Accurate Wii Menu USBLoaderGX Theme

[jwmu]

I've always strongly disliked the bloated default USBLoaderGX menu theme and have wanted something closer to stock for a while so I made it. Given that you lose out on a lot of useful features & stability trying to use the stock Wii Menu for launching titles or honestly any other loader, I decided to painstakingly recreate all of the Wii Menu assets from Dolphin's texture & audio dumping features and bundle them into a theme that looks much closer to the Stock Wii Menu, while still retaining all functionality that I think most would find useful (parental locking has been removed ). Below is a set of screenshots comparing my custom themes to the vanilla Wii Menu & Default USBLoaderGX Theme. Not sure if anyone will care about this project, but I had a lot of fun making it. I'm also sadly a bit of a font noob so I wasn't able to recreate the Wii Menu's clock 1:1 but I found one that was close enough for me and tweaked it to match the Stock's as best as I could. If anyone skilled with making custom fonts feels like it, I think a 1:1 of the original menu's font would really wrap this up perfectly. (I became a font wizard and made the font, 1/13/2026) Lastly, due to limitations in how USBLoaderGX displays themes, I had to make 2 separate themes, one for 4:3 displays and one for Widescreen 16:9 displays, both included in the download.

Some info on how to use it:

• Click the DVD icon on the top left to the left of the first channel to load from the disc drive. I don't personally ever use the feature but thought it was a necessary inclusion and a clever place to put it.
• The large Wii button on the bottom left will now take you to the USBLoaderGX settings, like the stock menu.
• The SD card button will now take you to the Homebrew menu, similar to the functionality of the Wii Menu, Clicking the clock will now refresh or disable (depending on your USBLGX version) the SD Card as I don't think this is a very necessary feature to have a clear dedicated button for.
• The three buttons below the clock taking the place of the stock menu's Day of the week & Date text allow you to sort the games displayed. They should all three be pretty self explanatory and are just remappings of the existing USBLoaderGX sorting options.

Make sure to read the included readme to adjust you settings to get the most accurate experience.

Enjoy! - jw

Spoiler: ACCURATE WII MENU GX THEME README.txt & Changelog:

Place the folder "Accurate Wii Menu" and "AccurateWiiMenu.them" file in the below directory on your storage device:
\apps\usbloader_gx\theme\
create this theme folder if it doesn't already exist.

If using the widescreen variant of the theme, place the folder "Accurate Wii Menu Widescreen" and "AccurateWiiMenuWidescreen.them" file in the same directory.

Adjust your USBLoaderGX settings as shown below for the full Accurate Wii Menu experience (click the Wii button on bottom left of the menu to enter the USBLoaderGX settings)
Under "GUI Settings" change the following:
Disc Artwork Download: Original/Custom > Original
Screensaver: 10 min > OFF
Show Play Count: ON > OFF
Show Free Space: ON > OFF
Show Game Count: ON > OFF
Home Menu: Default > Full Menu ( this one isn't that important but I find Full Menu to be the most useful)
Use System Font: This is ON by default, but ensure it is set to ON for an authentic look.
Virtual Pointer Speed: 0.18 > 0.2 or 0.21 (the default 0.18 is slower than the stock wii menu)
Adjust Overscan: Adjust this until the sides & bottom of the main menu looks right. By default, USBloader GX's overscan does not match the proportions of the stock menu.
X=0, Y=-8 for 4:3 and X=-16, Y=-8 for 16:9 worked well for me on a LCD display.
Under "Sound" change the following:
Background Music: Click on this setting option and point it to the file "bg_music.ogg"
on your storage device in: \apps\usbloader_gx\theme\Accurate Wii Menu\Menu Music\bg_music.ogg

Enjoy!

-jw

CHANGELOG:
V1.2.1 (1/18/2026) :
* Encoded the background music as an .ogg (was .wav) which reduces memory usage & fixes audio dropouts.
* Minor placement corrections on the clock, it should appear perfectly centered now.
* Changelog corrections & updates.

V1.2 (1/13/2026) :
* Created a custom font for the clock that matches the stock Wii clock MUCH closer.
* A few really small optimizations/improvements.

V1.1 :
* Improved readme
* slightly improved the "0", "4" and "7" on the clock font to better match the stock menu (still not perfect though)
* Fixed the graphic for the "number of players" sort mode to display the proper sort direction. V1 showed 1P>4P but USBLoaderGX actually sorts 4P>1P.
* Greatly improved the widescreen variant of the theme so all pointers and loader icons are the correct proportions. Also made the SD card icon a bit smaller (only for the widescreen variant) to match the stock menu better.
* Made a few other small tweaks & fixes to better mimic the look of the Wii Menu overall.
* Added theme previews for the USBLoaderGX theme picker menu.

V1.0 :
Initial Release

Download:
https://gbatemp.net/download/accurate-wii-menu-usbloader-gx-theme.38994/download


Screenshot from console:

Comparison Chart:

 

[Disorarara]

This is genuinely incredible work!! Im normally a CFG USB loader user but I think I'm going to switch over to USB Loader GX just because this is so friggin close

 

[CaptainSmackdown]

Well done @lookingfortool, well done!

 

[KiiWii]

This is great!

 

[vbarros22]

amazing job

 

[JuanMena]

No matter how incredible that menu looks, I won't be tricked to change CFG USB for GX...

 

[jwmu]

Glad to know people like it & that I’m not alone!! Thanks everyone for the kind words.

@Disorarara & @JuanMena what is your affinity for CFGLoader? Since SD loading was added to USBLoaderGX I’m not sure what it still has over it. Just curious, continue to use your launcher of choice

 

[JuanMena]

Glad to know people like it & that I’m not alone!! Thanks everyone for the kind words.

@Disorarara & @JuanMena what is your affinity for CFGLoader? Since SD loading was added to USBLoaderGX I’m not sure what it still has over it. Just curious, continue to use your launcher of choice

GX has given me troubles with both games, files and memories (USB/Thumbsticks/Hard Drives) whereas CFG is like: "Oh you want to play this with a 20 year old USB? Sure!"

 

[Disorarara]

Glad to know people like it & that I’m not alone!! Thanks everyone for the kind words.

@Disorarara & @JuanMena what is your affinity for CFGLoader? Since SD loading was added to USBLoaderGX I’m not sure what it still has over it. Just curious, continue to use your launcher of choice

I used it a over decade ago when it "just worked" whereas USB GX was somewhat of a PITA to use, also I didn't really see the need for my USB loading program to have extra bells and whistles, only to load GameCube and Wii games and display their covers. Now the tables have flipped due to CFG falling far behind on features but the overall user friendliness of CFG is still there if one doesn't mind the lack of a few auxiliary features.

 

[jwmu]

I used it a over decade ago when it "just worked" whereas USB GX was somewhat of a PITA to use, also I didn't really see the need for my USB loading program to have extra bells and whistles, only to load GameCube and Wii games and display their covers. Now the tables have flipped due to CFG falling far behind on features but the overall user friendliness of CFG is still there if one doesn't mind the lack of a few auxiliary features.

yeah makes sense. I may have been a CFG loader user too but some of the video options on USBLoaderGX push it over the edge for me along with the EmuNAND stuff.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I've always strongly disliked the bloated default USBLoaderGX menu theme and have wanted something closer to stock for a while so I made it. Given that you lose out on a lot of useful features & stability trying to use the stock Wii Menu for launching titles or honestly any other loader, I decided to painstakingly recreate all of the Wii Menu assets from Dolphin's texture & audio dumping features and bundle them into a theme that looks much closer to the Stock Wii Menu, while still retaining all functionality that I think most would find useful (parental locking has been removed ). Below is a set of screenshots comparing my custom themes to the vanilla Wii Menu & Default USBLoaderGX Theme. Not sure if anyone will care about this project, but I had a lot of fun making it. I'm also sadly a bit of a font noob so I wasn't able to recreate the Wii Menu's clock 1:1 but I found one that was close enough for me and tweaked it to match the Stock's as best as I could. If anyone skilled with making custom fonts feels like it, I think a 1:1 of the original menu's font would really wrap this up perfectly. Lastly, due to limitations in how USBLoaderGX displays themes, I had to make 2 separate themes, one for 4:3 displays and one for Widescreen 16:9 displays, both included in AccurateWiiMenu_USBLoaderGXTheme_V1.zip. I don't personally use 16:9 and therefore I spent much less time on it. If I ever make a V2 of these themes there's a few things I'd fix in terms of how USBLoaderGX stretches a few icons in widescreen ( the player pointers namely), but it looks good enough.

Some info on how to use it:

• Click the DVD icon on the top left to the left of the screen to the left of the first channel to load from the disc drive. I don't personally ever use the feature but thought it was a neccesary inclusion and a clever place to put it.
• The large Wii button on the bottom left will now take you to the USBLoaderGX settings, like the stock menu.
• The SD card button will now take you to the Homebrew menu, similar to the functionality of the Wii Menu, Clicking the clock will now refresh the SD Card as I don't think this is a very necessary feature to have a clear dedicated button for.
• The three buttons below the clock taking the place of the stock menu's Day of the week & Date text allow you to sort the menu. They should all three be pretty self explanatory and are just remappings of the existing USBLoaderGX sorting options.

Make sure to read the included readme to adjust you settings to get the most authentic experience.

Enjoy! - jw

Spoiler: ACCURATE WII MENU GX THEME README.txt Included with the themes:

Place the folder "Accurate Wii Menu" and AccurateWiiMenu.them file in the below directory on your storage device:
\apps\usbloader_gx\theme\
create the theme folder if it doesn't already exist

If using the widescreen variant of the theme, place the folder
"Accurate Wii Menu Widescreen" and AccurateWiiMenuWidescreen.themin the same directory.

USBLoaderGX settings (Wii button on bottom left of the menu)
GUI Settings
Disc Artwork Download: Original/Custom > Original
Screensaver: 10 min > Off
Show Play Count: ON > OFF
Show Free Space: ON > OFF
Show Game Count: ON > OFF
Use System Font: This is ON by default, but ensure it is set to ON
Adjust Overscan: Adjust this until the bottom of the main menu looks right. X=0, Y=-8 for 4:3 and X=-16, Y=-8 for 16:9 worked well for me
Sound:
Background Music: Click on this setting option and point it to the file "bg_music.wav"
on your storage device in: \apps\usbloader_gx\theme\Accurate Wii Menu\Menu Music\bg_music.wav


Enjoy!

-jw

Download: My GBATemp forum post count is too low to link directly but the theme can be found in the Downloads tab under Wii > Other Files named "Accurate Wii Menu USBLoader GX Theme". Once I reach the required post count to link here I will update this post.

Screenshot from console:
View attachment 481946

Comparison Chart:
View attachment 481932

I read the thread title thinking "isn't the USB Loader GX theme already pretty accurate to the original Wii Menu?"
After seeing the comparison screenshots, I have to say no, it's definitely not.
This is exactly the thing I wanted when I was originally hacking my dads Wii. I set it to autoboot into USB Loader GX so the Wii Menu pretty much never gets used, but you can easily tell it's not the Wii Menu. This is a much more authentic experience, and if it existed back then, I would've used it.
I like the USB Loader GX design, but it is a little cluttered with buttons I personally never use, and ruins the illusion when autobooting.
This is nice work, makes me wish this was how USB Loader GX always looked.

 

[jwmu]

I read the thread title thinking "isn't the USB Loader GX theme already pretty accurate to the original Wii Menu?"
After seeing the comparison screenshots, I have to say no, it's definitely not.
This is exactly the thing I wanted when I was originally hacking my dads Wii. I set it to autoboot into USB Loader GX so the Wii Menu pretty much never gets used, but you can easily tell it's not the Wii Menu. This is a much more authentic experience, and if it existed back then, I would've used it.
I like the USB Loader GX design, but it is a little cluttered with buttons I personally never use, and ruins the illusion when autobooting.
This is nice work, makes me wish this was how USB Loader GX always looked.

Yep totally agree with everything here. It would be cool to see this somehow added to the official USBLoaderGX but that's probably very unlikely. But after seeing how Aroma lets you use the stock Wii U menu as the homebrew launcher now I felt compelled to finally finish this project this week, its been a few months in the making. There's some magical about the stock Wii Menu to me. & I think as the Wii gets older & continues to outclass the Wii U in both cost & boot times it's going to become the defacto GC/Wii booter in most people's retro upscaler setups so I wanted to make sure there was a way to get as close to the authentic experience as possible.

If for whatever reason there are any bored programmers out there reading this, I'd be happy to help on the graphics side if anyone feels like modifiying USBLoaderGX to get the menu even closer. There was a few limitations of USBLoaderGX's theme engine that I noticed that ruin the illusion a bit to a keen eye:

• Currently no unique sound for scrolling the channel pages left and right
• No unique sound for startup, i had to bake it into the menu music.
• The clock currently uses a .ttf font file to display the current time, but replacing this with .png sprites would allow for an accurate 1:1 of the stock menu clock. Along with this, there is a nonremoveable "88:88" dropshadow wherever the menu renders the clock.
• There is no menu fade in from black like the real menu on boot
• There is no way to change or disable the "USBLoaderGX" logo that shows on boot up. Would be nice to maybe replace this loading screen with the stock Wii's black loading menu with the hellraiser style oscillation of gray channel blocks
• There are annoying solid color gray boxes around all of the channels with no way to get rid of it. Would be really nice to make this transparent
• The entire background is a static .png on mine where on the real menu, the white upper part of the channel view scrolls over the darker gray part underneath with a parallax scroll effect
• many other small differences

 

[MysticStarlight]

I'll set this to autoboot and pretend this is the normal System Menu. Thanks!

 

[almmiron]

I love original look of things, i like opl theme like original ps2 menu, fenrir theme like original saturn menu, an goes on.

so I hope nintendo dont sue you for take their assets.

 

[jwmu]

I love original look of things, i like opl theme like original ps2 menu, fenrir theme like original saturn menu, an goes on.

so I hope nintendo dont sue you for take their assets.

That's probably very unlikely. The default USBLoaderGX theme already comes preloaded with a few copyrighted assets and they have never had any issues. Nintendo probably has much bigger fish to fry these days between theme parks & switch emulation haha

 

[XFlak]

I'm pretty sure those assets are being pulled from the system menu itself, so gx isn't bundling any of them, rather just accessing and reusing the existing ones installed on the console

 

[jwmu]

I'm pretty sure those assets are being pulled from the system menu itself, so gx isn't bundling any of them, rather just accessing and reusing the existing ones installed on the console

https://github.com/wiidev/usbloadergx/tree/enhanced/data/sounds

among other things, gc_banner.ogg is baked into the .dol and hosted on github. It sounds like the stock GameCube boot sound to me, but I could be wrong.

 

[blackb0x]

Some assets might sound the same, but they're not the same. And that's why there hasn't been any issues.

As for your theme, it's probably fine. Don't worry about it.

 

[water_kooler]

Looks good. Any option to flip through the box art?

 

[jwmu]

Looks good. Any option to flip through the box art?

yes you can still click x while hovering on a channel to view its downloaded boxart