Since the Wii U released in 2012, fans have been clamoring for a way to play their old GameCube favorites on the new system. Many speculated that after the release of Wind Waker HD, we would begin to see GameCube games show up on the Nintendo eShop as virtual console releases. So far, that hasn’t been the case. Because of how long it’s taken Nintendo to acknowledge that GameCube games are something fans want, a homebrew effort has sprung up around getting GameCube games to work on the Wii U.
As it turns out, it’s surprisingly easy given that the original Wii was backwards compatible with the GameCube, and the Wii U is backwards compatible with the Wii. That leads us to the “Nintendont” firmware, which seeks to allow users to play GameCube games on their Wii U through the Wii mode. It works, as you can see a screenshot of Super Smash Bros. Melee running just fine on the Wii U GamePad.
Of course, since this is homebrew it is NOT supported by Nintendo and could lead to a ban from Nintendo Network in the future. Either way, homebrew is a run at your own risk project. Here’s a list of features from the Nintendont website:
- Play audio via disc audio streaming
- Full speed loading from an USB device, or a SD card
- Loads 1:1 and compressed .ISO disc images
- Works on Wii and vWii on Wii U
- Loads games as extracted files (FST)
- Memory card emulation
- Bluetooth controller support (Classic Controller (Pro), Wii U Pro Controller)
- HID controller support via USB
- Custom button layout when using HID controllers
- Cheat code support
- WiiRd (only on Wii)
- Changeable configuration of various settings
- Reset/Power off via button combo (R + Z + Start) (R + Z + B + D-Pad Down)
- Advanced video mode patching, force progressive and force 16:9 widescreen
- Auto boot from loader
- Disc switching
- Allow use of the Nintendo GameCube Microphone
- Use real memory card
According to the homebrew developers, this works with all methods of control for the Wii U as well. It’s interesting to see homebrew developers work so hard to bring a feature to fans that have been wanting this since the release of the Wii U.
