Wii U Mod Allows Gamecube Games to Be Played

[Steven Bogos]

Wii U Mod Allows Gamecube Games to Be Played

"Nintendont" is a homebrew app for the Wii U that allows gamers to play Gamecube games on the system.

Backwards compatibility has become a bit of a point of contention among gamers this generation, with Nintendo traditionally offering only a single generation of it, and Microsoft and Sony not offering it at all. However, those clever Wii U homebrewers have managed to do one better, and have successfully created an app that allows gamers to run Gamecube games on the system, something that Nintendo said couldn't happen.

The appropriately named "Nintendont" app works with both the vWii (the virtual Wii that the Wii U emulates) and the standard Wii, and it supports Memory Card emulation, but it only works with a handful of controllers (including, ironically, the PS2 and PS3 Dual Shock controllers). It is in very alpha stages at the moment, and thus doesn't have perfect compatibility with many Gamecube games. Here is a full list [http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Nintendont_Compatibility_List] of games that work with the app.

The caveat is that you'll need to have the Homebrew Channel installed on your system, which is already somewhat of a legal gray area, and the app only runs Gamecube .isos that have been ripped to the SD card or external hard drive - it does not work with retail Gamecube disks. This really skirts the "piracy" line quite closely, and we at The Escapist would like to take this opportunity to re-iterate that we do not support software piracy in any shape or form.

Instructions on how to install the mod can be found here [http://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendont-crediars-new-project.349258/], but please note that you do so at your own risk, for modifying your Wii U software could possibly result in Nintendo "bricking" your system with a future software update.

Its certainly nice to see modders doing what "Nintendon't", as even if they need to break the rules to do it, it may show Nintendo that enough people are looking for this feature for them to implement it officially.

Source: GBA Temp [http://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendont-crediars-new-project.349258/]

Permalink

 

[Oly J]

well this is interesting, but it's probably less of a risk just to hold on to a previous gen console (it's not like you'd get a lot for trading in a Wii anyway)

I was planning to get a Wii U and was also planning to hold onto my Wii just in case the Wii U didn't play Gamecube games. Now that I know it doesn't I'll just avoid trading in the Wii, or get a Gamecube, they can't be that expensive on ebay,

 

[Dragonbums]

I was so close to saying the stupidest comment and stating that you can already play Gamecube games on the Wii U.

This is nice. I hope it works really well. That way many people won't be adverse to selling away their Wii because it means they can't play their Gamecube games (assuming that they didn't get rid of their original Gamecube.)

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Maybe Nintendo could get to work on allowing people to play their older games on phones and computers as well. It's pretty clear there's a market for emulators: it's not even hard to find them or the games on the internet. At least give people the option to pay you for your older gems without having to hunt down last-gen consoles online, Nintendo. You can still keep your newest games on your consoles, it won't kill you.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Sold my wii to a friend when I got the wiiU because I had bought a gamecube from a friend (who just didn't have a need for it anymore and I love the damn thing).

And while I like having both... admittedly, getting rid of one (or storing it for now) would help reduce some clutter. And it's easier to store a gamecube than the PS3 both these guys sit next too. Might jump on this since I already have homebrew installed for my Smash Bros mods. And I don't count it as piracy if I already bought and own the physical game. Have all the good gamecube games anyway.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Interesting. I already use emulators on PC for my old systems' games including Gamecube anyway, so I have no need for this, but it's nice that it exists anyway.

 

[Covarr]

It may not support retail GC discs, but you can use a Wii to rip those discs, and get the ISOs that way. I've already got all my GC collection ripped so I can play on my PC using Dolphin; Metroid Prime in HD is quite the treat.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Maybe Nintendo could get to work on allowing people to play their older games on phones and computers as well. It's pretty clear there's a market for emulators: it's not even hard to find them or the games on the internet. At least give people the option to pay you for your older gems without having to hunt down last-gen consoles online, Nintendo. You can still keep your newest games on your consoles, it won't kill you.

The problem with that, however, is that Nintendo won't get any money from Hardware, where they make more then 50% of all of their profits from. I'm also pretty certain that unless they use their own website for these emulations, they would have to pay a website to actually hold and sell their product (ITunes does this, where you have to pay them an initial fee to just have the thing on Itunes, and then they take a cut of the profit). Lastly, Nintendo is not known for making things extremely cheap, and no one wants to buy an emulator, they either want it extremely cheap or for free. Nintendo would not allow an Emulator on the Internet for free to 99 pennies, and no one would pay 59$ to Emulate. In short, it might not kill them, but it would help kill them (It'd just be another nail on the coffin they're hardly in then the final nail).

OT: That's neat, but I'll pass. Console Hacking is a dangerous thing, especially for me when I have no idea how things like that work. Also, if I had Gamecube games, I'd either play them on the Wii or buy a new Gamecube off of Ebay.

 

[Adzma]

Its certainly nice to see modders doing what "Nintendon't", as even if they need to break the rules to do it, it may show Nintendo that enough people are looking for this feature for them to implement it officially.

Because that worked so well with bypassing region locking.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Maybe Nintendo could get to work on allowing people to play their older games on phones and computers as well. It's pretty clear there's a market for emulators: it's not even hard to find them or the games on the internet. At least give people the option to pay you for your older gems without having to hunt down last-gen consoles online, Nintendo. You can still keep your newest games on your consoles, it won't kill you.

The problem with that, however, is that Nintendo won't get any money from Hardware, where they make more then 50% of all of their profits from. I'm also pretty certain that unless they use their own website for these emulations, they would have to pay a website to actually hold and sell their product (ITunes does this, where you have to pay them an initial fee to just have the thing on Itunes, and then they take a cut of the profit). Lastly, Nintendo is not known for making things extremely cheap, and no one wants to buy an emulator, they either want it extremely cheap or for free. Nintendo would not allow an Emulator on the Internet for free to 99 pennies, and no one would pay 59$ to Emulate. In short, it might not kill them, but it would help kill them (It'd just be another nail on the coffin they're hardly in then the final nail).

I fail to see how giving people the option to pay for your older products that can't be bought new anymore could possibly hurt Nintendo. Even the virtual consoles don't allow you to buy a lot of great older games.

Currently, if you want to play (say) Golden Sun for GBA you have to hunt down a pre-owned version of the handheld and game (which gets Nintendo nothing and takes you a lot of time and some money), or get an emulator and ripped copy for off the web (again where Nintendo gets nothing and it costs you no money and very little time). How on earth is giving people the option to pay you for your game (again) a bad thing?

Again, I'm not talking about putting the newest games (or even relatively old ones) on other platforms: we've all agree that's daft. But I fail to see how letting people buy your product instead of having to pirate it or get it preowned is a BAD thing.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

The problem is that Nintendo hates money. After all, why wouldn?t they put Game Cube games on the eShop?
The system can clearly natively emulate the system. They only need to put the friggin isos on the eShop and get money from us.
People would gladly pay US$ 14,99, heck, maybe even US$ 19,99 for digital copies of Luigi?s Mansion, Paper Mario or Mario Sunshine. Specially now that we have to wait months for a decent Wii U release.
But no... They keep releasing ONE THIRD-TIER NES GAME PER WEEK on the Virtual Console. ONE crappy, overpriced, 8-bit game, and that?s it. That?s usually the weekly eShop update.

Nintendo is being trounced this generation by because of its sheer incompetency. The system launched for almost one year and a half and they still didn?t launched Mario Kart. HOW COME?! Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS launched in december 2011. Over 2 years (2 and a half years, actually, until the release of MK8) to launch an Mario Kart iteration is unacceptable. What is taking so long?! Half the tracks on the game usually come from previous installments on the series.

I can?t grasp what the managing team at the Big N is thinking of...

 

[Redhawkmillenium]

It's probably better to just get a decent PC and run the Dolphin Gamecube/Wii emulator on it.

 

[Roxas1359]

Glad to see Nintendon't getting more popularity. As I've said many times on the forums, the Wii U can play the GameCube games, but it won't because Nintendo locked out the ability for it to play it in the OS. Now it's not like how the PS4 is with PS3 games, in that the discs won't read because the architecture is too hard to emulate. With Nintendo they use the Nintendo Optical Disc Drive, which has just been slightly modified each console it's been used on. The Wii used a modified GameCube Optical Drive and the Wii U uses a slightly modified Wii Optical Drive otherwise it wouldn't have the backwards compatibility it does. Seriously, all Nintendo would have to do is allow the discs to be read by the console and sell some USB GameCube adapter that will work and then boom, the Wii U can go back 2 gens. Sadly though, they won't do this, and while I'd like to think that they're gonna do what Sony did and remake the games and charge a small price for them, I instantly remember that instead of working on something like that they are just porting GBA games to the Wii U instead of putting that on the 2DS/3DS.

Seriously, some of their business decisions this gen are why they are having such a hard time with the Wii U right now.

 

[Saulkar]

I seriously hope that Nintendo try their hand at creating an official port of this emulator instead of shutting it down. They do not need the bad publicity at this point.

 

[Callate]

I think the smart thing for Nintendo to do would be to reach out and work on creating a version that only works with retail disks. The creators get a legal product they could sell for cash, Nintendo gets a gold star for furthering their reputation as the only current-gen system that's backwards compatible. Win-win.

I don't think that's going to happen; it's far more likely we'll see another round of "updates" that brick the systems of people who tread outside of Nintendo's comfort zones, but I can dream.

 

[MazokuRanma]

I'd suggest just using an actual Gamecube for your GC games instead of a Wii. Yes, they both work, but an actual Gamecube can also be outfitted with a Gameboy Player, a nice little bonus.

 

[deathjavu]

Actually, I'm pretty sure emulators of games is NOT a legal grey area, hence why they still exist. If you own the game in question, you are allowed to emulate it. At least that's my understanding of the law in the US.

I don't pirate stuff because I think it's morally wrong, but I have absolutely no qualms about emulating a game I still have, but can't play because the system is broken or not hooked up to the TV. But then again, we used to buy games rather than renting them, and I know publishers hated that.

 

[MrBaskerville]

If it´s possible to do this, it makes you wonder why nintendo removed it in the first place.

 

[NLS]

I had a look at that compatibility list though, aaaand it's a long way to go.
I'd suggest just ripping your own games and use Dolphin on a computer.