Wii U Case Mods
Featuring Mario on the side of the Nintendo Wii, this mod looks very sweet. Can you see Mario dancing with his leg up? A very nice touch by the. We stock a full line of Nintendo Wii Mods, Cases, Case Mods, Repair Parts. Lowest Price Guaranteed. Flat Rate & FREE Shipping available.
With the release of Smash Ultimate fast approaching for the Nintendo Switch, [Patrick Hess] wanted to get ahead of the game and make sure his squad had the equipment they’d need. Namely, support for the GameCube controllers that serious Smash Bros players demand. But it wasn’t enough to have one or two of them hooked up, or even four. Not even six GameCube controllers could satiate his desire. No, he needed to have support for eight simultaneous GameCube controllers, and he wanted to look good doing it too.
Enter his meticulously designed eight player GameCube to USB adapter. Made out of dual official Nintendo GameCube to USB adapters (intended for the Wii U) merged together in a 3D printed case, the final result looks like something that could earn the coveted Nintendo Seal of Approval. Or at least, something that might pop up on the import sites in the next month or two for a few bucks.
[Patrick] started the project by recreating the official adapter PCBs and their housings in 3D using a pair of calipers. After a couple of test prints to make sure he had all the dimensions right, he could then move on to designing his final enclosure knowing he had accurate data to model around.
In addition to the two adapter boards, there’s also a four port USB hub inside the device’s case. Each adapter has two USB leads, here shortened to fit inside the case, which connect up to the hub. The integrated hub allows connecting all eight GameCube controllers through only a single USB connection. All controllers worked as expected during intense testing on the Wii U’s version of Smash Bros, though at this point [Patrick] can only assume it will work when the Switch version is released.
If there’s a downside to this project, it’s that the design for the 3D printed case is so intricate that [Patrick] was only able to print it on a machine that supported water-soluble PVA supports. A somewhat tall order for the average hacker; it would be interesting to see if somebody could make a second pass on the enclosure that is geared more towards printability than aesthetics.
While the design of the GameCube controller remains somewhat controversial after all these years, there’s no denying it retains an impressive following. Whether turning them into USB devices, shrinking them to preposterously small dimensions, or just finding increasingly creative ways to use them on Nintendo’s latest console, hackers are definitely in love with the gonzo little controller that’s now pushing 20 years old.
Required Reading
This will allow you to install the Homebrew Channel and other modifications to the Wii U’s vWii (virtual Wii).
What You Need
- The latest release of WUPhax
- The latest release of Hackmii Installer
- A previous release (v1.4) of the Homebrew Launcher(the homebrew_launcher.v1.4
.zip
file) - The latest release of Homebrew Launcher Installer(the payload
.zip
file)
Instructions
Section I - Prep Work
- Power off your device
- Insert your SD card into your computer
- Copy the contents of the WUPhax
.zip
to the root of your SD card - Copy
boot.elf
from thehackmii_installer_v1.2
folder of the Hackmii Installer.zip
to the root of your SD card - Copy the
apps
folder fromvWii_cIOS_apps_20131218.zip
to the root of your SD card - Copy the
apps
folder fromPatched_IOS80_Installer_for_vWii.zip
to the root of your SD card - Copy the contents of the Homebrew Launcher
.zip
to the root of your SD card - Copy the contents of the payload
.zip
to the wiiu folder on your SD card - Reinsert your SD card into your device
- Power on your device
Section II - wuphax
- Launch the Homebrew Launcher
- If you have not already done the main Wii U guide and do not know how to do this, please follow Homebrew Launcher, then return to this page.
- Launch wuphax
- Press (A) to backup your Mii Channel and inject the Hackmii Installer
- You will be returned to the Homebrew Launcher
- Use the (Home) button to exit to the system menu
- Launch vWii
- Launch the vWii Mii Channel
- If the exploit was successful, you will have entered the Hackmii Installer
- Read the scam warning, then press (1) to continue when prompted
- Go through the prompts on screen to install the Homebrew Channel to vWii
- Go through the prompts to get back to vWii
- If the exploit was successful, you will see the Homebrew Channel on the vWii Menu
- Return to the system menu, then power off your Wii U
- Launch the Homebrew Launcher with the method used earlier in this section
- Launch wuphax
- Press (B) when prompted to restore the Mii Channel
- Go through the prompts to get back to vWii
Section III - Dumping vWii NAND
This NAND backup will allow you to restore your vWii to a working state if anything goes wrong.
- Launch the Homebrew Channel on vWii
- Launch Dump Mii NAND
- Be prepared to wait; this can take a while (up to several hours depending on the speed of your SD card)
- When it has completed, your Wii U will reboot automatically
- Power off your Wii U
- Put your SD card from your Wii U into your computer
- Copy the
nand.bin
andkeys.bin
from the root of your SD card to a safe location on your computer and back both up to multiple locations (such as online file storage); this backup will save your vWii from a brick if anything goes wrong - Delete
nand.bin
andkeys.bin
from the root of your SD card - Reinsert your SD card into your device
Section IV - cIOS Installation
Ensure that there are no folders named wad
or wads
on the root of your SD card and that there are no other .wad
files anywhere except /apps/
on the SD card.
- Launch the Homebrew Channel on vWii
- Launch d2x cIOS Installer
- Set the options on the top of the screen to match the following:
- Select cIOS : d2x-v10-beta52-vWii
- Select cIOS base : 56
- Select cIOS slot : 249
- Press (A) to install
- Wait for the install to complete, then press (A) to continue
- Set the options on the top of the screen to match the following:
- Select cIOS : d2x-v10-beta52-vWii
- Select cIOS base : 57
- Select cIOS slot : 250
- Press (A) to install
- Wait for the install to complete, then press (A) to continue
- Set the options on the top of the screen to match the following:
- Select cIOS : d2x-v10-beta52-vWii
- Select cIOS base : 58
- Select cIOS slot : 251
- Press (A) to install
- Wait for the install to complete, then press (B) to exit
Section V - Patching IOS80
This step will brick your vWii installation if it fails for any reason (power outage, etc) which will require a vWii NAND backup to restore. Ensure you have yours before proceeding with this section.
Lsd dream emulator textures. The mod will use converted textures, sounds, music and videos from the original Playstation game.
- From the Homebrew Channel on vWii, launch Patched IOS80 Installer for vWii
- Read the warning, then wait 30 seconds for it to allow you to continue
- Press (A) to install
- This should be very quick
- When it has completed, press any button to return to the Homebrew Channel
- Exit to the vWii Menu
You can now install and use any Wii homebrew such as USB Loader GX, Wiiflow, CFG USB Loader, emulators, etc.
External hard drives must be connected to the upper back USB port of the Wii U to be detected by vWii. This cannot be the same external hard drive you use for Wii U games. If you are using an external HDD that does not have its own power source, then you will need a Y-cable.
Ensure any .wad
files (channels, forwarders, games, etc) you install are formatted to work properly with vWii first. If you install a .wad
formatted for a regular Wii console, you will brick the vWii which will require a vWii NAND backup to restore.
Installing custom themes on vWii will brick your vWii.
Removing .wad
files manually without knowing what you are doing will brick your vWii.
Installing Priiloader will brick your vWii.