select" button with the B button always being the "back out" button when in Menu.

Maybe it cannot be changed in newer releases but hopefully it is an oversight.

Thank you but Quarky is the one doing the hard work porting RA to Aroma, I'm a tester/Core Compiler

The Button mix up is definitely not suppose to be there and will hopefully be changed by the time the official release is done, but as @woooody said below for now it's possible to swap it back in the RA settings.

Thank you for continuing this effort.
I tried this 1.21.0 build and it worked mostly fine, but I'm sharing some issues I encountered:

• Launching games with the fbneo core displays a DSI error (rom files are fine since they worked with the core in previous builds).
• Pressing the Home button during game launch now brings up the Home menu instead of the quick menu.
• The mgba core is not included.

This can be changed in Settings.
Settings > Input > Menu Controls

Hmm, I'll have to check out what's going on with the Fbneo core.
the Home button is supposed to now bring up the WiiU menu to bring it inline with other official WiiU apps If you press the Home button again it will open the RA menu or pressing Plus and Minus will also open the RA menu
I will add the Mgba core later today


EDIT: Mgba Core added

EDIT2: For now you can use the previous builds Fbneo core with the current build until the issue is fixed.

 

[wiiu3ds]

What are the recommended settings to run ps1 at full speed?

Edit: Also, where i can obtain the most recent core?

 

[RunningSnakes]

Ok, I will change the input......doing this through Wii makes RA button cfg worse, to where it is unusable. Thus, why I did not attempt this through WiiU.

I was also going to mention mGBA core missing, so thank you for adding.

And if Quarky is reading this, thanks for your efforts involving this project!

Post automatically merged: Sep 23, 2025

This can be changed in Settings.
Settings > Input > Menu Controls

The menu button swap works great here. Thanks for the tip!