Does anyone even bother with the Wii U these days?

B0bbyEwing

I'm looking at pulling the trigger on a Switch 2.

We have a Wii U in great condition. Not really a ton of games but a handful as for the most part Mario Kart is what got absolutely hammered.

I see listings but that doesn't mean they sell well.

Unsure whether to bother trying it & if so then some sort of platform like CEX or similar or maybe the dreaded cesspit that is Facebook Marketplace with all the timewasters that lurk on there.

Just for the record, I would 100% not be selling it via post. That's my rule with electronic devices - collection only. I simply don't trust con artists.

magicmoneyportaloo

I'm nostalgic for when I would have advocated eBay.

Have you considered homebrew? There'd be more stuff you could do with it then (especially if you were okay with sailing the high seas).

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82045297#Comment_82045297

The only home brewing I'm familiar with is probably not what you're referring to.

I also feel we've got crossed wires. I get the impression you think I'm wanting to buy a Wii U? If so then I'm not. I'll have one to offload. I just don't know if they sell these days with them being as old as they are.

PRAISETHESUN

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82045363#Comment_82045363

He's suggesting that you could perform some sort of jailbreak to open up the Wii U software on your device, allowing you to do a lot more with it instead of limiting it to just playing Wii U games - like installing emulators for other platforms, etc. Don't really know much about it myself, but there is a community for it.

I also don't really know how well they sell, but I'd personally say use CEX as a last result as they will absolutely shaft you on the trade in price.

magicmoneyportaloo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82045391#Comment_82045391

Thanks for explaining my post before I got back to the computer. 😎

OP: If you are selling, It's either get little from CEX but at least there is no risk of return, or marketplaces where you get a bit more but you take the risk of problems. Hence my suggestion of trying to revive the console, but if you don't want to do that, that is of course fine. I guess I'm interpreting your "Is it worth bothering selling" question and answering "No". Which is the opinion of a guy with an ironic username on a money saving forum.

B0bbyEwing

Regards CEX: Yeah that was my concern with places like that. I had a quick scan & it seemed to be about £100 for the console which surprised me it'd be that much.

Mine is pristine really. I look after all my stuff & beyond perhaps dust scratches you'll see with a magnifying glass there's nothing wrong with it. It's not like even the buttons have worn because they haven't. So to me it's whatever the top grade is, A maybe. But it wouldn't surprise me if places like that said - we're grading it a C because we saw a fingerprint that we could easily wipe off.

Ahh sorry I wasn't aware you were talking about turning it in to an emulator of sorts. Yeah I've zero issues with that. Well, zero issues beyond knowing how to do it that is. Sailing the seas doesn't rock my moral compass any.

But on that note I thought the Switch 2 could get a load of old retro games from various old consoles? I'm sure I read that last night. Maybe that's only on the online subscription thing but I'd be doing that anyway if I got a Switch 2.

So on that note, would turning the Wii U in to an emulator even gain anything? If the Switch 2 plays old titles anyway.

magicmoneyportaloo

You can pay a subscription to access certain older games on the Switch 2 (and I believe Switch as well). You'd have more choice with a homebrewed Wii U (and er it would cost less).

Here's a homebrew guide if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGoTwhxNv1s

B0bbyEwing

Thinking about this more now & you may well have saved me £450.

I'm all too aware of being here before. I got the PS4 & Wii U when we moved in here.

The PS4 got used as a Blu ray player more than anything. In the end I sold it. It's all well & good when off work but when at work I just didn't really have the time. Finish work, by the time you've had tea, washed the pots, had a shower then unless you want to be a zombie the next day at work by staying up late to do stuff that only gave me about 1hr of free time Mon-Fri. I work alternate Saturdays so basically over a fortnight there wasn't really a whole lot of time to do anything of importance outside of things that had to be done regardless.

The WiiU got used more certainly but not massively so.

So I'm not sure whether a Switch 2 would get used enough 10yrs later to warrant the outlay.

So that WiiU mod may well tick the boxes.

I am guessing doing that there's no online play to play vs other people? So you're just playing games yourself like the old days.

If so then it's not a problem. Just handy to know. I only ever really played Mario Kart online anyway.

I've tried emulators before with RetroArch, a Nvidia Shield & a PS4 controller & it was decent but it was also a bit of a ballache setting up & then having storage space on hard drives.

Thats a long winded way of saying thanks ill be looking more in to this.

magicmoneyportaloo

So the Wii U online services are turned off, there's a community service called Pretendo while intends to restore online play, for full functionality you need the homebrew - but Pretendo isn't finished yet.

Not a problem! 😀

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82047149#Comment_82047149

Yep I've been looking more & more in to this & I think it's something I'll be doing.

I've got as far as getting the gist of how to install the software on the console but getting to the stage where you have various games including games from other Nintendo consoles on the Wii U is where I'm going to need to dig more because for obvious reasons this doesn't seem to be getting discussed too much out in the open.

What I don't want to do is go through the faff of installing the software on the WiiU ready to play games & then be unable to get games on there - so a total waste of time.

A bit like the whole iptv thing. Everyone knows someone with a great setup, or they have a great non buffer setup themselves but when you ask about it because you're fed up of your £50/yr setup buffering at busy times then everyone is quiet. Makes me wonder how people find stuff out in the first place.

magicmoneyportaloo

If you set up the homebrew saving the games onto isn't too hard for Wii U and Wii games you already own. Otherwise, I couldn't possibly comment.