How To Play Retro Games On Wii

Motion controlled gaming and nostalgia for a carefree period of our lives, usually childhood, shook hands in the form of retro games playable on a Wii console. But first things first – playing retro games on a PC.

How To Play Retro Games On PC

If titles such as Baldur’s Gate II (2000), Half-Life (1998), Diablo II (2000), Fallout II (1998), Starcraft (1998), or The Curse of Monkey Island (1997) float your boat on a river of excitement, you need to read on.

The two essential items you need to play retro games on your computer are an emulator (software that emulates old school hardware) and ROMs (virtual copies of DVD or cartridge games). Both can be downloaded from the Internet. Emulators are usually developed by an open-source community of gamers. ROMs are .iso image files of games on DVDs, or ripped copies of game cartridges by means of special hardware.

Different Emulators Of Different Platforms

Emulators have been developed for each major gaming platform. The most common are Nestopia (Nintendo Entertainment System), Snes9x (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), Project64 (Nintendo 64), Kega Fusion (Sega Genesis), VBA-M (Game Boy), DeSmuME (Nintendo DS), PCSX-Reloaded (PlayStation), and PCSX2 (PlayStation 2).

The list above is subject to change since there is constant tinkering in the world of modding. However, if you are looking for a “universal” emulator, RetroArch is your best find, but you should know it requires some skill and patience to set up. For the Mac operating system, users are kindly advised to use OpenEmu.

Here is what you need to do to play a retro game using an emulator. It is pretty straightforward, as you’ll see. Download and install the emulator; open it and upload your ROM files. Select a game and start playing.

How To Play SNES Games On Wii

Wii is a game console released in 2006 by Nintendo. The most significant detail that made it different from everything else in its category was motion-controlled gaming. Following its success, the Wii mini was launched in 2013 and, unlike its predecessor, did not connect to the Internet.

SNES stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a home console launched by Nintendo in the early 1990s. It follows NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), released in 1983.

As shown above, SNES and Wii seem to be worlds apart, at least when it comes to the release dates and the inherent technology. On that note, it may seem hard to imagine the two morphed into one awesome gaming experience that is available today. Good news! No need to imagine it. The SNES & Wii mix is here, and below are all the details on how you can benefit from it.

Playing SNES games on your Wii is not a daunting process if you’re worried about that. It can be accomplished by skilled and novice users alike.

First, make sure you have all the necessary items. You will need a modded Wii unit that can run homebrew software, a Wii controller or a GameCube, the SNE9x GX for SNES emulator, and the ROM versions of the games you want to play.

Install the Homebrew browser if you don’t have it. All this work would result in nothing if you lack ROMs, so visit EmuParadise, CoolROM, or DopeROMs. The next step is downloading and installing the emulator. Insert your Wii’s SD card into your computer. Extract the zipped folders directly to the root of the SD card. Go to the snex9xgx folder on the card and put your ROMs in the ‘roms’ directory. Eject the card and insert it back into your Wii. Launch the SNES9x GX from the Homebrew menu and get familiar with the sub-menus: Saving & Loading, Menu, and Network. The first lets you change the default folders for saved games and ROMs; Menu makes it possible for you to tinker with the menu’s appearance and functions; Network gives you the option of loading ROMs outside of those stored on your SD card, from network shares.

While you play, you can press the Home button on your Wii controller or, if you are using a GameCube, press Left on its right analogue control stick. It will allow you to navigate the following options: Save, Load, Game Settings, Reset, and Main Menu.

SNES Games Playable On Wii

Here is a list of the most popular SNES games you can play on your Wii, along with the original release year: Donkey Kong Country (1994), Kirby Super Star (1996), Secret of Mana (1993), Super Metroid (1994), Castlevania: Dracula X (1995), Super Castlevania (1991), Doom (1995), Dragon Ball Z (1993), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991), Mortal Kombat 2 (1993), Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Super Mario All-Stars (1993), Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (1995).

How To Play Old Nintendo Games On PC

What about old Nintendo games (NES) that you can play on your computer? Since we’re talking pre-SNES, you will need ROMs in the form of .NES, .UNIF, .FDS, .NSF files. The most commonly used emulator to open these files is Nestopia, listed above.

Nestopia runs on Windows 11 or older (32-bit, 64-bit). It requires DirectX 9.0c. Download the emulator’s zipped files from the Internet in a new folder. Create a new folder within this one and add your ROMs; make sure they are unzipped. You are almost ready to play. Launch the emulator and open a game file. You can press F5 to save a game and F9 to load a saved one.

Are you wondering what games are available on the Internet as ROMs for your emulator? Here is a selection to give you a taste of what you can find: Adventure Island (1986), Castlevania (1986), Final Fantasy (1987), The Legend of Zelda (1986), Marble Madness (1984), Mario Bros (1983), Metroid (1986), Super Mario Bros (1985), TM Ninja Turtles (1990), Tetris (1984).

There are so many options for you to choose from as far as retro games are concerned that all you need is the time to invest in playing!