If you never messed around with homebrew on the Wii, you missed out on one of the easiest, most capable soft-modding projects ever. In fact, the Wii is still the most easily modded homebrew and emulation console around. If you can find a used Wii online somewhere, they’re still worth buying because of all the great user-made software.
The Wii U still has a ways to go before it catches up to its older brother in terms of modded utility, but it’s made great advances lately. Getting homebrew up and running on your Wii U is useful for a number of purposes. You could dump and back up all of your eShop games, including your downloaded Wii games. You can also rip all of your old Gamecube games, store them on an SD card, and run them out of the Wii channel. Want to play your favorite DS games on the Wii U? Lucky for you the Wii U natively emulates DS games and, as long as you have backups of the games you own, you can run them using homebrew (with enhanced resolution, too).
For many of you, the most appealing application for homebrew will be the ability to patch or mod your Wii U games. There are several popular Smash Bros. mods out there, as well as fan patches for games like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE that will allow you to play them in their original, “unedited” glory. Just don’t be a dumbass and try to play a modded game online. Also, moving forward, you take full responsibility for your actions and for any unintended consequences or unexpected results. With that disclaimer out of the way, here’s what you need to do.
Upgrade to Wii U Firmware 5.5.1
This is the latest firmware version, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Nintendo has given zero indication that it will upgrade firmware any time soon, so the following method should work until the next huge release – maybe Breath of the Wild .
Grab yourself an SD card
Class 10 SD cards work best, and it will have to be formatted to FAT 32. Go ahead and pop that sucker in your Wii U.
Load up the browser and install your homebrew
You’ll be navigating to the following address: http://loadiine.ovh/ . Once there, you’ll be presented with a drop-down list. You’ll want to choose the second option, “Homebrew AppStore Installer.” From there you’ll be able to select the homebrew you want to install. I’m not going to tell you which programs I recommend because, sure enough, one of you will claim that we’re responsible for you bricking your Wii U. Google is your friend here, and there are many reputable, thoroughly tested, and useful applications out there.
Your homebrew is now running out of the Mii Maker channel
You can exit your homebrew apps at any time by pressing the home button. When you want to load the homebrew launcher back up, simply navigate to the Mii Maker channel on the Wii U. Turning the Wii U off shuts down the launcher, and when you next boot up, you’ll have to navigate to the homebrew URL listed above to start it up again. I’d bookmark that page in the Wii U browser for easy access.
Enjoy your brew
Enjoy! Whether you’re looking to play region-locked titles from Japan, back up your digital collection of games, or break out Elite Beat Agents for another playthrough, there’s something here for you. Have fun, and don’t do anything dumb or illegal.