Random: Wii U Emulation On Valve's Steam Deck Supports Gyro Controls

Please Nintendo…….just port your games, I would buy them, ai really would.

@Snatcher like everyone would, but they are so slow to catch on and greedy with their ips...which is understandable because of big business but honestly at this point Nintendo should have like a steam like service where I can buy a game once and play it on multiple platforms..so I don't have to buy mario 3 on every single system again and again, they have the ability and library to support that.. until then i will emulate the crap outta their games until they give me a fair way to access legacy content... I love being able to take breath of the wild from my wii u with save data and play it on my PC...if Nintendo wont do it others will figure out a way which has been proven time and time again

@ParadoxFawkes I'd rather they just let me download the legacy games that I want so that I have them permanently rather than having to pay a subscription to play them. Or better yet just release special physical editions of legacy content on newer consoles. At least then there's a chance what you've bought will retain its value.

All the emulation I'm seeing for the steam deck makes me want one myself.

I'm doing mostly GCN games and one Wii game right now. (Rhythm Heaven Fever, lol)

...Paper Mario TTYD has issues...

Yeah, I honestly don't get why emulation is "superior"...I'd rather just buy the game normally and not have to put up with issues like stuttering/graphical bugs and stuff.

I'm guessing Wind Waker and maybe even Kirby Air Ride is going to give me problems. Ugh, at least Rhythm Heaven Fever and Pikmin 2 runs fine.

Wish Nintendo would do like they did with the Cube version of Wind Waker and make Limited Editions with older versions of their games released with them
I still have my copy of Wind Waker with Ocarina of Time bundled together.
Release Botw2 with a Limited Edition that has Wind Waker or Twilight Princess bundled in.
I'd throw money at it.

Someone is going to get a lawsuit real soon… lol

im not experienced with optimizing emulation but the customization for the best performance is probably what makes it so appealing. just comes down to if you wanna tinker with stuff like that or pay for official releases down the line instead

I can understand for new comers that would like to have access tonten older games. But is there such large request?
For the others that have played the games do you guys ditch your old consoles???

Woooooah... My interest in steamdeck just piqued massively! Any idea if dual screen Drastic with touch controls has been implemented??

@Joeynator3000 I agree, even N64 emulation still has issues these days, more modern systems than that are all over the place in terms of accuracy and compatibility. I’d much rather just turn an original system on and play the game than faffing around with settings to get a game to more or less run in an emulator.

I am literally preparing a new rig just so I can run cemu and find a copy of XCX to play on it since there is a high likelihood that they won't port it to the switch or even the next system. I've made my peace. Who knows, with how expensive PC parts can be, some news may arrive during the build process.

That's awesome. I kinda like what i see about this system.
But with a PS5, a Switch OLED and a Windows 11 Notebook, I think I don't really need it.
And Switch already is something like the best mobile system

But this is basically the same as having a wii u!!!

Of course I forgot!! this is the main reason that everyone does this, so they don't have to pay for the games.

I can vouch for GC emulation, playing R Racing and Star fox assualt again and they are beautiful games at x2 resolution, also Burnout 2 is still ridiculous fun. Makes my GCHD adapter for my GC a little pointless now as my USB C dock can take the Wii U GC controller adapter and plonk the image on my monitor. 4 player split screen at 60fps.

Nintendo president Furukawa said he grew up playing the Famicom, I interpreted as a hint he would be very open to give fans access to Nintendo’s library of retro games. Instead we get slow drip of Expansion Pak subscription that gives one N64 game a month that we also got on the virtual console.

It can emulate all of Nintendo's consoles

@FargusPelagius
Does it have save states?

I wish nintendo would release some kind of clip on second screen attachment for the switch to play Ds and 3DS games on. Even ds on wii u VC wasn't great

@Don
it feels like they are very hesitant with letting players buy their legacy games, there's the whole NSO games being tied to a service thing but also when they did offer games to buy like that fire emblem game or 3d all stars they ended up delisting them from the eshop within a few months, plus in the case of fire emblem it was the only official english release of that game and i dont think it had a physical version unlike 3d all stars.

I don't think the Steam Deck really took off which isn't surprising considering it's appearance, but it's cool that this is possible on it

I don't picture myself emulating 3DS on Steamdeck, but good news for Wii U emulation, I suppose.

It's all well and good emulating Wii U , 3DS, I have on my mini pc build. But 3DS is so unique, with the dual screen and the 3d. Emulating is not the same. I will stick with the original hardware for these systems thanks.

Just for the sake of saying it, something that everyone already knows, emulation is not illegal; for the people happy that the guy showing Nintendo games played on other platform is going to be sued by Nintendo — no, he wont, because Nintendo would not, and did not, have any single legal precedent that makes emulation illegal. Nintendo is going instead to do what it’s always doing: bullying the social media to force them close accounts/erase content, because social media creators are too small to cover the costs of an eventual legal showdown over their right to show Nintendo content played on other consoles.

Goes without saying that everything shown in these videos are legally own/purchased etc.

Tl;dr When comes to emulation, Nintendo are the bullies of the internet, not gatekeepers of the law. Nintendo falsely claims that we only have the right to play the games on the platforms where said games were made originally for. That is false. Once we legally purchased the games we ca do whatever the bunny we want to do with them.

Kind regards!

Edit — spelling

I've been playing around with 3DS injections and display settings to get the Castlevania games running on the Wii U with the lower screen on the TV and upper (map) on the Gamepad. It works, and the games do look nice on a big display. But really, it's still better to play on the original hardware and it's surely the same on the Steam deck. Wii U emulation is cute, but also the Wii U already exists and I'd much rather hold the gamepad / most comfortable controller ever made. But I guess if you don't care about accuracy it's fine. I haven't used my deck for emulation and I'd rather use original hardware or one of my analogue consoles vs tinkering around with emulators for an experience that will always be less than the original.

If Nintendo makes the Switch 2 capable of tv out w/o the dock - the dock always seemed like a crime against gaming to me, as all the faux docks and usb-c tablets show - then this becomes less of an issue. Preferably offering dual screen but I'd be happy with just an HDMI port.

Had my steam deck for about two weeks and the system is just great. Yes you have to tweak at first and find out bits and bats but the possibilities are endless on this device

Meh. I’m still glad I cancelled my Steam Deck reservation. I’m moving onto the Win Max 2, I can play Steam on Windows 11 there.

@prismt this one seems to address the issue. Also, it has a 60% keyboard and trackpad, so I don’t need to use the controller.

Best part, you can add another M.2 drive too with a user dedicated slot. Plus, standard and micro SD. It runs on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture, or you can buy the Intel version.

A couple of my older consoles (Wii/GCN & PS3/2) have gone in the loft since my Steam Deck arrived. It’s really capable and I’m happy emulating stuff I own already rather than the Nintendo model of re buying rereleases when we are blessed with them.

This reminds me of the meme of the guy who buys a high end PC, only to en up playing on it Super Mario Bros 3 hahahaha. It's cheaper to get a Wii U, and mod it.

@Edu23XWiiU But you can buy more than 120.000 games on Steam Store.....all generations...since 90s till today, from Sonic CD...Mega Race.. to Elden Ring ... God of War, (cheaper prices and play anywhere..on steam deck, pc, laptop, tv...smartphone..etc...forever)! Not only emulators! You don´t need to buy the same game again forever.....on Nintendo systems you buy the same game again...again...and again each new generation...

Now people can still have a chance to play Xenoblade Chronicles X!

Coincidentally, the Wii U can emulate an NVIDIA Shield so you can can stream Steam games to it.

@Mgalens
It’s unfortunate, I really hope Nintendo will change its mind on their retro games distribution. At least give Switch owners the option to buy the games offered on the NSO subscription and be able to carry them over to their next console without an upgrade fee. At this point, I would be happy if they add GBA and Gamecube to Expansion Pak subscription.

@Rykdrew That could be said about any system ever made as you can emulated on any console as long as they are powerful enough to run the emulator from it.

@nukatha that's very interesting as I was trying to log into my Nvidia account on Wii U a while back to get it to just stream the games. the Wii U has everything technologically to do it.
I originally thought that was how Nintendo was going to be comparable with the power gap with PS4 pro and X1X. Nintendo could have released some new hardware comparable and have the Wii U use a streaming service subscription so it technically didn't fall behind. Integrate Miiverse into that streaming service and it would have been it's own social media platform.
Oh what might have been.

@Don aye I believe you can set up save states, but it requires a little more tinkering than I have currently done. It emulates a memory card just fine and I am that used to that era of gaming, simply saving to the memory card seems natural, not like this cloud malarkey that occasionally forgets what device you were on (X1 and Series S, i am starring at you) if you aren't connected to the internet. In fact that's my main annoyance with modern gaming, the nearly essential requirement to be online, even in single player. Barmey
Edit: oh the joy of having an actual portable GC is not lost on me, it's ridiculous that Nintendo didn't put some GC games directly on Switch, which ironically some other publishers have already (SW Jedi Knight kind of). Literally upressing those old games and they still hold up. They could have done a whole budget Nintendo selects range of older titles running on Switch.

@Serpenterror But it's not every PORTABLE console that can play all the emulators, including Switch + modern games like Elden Ring, Forza Horizon 5..etc... I have GPD Max in addition to Steam Deck, and Steam Deck is much better, especially in format and comfort when playing. Playing fight games in GPD Win is very uncomfortable. On Steam deck is perfect, for example. The difference is to be all of this ...on the go!

Yup, an amazing device to have. I LOVE mine!

@Serpenterror no, that's actually not correct

@progx yeah, you MIGHT regret that. Especially since you will be able to resell them for way more in later years since in the first model. 😀

@Deviant-Dork regret what...? The Steam Deck and Win Max are both portable PCs. You're assuming the Steam Deck will be treated the same as a console? Yet, GPD and Aya Neo are all running RDNA 2 base PC architecture in their new models. What makes a handheld Linux PC special? Once their hardware is out of date, they're not valuable. Since Gabe wants me to treat the Deck like a PC and not a console. Also, I'm waiting until Valve releases SteamOS for it, which should be end of the year or 2023.

GPD and OneXPlayer are both going to be supporting SteamOS in official capacity from Valve, so in my eyes, there is no reason to buy the Deck.

The ability to run everything on the go in Windows, especially with the input of the Win Max 2, will benefit my primary reason to PC games: simulation builder games (Cities Skylines, Tropico 6 and Railway Empire). The keyboard and trackpad are very needed for those games.

@progx With the price of GPD Max and GPD Max 2 ($999 to $1299), you can buy 3 Steam Decks and 4 Nintendo Switch OLED!

I'm going to put my GPD Max up for sale as I haven't played on it since the Steam Deck arrived. With the value, I'll get another Steam Deck, for my wife to play with me on the go with comfort....and there will still be leftovers. It´s impossible to me play any fighting game properly on my GPD Max...the buttons are so uncomfortable. Me and her loves to play fighting games...this kind of game is 80-90% our time playing games. On Steam Deck ..play Tekken 7...Soulcalibur, Guilty Gear, Blazblue...etc is fantastic on the go...so comfortable! I know i´ll play future, next generation Tekken 8 on the Steam Deck...i don´t play single player games....Steam Deck and Switch are fantastic for multiplayer/competition games!

When she has her Steam Deck, we´ll play Magic the Gathering each other...its a dream! Play on the go this card game is incredible. I have 3500+ physical Magic the Gathering cards (since mirage, ice age, elisium, visions.....etc..)..and play digital multiplayer on the go....really....its amazing for me!

@IOI nope. would just lose like any other lawsuit involving emulation. If this was about roms sure. Under the law, lawyers will throw their hands up and tell Nintendo they are wasting money.

@progx regret not buying a Steam product. My deck has Windows. It's ok to regret things. I definitely wouldn't do what you are planning on doing. And SteamOS is already out for other devices. You just might not know done things about the current situation.

@Deviant-Dork yeah... regretting not buying a handheld that is PC, don't think so. And good for you on Windows, I'll stick to a keyboard, trackpad and supported user upgradeable components. Whereas Valve will void your warranty if you open up the unit.

SteamOS 3 isn't available officially from Valve for anything beyond the Steam Deck. Previous versions are still available. Unofficially, as long as you're running ALL (and certain) AMD hardware, you can run it through community shares and open source file dumps. Not quite sure what you're hinting at... you should think through the things you say.

For the record, the only PC I regret not buying was an iMac G5.

@Rykdrew good for you. I don't find the Deck amazing. I've been a Steam user since 2006, it lost appeal to me very quickly. Once the Win Max 2 was released with keyboard and trackpad, I moved over to that one. On my Ryzen 5 3600 machine with RTX 3060, I mainly play games like Cities Skylines, Tropico 6 and Railway Empire. For all those other experiences, I use my Switch and Xbox Series X.

Another thing on cost, in order to have a Steam Deck on par with Win Max 2, you're easily upwards to the price point of the unit. I don't need a Dock, really don't need to upgrade the storage since it comes in at 1TB and tons of PC I/O on the unit itself (USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, SD/microSD, etc). The investment in the Deck blows my Switch OLED out of the water, puts it right up there with a $999 Win Max 2 machine.

To each their own, I don't need any dongles floating around aside for my late 2018 Mac mini and iPad Air 5.

@progx I only use Steam Deck on the Go...or when i wanna use the cinema room tv to play pc games(far from pc...not the best way to play it....so Xbox is the best here). My main system is 2 gamer pcs total $21,000 and i´m buying a third pc gamer to play specifically racing games (with cockpit....i´m making a better gamer room here).

I prefer my Steam deck than my GPD Max because the comfort. And today i don´t see a good cost x benefit in Gpd Max.

I don´t have problem in spend a lot of money since i see a good cost vs benefit to me.

I'm patient, I can expect promotions on certain games...I don't play with money. I take my wallet very seriously, but when I want to do something premium, I do it. That´s because i bought GPD Max.

For example, I'm thinking of putting a Taiko no Tatsujin Professional Arcade in the gamer room . I know it makes my friends crazy to play....and my family will play a lot....I know its as expensive as my gamer pc (almost...)....but.... this arcade is beaultiful...The aesthetics will look beautiful in the gamer room, almost a decoration item.

A store wanted to sell me a statue (Almost 2 meters high) of the Dragon Nikol Bolas (Magic the Gathering)... for the same price... but the Dragon, despite being beautiful... stays static in place, while Taiko is playable (and we are addicted to it). My wife is Japanese and her family, when visiting us, freak out about this "sport").

So its not a problem GPD Max costs 3 Steam Decks. I prefer Steam Deck, because on the go, Steam Deck is more comfortable to play games i like! And 3 times cheaper. Today GPD Max is poor cost x benefit...so i´ll sell and help in the third gamer pc and another Steam Deck (my wife´s).

We are probably players with different profiles and who see different values in the same products.

@Roibeard64 if anything it could be like nes-n64 controllers but easier to buy

@Rykdrew You can also buy games across all generations on Switch. My point was that people only get a high end machine to emulate past consoles hahahaha, instead of playing modern games on it.

@Snatcher So true. I have a Steam Deck (as well as every Nintendo console made) and would rather play these officially on Switch despite the few steps it would take to play them on the Deck. I feel I'm not alone in preferring official means over other methods when available.

Nintendo could re-release Star Fox Zero on Switch without the second screen and optional gyro controls and it would sell way better than it did on Wii U. I hated playing that game as it forced you to look down at the Wii U GamePad and it's 480p screen when you have beautiful HD visuals on your TV they didn't want you to watch.

Must be nice. I'd just emulate Splatoon 3 for the single player but gyro only works there with a steam controller, which I lack.

Imagine playing Splatoon without gyro.. shudders

@Rykdrew again... good for you. You've completely missed the mark on "needs case" for PC games. It's Cities Skylines, Tropico 6 and Railway Empire. Have you heard of them? Heavily keyboard and mouse. Played Tropico 5 on my Xbox with a controller... it was awful. I'd expect the Deck to be the SAME experience for me.

Another thing to chew on. For my former reservation, 256GB Deck, I already dropped money on a 1TB micro SD card (bought a second one for my Switch) via Western Digital. It's an additional $158 plus $529. Was going to buy a 1TB 2230 hard drive and upgrade it. Another $180 added to the pool. Now, buying a dock, which was about $50. A portable keyboard and mouse for travel, which we'll say was another $70 (total). Total investment places me shy of $999. Why wouldn't I go for a device that has everything I need out of the box? The Win Max 2 (not the original), has 1TB of storage space, plus an optional M.2 slot for the user to add storage. It's clearly marked. It has a keyboard and trackpad, plus additional USB ports and HDMI. No dock required (at all).

Another thing... why would you play a game while watching a movie? I'd be watching the movie rather than playing a game. If I just want to play a game... then I'll just try off the TV and play my game. To each their own, but it's a waste of energy and wear on your TV (or projector in your case).

Again, you didn't read anything I posted on MY use case. You believe your use case works for me. Whereas I have a Switch, Xbox Series X (and S) and PS5 to fill in those general action, adventure, sports and other titles that I don't want cluttering my Ryzen 5 machine. My Mac mini is my productivity rig.

Nintendo needs to get it together because RDNA 3 is about to come out at 4nm and it is going to put the Switch to shame.

I'm telling people now the announcement of the next Gen. Nintendo system is coming they've been working on something with nvidia for like 4 years and it wasn't any of the current models on the market.

@jrt87 I can not agree more. Steam Deck is everything I wanted from a Switch Pro/2 and more. I love my Nintendo - been with them since the mid-80s but if I have a choice to buy the same game for the same money (or often cheaper) and get to play that not only on the deck but on my current computer or any future computer... Its a better deal. Yes I will stay for the big N IPs but nothing else. And when they come out with a new system I am going to think real hard if its worth it. That equation will depend on how mobile my games are - will they be stuck on the aged hardware I bought it on or will they come up with something like a steam library.

@Jokerwolf If I know Nintendo, with their aged tech philosophy - it will be out of date at announcement. Will launch with BOTW 2 and we will go bananas... for a while. To give this now system legs they need to invest heavily in their digital store and make all their games available and continue to be available for future hardware and for the love of god allow us to just own the games.

@Darknilious Hopefully they take a note from Sony and Microsoft and let your stuff carry forward next generation. If not it just gives me another reason to hack the next system too.

This is called piracy... Nintendo life is all about piracy these days it seems like.

@Rykdrew But why stop there? If you're willing to pirate Switch games, might as well pirate Elden Ring, God of War, etc. People act like Nintendo is so special because they have roms, but, pirating Elden Ring isn't more difficult or morally questionable. Just seems like a weird way to do things, like either pirate or don't, which platform it's on shouldn't make any difference.

@Edu23XWiiU You can't buy Spider-man, God of War, and all the PlayStation exclusives that are coming to PC on Switch, nor can you buy Halo, Gears, Forza, and all the Xbox exclusives that are coming day 1 to PC on Switch - but you can on Steam Deck. Nor can you buy Elden Ring, the Yakuza series, Final Fantasy VII Remake, DMC5, Monster Hunter World, GTAV, Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk, Sekiro, RE Village, Calisto Protocol, and literally thousands of past and present AAA 3rd party games on Switch - but you can on Steam Deck. You can't buy/get WreckFest, VR Chat, Vampire Survivors, and literally thousands of Indie or fan games on Switch - but you can on Steam Deck.

And as for emulation, you can't do Xbox, Xbox 360 and PS3 emulation on Switch, but can on Steam Deck. PS2 is now possible on Switch, but it's very early. And Switch / Switch Online only has access to a small number of NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii, Wii U games; there are thousands of games that will never come, due to licensing or because they are too niche, etc, and you can play all of those games on Steam Deck.

The only way you could get access to these games on Switch is by hacking the system, and trying to get a cloud service, like Geforce Now, working, but you'd be voiding your warranty, putting your system's serial no. and associated Nintendo ID at risk of being banned, and you'd be at the mercy of cloud gaming, and you'd still not get access to Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii U and PS3 emulation. When you start looking at all the things the Steam Deck is capable of, you can't deny that it's an amazing value for money.

@yuwarite no it's not, better to get an actual PC, if you want to emulate whatever the hell you want.

@Edu23XWiiU Sure, but a Steam Deck is much more affordable and it's portable, and there's less friction between turning it on and just playing compared to a PC.

You can put the Deck to sleep and resume where you left off, in ways that a traditional PC or laptop struggles with. Deck is becoming increasingly popular with older gamers and parents, who can only play for short sessions a day.

If you're hoping Steam Deck and handheld PC's will just go away, I'm sorry but that's just never going to happen. The fact of the matter is Steam Deck is incredibly popular (especially on social media) and it's selling very well right now.

Deck / handheld PC's are here to stay, and are just going to continually keep selling better and better every year. Nintendo's hold over the handheld industry is over; people have other options now.

@yuwarite "incredibly popular", yet most PC users prefer to buy a normal PC. Pretty expensive jsut for emulation. Is cheaper to buy a Wii U, and mod it.

@Edu23XWiiU Firstly, the Steam Deck has literally only been out for about 6 months... So duh, of course it's not going to suddenly eclipse the lifetime sales of the 100's of millions of gaming PC's out there.

Secondly, Steam Deck has been the no.1 global top seller on Steam for the past 5 months. So yes, it's objectively very popular and selling well.

And a base price of £350 is not what I would call "pretty expensive", considering that's cheaper than a mid range smartphone, which couldn't do anywhere near the same level of emulation that the Steam Deck can.

For £350 (and ~£60 for a 512 GB micro SD), you are getting an amazing value for money on the base Steam Deck. With free online gaming, regular Steam sales and weekly free games on EGS, you are getting a ton of value for money that you can't get from any other console.

"Is cheaper to buy a Wii U, and mod it"

Your argument fails because no one is buying a Steam Deck purely for the sake of Wii U emulation. The Steam Deck can do thousands of things (that a Wii U or Switch can't), emulating Wii U is simply just another one of the cool things it can do.

The point of this article is simply just to show how cool Wii U emulation is on the Steam Deck, and how close it comes to the real thing, because of how the shape and gyro controls of the Steam Deck greatly resemble the Wii U gamepad.

Also, since you keep saying the Steam Deck isn't good for emulation, this is what Retro Game Corps, an emulation YouTuber, who knows a hell of a lot more about emuation than you, has to say about Steam Deck:

"Long story short, [Steam Deck] is easily the best emulation handheld you can get, in terms of price to performance.

The fact that this thing can play just about everything at this $400+ price point is just kind of crazy."

"Across the board, Wii U is one of my favourite systems to emulate on the Steam Deck."

"Across the board, every Wii U game I threw at it was just perfect."

"BotW runs better [on the Steam Deck] than it does natively on the Switch, and definitely better than it does on the Wii U"

"When it comes to power to performance, there's nothing that compares to the Steam Deck when it comes to emulation"