Homebrew What are the best emulators to use on the Wii in 2021?

[Chris2055]

There's a ton of information out there but it's all scattered. I'm configuring WiiFlow and many systems have multiple available emulators. Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of which emulators are currently the best for each system? For example, for NES there's RetroArch and there's FCEUGX/RX. For TurboCD, there's WiiMednafen, RetroArch, etc. I checked the emulator status thread but it seems to be mostly outdated.

 

[RunningSnakes]

The Great Quest for Wiiflow Plugins™ - A call for adventurers!

1st post on page 30, it is definitely personal preference. If you read the entire thread, you'll be enlightened to how much Wii emulation is available. @Tetsuo Shima makes all these available through WiiFlow Lite. IMO, for new or old Wii modders, WiiFlow Lite deserves your attention.

 

[_47iscool]

My guess would be retroarch. I disliked for a while as it was and still is unstable on the Wii.
Though in truth the stronger machine it is being used on the more stable it is.

Edit: I agree about the GX ports and the others. What I mean is for something that supports a lot more.

 

[Cifer037]

NES
NEStopia (Retroarch)

SNES
Snes9x GX or Snes9x Retroarch

Genesis, Master System, Sega CD, Game Gear
Genesis Plus GX

TurboGrafx-16, Turbo CD
Mednafen PCE Fast (Retroarch)

Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance
mGBA

N64
Virtual Console

Arcade
FBA 2012 or Mame 2000. There are Mame 2003 cores, but I haven't tried them.

Neo Geo
Virtual Console, FBA NeoGeo

 

[SaulFabre]

NES
NEStopia (Retroarch)

SNES
Snes9x GX or Snes9x Retroarch

Genesis, Master System, Sega CD, Game Gear
Genesis Plus GX

TurboGrafx-16, Turbo CD
Mednafen PCE Fast (Retroarch)

Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance
mGBA

N64
Virtual Console

Arcade
FBA 2012 or Mame 2000. There are Mame 2003 cores, but I haven't tried them.

Neo Geo
Virtual Console, FBA NeoGeo

This is technically correct, but for N64 emulation you can also use Not64 Second Edition, its latest update is 20200609 and you can play almost all Rareware games in it, including Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007.
Another alternative is Wii64 1.2 Rice, which has the Rice graphics plugin.

For NES, can also be used FCE Ultra GX or its forks (FCE Ultra RX, FCEUX TX).
For SNES, can also be used the best Snes9x GX forks (Snes9x RX, Snes9xGX-Mushroom / Snes9x TX).
For GB/GBC (not GBA because of the emulation slowdown), can also be used VBA GX.

Greetings

 

[Cifer037]

FCE Ultra GX is based on FCEUX, which is not an accurate emulator. NEStopia works better

VBA is worse than mGBA

 

[_47iscool]

@SaulFabre Wii64 1.2 Rice seems to crash a lot, at least with me.

How does it work for you?

 

[SaulFabre]

@SaulFabre Wii64 1.2 Rice seems to crash a lot, at least with me.

How does it work for you?

Well, I don't have a Wii but i tested it in Dolphin. It just doesn't work. I just use Not64 Second Edition instead.

 

[Cifer037]

@SaulFabre Wii64 1.2 Rice seems to crash a lot, at least with me.

How does it work for you?

Use Not64

 

[klaudio5]

Here are my two cents based on what I use:

Atari 2600: Stella RA. Haven't tried alternatives, but I haven't had any problems with this emulator.
NES: FCEUX TX. It supports light gun games, has seemingly less input lag than Nestopia/FCEUMM RA (seems easier to time jumps and control Mario midair in SMB) and also better compatibility than those RA cores (Nestopia struggles with rom hacks, FCEUMM struggles with 3D Worldrunner).
TurboGrafx-16/TurboGrafx-CD: Mednafen PCE Fast RA.
Master System/Genesis/Game Gear/Sega CD: Genesis Plus GX. Works perfectly. Last time I tried the RA core, it took way longer time to load Sega CD games compared to the standalone emulator. Also, the standalone emulator seems to handle resolutions better and detects game region automatically.
SNES: SNES9x Next RA/SNES9x TX. They seem identical performance and compatibility-wise. I prefer the RA core because of the snappier UI (saving and loading states is faster; it allows you to map quick save/quick load to buttons too) and added graphical options. If you intend on playing light gun games, use the standalone emulator.
N64: Virtual Console. It's generally more stable and performant than Wii64/Not64.

GB/GBC: Gambatte RA. Has been working perfectly for me so far, have nothing bad to say about it. It handles GB/GBC games better than mGBA from my experience.
GBA: mGBA. IMO, the only GBA emulator worth considering on the Wii. Much more performant than VBA GX. Haven't had major problems with it so far.

LucasArts point and click games: ScummVM.

Arcade/Neo Geo: FBA 2012/MAME cores. FBA for CPS-1, CPS-2 and Neo Geo games, a mix of FBA and MAME for everything else. Dark Seal and Alien Syndrome work better on MAME.

For the record, I use SuperrSonic's version of Retroarch, which has been working wonders for me.

 

[_47iscool]

I do use Not64 SE.

Just wondering about the Rice Graphics plugin versions' stability.
I also noticed it is slower than Not64. Probably because of the better plugin.

 

[MatioMania]

I would try RetroArch

I can't get it to show up in the Homebrew Channel

 

[SaulFabre]

I would try RetroArch

I can't get it to show up in the Homebrew Channel

Try downloading this mod of RetroArch Wii called RA-HEXAECO, this was made by @SuperrSonic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/g5b8rc/a_mod_of_retroarch_with_autoresolution_switching/

Greetings

 

[_47iscool]

@MatioMania

As of late they have not fixed the meta.xml, even for official releases.
Try this, copy and paste this into the meta.xml: (also change the version number if you need to)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
<name>RetroArch</name>
<coder>Libretro</coder>
<version>1.9.6</version>
<release_date>6/4/2021</release_date>
<no_ios_reload/>
<ahb_access/>
<short_description>cross-platform</short_description>
<long_description>A port of RetroArch to the GameCube/Wii.</long_description>
</app>

 

[trunkit]

dolphin

 

[Deleted User]

I mainly do arcade emulation on Wii and the best I've seen so far for that is RetroArch

 

[boot3]

There's a ton of information out there but it's all scattered. I'm configuring WiiFlow and many systems have multiple available emulators. Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of which emulators are currently the best for each system? For example, for NES there's RetroArch and there's FCEUGX/RX. For TurboCD, there's WiiMednafen, RetroArch, etc. I checked the emulator status thread but it seems to be mostly outdated.

If you're interested in GBA emulation, I recommend Visual Boy Advance GX, I've played Mother 3 and the bit Generations games on it and it's worked great!

 

[SaulFabre]

If you're interested in GBA emulation, I recommend Visual Boy Advance GX, I've played Mother 3 and the bit Generations games on it and it's worked great!

@boot3 I don't think Mother 3 runs in VBA GX.

Mother 3 (at least in VBA GX) has intense slowdown when battling against enemies or bosses, this makes hitting combos being very difficult to do if not impossible.

I recommend using mGBA official standalone Wii port instead (http://mgba.io/downloads.html) or @SuperrSonic's RA-HEXAECO (http://www.mediafire.com/file/qxaagqu9f3q2tdy/RA-HEXAECO.7z/file).

VBA GX for GBA i only use for tilt sensor games what mGBA doesn't support by now. (such Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, WarioWare: Twisted!, etc.)

Another option that isn't present in mGBA Wii port but on RA-HEXAECO mGBA is for have a custom configurations/settings file for each game. I reported this missing feature in https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/issues/2337

@MatioMania

As of late they have not fixed the meta.xml, even for official releases.
Try this, copy and paste this into the meta.xml: (also change the version number if you need to)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
<name>RetroArch</name>
<coder>Libretro</coder>
<version>1.9.6</version>
<release_date>6/4/2021</release_date>
<no_ios_reload/>
<ahb_access/>
<short_description>cross-platform</short_description>
<long_description>A port of RetroArch to the GameCube/Wii.</long_description>
</app>

@_47iscool Thanks for this fix suggestion on meta.xml for the RA Wii by Libretro.

EDIT: That code is a bit messy, so use this code instead: (change the version and release date if necessary)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<app version="1">
  <name>RetroArch</name>
  <coder>Libretro</coder>
  <version>1.9.12</version>
  <release_date>24/10/2021</release_date>
  <short_description>cross-platform</short_description>
  <long_description>A port of RetroArch to the GameCube/Wii.</long_description>
  <ahb_access/>
  <no_ios_reload/>
</app>

Well, I don't have a Wii but i tested it in Dolphin. It just doesn't work. I just use Not64 Second Edition instead.

I fixed that issue i had with Wii64 not working on Dolphin. I just had to attach a forwarder WAD which has enabled AHBPROT (used AHB access) and load Wii64 from the forwarder WAD and not from HBC.

 

[spielvan]

Sega 32x: Picodrive Retroarch

 

[SaulFabre]

Sega 32x: Picodrive Retroarch

But what is the best version of PicoDrive to use? Official Libretro one (if yes, what version?) or RA-HEXAECO from @SuperrSonic?