Homebrew Wii U Gamecube Compatibility

Momba1 · Apr 3, 2021

Hey,

Ive been thinking about buying a Wii U or just a Wii for the main sake of playing my old Gamecube and Wii Games mostly.

So Ive been reading into this theme a bit now and found out the early Wiis are fully hardware (?) backward compatible to the GC Games.

Meanwhile I am kind of confused about the compatibility of the Wii U in regards to GC Games.

Ive heard it technically is fully backward compatible to the GC Games via e.g Nintendont even though it doesnt have a Drive that accepts the GC discs.

Is that just Software Emulation on part of the Wii U or is this like 100% hardware based compatibility since the Wii U has the architecture of the Wii as it is with GC - Wii ?

eyeliner · Apr 3, 2021

WiiU uses Virtual Wii mode (vWii) to access the internal hypervisor that allows GameCube games to be played. You cannot use GameCube hardware, as the WiiU has no GameCube ports. Those are present on the Wii.

Using the Wii, you can use your GsameCube hardware and discs, except GBA Player.

Discussions abound about the WiiU's upscaler is bad for Wii and GameCube games, so take that as consideration.

Immortallix · Apr 3, 2021

The Wii U basically has a Wii inside it, so Nintendont compatibility will be the same. Loading games via SD card or USB. As for upscaling you can always set the Wii U to output 480p and play on gamepad or let your TV or an external box handle upscaling.

Momba1 · Apr 3, 2021

Immortallix said:
The Wii U basically has a Wii inside it, so Nintendont compatibility will be the same. Loading games via SD card or USB. As for upscaling you can always set the Wii U to output 480p and play on gamepad or let your TV or an external box handle upscaling.

Thank you.

So I guess that means I am better off with an Wii U since it doesnt have any drawbacks in comparison to the Wii other than not being able to read the GC discs ?

Moon164 · Apr 3, 2021

Momba1 said:
Thank you.

So I guess that means I am better off with an Wii U since it doesnt have any drawbacks in comparison to the Wii other than not being able to read the GC discs ?

If I'm not wrong, you can use the Game Cube controls on Wii U using that USB adapter, but you can't use GBA Link to use Game Boy Advance as a controller (yet), if that's not a drawback for you , go deep.

It is very good to be able to play the Game Cube games in native 480p, besides that playing on the GamePad screen is also very comfortable, in addition it is possible to emulate the brodband adapter to play games like Phantasy Star Online on Wii U.

MikaDubbz · Apr 4, 2021

eyeliner said:
WiiU uses Virtual Wii mode (vWii) to access the internal hypervisor that allows GameCube games to be played. You cannot use GameCube hardware, as the WiiU has no GameCube ports. Those are present on the Wii.

Using the Wii, you can use your GsameCube hardware and discs, except GBA Player.

Discussions abound about the WiiU's upscaler is bad for Wii and GameCube games, so take that as consideration.

However, if you use the GameCube controller adapter for Wii U, you can use GameCube controllers with Nintendont on Wii U to play GameCube games with actual GameCube controllers, including the DK Bongos, Wavebird Controllers, and DDR Pads. Unfortunately, a GBA connected via the GBA to GameCube link cable will not function when connected this way, and hardware that used the memory card slot like the Mario Party mic can not be used for GameCube games on the Wii U either(and you can't substitute a USB Mic either).

Other hardware is redundant on a hacked Wii U, so it's not too big a deal that they aren't achievable on a Wii U: GameCube discs can be played with digital .iso files, actual GameCube memory cards can be emulated where storage space is never an issue and you can save all your games, the broadband adapter can be emulated via Nintendont allowing you to play online/LAN GameCube games for the few that allowed it. And emulators like VBAGX can be stand-ins for the Game Boy Player, granted this is emulating the Game Boy titles instead of natively playing them, but it achieves the same desired effect all the same.

Momba1 · Apr 4, 2021

MikaDubbz said:
However, if you use the GameCube controller adapter for Wii U, you can use GameCube controllers with Nintendont on Wii U to play GameCube games with actual GameCube controllers, including the DK Bongos, Wavebird Controllers, and DDR Pads. Unfortunately, a GBA connected via the GBA to GameCube link cable will not function when connected this way, and hardware that used the memory card slot like the Mario Party mic can not be used for GameCube games on the Wii U either(and you can't substitute a USB Mic either).

Other hardware is redundant on a hacked Wii U, so it's not too big a deal that they aren't achievable on a Wii U: GameCube discs can be played with digital .iso files, actual GameCube memory cards can be emulated where storage space is never an issue and you can save all your games, the broadband adapter can be emulated via Nintendont allowing you to play online/LAN GameCube games for the few that allowed it. And emulators like VBAGX can be stand-ins for the Game Boy Player, granted this is emulating the Game Boy titles instead of natively playing them, but it achieves the same desired effect all the same.

So that means its basically a Wii when in vWii Mode and can therefore run the GC Games natively like the Wii did ?

Does one even need Nintendont to do that with the GC isos or are they also playable just trough that vWii Mode ?

KleinesSinchen · Apr 4, 2021

Momba1 said:
So that means its basically a Wii when in vWii Mode and can therefore run the GC Games natively like the Wii did ?

Does one even need Nintendont to do that with the GC isos or are they also playable just trough that vWii Mode ?

You will need Nintendont (and rip your games with a Wii/GC or an old compatible LG drive) to play your GC games.
No official backwards compatibility because:

The drive can't catch 8cm discs
The drive firmware would probably reject GC games (like the Wii Mini does)
No GC connectors (controllers, memory card)

Nintendont is something like a hypervisor running GC games in Wii mode (instead of GC mode like a RVL-001 Wii does by default when loading a GC disc).

Momba1 · Apr 4, 2021

KleinesSinchen said:
You will need Nintendont (and rip your games with a Wii/GC or an old compatible LG drive) to play your GC games.
No official backwards compatibility because:

The drive can't catch 8cm discs

The drive firmware would probably reject GC games (like the Wii Mini does)

No GC connectors (controllers, memory card)

Nintendont is something like a hypervisor running GC games in Wii mode (instead of GC mode like a RVL-001 Wii does by default when loading a GC disc).

But how can the compatibility be the same as with an Wii that runs GC Games ?

Or is that just when using Nintendont and the Wii doesnt need that actually ?

The thing is, like i said, that it comes down for me to which console can better handle GC Games overall (Controls neglected) ... if there was no difference I would of course go for the Wii U since it can output in higher resolutions and has an even bigger pool of games that are playable.

KleinesSinchen · Apr 4, 2021

Momba1 said:
But how can the compatibility be the same as with an Wii that runs GC Games ?

Or is that just when using Nintendont and the Wii doesnt need that actually ?

The thing is, like i said, that it comes down for me to which console can better handle GC Games overall (Controls neglected) ... if there was no difference I would of course go for the Wii U since it can output in higher resolutions and has an even bigger pool of games that are playable.

How compatibility is so good? No idea. Nintendont is next to perfect! The only differences between a RVL-001 Wii and a Wii U concerning Nintendont are that controls, real memory card and real discs are only available on Wii.

Some GBAtemp members mentioned being unsatisfied with the upscaling the Wii U does in vWii mode (and therefore also GC games via Nintendont) and set their Wii U to 480p to use an external upscaler or the upscaling of their TV instead.

For best picture quality on regular Wii, use a component cable, not the bad composite AV cable.

SonicMC · Apr 4, 2021

A backwards compatible wii is the most compatible gamecube playing machine with no modifications

If you are using nintendont on a wii or wii u and running the game from that software. The compatibility would be same (as in the same games would boot and play). However accessory compatibility is not.

If you want to run your GC games from disc and use your original memory cards, or want to use the GC to GBA feature of the few games that support it, have an obscure game that won't run in nintendont, don't want to buy additional adapters so gamecube controllers can be used on the wii u (this is important as the wii u pro controllers do not have analog LR buttons that are very useful on some gamecube games)..... then the backwards compatibility wii is for you.

The Wii U you must use nintendont. you do have the ability to use the gamepad for some some games.

I personally have found that setting up usb hdd game loading for GC to be harder/more tedious on the Wii U than on the Wii, having to worry about the Wii U side wanting to format the drive I want to use for the Wii Side. Or injecting them onto my Wii U drive side instead and getting the settings right for setting up gamepad view/play, Worrying if my gamepad is going to give out at any moment is not much fun either; not sure what will stop working when that happends... On the Wii I don't worry about that stuff as the setup was simpler.

For maximum amount total available games wii u is best.
For ease of use and perhaps a tiny bit more gc game compatibility and accessory compatibility. Then choose wii.

MikaDubbz · Apr 4, 2021

SonicMC said:
I personally have found that setting up usb hdd game loading for GC to be harder/more tedious on the Wii U than on the Wii, having to worry about the Wii U side wanting to format the drive I want to use for the Wii Side. Or injecting them onto my Wii U drive side instead and getting the settings right for setting up gamepad view/play, Worrying if my gamepad is going to give out at any moment is not much fun either; not sure what will stop working when that happends... On the Wii I don't worry about that stuff as the setup was simpler.

I just store all my GameCube games on my huge (1TB) SD card. Then I never have to worry about the formatting nag when playing GameCube games on my Wii U. Only ever switch hard drives for the Wii and Wiiware USB Loader GX. I don't understand your point about the gamepad giving out though, what do you mean? Do you mean you're worried that the GamePad's battery is about to die? If it did, you could just plug it in to turn it back on and charge while you play and resume where you were, there really shouldn't be anything to worry about there. Cuz I play GC games on my GamePad all the time, and I have no concerns about anything ever going wrong when playing that way.

Immortallix · Apr 6, 2021

KleinesSinchen said:
You will need Nintendont (and rip your games with a Wii/GC or an old compatible LG drive) to play your GC games.
No official backwards compatibility because:

The drive can't catch 8cm discs

The drive firmware would probably reject GC games (like the Wii Mini does)

No GC connectors (controllers, memory card)

Nintendont is something like a hypervisor running GC games in Wii mode (instead of GC mode like a RVL-001 Wii does by default when loading a GC disc).

Have there been any attempts/breakthroughs with that on the wii mini since its toploader & Hbrew-able now?

MikaDubbz said:
I just store all my GameCube games on my huge (1TB) SD card.

What format settings did you use for the 1TB SD card btw? Any issues with other homebrew/apps?

MikaDubbz · Apr 6, 2021

Immortallix said:
What format settings did you use for the 1TB SD card btw? Any issues with other homebrew/apps?

You force format it into a fat32 partition with the likes of easeus. Genuinely no problems across the board, I use my SD card for just about everything except for Wii U, and Wii game storage, otherwise all my homebrew, roms, GameCube games, even my Wii emunand content including Wii DLC (I have a LOT of Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Just Dance DLC that simply can't fit on a normal Wii/vWii NAND) and Wiiware titles are all there and load just fine.

Only thing I can think of that has given me issue is trying to load Project+ from my SD card. I have an .iso of Project M, so no problem there, but Project+ became too complex to work compiled as an .iso, so you have to run Brawl with codes and content on your SD card for it to load that way, but for the life of me it simply will not work with my SD card, and remains the only thing I've found that can't be utilized with my larger SD Card on my Wii U. I did read that supposedly you can't use SD cards larger than 4GB for Project+ or something like that, I'm not sure if that is genuinely true, but it is holding up in this instance.

jjonesmnn · Apr 9, 2021

You can suppress the format nag. I have one HDD for WiiU content and 2nd one for Wii/GC.

Linux/macOS:
1. diskutil list
2. find physical disk path > ex. /dev/disk2
3a. Hide: printf "\xab" | sudo dd of=<replace drive path> seek=511 bs=1 conv=notrunc
3b. Unhide: printf "\xaa" | sudo dd of=<replace drive path> seek=511 bs=1 conv=notrunc

https://gbatemp.net/threads/ustealth-wii-u-format-disk-nag-workaround.352786/

pedro702 · Apr 9, 2021

Just get a wiiu really

1-you have the exact same gc compatibility which is basicaly 100% anyway and you can even overclock nintendont which might help if the game had framedrops or actual hardware

2- you can overclock both ps1 emulator and n64 emulators to wiiu speed so you get a much better performance out of those 2 and many homebrew apps on wii.

3 unlike many consoles the wiiu has zero actual software compatibility errors since the wii has both the wiiu and the wii gpu inside so its not emulated unlike ps2,ps3,xbox that use emulators, nintendo only did backwards compat with acutal hardware inside.

4- bonus you get wiiu vc injects plus retroarch wiiu which runs at 1080p and such.

SyrusHedgie · Oct 8, 2021

Momba1 said:
Hey,

Ive been thinking about buying a Wii U or just a Wii for the main sake of playing my old Gamecube and Wii Games mostly.

So Ive been reading into this theme a bit now and found out the early Wiis are fully hardware (?) backward compatible to the GC Games.

Meanwhile I am kind of confused about the compatibility of the Wii U in regards to GC Games.

Ive heard it technically is fully backward compatible to the GC Games via e.g Nintendont even though it doesnt have a Drive that accepts the GC discs.

Is that just Software Emulation on part of the Wii U or is this like 100% hardware based compatibility since the Wii U has the architecture of the Wii as it is with GC - Wii ?

The Wii U is the best console for emulation. It can play almost every Nintendo game up until the 3DS.

Making VC injects is the best way to play the games since they have gamepad support. Some prefer them all on one drive, others rather split them so they don't have to format it to the Wii U, but honestly there's no difference.

MikaDubbz · Oct 9, 2021

Mr Knife God said:
The Wii U is the best console for emulation. It can play almost every Nintendo game up until the 3DS.

Making VC injects is the best way to play the games since they have gamepad support. Some prefer them all on one drive, others rather split them so they don't have to format it to the Wii U, but honestly there's no difference.

And with NTRView, you can remote play your hacked 3DS on your hacked Wii U. So in a sense you can play Nintendo games from every Nintendo system up through the Wii U on the Wii U.

As to your other point, emulators both built natively for the Wii U and those that are for the vWii can also be played with the GamePad, for vWii emulators you do have to make injected channels with GamePad functionality activate with Teconmoon's injector, and the vWii homebrew has to have been edited to allow for GamePad functionality. So VC and injects isn't the only way to play classic games on the Wii U with a GamePad.

SyrusHedgie · Oct 11, 2021

MikaDubbz said:
And with NTRView, you can remote play your hacked 3DS on your hacked Wii U. So in a sense you can play Nintendo games from every Nintendo system up through the Wii U on the Wii U.

As to your other point, emulators both built natively for the Wii U and those that are for the vWii can also be played with the GamePad, for vWii emulators you do have to make injected channels with GamePad functionality activate with Teconmoon's injector, and the vWii homebrew has to have been edited to allow for GamePad functionality. So VC and injects isn't the only way to play classic games on the Wii U with a GamePad.

Yeah I'm well aware of that, and UWUVCI is much better for that than Teconmoon.

MikaDubbz · Oct 11, 2021

Mr Knife God said:
Yeah I'm well aware of that, and UWUVCI is much better for that than Teconmoon.

Can you use UWUVCI to make vWii homebrew forwarder channels from the Wii U menu? I thought that was just for VC injects. Regardless, I don't know how much easier Teconmoon's injector can get for such channels, I have no complaints about it. UWUVCI is great too, but I've never used it for such channels, as last I checked I'm almost certain it didn't handle these kinds of channels.

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