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[Akhe]

Now Nintendo has an excuse to push Zelda U to NX.

 

[sörine]

This is great news. Game preservation lives on.

Good start.

Dolphin has set such a high bar for emulation that it's no surprise seeing it inspire an arms race among devs to nail the next one. Between this and the progress being made on 360/PS3 emulators, within 5 years there'll be some amazing stuff happening.

Then we'll get into PS4/XBone, which should be easy as they are just half baked x86 PCs!

Don't forget the great progress on Citra (3DS). Are any Vita emulators on the horizon? It has a pretty straightforward architecture (essentially a customized iPad 2) and pretty low cpu clock (444 MHz) so it shouldn't be too challenging on the scale of things?

 

[DieH@rd]

Finally, a third party developer supporting the Wii U.

 

[TheSlySoul]

Seems Wii U is easy to emulate then.
NX having Wii U backwards compatibility seems like a given.

 

[Magnus]

Lotta posts asking for 1080p screengrabs of Wii U games....don't most Wii U games run at 1080 already?

Don't at least Nintendo's 1st party offerings give us 1080?

 

[Atolm]

Lotta posts asking for 1080p screengrabs of Wii U games....don't most Wii U games run at 1080 already?

Don't at least Nintendo's 1st party offerings give us 1080?

Only Smash and WWHD are 1080p. The others are 720p.

 

[Golnei]

Only Smash and WWHD are 1080p.

And even then, the image quality is far from ideal (though still fairly good in context given the hardware). Downsampled 4K Smash Bros. would be a not-inconsiderable improvement. Imagine all the shots of the substitute doll...

 

[Dash Kappei]

Nowhere? Theres a fully working backup loader for the Wii U, kernel exploits, firmware spoofing and I have a nifty hack installed on my console that lets me use a GameCube pad as a Pro Controller (ie. It works in Wind Waker HD).

Hey Rich what do you say you put up a discussion thread for WiiU' hb?
I'd do it myself but I haven't followed the scene at all until now

 

[CHC]

Given how robust and capable to Dolphin community is I wonder if some programmers from there will try to lend a hand to polishing this up? If it's one guy's own project then it's probably not going to amount to much more than a curiousity. There's a HUGE difference between being able to boot a game and having a polished emulator that works decently with most games.

 

[LordCiego]

Given how robust and capable to Dolphin community is I wonder if some programmers from there will try to lend a hand to polishing this up? If it's one guy's own project then it's probably not going to amount to much more than a curiousity. There's a HUGE difference between being able to boot a game and having a polished emulator that works decently with most games.

Thats true but its also true that just booting a game its a huge accomplishment, better performance and accuracy just comes with time.

 

[CHC]

Thats true but its also true that just booting a game its a huge accomplishment, better performance and accuracy just comes with time.

Yeah it's definitely an accomplishment.

I hope the project opens itself up so others can help out. Like I said, it's done amazing things for Dolphin.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Since u can't legally play this without dumping it, means u still need to own a WiiU for Zelda.

good point, people will play it without a wii u tho , even here on neogaf.

 

[sörine]

Seems Wii U is easy to emulate then.
NX having Wii U backwards compatibility seems like a given.

Not likely. Nintendo's only ever included hardware based backwards compatibility before. Unless they stick a Wii U soc in the NX console I don't see it happening.

 

[KojiKnight]

Yeah it's definitely an accomplishment.

I hope the project opens itself up so others can help out. Like I said, it's done amazing things for Dolphin.

I honestly expect when it is eventually released we'll see a lot of dolphin code in it... which makes me think it should probably already be open sourced based on their licenses... but who knows, I could be wrong... it just seems like there would be a lot of reinventing the wheel otherwise.

 

[Pokemaniac]

To the gamepad streaming is the real hurdle. Nintendo went with an quite expensive solution to archive low ping rates. Using a handheld that only supports N standard wouldn't be enough.

And selling that WiiU Gamepad doesn't fix that problem because every NX console would need to ship with that expensive streaming technology just for BC.

Based on projects to get GamePad support working on PC, it seems that all the console really needs is a decent 5Ghz Wifi adapter capable of creating an access point.

Not likely. Nintendo's only ever included hardware based backwards compatibility before. Unless they stick a Wii U soc in the NX console I don't see it happening.

They've never done it before, but they are clearly big on including BC in general. When you consider that they're trying to move over to a more account-based relationship with customers, it may make sense to use emulation if it's possible to keep Wii U games (and 3DS ones for that matter) available.

At any rate, the existence of this emulator is encouraging for NX being able to emulate Wii U.

 

[Instro]

Seems Wii U is easy to emulate then.
NX having Wii U backwards compatibility seems like a given.

I assume it's because of the WiiU CPU. Unless the NX uses that same architecture for a 4th time, the NX won't have backwards compatbility through hardware.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Now... How do I rip my Wii U discs and dump my eshop purchases for this in the future?

 

[sörine]

They've never done it before, but they are clearly big on including BC in general. When you consider that they're trying to move over to a more account-based relationship with customers, it may make sense to use emulation if it's possible to keep Wii U games (and 3DS ones for that matter) available.

At any rate, the existence of this emulator is encouraging for NX being able to emulate Wii U.

I get the feeling expecting NX to emulate Wii U will be sort of like expecting 3DS to emulate Dreamcast. The performance envelope just won't be a far enough jump for that.

I feel like we'll either see speedy ports of the more desirable Wii U games (Zelda, Splatoon, Smash Bros, Mario Maker, etc) or we'll see that disc drive add-on which was implied in the recent patent filings with a Wii U SoC stuffed inside for playback.

3DS compatibility is probably more likely due to ARM legacy compatibility and card media, even in the home console NX. And even then we'll probably have to see some degree of emulation for GPU calls and whatever else since I don't see a 3DS SoC being integrated either.

 

[Tain]

We live in exciting times.

 

[B_Bech]

I feel like this project must be in its infancy, otherwise we'd have heard about it before. Pretty exciting stuff. Nintendo is always the first to get emulators. Wonder if Dolphin is planning support.

 

[Daingurse]

Goddamn, that was quick.

 

[Jeremy]

This feels immensely in danger of being shut down.

Which is a shame.

It can be shut down but with this release everyone now has access to the foundation to keep the project going forever. There's no plugging that hole back up.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I think everyone's getting a bit ahead of themselves. This will have next to zero impact on Wii U sales. It won't be fully playable for many, many years. Dolphin has taken a full decade to get to where it is now.

 

[KojiKnight]

I assume it's because of the WiiU CPU. Unless the NX uses that same architecture for a 4th time, the NX won't have backwards compatbility through hardware.

Do we actually know how (in)expensive the Wii U CPU is to produce? It may not be all that infeasible... especially for a first generation model (think GBA support dropped from later DSi models).

We also know through Microsoft's own BC exploits that a software solution IS possible with a decent enough CPU to begin with... Unless there is anyone that still clings to the Wii U CPU being stronger than the 360's.

I feel like this project must be in its infancy, otherwise we'd have heard about it before. Pretty exciting stuff. Nintendo is always the first to get emulators. Wonder if Dolphin is planning support.

An emulator in it's infancy can't boot commercial games. This has been being worked on for quite a while.

 

[AmFreak]

the power of powerpc
thank you nintendo

Eh, more like the power of the WiiU Cpu.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

(think GBA support dropped from later DSi models).

Kind of. All DS Lite's could play GBA games, and all DSi's could not. But that's just because Nintendo removed the cartridge slot to save space--the hardware to play GBA games is still there. Actually, the hardware is still there in the 3DS too--the ambassador games use it!

 

[Pokemaniac]

I honestly expect when it is eventually released we'll see a lot of dolphin code in it... which makes me think it should probably already be open sourced based on their licenses... but who knows, I could be wrong... it just seems like there would be a lot of reinventing the wheel otherwise.

Dolphin is GPLv2. If this emulator uses dolphin code, that would be a violation of the Dolphin license due to its completely closed source nature of.

Besides, Dolphin is more suited to the GameCube and Wii, where all software runs in kernal mode with full essentially unrestricted access to anything the PowerPC CPU has access to. With a Wii U emulator, it makes more sense to leverage the fact that the Wii U has a real OS and that Wii U games run in user mode. You don't have to emulate the exact Wii U hardware, but instead the abstraction of that hardware exposed by the OS.

I get the feeling expecting NX to emulate Wii U will be sort of like expecting 3DS to emulate Dreamcast. The performance envelope just won't be a far enough jump for that.

I feel like we'll either see speedy ports of the more desirable Wii U games (Zelda, Splatoon, Smash Bros, Mario Maker, etc) or we'll see that disc drive add-on which was implied in the recent patent filings with a Wii U SoC stuffed inside for playback.

3DS compatibility is probably more likely due to ARM legacy compatibility and card media, even in the home console NX. And even then we'll probably have to see some degree of emulation for GPU calls and whatever else since I don't see a 3DS SoC being integrated either.

The fact that Microsoft got 360 games running on Xbone is actually very encouraging regarding Wii U emulation. Thanks to the the Wii U's lack of threads, lower clock speed, and more standard design compared to the 360, the overhead for Wii U emulation would likely be significantly less than that of 360 emulation.

 

[Peterthumpa]

It actually boots WWHD. Unbelievable stuff for a brand new emulator.

https://youtu.be/WyE5fMa0jI8

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

It actually boots WWHD. Unbelievable stuff for a brand new emulator.

https://youtu.be/WyE5fMa0jI8

Looks better than Tony Hawk.

 

[Stet]

It actually boots WWHD. Unbelievable stuff for a brand new emulator.

https://youtu.be/WyE5fMa0jI8

lol. His "scarf" is amazing.

 

[sörine]

The fact that Microsoft got 360 games running on Xbone is actually very encouraging regarding Wii U emulation. Thanks to the the Wii U's lack of threads, lower clock speed, and more standard design compared to the 360, the overhead for Wii U emulation would likely be significantly less than that of 360 emulation.

360 emulation isn't a system wide solution, just like Xbox wasn't. Nintendo won't include backwards compatibility unless they have something that runs 99.9% of old platform games out of the box. I can see that realistically happening for 3DS but not Wii U.

 

[Dr. Buni]

That was quick.

 

[Peltz]

Eh... as always, it's a bit heart wrenching for me to see platforms emulated while they're still being manufactured. Sorry GAF, I don't share in your enthusiasm on stuff like this.

 

[Hasney]

lol. His "scarf" is amazing.

 

[scitek]

Eh... as always, it's a bit heart wrenching for me to see platforms emulated while they're still being manufactured. Sorry GAF, I don't share in your enthusiasm on stuff like this.

By the time anything is playable, it won't be.

 

[Pokemaniac]

360 emulation isn't a system wide solution, just like Xbox wasn't. Nintendo won't include backwards compatibility unless they have something that runs 99.9% of old platform games out of the box. I can see that realistically happening for 3DS but not Wii U.

Wii U would definitely be more of a challenge, but it probably isn't insurmountable. Especially if they planned ahead and got a head start.

Besides, I think the power gap between Wii U and the NX console may be bigger than most expect. Miyamoto actually complained about the Wii U's CPU strength recently, which is very uncommon. The spec bump on New 3DS was also significantly bigger than expected.

 

[sörine]

Eh... as always, it's a bit heart wrenching for me to see platforms emulated while they're still being manufactured. Sorry GAF, I don't share in your enthusiasm on stuff like this.

It's still early. By the time Wii U emulation becomes a suitable replacement for actual hardware the system will probably be dead and buried.

 

[Shari]

Finally, a third party developer supporting the Wii U.

This caught me off ward. So good.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Eh... as always, it's a bit heart wrenching for me to see platforms emulated while they're still being manufactured. Sorry GAF, I don't share in your enthusiasm on stuff like this.

Wii U will be dead next year, this emulator needs atleast 2 years to be somewhat playable .

 

[ScottSullivan]

So i could buy a retail wii u disc and play it on my pc with this?

 

[bomblord1]

Has anyone in this thread tested this to confirm it works?

 

[Pokemaniac]

So i could buy a retail wii u disc and play it on my pc with this?

You'd need a Wii U on a specific outdated firmware version in order to rip it.

 

[LordOcidax]

At least is going to work for take some screenshots at 1080p.

 

[Soulflarz]

I have no way to test this since I can't exactly rip my games.
Or rather, have no idea how to :V

 

[entremet]

Good for game preservation as the Wii U has a nice library of games.

I'm fine with original hardware right now.

 

[thomasmahler]

By the time Wii U emulation becomes a suitable replacement for actual hardware the system will probably be dead and buried.

The future is now!

I kid, I kid. I like my WiiU

Always good to see people emulating stuff though. I'd love a working 3DS emulator that allows to play stuff in 1080p at playable speeds. Yes, I know of CITRA, it's cool shit

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

This is great news. Game preservation lives on.

Before this Wii U emulator could play real games the project will be abandoned, like many other emulators before.

Its a nice technical demonstration but I doubt it will be developed long (and without a Gamepad it is useless for many games anyway).

A Wii emulator is one thing, but to emulate a multiprocessor system with special graphics hardware you need much more hardware power as PCs could deliver in the next ten years.

 

[Makai]

Woahhhh

 

[gingerbeardman]

Before this Wii U emulator could play real games the project will be abandoned, like many other emulators before.

Its a nice technical demonstration but I doubt it will be developed long (and without a Gamepad it is useless for many games anyway).

A Wii emulator is one thing, but to emulate a multiprocessor system with special graphics hardware you need much more hardware power as PCs could deliver in the next ten years.

I think you have missed the multiple videos of it playing real games.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Interested to see how this develops