RetroArch - Emulators on Wii U

RetroArch is cross-platform collection of emulators that is available on your Wii U. Known for its trademark great performance and various features such as save states, cheats, netplay, rewinding and much more. RetroArch is sure to expand your gaming library and transform your Wii U into a gaming powerhouse.

This guide will show you how to setup RetroArch on your Wii U and configure cheats. Press [Home] during gameplay to open the Quick Menu; here you can access useful features such as save states and screenshots.

Required Downloads:

Hacked Wii U on Firmware 5.5.4

  • RetroArch requires a Wii U with custom firmware such as Mocha or Haxchi

SD Card (64B or larger recommended)

  • An SD card is required to install homebrew on your Wii U console
  • The SD card must be formatted to FAT32

Homebrew App Store for Wii U

Internet Connection

  • An internet connection is required to update RetroArch assets and databases

Installing RetroArch

  1. Create a folder named retroarch in the root of your SD card
  2. Inside the /retroarch/ folder, create a folder named assets
  3. Extract the contents of retroarch-assets-master.zip to the /retroarch/assets/ folderwii u retroarch install sd assets
  4. Create a folder named roms in the root of your SD card
  5. Inside the /roms/ folder, create folders for the platforms you wish to emulate and store your ROM game files accordinglywii u retroarch roms folder
  6. Insert your SD card into your Wii U and power it on
  7. Load your custom firmware patches via Mocha / Haxchi if necessary
  8. Launch the Homebrew Launcher via your preferred method
  9. Select Homebrew App Store -> [Load]wii u homebrew app launcher store cfw
  10. Browse or search for the RetroArch application
  11. Press [A] and wait for the installation to completewii u retroarch homebrew app store
  12. Press [-] to return to the Homebrew Launcher
  13. Select RetroArch -> [Load]wii u retroarch homebrew launcher

Setting Up RetroArch

  1. From the RetroArch main menu, Select [Online Updater]wii u retroarch online updater
  2. Select [Core Updater] and choose cores for the systems you wish to emulate
    • Game Boy Advance – VBA Next / mGBA
    • SNES – Snes9x (any)
    • Sega – Genesis Plus GX

    wii u retroarch online core updater sega genesis plux gx

  3. Select [Update Installed Cores]
  4. Select [Update Core Info Files]
  5. Select [Update Joypad Profiles]
  6. Select [Update Databases]wii u retroarch online updater downloads
  7. Once complete, return to the RetroArch main menu and select [Import Content] -> [Scan Directory]wii u retroarch import content scan directory
  8. Navigate to the sd:/roms folder and select [Scan this Directory]wii u retroarch import content scan this directory
  9. Once complete, your ROMs will be organised by platform and added to the RetroArch main menuwii u retroarch playlists
  10. Select your ROM -> [Run] and choose the core (emulator) you wish to use if promptedwii u retroarch streets of rage genesis plus gx

Congratulations on installing and setting up RetroArch. You can now enjoy an even larger library of games with great performance and extra features. Consider setting up cheats to make use of RetroArch’s huge database of cheat codes.

Setting Up Cheats

RetroArch features a built-in cheat engine to create cheats by editing numerical values in the game’s memory or loading preset cheat codes from the large database.

  1. During gameplay, press the [Home] button to open the Quick Menu
  2. Scroll down to [Cheats] and select [Load Cheat File]wii u retroarch quick menu cheats
  3. Navigate to the sd:/retroarch/cheats folderwii u retroarch quick menu cheats folder
  4. Select the game platform then select your game from the listwii u retroarch quick menu cheats games
  5. In the [Cheats] menu, set [Apply After Toggle] to [ON]wii u retroarch quick menu cheats apply after toggle
  6. Turn cheats on / off with the directional buttonswii u retroarch quick menu cheats select
  7. Press the [Home] button to return to the game and enjoy your cheatswii u retroarch streets of rage genesis plus gx cheats

Wii U Games and Homebrew

Credits