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
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
- RetroArch can easily be downloaded and installed directly to your Wii U from the Homebrew App Store
- You should already have the Homebrew App Store if you followed the Mocha, Haxchi or wiiu.hacks.guide
- Follow this guide if you do not have the Wii U Homebrew App Store installed
Internet Connection
- An internet connection is required to update RetroArch assets and databases
Installing RetroArch
- Create a folder named
retroarch
in the root of your SD card - Inside the
/retroarch/
folder, create a folder namedassets
- Extract the contents of
retroarch-assets-master.zip
to the/retroarch/assets/
folder - Create a folder named
roms
in the root of your SD card - Inside the
/roms/
folder, create folders for the platforms you wish to emulate and store your ROM game files accordingly - Insert your SD card into your Wii U and power it on
- Load your custom firmware patches via Mocha / Haxchi if necessary
- Launch the Homebrew Launcher via your preferred method
- Select Homebrew App Store -> [Load]
- Browse or search for the RetroArch application
- Press [A] and wait for the installation to complete
- Press [-] to return to the Homebrew Launcher
- Select RetroArch -> [Load]
Setting Up RetroArch
- From the RetroArch main menu, Select [Online Updater]
- 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
- Select [Update Installed Cores]
- Select [Update Core Info Files]
- Select [Update Joypad Profiles]
- Select [Update Databases]
- Once complete, return to the RetroArch main menu and select [Import Content] -> [Scan Directory]
- Navigate to the
sd:/roms
folder and select [Scan this Directory] - Once complete, your ROMs will be organised by platform and added to the RetroArch main menu
- Select your ROM -> [Run] and choose the core (emulator) you wish to use if prompted
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.
- During gameplay, press the [Home] button to open the Quick Menu
- Scroll down to [Cheats] and select [Load Cheat File]
- Navigate to the
sd:/retroarch/cheats
folder - Select the game platform then select your game from the list
- In the [Cheats] menu, set [Apply After Toggle] to [ON]
- Turn cheats on / off with the directional buttons
- Press the [Home] button to return to the game and enjoy your cheats