Hacking Gaming Review Is Wii U Worth It?

[Awesomesauce3ds]

I was recently thinking about buying a Wii U. I looked on EBay, and a console with the game pad included, and all the changing cables cost around 270$ on average. This is a console I was looking further into, but want to learn more about it. First off, would you recommend modding a Wii U? Why? Why not? Also, if I were to mod a Wii U, could I then mod the Wii channel part of it too? Would that work? Would it brick the Wii part? Would it brick everything? Furthermore, Is there any kind of hshop for Wii U or Wii? I modded my N3DSXL, but only for the hshop part of it since the eshop was shutting down. Also, is there any Pretendo for the Wii? I know the Pretendo works for the Wii U, but what about the Wii channel part? Anything like Pretendo for that? Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this.

 

[luvcy]

I got mine some days ago, imo it's very worth for the price, it feels like having a switch that can also play gamecube and wii + emulators/virtual consoles. Also it has a resistive touchscreen like a Nintendo DS, so it's great for drawing or studying I use the game Art Academy Atelier for studying, it's not ideal but it works for me!

$270 sounds like a lot, I got mine for around $80 in Europe.
You can also find better prices on jp.mercari however I think there are some annoyances to japanese wiius, see this thread: /tutorial-for-those-unlucky-to-own-a-japanese-wii-u-how-to-play-in-english-problematic-games.572494/

For around the $300 price range I would honestly just get a steam deck (speaking for my usecase, I only use the gamepad.) However having a Wii U feels like having a piece of history that will only become more and more scarce with time.

And yes there's something like hshop called NUSpli, there are also others like WiiUDownloader, but they use Nintendo servers and those will be shut down this year (I think April?) so I'm not sure what will be the future like in that regard.

Pretendo isn't finished yet and apparently costs money for now, but I think it will be free once it's released, and that should restore all online functionality. (Except for NUS stuff.)

About your questions on the vWii, I know you can use homebrew in the vWii, but I haven't done it yet so I can't give you input on that, there's a guide for vWii modding in wiiu.hacks.guide if you want to read about it. I also heard there's something like pretendo for Wii, since CTGP revolution seems very alive.

 

[Hayato213]

I pay around $120 for mine.

 

[AmandaRose]

I was recently thinking about buying a Wii U. I looked on EBay, and a console with the game pad included, and all the changing cables cost around 270$ on average.

Yep here in the UK you can get a WiiU with everything included on average for about £80 which works out at 100 US dollars. The prices you have seen are quite frankly ridiculous.

 

[Alexander1970]

Good Morning.

Forget the Switch - Take the Wii U.
With Aroma and constantly new Homebrews you are safe.
I am sure,the Dev´s will also find a Solution for the Online Playing (Pretendo for Example)

 

[Ettino]

Is it worth it? Mod, yes. Vanilla, no.

I mean it's a niche console these days. If you have a Switch already then it's not much point in getting it. It's great for what it can do to certain point, stuff like GC, Wii, retroarch etc. But then again you also have a much better way to play those games. My tablet can play those games way better than the wii u can hope for and more not to mention if you have a gaming pc already. Also Wii U games look kind of meh on a 4k tv without a good upscaler.

But hey, it's your money so whatever.

 

[kr1v]

I got mine in almost perfect shape (apart from the underside of the wii u) for 70 euros, which was a very good decision anyways to get
I recommend everyone to get a wii U if they like Nintendo or custom firmware, because most of the earlier switch games (such as botw and nsmbdx) are ports of Wii U games

 

[HelpfulHooty]

I personally have enjoyed the Wii U quite alot. However there aren't that many Wii U exclusive games but in my opinon there are enough good games to make it worth the price. The Wii U game library is not huge by default but you can expand it with NGC/Wii/NDS games not to mention the hole emulation scene via RetroArch. You do get a lot bang for you buck since apart from the gamepad itself, most Wii U stuff is pretty cheap nowdays.

As far as the highlights of the library go, there are the usual ones like BoTW, MK8, Windwaker and other first party tittles but you also might want to try out Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Both are good enough ports if you ask me.

One thing I would also like to say is that gamepad battery runs out pretty quickly but you can get bigger one from Aliexpress fairly cheap so you don't have to constanly recharge the gamepad.

TLDR version: Get Wii U and mod it. It's really easy. However the asking price seems bit much, since you can get alot of chargers and such from Ali and such for peanuts. If I was buying a Wii U I would be willing to pay something between 100-200 £/€/$

 

[Subtle Demise]

With the Wii U, you can play every generation of Nintendo consoles, except 3DS and Switch (unless you count games that were ported to Switch later). There are a few DS games that aren't compatible, but most of them are.

 

[Blythe93]

I looked on EBay, and a console with the game pad included, and all the changing cables cost around 270$ on average.

Prices on eBay can be really high sometimes. You'll probably have more luck finding a decent deal on a local marketplace or something, even some game stores that sell used consoles. I've bought my first Wii U for $145 which was in a pretty decent shape.

First off, would you recommend modding a Wii U? Why? Why not?

There's no reason not to mod it. Definitely go for it, here's the only guide. You can set up both Tiramisu and Aroma environments and switch between two when needed.

Also, if I were to mod a Wii U, could I then mod the Wii channel part of it too? Would that work? Would it brick the Wii part? Would it brick everything?

If you're talking about virtual Wii (i.e. vWii), you can safely mod it as well. Here's the guide.

Furthermore, Is there any kind of hshop for Wii U or Wii?

As @luvcy mentioned, there's NUSSpli and WiiUDownloader for Wii U games (and some virtual console titles). As for Wii, I'm not sure as I download Wii games from a certain site we aren't allowed to link to. If you plan on using NUSSpli, you might as well get yourself a Wii LAN adapter as downloading via wireless connection isn't the greatest by today's standards (even with the LAN cable, it's only 2x faster).

Also, is there any Pretendo for the Wii? I know the Pretendo works for the Wii U, but what about the Wii channel part? Anything like Pretendo for that?

I'm not sure whether Pretendo will ever be supported on vWii since it's a Wii without plenty of its original features.


Now, is Wii U still worth it? If modded, it definitely is.

With modded Wii U, you gain access to almost full Nintendo library through emulators and Retroarch (except for 3DS and Switch), plus many other retro consoles. Emulation quality varies but it's getting there. While many of its first party games got released on Switch with some improvements here and there, there are still a handful of games that probably never will (e.g. Affordable Space Adventures, Game & Wario, Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush, Mario Party 10, Nintendo Land, Paper Mario Color Splash, Wii Party U, Yoshi's Woolly World).

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I was recently thinking about buying a Wii U. I looked on EBay, and a console with the game pad included, and all the changing cables cost around 270$ on average. This is a console I was looking further into, but want to learn more about it. First off, would you recommend modding a Wii U? Why? Why not? Also, if I were to mod a Wii U, could I then mod the Wii channel part of it too? Would that work? Would it brick the Wii part? Would it brick everything? Furthermore, Is there any kind of hshop for Wii U or Wii? I modded my N3DSXL, but only for the hshop part of it since the eshop was shutting down. Also, is there any Pretendo for the Wii? I know the Pretendo works for the Wii U, but what about the Wii channel part? Anything like Pretendo for that? Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this.

Not for that price. Just get a Switch.

All the Wii U games worth playing are on Switch, apart from that there is backwards compatibility, which the Wii U does well, but considering how cheap Wiis are it doesn't justify paying very much for.

 

[kr1v]

Prices on eBay can be really high sometimes. You'll probably have more luck finding a decent deal on a local marketplace or something, even some game stores that sell used consoles. I've bought my first Wii U for $145 which was in a pretty decent shape.

There's no reason not to mod it. Definitely go for it, here's the only guide. You can set up both Tiramisu and Aroma environments and switch between two when needed.

If you're talking about virtual Wii (i.e. vWii), you can safely mod it as well. Here's the guide.

As @luvcy mentioned, there's NUSSpli and WiiUDownloader for Wii U games (and some virtual console titles). As for Wii, I'm not sure as I download Wii games from a certain site we aren't allowed to link to. If you plan on using NUSSpli, you might as well get yourself a Wii LAN adapter as downloading via wireless connection isn't the greatest by today's standards (even with the LAN cable, it's only 2x faster).

I'm not sure whether Pretendo will ever be supported on vWii since it's a Wii without plenty of its original features.


Now, is Wii U still worth it? If modded, it definitely is.

With modded Wii U, you gain access to almost full Nintendo library through emulators and Retroarch (except for 3DS and Switch), plus many other retro consoles. Emulation quality varies but it's getting there. While many of its first party games got released on Switch with some improvements here and there, there are still a handful of games that probably never will (e.g. Affordable Space Adventures, Game & Wario, Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush, Mario Party 10, Nintendo Land, Paper Mario Color Splash, Wii Party U, Yoshi's Woolly World).

Doesnt vwii support wiimfi? Maybe not with the menu but via homebrew

 

[Awesomesauce3ds]

Update: I found a console for 160$ (tax and shipping included) and I think I'm going to buy it. Thanks to everyone who helped and contributed! I'll update you when I buy and mod the console, as well as when it arrives. Thanks again! Also, is JaxDealsPlus a trusted eBay seller?

 

[kr1v]

Also, is JaxDealsPlus a trusted eBay seller?

No clue, should probably look at account age and reviews, and the account age of those reviews (not all of them of course)

 

[V10lator]

gamepad battery runs out pretty quickly but you can get bigger one from Aliexpress

Yea, the original batteries are all old-age now. You must be really lucky to find a good, used one. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend Aliexpress but iFixIt here ( https://www.ifixit.com/products/nintendo-wii-u-gamepad-replacement-battery ). Yes, it's a china battery, too, but iFixIt seems to do its own quality assurance and there's rumor they even replace defective / low charge holding batteries after guarantee time. Got one of these and they hold a charge for 6 to 8 hours of gaming time, so around the time Nintendo stats a battery of this size should be able to. Am planning to get more of these for my other gamepads next months.
With Aliexpress you never know what you get and there are no guarantees / no returning. In the worst case you'll get a battery not beeing able to hold a charge at all.

Also a bit too late but there's something nobody stated yet: You're able to play Wii/GCN games on the gamepad while the TV is powered off or somebody other is using it. This works for all GCN games as well as for all Wii games supporting classic controllers.

 

[Blythe93]

I'll update you when I buy and mod the console, as well as when it arrives.

Good luck and have fun, keep us posted. $160 is a decent deal.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend Aliexpress but iFixIt here ( https://www.ifixit.com/products/nintendo-wii-u-gamepad-replacement-battery ). Yes, it's a china battery, too, but iFixIt seems to do its own quality assurance and there's rumor they even replace defective / low charge holding batteries after guarantee time.

Good to know. At best, my batteries last from 2-4 hours across all my Wii U gamepads (only one of them holds for around an hour tops, sadly).

 

[Ettino]

Good to know. At best, my batteries last from 2-4 hours across all my Wii U gamepads (only one of them holds for around an hour tops, sadly).

I bought a 6600 mAh battery from amazon coupleof years ago. Still working fine. It should be around 25 cad, so not overly expensive.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Update: I found a console for 160$ (tax and shipping included) and I think I'm going to buy it. Thanks to everyone who helped and contributed! I'll update you when I buy and mod the console, as well as when it arrives. Thanks again! Also, is JaxDealsPlus a trusted eBay seller?

You can easily get a Switch Lite or regular Switch with joyCons/charger for that on eBay. Sometimes even with dock.
Not worth it.

 

[ScaryHobbit]

Just my two cents... which kind of aligns with a few others here. (And I also made this post without reading that you've found a cheaper model.)

For hacking the Wii U is worth having, though not for $270. I've personally used the browser exploit Dumpling to back up my Wii U games (including digital titles and DLC) & have also hacked the vWii (the Wii OS built in that is used for Wii backwards compatibility) to install the Wii's Homebrew Channel. Others here know how to take it even further, but I'm satisfied with simply dumping my current games.

For normal use, however, I probably would no longer really recommend the Wii U. I purchased mine in 2014, and as time goes by I find myself replacing more and more of my Wii U games with Switch versions - primarily due to added content in the new ports. Plus with the eShop being shut down it's now impossible to purchase DLC and digital titles through legitimate means, so any physical Wii U game you'll find would be eternally gimped.

That's not to say I didn't have a great time on Wii U... I'm still keeping mine for a small core of games. But it was truly a console that you had to be there to really appreciate.

 

[kr1v]

You can easily get a Switch Lite or regular Switch with joyCons/charger for that on eBay. Sometimes even with dock.
Not worth it.

The games are so expensive tho... Do you even gave a wii u? Anyone who does will recommend wii u over ns I'm pretty sure