![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmNvb9h1w3rA12Jhqm3RtSnPFJHHUP3CUHV8xhes4ZbixN/image.png)

I recently got my hands on a console I've always been interested in, the Wii U.
As much as it was a commercial flop, I followed its trajectory from launch to death, and the amount of great games, both big and small always made me want to have one - of course, for that generation I ended up with an Xbox One and eventually PS4 but the Wii U was always that little nagging curiosity for me, just like the Dreamcast.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmcnwmPapvWubjbddTQ5nNjvvJg79c3yhtkoPt1DkaboLU/image.png)

So I got my hands on this white 8gb one and I'm here to share a few of my experiences with it so far.
The first thing I feel I must talk about is hacking - for the console has no real support from Nintendo anymore and getting the most out of it is easy.
Luckily I had my friend @stk-g on my side to help me with that as I'm quite new to Wii U hacking.
Nowadays things are simpler than ever and the risk of bricking the console are quite low. 

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmR575fCVGZYsqe9cgJLLA1c9hcin9srCZGk9pmzXvbSK8/image.png)

After I got done with the hacking part, I went for the games.
For this I'm using a 500GB USB hard drive, with a Y splitter cable as a single USB port on the Wii U is not capable of delivering enough power to the hard drive. I thought this was quite silly, but luckily the cable only cost me around R$10 ($2).

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdwGiXZAsW2o3s5kNwcRCaK4fAKBtY8o8dfxqj1YhYHJV/image.png)
*(The tape is to hide the annoying LED and to keep the case together, because the hard drive kept falling off @_@)*

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVD9geVBxrx3As1XZfeh9cL7wTYThNU3jhek9nxMyvkQv/image.png)

As for what games I'm playing, I'm currently going through the big name titles. Such as the 3 Zelda games (Twilight Princess HD, Wind Waker HD and Breath of the Wild), I'm playing the Mario titles, Super Smash Bros 4 (which I played a lot on the 3DS, but it's nice being able to do multiplayer now), Xenoblade Chronicles X, and some other third party titles that I've played elsewhere but was curious to paly here such as Watch Dogs, Deus Ex and Call of Duty Black Ops 2.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmW3w9AKaYwUmZqQcy53N5e9PDVuuGpqUKu51DHsgetYCp/image.png)

One thing that fascinated about that last title, Call of Duty, is how active the community still is. I've been logging in every night and there are always players playing, with no hackers in sight. I'm still getting used to play CoD with the bulky gamepad, but because of homebrew I can also use my Switch Pro Controller, and that works wonders.

Another thing that surprised me was the homebrew scene. With great games being ported to the Wii U, such as an excellent port of the new Cave Story engine, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City and even Sonic Mania and Super Mario 64 all thanks to these games' communities decompilation projects.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmZ4BMr8UonutLxNoGKtnyHsaCcjJR7dWVFdCh2Cijyi7g/image.png)

I also can't talk about the Wii U without talking retro games:
this thing works wonders for that. 
It can run all the 16-bit consoles, it can run PS1 via WiiSXRX perfectly, it can do N64, it can do Wii and even Gamecube.

Of course, it's doing Wii and Gamecube because the Wii U is essentially a super-charged Wii, which is essentially a super-charged Wii U - it's literal retrocompatibility with a console from 2001, that's just the coolest thing for me.

There's also Retroarch available, but I'm keeping that off for when I get a larger SD card, for now I'm installing retro games as their own dedicated channels in the Wii U's menu as that means they're going to USB (and also means I focus more on individual games).

There's only one caveat:
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmbeu9iU8ACASY5CEmoF7APtbBZBHCQgBT5CfG1nh73jax/image.png)

When I got this Wii U, it came with a 110v brick and charger for the gamepad. I live in a Brazilian state where we use 220v, so after lots of happenings I managed to get my hands on a UK 220v plug... the problem is, UK plugs are weird as hell and our plugs are more similar to EU plugs - so I have to use this weird power strip which adds bulk whenever I'm carrying the console around, which I like to do to play with friends.

It's fine though, if it means not using a power converter, that just makes things a lot more convenient as power converters are heavy.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmYrCo8gR2VLPRrvTTUvkGeh9yGWd1JouPyyU4ftm2LMXJ/image.png)

The last thing I want to talk about is the look and feel of the console and controller.
Having owned a Wii for a great many years I can safely say the Wii U is nothing but a good upgrade to the Wii's design. It's a lot more round and sexy to look at. It's unintrusive (if you ignore the mess of cables I currently got going on) and sits nicely on my desk.

The gamepad feels great to hold and play on, even if it takes a little getting used to. It really reminds me of the duke controller for the Xbox, but this one is a little more child-hand friendly, as my little brother is having tons of Mario fun with the gamepad. 
It looks unwieldy in pictures, but it's definitely one of the better - ergonomically speaking - controllers I've held, with my only gripe being the position of the analog sticks, where I feel Nintendo perfected it with the Switch... but then the Switch has its own can of worms (joycon drift, cough cough) and I won't get into that.

Overall I'm satisfied with this purchase and have been having tons of fun. Sure, I could've likely emulated the entire Wii U library, but playing on actual hardware is tons better.

It's a great console that was treated too poorly during its time. I can understand why it failed (bad marketing and Nintendo being a little stupid at the time), but if it had succeeded it wouldn't be the butt of so maby jokes nowadays.
It's unfortunate, but it happens. So was the Vita, so was the Dreamcast.
Now it's left for those who know to appreciate it to have fun, and I really hope the homebrew community continues supporting it because Nintendo doesn't even want to remember it exists (except when they're porting older titles to the Switch for $60).

Anyways, thanks for reading my friends!

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdc9c21YrQ9Xq2GErTW9uXc6Ssbfjnk3Fz62UxVw67tEP/hivegaming.png)