Just how powerful is the Wii U (compared to Wii), and what can be emulated?

Discussion in 'Wii U - Hacking & Backup Loaders' started by Johnny2071, Dec 18, 2016.

  1. Johnny2071
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    Johnny2071 GBAtemp Regular

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    Ever since I heard that Yooka-Laylee was canceled on the Wii U, due to technical difficulties, and since modding is now a thing, I begin to wonder.

    Just how powerful is the Wii U anyway? Concidering that this is an HD system that can run games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros., compared to the 3DS, that couldn't run the Ice Climbers (but the Wii U allegedly could).

    There's also the fact that the Wii itself had hardware limitations as well, especially when it came to homebrew and emulators such as Wii64, WiiSX, and Yabause (Saturn). Would the Wii U be able to do a better job with these emulators, as well as finally allow emulation for 32X, 3DO, Jaguar, Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox (2001) games, as opposed to the Wii?
     
    #1 Dec 18, 2016
  2. the_randomizer

    the_randomizer The Temp's official fox whisperer

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    Emulation is heavily reliant on the CPU/processor far more than the GPU, but the GPU still plays a significant. As far as emulation capabilities, right off the bat we already have the following running full speed without any hiccups, slowdowns, stuttering,
    RetroArch already has a solid port so far, and it's still in alpha.

    Snes9x 1.53
    Nestopia Undead
    mGBA
    Gambatte
    Capcom CPS1
    Capcom CSP2
    Capcom CPS3
    MAME/Arcade
    Virtual Boy
    Wonderswan
    Atari 2600

    For the more complex emulators:

    PSX
    PSP
    Dreamcast
    N64
    DS
    etc

    You will need what's called a dyarec or dynamic recompiler core due to the architecture of the Wii U, it will need to coded from scratch to get performance, so these will take a long time.
     
    zeldaism and replicashooter like this.
    #2 Dec 18, 2016
  3. kprovost7314

    kprovost7314 GBAtemp's Official Bara Master

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    I'm not too sure on this myself, but someone reputable said 3DS emulation was possible (I guess they meant at 1 frame per second :P)
     
    #3 Dec 18, 2016
  4. replicashooter

    replicashooter GBAtemp Advanced Fan

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    Said it before, will say it again, I'd happily chip in 50 bucks as an incentive to get that Dreamcast emulator happening for the WiiU as it would bring an amazing library of games to it plus they'd be output via HDMI.

    And if 10 of us did the same that would be $500 and with a 100, whew, you can do the math...
     
    Raylight likes this.
    #4 Dec 18, 2016
  5. KiiWii

    KiiWii GBAtemp Guru

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    If only there was a Wii u homebrew bounty....
     
    replicashooter likes this.
    #5 Dec 18, 2016
  6. Blue_Mew

    Blue_Mew ded

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    The Wii U had OK specs in 2012...
     
    #6 Dec 18, 2016
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