I used the Sunshine game streaming software and the WiiU homebrew port of Moonlight to get game streaming working on a WiiU gamepad. It's sort of like a bootleg Steam Deck, and it works surprisingly well, but it mostly just made me want a Steam Deck.
The Steam Deck we have at home:
48 Comments
FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 69 pts · 1y
The WiiU was ahead of its time.
Great little console.
smeg@feddit.uk · 51 pts · 1y
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 1y
Looking back, it almost feels like a Switch prototype. It's a goofy little thing, but I love it. That said, I also love the Nintendo Virtual Boy, so my judgement might be questionable.
FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 1y
Yeah, it did so many things wrong and had so many little annoyances regarding the gamepad.
Still, great games and a wonderful charm to it.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 1y
The virtual boy was ahead of its time, too. Teleroboxer is still my favorite game that no one played.
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
It's one of my favorites, too! Almost like a Punch Out!! spinoff. VB Wario Land is worthy of the praise it receives, but I also really like the Virtual Boy's StarFox-like, Red Alarm.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 1y
Red Alarm is definitely my Number 2 on VB, Followed by Wario. I need to search my basement and see if I still have them...
Teleroboxer reminds me of a cross between Punch Out & Metal Combat for the Super Scope, another underrated gem.
At least that one got a sequel!
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
Super deep cut (this might be my most obscure bit of Nintendo trivia as I couldn't find any images of it online), but have you ever seen the hidden wireframe models in Red Alarm? If you shoot very specific places in game, you can reveal low-poly 3D models of a Virtual Boy, Game Boy, and even a girl in a bikini... for some reason. I wonder if Nintendo's top brass were aware of that one when it shipped :-)
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 1y
Ha!
I was about to mention those in my last comment! I remember it was like weird bits of terrain you had to shoot so many times in certain levels to get the Easter egg. Pretty sure I saw the locations in Nintendo Power...
A low poly wireframe bikini girl had to be hidden back in the day, and now there's porn games on the Switch Store!
TeddE@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
At the time, Microsoft and Sony were playing this "more graphics = more better" game and Nintendo decided it couldn't compete on that front. You can see a bit of the "compete on anything but graphics" mentality in the Wii and Wii U, then they took what worked and refined it into the Switch and Switch 2.
rmuk@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 1y
I agree. I think the problem with it is that it was just too complicated. With most Nintendo system what you see is what you get - with the Wii, those people having a good time swinging around their little Toblerones really are playing a game; the Switch really is a home console grade portable handheld thing; the WiiU manages to look like both those things without being either.
FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 1y
The forced gamepad integration didn’t help, like why tf do I need the gamepad to connect to WiFi.
afaix@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
It doesn’t need wifi though, PlayStation portal does. But yeah, the second screen was a questionable idea - too hard to implement in an interesting way, makes all local multiplayer games asymmetrical, makes porting difficult… Even Nintendo gave up
FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 1y
I mean connecting the console itself to WiFi, you are required to use the gamepad for most settings.
There’s no controller/wiimote fallback option.
jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y
actually the gampad does need WiFi*, it's just that the Wii U is the access point to its slightly non compliant WiFi ac network.
slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org · 3 pts · 1y
I'm a bit confused why it never really caught on. It had so much potential. I loved playing a game while having the map on the little screen for example. Or the inventory or whatever.
Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works · 26 pts · 1y
Oh it looks cool! Great way to recycle something👍
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 1y
Thank you! I think the impracticality of it all adds an extra layer of fun :-)
cardfire@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1y
Always, this. :)
rabber@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 1y
Wii U is one of the best consoles of all time and hardly anyone knows it
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz · 14 pts · 1y
Eeeehhhhh...
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y
There are dozens of us!
dinckelman@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
viral.vegabond@piefed.social · 9 pts · 1y
'super wii'
it was right there...
FRYD@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 1y
What’s the latency like on that? I have a dusty wiiU and this seems like a fun little project
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 1y
Slightly perceptible, but totally playable. Considering all the hops it has to make, it's surprisingly good. I have both my WiiU and my desktop hooked up to ethernet, which helps. Games like Portal 2 work well because they don't usually require split second inputs, but anything requiring precision (like a rhythm game) would probably be a struggle.
Akip@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 1y
negligible compared to the pal display and jet engine noise?
FRYD@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 1y
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Akip@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 1y
the wii-u console, required to run the gamepad is loud, and the display is 854 x 480 pixels
rmuk@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 1y
480 would be NTSC. PAL was higher resolution. But, yeah, the latency was basically imperceptible but the fan noise was real.
Davel23@fedia.io · 3 pts · 1y
PAL is 525 lines.
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 1y
No. NTSC is 525 lines and PAL is 625. This includes the overscal lines.
NTSC has a visable line count of 480, hence 480i. PAL has 576 lines visable, or 576i.
FRYD@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 1y
Ohh yeah it’s been a really long time since i used it
Akip@discuss.tchncs.de · 6 pts · 1y
Last time, when I used it, to take my save games over to cemu I was really appreciative how quiet my gaming pc was in comparison haha. I miss fire hopping in Mario kart :(
HouseWolf@pawb.social · 11 pts · 1y
Now the real question is.
Can I emulate WiiU games on my Desktop PC while using the Steamdeck as the pad/2nd screen?
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y
Most definitely!
skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl · 1 pts · 1y
k0mprssd@pie.bumbum.lol · 9 pts · 1y
its so cursed... I love it
beastlykings@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1y
Hey neat! I did the same thing a few months ago! Not sure how to link things on here.
Did you also swap the charger for USB C?
Edit: This is the streaming post. And this is the USB C mod.
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
Neat! Nah, I haven't done the USB C mod, but that looks pretty slick. I just use the charging cradle that came with the black WiiU deluxe set.
beastlykings@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y
That's fair. The box that held all my wiiu stuff was mysteriously missing the pad charger. I think I used a dock before too? At any rate, I didn't want another charger laying around. I've got four 6 foot USBC cables coming out of a pair of chargers under my couch that I use for everything. It only made sense to change it over 🤷♂️
So far it works great. Though I about to not using very often, I've got an actual steam deck, and recently got a better laptop, so I primarily use those 🤷♂️
If someone wants to buy it for whatever the going rate of an unmodded wiiu is, I'm game. My ADHD enjoyed the process of modding it, now is back in a box lol
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
I think the white sets (at least in the US) might have shipped with a non-charging stand? Pretty sure there were white sets released in Japan that included one, though. Sounds like a nice setup! Maybe I should start USBC modding some of my stuff, if only to pare down my Big Drawer of Cables.
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com · 5 pts · 1y
Holy bezels, I remember having a Wii U
iamdisappoint@reddthat.com · 5 pts · 1y
This is really cool! I have an old WiiU, adding this to my project list... :)
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 5 pts · 1y
LMAO, I just set this up on my Wii U myself! Crazy coincidence.
hunterirving@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
It's a fun little hack! I like how it's alllllllmost practical, but not quite :-) The biggest limitation for me right now if that I have to stay within 10 feet of my WiiU console or it has a bad time.
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 1y
Idk if you have one already, but the Wii LAN adapter helps a lot with latency and bitrate. It won't help the limitations of the Wii U Gampads poor Signal strength, but its something :P
Also, moonlight works pretty alright on the 3DS and Switch if youre looking for more projects lol
beastlykings@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
If you can't find an original adapter, I can confirm this one works. Most of the other ones I had laying around wouldn't work. I had to search for this one. It was only $15 when I got it in January 2025, not sure why it's $25 now
Turret3857@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 1y
Its any Ethernet adapter with the AX88772 chipset. I would also go for getting it from any other online seller :P
DJalexTheGameDev@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 1y
Pretty cool, I didn't know about the moonlight fork.
Probably going to see a lot of memes about Wii u running the newest most demanding games.