Wii Emulation in 2016

[MmBuddha]

For a long time now I've been hoping to put together a CRT + emulator setup, looking for optimal quality and (hopefully) convenience. As I can neither afford nor store a collection of original consoles, my plan is to pair, eventually, a Sony PVM/BVM with a softmodded Wii, and use it to build a collection of roms and suitable emulators focusing mainly on 8 and 16-bit era games.

I have many questions and I can't ask them all, so I've been most eager to find out the following:

1. Who here uses an original Wii as their primary emulation system? How have you found it, and is it still working well in 2016?

2. Have there been any conclusions around here as to how the Wii stacks up in terms of picture quality on CRT televisions, verses the original consoles? With such a high quality CRT on the cards, I imagine small differences matter.

3. I have a Pal Wii, along with an official RGB scart cable. Would this, along with the appropriate converter cable be the best way to go with a PVM/BVM, or should I look into using the component output?

4. I heard there are some complications when it comes to Virtual Console games outputting 240p. That some do and others don't, and some elaborate button combos are sometimes required. This all sounds quite stressful. Will roms using a homebrew emulator encur the same issue, or should they all output at 240p for a non-blurred, scanline-heavy picture just like the good old days?

5. I actually have two Pal Wii's, one original white Wii with the GameCube ports, and a later horizontal black Wii, called something along the lines of a 'Family Edition'. I've heard rumours that these output slightly higher quality signal via component. Has SHMUPS reached any conclusions on this matter, and should it concern me on my quest for optimal picture quality?

6. All options considered, old Wii and new, RGB scart or component, what do you think would be my best option for quality through a PVM/BVM?

Thank you for your time in reading this. Any contribution about any of what I've written above would be greatly appreciated.

[Shuco13]

1. Who here uses an original Wii as their primary emulation system? How have you found it, and is it still working well in 2016?

If you don't need shaders, higher resolution, netplay or other special features it's a very convenient and cheap method to use emulators.

2. Have there been any conclusions around here as to how the Wii stacks up in terms of picture quality on CRT televisions, verses the original consoles? With such a high quality CRT on the cards, I imagine small differences matter.

As long as you don't use 480p mode, which looks slightly softer, you get great results. In retroarch Wii you can set the resolution exactly to your liking/according to the system you want to emulate.

3. I have a Pal Wii, along with an official RGB scart cable. Would this, along with the appropriate converter cable be the best way to go with a PVM/BVM, or should I look into using the component output?

As long as you don't want to use 480p you should be perfectly fine. You might want to look into buying another RGB cable, I'm not sure if the official one has got good build quality.

4. I heard there are some complications when it comes to Virtual Console games outputting 240p. That some do and others don't, and some elaborate button combos are sometimes required. This all sounds quite stressful. Will roms using a homebrew emulator encur the same issue, or should they all output at 240p for a non-blurred, scanline-heavy picture just like the good old days?

That button combo is only needed once, not every time you start the game. The only downside is that your system needs to be set to 480i in order for it to work. Keep in mind that PAL games will be in 288p. Honestly, if you plan on playing more than a couple of games I'd use a homebrew emulator instead.

5. I actually have two Pal Wii's, one original white Wii with the GameCube ports, and a later horizontal black Wii, called something along the lines of a 'Family Edition'. I've heard rumours that these output slightly higher quality signal via component. Has SHMUPS reached any conclusions on this matter, and should it concern me on my quest for optimal picture quality?

There have been some subjective claims of the newer Wiis having better image quality than the old ones but nothing confirmed objectively. The newer Wiis drain less power and generate less heat. It doesn't make a huge difference though.

6. All options considered, old Wii and new, RGB scart or component, what do you think would be my best option for quality through a PVM/BVM?

I'd use the old Wii mainly if you want to use the gamecube controller sockets and don't want to bother with USB-drivers. I can't comment on anything PVM/BVM related.

[lettuce]

Just to hijack this thread, what do GBA games look like on a CRT with Retroarch Wii??

[Einzelherz]

They looked good from what I recall. Getting retroarch to work well was a pita though. Maybe it's more user friendly now, but it was cumbersome when I tried it.

There's a newer version of VBA GX, 2.3.2 that uses the retroarch core. It's not speedy, by any means, but it did have a 240p output feature that looked nice and not unlike the GBI for gameboy.

[tomwhite2004]

mgba is leaps and bounds ahead of vba gx in terms of performance, no 240p though unfortunately........

[Shuco13]

There's a mgba core in retroarch. It should be possible to use that and change resolution in RA to 240p or whatever you need.

[Brad251]

Getting retroarch to work well was a pita though. Maybe it's more user friendly now, but it was cumbersome when I tried it.

There is a slight learning curve to retroarch but once you learn the basics it is pretty easy to use. One of the best ways to do this is to just watch a youtube video on how to use retroarch. This is what I did and I was able to learn the basics pretty quickly (in under an hour).

MmBuddha, if I was you, for most games I wouldn't even bother with virtual console and just use retroarch. There are also some good homebrew emulators like fce ultra gx that can be used through the homebrew channel. For some reason, for some of the virtual console games (especially all NES games), the image is much darker than if the game was played on the original console but retroarch doesn't have this problem. The virtual console is good for Nintendo 64 games as homebrew N64 emulation is not that great, although some games run well. PS One emulation is also hit or miss on the wii. With Retroarch Wii, you can play NES, SNES, Genesis/Sega CD/SMS, Turbografx/CD, GBA, Gameboy, Arcade (CPS1/CPS2, Neo-Geo, Konami, etc.), and a few others.

As far as I can tell, running emulators through retroarch in each systems native resolution on a CRT TV is identical to the image produced by the original consoles. I use retroarch Wii on my Trinitron KV-24FS100 and it looks fantastic. I literally feel like I am playing the original console. Keep in mind that to run games in retroarch Wii at their native resolution you need to double the horizontal resolution that was native to the console emulated. For example, the NES resolution was 256 x 240, so in retroarch you would set the resolution at 512 x 240. This is because the Wii can't display a horizontal resolution as low as 256 so you have to double it but doubling the horizontal resolution does not affect the image as far as I can tell. It is maintaining that 240/288 vertical resolution that is important and you can with retroarch wii. Another example, the genesis NTSC resolution is 320 x 224, so in retroarch you set the resolution to 640 x 224. I think PAL Genesis resolution is 320 x 240 so the retroarch resolution would be 640 x 240. Just Google the PAL resolutions for the systems you want to play as I don't know all the PAL resolutions.

If any of this is unclear, just ask. I promise that this is much easier than you think.

[nateify]

I still use the Wii as my primary emulation system on my CRT. Using component the image is amazing and with double-strike modes the image is authentic as it can get. I also use official Virtual Console methods for emulation and again with 240p it is great, except for NES VC which is slightly darkened.

I don't use Retroarch at all, I can never get it to work properly, not the latest nightly nor even 0.9.9.

For NES, I use VC and FCE UX GX mod, which has very recently been updated to include Firebrandx's amazing Unsaturated-V5 palette which is extremely accurate.
For SNES I use VC and SNES 9X GX mod.
For N64 I use only VC but unfortunately it will only use 480i on a CRT.
For GB/GBC I use VBA GX 2.3.2, compatibility is great and it has a 240p mode.
For GBA I use mGBA nightlies, amazingly runs all games at full speed on Wii with astounding accuracy, unfortunately has no 240p mode, but the pixel accurate mode is faithful.
For SG-1000, SMS, Genesis, and Game Gear, I use the nightlies of Genesis Plus GX which supposedly has 100% compatibility even on the Wii. It's 240p modes are great and I disable overscan cropping even on Game Gear. I also use VC.
For Turbografx-16 I use only VC, the only TG games I care for are available there.
For Neo Geo Pocket Color and WonderSwan I use Mednafen Wii which is inactive but seems to work well for those two handhelds, and has proper 240p.
For the hell of it I also have ScummVM which looks nice in 240p and works well with Wiimote.
For Neo Geo and anything arcade I actually prefer MAME on PC since I own a modern USB arcade stick, but I do have some titles like Samurai Showdown on VC which again work in 240p.

I primarily use the classic controller but I think I might actually get raphnet adapters for using original controllers. And one day I hope to upgrade from this emulation to using original consoles with everdrives but for now the Wii is a very good and MUCH cheaper alternative to several everdrives.

[lettuce]

Hmmm, i might have to pick up a 2nd hand Wii console then (they must be super cheap now?). Is there anyway to get classic pads to work with the system like the 8BitDo pads??

[Guspaz]

Raphnet makes adapters from most classic controllers to either the GameCube (and hence original Wii) or wiimote (and hence newer Wii or Wii U).

For adapting to the GameCube controller port on a GC or Wii, he has adapters for NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis/Atari/Master System.

For adapting to the Wiimote controller port on a Wii or Wii U, he has adapters for NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, and Genesis/Master System.

He makes other adapters too, obviously: I'm interested in the adapter to use a SNES controller on a Playstation, but I'm waiting for him to do a new version that uses a moulded plastic case for the conversion board instead of heatshrink tubing that his older adapters use.

[roachie]

I've got Raphnet's SNES to GameCube port controller adapter, it's a great bit of kit. Avoid one made by Komodo that also handles NES controllers, lag city!

[Ikaruga11]

If you're going to go the emulation route (as in unofficial, not Virtual Console), you might as well use Dolphin. GameCube and Wii games can be rendered in much higher resolutions than 480p and can have nice AA applied to completely eliminate jaggies.

[Shuco13]

Or you could contribute to this thread: http://libretro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1055
...and make the desired USB-gamepad of your choice work on the Wii (or wait for somebody to do it) without additional costs.

[lettuce]

If you're going to go the emulation route (as in unofficial, not Virtual Console), you might as well use Dolphin. GameCube and Wii games can be rendered in much higher resolutions than 480p and can have nice AA applied to completely eliminate jaggies.

Why would i do that when i want the authentic look on a CRT at 240p?

[Einzelherz]

I've not used Raphnet's adapters and I'm sure they're great, but I can tell you that the combo NES/SNES wiimote adapter from Mayflash works fantastically and is slightly cheaper.

[Ikaruga11]

If you're going to go the emulation route (as in unofficial, not Virtual Console), you might as well use Dolphin. GameCube and Wii games can be rendered in much higher resolutions than 480p and can have nice AA applied to completely eliminate jaggies.

Why would i do that when i want the authentic look on a CRT at 240p?

lol

[SGGG2]

If you're going to go the emulation route (as in unofficial, not Virtual Console), you might as well use Dolphin. GameCube and Wii games can be rendered in much higher resolutions than 480p and can have nice AA applied to completely eliminate jaggies.

This thread is about using the Wii as an emulation box for retro systems, not GC/Wii games. It's of particular interest to us since it can output 240p natively.

BTW, the Retroarch team needs developers if anyone here can help.

[Brad251]

If you're going to go the emulation route (as in unofficial, not Virtual Console), you might as well use Dolphin. GameCube and Wii games can be rendered in much higher resolutions than 480p and can have nice AA applied to completely eliminate jaggies.

This thread is about using the Wii as an emulation box for retro systems, not GC/Wii games. It's of particular interest to us since it can output 240p natively.

BTW, the Retroarch team needs developers if anyone here can help.

I was going to point this out. GeneralLight's above suggestion doesn't even make any sense as Lettuce was talking about playing GBA games on a CRT TV with Retroarch Wii. Further, the idea that someone should play games on Virtual Console over Retroarch or a homebrew emulator just because Virtual Console is "official" is pointless. Virtual Console is the emulation route; you are just paying for it. Retroarch and homebrew emulators (with exception of N64) are better than Virtual Console in every way. In Retroarch you can customize your resolution, have save states, you have more controller options, you can emulate far more games and the quality of the emulation is just as good as Virtual Console.