Hacking Help me find the right setup for my 5 year old to use (Emulation and Loaders)

Nickb1907

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Background: I had a Wii, hacked it, ran wiiflow for NES, SNES, Genisis, MAME, Wii games. It worked great and I had 3d covers you browse through to choose a game and launch it. I would like to repeat this for the WiiU.

Current situation:
-32gb Wiiu
-Hacked using https://wiiu.hacks.guide/. I did not install Mocha or CBHC
-I bought a DS game and have Haxchi on the main menu along with HBC.
-Hacked the vWii using https://wiiu.hacks.guide/vwii-modding

Goals:
-WiiU main menu, select icon to launch straight into Wiiflow (if that is still the preferred forwarder that supports 3d covers)
-Wiiflow support the following systems: NES, SNES, Genesis, MAME, N64, Gamecube, Wii, WiiU
-Use the gamepad for all systems
-Use USB or SD for games. I would probably have about 10 games per system (except NES, SNES, Genesis) due to his age and not having a desire to play Blast Corps ever. So maybe a 64gb SD or USB device.
-This must be simple for a 5 year old to use.
*Not running Haxchi every boot
*Not loading emulators with text only titles
*Not presetting up games before they launch
*Do everything from the WiiU main menu
*Eliminate chances of bricking the vwii/wiiu by him being a kid and pushing buttons

If my dream setup doesn't exist (I don't think it does from my googling), then maybe doing half in wiiflow half as VC injects into WiiU menu? Please if you have advice link the tutorial or thread for each thing.


Sorry if this has been beaten to death. The stickies all appear to be 2-3 years old and I couldn't find anything that matched what I was after.

Thanks
 
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bananapi761

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Retroarch instead maybe? Runs multiple consoles/emulators in one app, and can be locked down so no settings can be changed without a password. It's more up to date and runs in Wii u mode so it would be faster and have sharper video. Everything past N64 would be a problem though. I don't think gamepad support on every vwii emulator would be feasible, I definitely had problems trying to do so, but nintendont works well with the gamepad at least. That's probably the best solution I can think of.
 

Nickb1907

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Retroarch instead maybe? Runs multiple consoles/emulators in one app, and can be locked down so no settings can be changed without a password. It's more up to date and runs in Wii u mode so it would be faster and have sharper video. Everything past N64 would be a problem though. I don't think gamepad support on every vwii emulator would be feasible, I definitely had problems trying to do so, but nintendont works well with the gamepad at least. That's probably the best solution I can think of.

Does Retroarch support 3d boxart? All the retroarch examples I saw looked like PS3 menus and not as simple as wiiflow (select the big 3d boxart of the game you want and hit launch). The gamepad for all systems would be a nice feature but not a requirement.
 

bananapi761

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Does Retroarch support 3d boxart? All the retroarch examples I saw looked like PS3 menus and not as simple as wiiflow (select the big 3d boxart of the game you want and hit launch). The gamepad for all systems would be a nice feature but not a requirement.
Retroarch playlist buddy gathers your rom list and scrapes boxart to show beside the game, I think, but that's the best it gets. If you want to go the gamepad route I would use retroarch and the gamepad version of nintendont for gamecube games, I also think there is a program that patches Wii isos that support the classic controller to use the gamepad and show in your Wii U menu. If not then you could repeat what you done with your Wii setup without much difference.
 

Danimalzpwn3

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Personally, I'd use the vWii console, download Wiiflow Forwarder, and use wiiflow Lite as your main setup. Using this will allow you to add over 100's of consoles and allow you to emulate them through a nice sourceflow library of games. I personally have games split into categories by buttons, handhelds, consoles, wii, and arcade. Then each split into consoles I can choose from, ie, handhelds, GBA, GBC, GB, Game and Watch, Virtual boy. Consoles NES, SNES, SEGAGENISIS, PS1, Atari7800, N64. Arcade, Capcom, MAME, Campcon 2, and NEOGEO. Wii has Wii games, gamecube, and wii emunands or realnands. It takes some time to setup, I do have a personal pack setup in my tutorial page, which you can download, and even follow the whole guide. Looks very clean and nice. Can even setup parent lock so nobody deletes anything.
 
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Nickb1907

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-Is there a forwarder from the WiiU menu straight into wiiflow? Does Haxchi need to be run to do this? Link on how to do this?
-Is the performance of n64 the same as it was on the wii if I use vwii? I remember the n64 games were not really playable on the wii. This was also back in 2012 timeframe when I did it. There may have been improvements to the emulator.
-For wiiu games I assume I will need to inject them into the wiiU menu. How is this done? Link?
-@Danimalzpwn3 - I can't see most of the images/attachments in your tutorial. "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action." Do you know how I can see these?
 
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Danimalzpwn3

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All you do is start Wii U, then go to vwii, then a forwarder linked there. It runs fantastic because wiiflow still uses all the original emulators but libraries then. I am aware of the issue, trying to get it resolved with staff, sorry for the inconvenience!
 

waytoodeep03

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Doesnt wii vc injects have the ability to do custom box art?

I did a few gamecube games yesterday using the vcinjector application and you can put in the boxart in there.

Then your kid can just load up his wii u and all of the games are right there on the dashboard.


I use this setup for my 7 year old. It works fine having all the games on the main dashboard.
 
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wiindsurf

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I also have a 5yo and a 7yo. Personally I think a Wii U is a bit too complicated / overkill for that age, specially with the gamepad not exactly being child friendly. I'd consider going with a regular Wii instead until they are a bit older? The Wii library is massive anyway and should keep them plenty busy for a few years. The rubber covered wii remotes are perfect for kids, the interface is straight forward, you can install Virtual Console games right on the home screen, and there's not much that can go wrong on a $30 device. :)
 

wiindsurf

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Now and then when I come across a cheap Wii I'll snap it an set it up as a gift to a family / friend's child. I've done this 5-6 times so far, and it's been real cool to give these kids a chance to experience real console gaming as opposed to the souless crap on mobile.
Anyway just mentioning this cause I also have some experience setting up Wii consoles for other people's kids, and I'm happy to share thoughts if you need a hand setting things up...
 

Nickb1907

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I also have a 5yo and a 7yo. Personally I think a Wii U is a bit too complicated / overkill for that age, specially with the gamepad not exactly being child friendly. I'd consider going with a regular Wii instead until they are a bit older? The Wii library is massive anyway and should keep them plenty busy for a few years. The rubber covered wii remotes are perfect for kids, the interface is straight forward, you can install Virtual Console games right on the home screen, and there's not much that can go wrong on a $30 device. :)

I traded in my wii that was hacked to move the wiiu. Mainly for the HDMI, newer games, and price. I paid $90 for the wiiu and got $77 trade in (amazon) for my wii.

Wouldnt be a pain to inject every NES/SNES/Gensis/etc game into the wiiu main menu?

My kid is pretty good with this stuff. He has been playing xbox one since he was 3.
 

wiindsurf

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I see. My kids are pretty careful too, but I just feel there's a big gap in child friendliness between the two systems.

You may not have to inject roms for those three systems if the games you want are available as virtual console titles, just install them as you would any other Wii U title with wup installer. Installing that way is pretty much hands off. Once you have all the titles on the SD card it will bulk install everything, so you just walk away and come back a few hours later.

Btw, just curious... Did the Wii U only cost you $13 after the trade in? That's pretty awesome if that's the case.
I once bought one with 20 games for $350, bulk sold all games for $300, so it only ended up costing me $50.
 
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Nickb1907

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I see. My kids are pretty careful too, but I just feel there's a big gap in child friendliness between the two systems.

You may not have to inject roms for those three systems if the games you want are available as virtual console titles, just install them as you would any other Wii U title with wup installer. Installing that way is pretty much hands off. Once you have all the titles on the SD card it will bulk install everything, so you just walk away and come back a few hours later.

Btw, just curious... Did the Wii U only cost you $13 after the trade in? That's pretty awesome if that's the case.
I once bought one with 20 games for $350, bulk sold all games for $300, so it only ended up costing me $50.

Yes, amazon trade in for wii + Mario kart $77 (just got the credit. Sent in 1 week ago). GameStop Black Friday wiiu with 3 Mario games $90.
 

wiindsurf

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Wow nice. Just remembered Genesis games didn't come out on the Wii U. So you may have to install the Wii versions, or inject them as you suggested.
 

The Real Jdbye

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Yes, amazon trade in for wii + Mario kart $77 (just got the credit. Sent in 1 week ago). GameStop Black Friday wiiu with 3 Mario games $90.
That's an unbelievably good deal, considering a used Wii goes for like $25 and Amazon has to have a profit margin too. Also wait, Amazon does tradeins?
I see. My kids are pretty careful too, but I just feel there's a big gap in child friendliness between the two systems.

You may not have to inject roms for those three systems if the games you want are available as virtual console titles, just install them as you would any other Wii U title with wup installer. Installing that way is pretty much hands off. Once you have all the titles on the SD card it will bulk install everything, so you just walk away and come back a few hours later.

Btw, just curious... Did the Wii U only cost you $13 after the trade in? That's pretty awesome if that's the case.
I once bought one with 20 games for $350, bulk sold all games for $300, so it only ended up costing me $50.
The Wii was designed to appeal to everyone, not just gamers. It had to be so simple to use your grandma could figure it out. The average kid is probably quicker to figure out how to use tech than most grandmas. So it's not surprising the Wii U is a bit more complicated to use, being more geared towards gamers (but still at the same time trying to appeal to casuals as well, trying to keep casual Wii owners part of the Nintendo ecosystem, though that failed miserably)
It's not like the Wii U is difficult to use though. Kids should be able to figure it out just fine. Only they might treat the gamepad a bit roughly, but the thing is pretty sturdy and a kid could probably jump up and down on it and it would still work fine.
 
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nine0nine

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I have a 5yr old and honestly, you don't need anything special, bombarding them with every game in existence is just going to make everything seem meaningless and insignificant.

I grabbed a wiiu this summer (just because it was the only Nintendo console I've never had) and hacked it with mocha / DSgame and a 1tb HDD + USB helper. It auto boots into the CFW and the HBC isn't accessible, so its pretty bulletproof.

I made sub folders on the main screen for 'Mario history', 'Zelda history' etc and added all the relevant WiiU / Wii / N64 etc games possible (which is pretty much everything thanks to the virtual console hacks and wii / gc support)

I'm trying to lead my son along the same path that I trod 30 years ago when I got my NES so he's currently playing the original SMB, which is really interesting for me as a parent to see how he handles the gameplay without too much of my interference.

We also play NintendoLand as a family and sometimes Taiko no tatsujin with drum controllers but aside from that, my son isn't interested in trying all the other 100 or so WiiU titles on there or the virtual console stuff. When we get tired of NintendoLand and Mario Bros, I'll find something else to focus on.

If anything, I think giving him access to everything from the get-go is detrimental as an introduction to gaming.
 
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wiindsurf

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@nineOnline I second your opinion on quantity of games, too many and it looses meaning as you said.
We have about 15-20 we play regularly. Besides the usual Mario platforming / Kart / Smash Bros / Kirby, kids also enjoy the Active Life / Familiy Trainer series, Mario Strikers / Luigi's Mansion on GC, and the Bit.Trip games. Even when I put other games in there for myself, they are not really interested, as they already have their hearts set on what they want to play...
 
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Nickb1907

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I have been googling this but can't find the answer. This should be an easy one. I can't get my games to show up in wiiflow when loaded to usb. If I save them onto SD and change the settings to SD in wiiflow i can get to them.

I have the same USB HD I used for my wii. Was there more power for the wii than the wiiu on the USB port? Trying to avoid going with the splitter cable. I assume I am plugged into the correct USB port. See below picture I found online. That is the port I plugged into.

https://wildmanted.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2013-04-07-10-09-47.jpg
 

datahoarder

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Posts thread with specific goals involving the Wii U:
> gets several posts telling OP that adding too many games is meaningless and to give the kid more dumbed down games and skip the Wii U all together and backtrack to a Wii.

:blink:
 

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