The Best Wii U Emulator For PC 2024

Searching for the best Wii U emulator? You’ve found the right article because we’ll be breaking down each of the best options for emulating the console. Take your gaming up a notch and explore the best Wii U emulators that will let you play your favorite games like New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe and Wind Waker HD on your Windows PC.

Emulating the console is awesome because it allows you to experience enhanced visuals, smoother performance, and gives you more freedom to play how you want. Without further ado, let’s get to it!

Short Summary

• Discover the best Wii U emulators.
• Learn how to improve the emulator’s graphics, understand GamePad support, and upscaling your games to 4K resolution with emulation.
• Understand the the legality of downloading ROMs for Wii U emulation.

What Is The Best Wii U Emulator of 2023?

There are two main Wii U emulators available. They both can be used to emulate the Nintendo Wii and Wii U console. Both have built in compatibility with the Wii U GamePad as well.

Cemu is the more popular emulator and typically considered the main option available when it comes to running Wii U games on Windows PC. Cemu has the ability to upscale games to 4K while the Decaf emulator has been the less popular open-source alternative.

Technically, Cemu is now also open source, but it didn’t always used to be. The developer somewhat recently made a post to the /r/cemu subreddit announcing that it would be going open source.

Whether you’re looking to play classic games like Hyrule Warriors or just enjoy all sorts of popular Wii and Wii u games, one of the two options below will be exactly what you need.

1. Cemu: The Popular Wii U Emulator

• Price: Free
• Platform: Windows
• Official website

The Cemu emulator is the go to choice for most gamers looking to emulate Wii U games. Cemu has a dedicated team of developers who regularly release updates for the software and it has a pretty solid compatibility list of games. It has tons of awesome features like 4K upscaling and GamePad support.

Along with GamePad support, Cemu also supports the Pro Controller and Classic Controller. Wiimotes can also be used and are natively supported. If you wish, you can opt to use a keyboard or a third party USB controller. For mouse controls, GamePad touch input can be controller using the left mouse button click. Mouse gyro controls are a bit more limited but also can be controller using the right mouse button.

Cemu also uses something called shader cache files which allow users to install pre-compiled caches to improve the performance of games. Be sure to check out our guide for how to setup Cemu shader cache.

The GamePad can be displayed by holding down the Tab key or by simply mapping it to another controller button. You can also toggle between gameplay and the GamePad by pressing Ctrl + Tab or just add the GamePad display to a second window entirely.

Cemu also supports most of the Wii U’s online functionality although it should be mentioned that in order to connect to actual official Nintendo servers, players will need to dump some system files from their actual Wii U console to their PC.

Recommended system requirements for running Cemu are as follows:

• Windows 7 or above
• OpenGL 4.5 or Vulkan 1.1
• 4GB RAM at a minimum, but at least 8GB preferred
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 X64 Redistributable
• Graphics card NVIDIA GPU or AMD GPU (Intel GPU has limited support)

Cemu is a great Wii U emulator and is the best one you can install. Over 52% of the Wii U’s library runs in either a perfect or playable state, with an additional nearly 20% still runnable, but might have some slight glitches here and there.

Be sure to check out this Cemu setup guide for installing the Wii U emulator.

2. Decaf: The Alternative Emulator

• Price: Free
• Platform: Windows and Linux
• Official Github

For a period of time, the Decaf Wii U emulator was the only open source option. Since then, Cemu has also become open source, leaving Decaf somewhat in the proverbial dust. In terms of user experience and the list of compatible titles available for play, Cemu absolutely has Decaf beat. Even though Decaf is quite a ways away from Cemu when it comes to development progress, the one upside to Decaf is its ability to run some games at full speed without needing powerful hardware specs.

Decaf is still very much a work in progress and that can be seen from its website (or lack thereof) and its Github repository. We’d only really recommend going for Decaf over Cemu if you feel like getting your hands dirty and are more technically savvy. Decaf isn’t exactly a plug and play solution and comes with its fair share of bugs and headaches.

Still, Decaf is a Wii U emulation option that you can give a shot if you’re feeling adventurous. Otherwise, we’d recommend just sticking with Cemu for now.

Check out our article on why there are no Wii U emulator Android or iOS options yet available and why this might be changing soon.

Enhancing Your Wii U Gaming Experience

Not only are Wii U emulators great for playing the console’s games on other platforms, but they’re also great for allowing players more options and customizability. 4K upscaling alone makes Wii U emulation a no brainer and Cemu can make some Wii U games look truly incredible in comparison to the actual Wii U console.

Upscaling to 4K Resolution

When it comes to Nintendo Wii U games, 4K upscaling can be an absolute game changer. By increasing an image’s resolution to 3840×2160 pixels (or 4K resolution), players are able to experience Wii U games with dramatically enhanced visuals and improved field of view.

Modern emulators such as Cemu often have built-in options for transforming low res images into HD. But depending on your setup that you’re using to emulate, you’ll need to strike the right balance between performance and graphics.

While increased visuals is always a plus, if it results in significantly decreased performance, you’ll need to play with the settings to see what your setup can handle best.

GamePad Support

The Cemu emulator offers an option for enabling the GamePad, making it easy to customize your controls. So for games you’d like to use the GamePad controller with, you can easily get it connected and have a more realistic Wii U gaming session just like playing on your original hardware – except better.

Understanding Wii U Emulation Challenges

Playing Wii U games on a PC isn’t easy as it requires significant computing power and getting an emulator to the state that Cemu is currently in takes a ton of hard work. Updates and patches are regularly released to improve performance and compatibility with more games. To run games in 4K you’ll need a more high end graphics cards from Nvidia or AMD.

Comparing Cemu vs Decaf

When it comes to compatibility, performance, and overall user experience, Cemu is the clear winner between the two Wii U emulator options. With features like 4K upscaling and GamePad support, it’s clear why Cemu is the more popular choice.

Though not as successful with regards to emulation accuracy or features like what Cemu offers, those looking for something different may still find value in giving Decaf a shot.

It really comes down to personal preference and deciding whether you want a more seamless easy to use solution or something that you’ll enjoy tinkering with.

Legal Considerations

When it comes to Wii U emulation, usually emulators themselves are legal in most areas of the world. It’s typically not the actual emulator itself that’s the problem, but rather the method that gamers use to obtain the game ROMs that contain the files needed to play those games on the emulators. For example, it’s a bit of a grey area because many still do it anyway, however downloading video game ROMs online is actually illegal. It’s why so many ROM hosting sites have been shut down over the years.

The Legality of ROMs

Technically, the only legal way to obtain video game ROMs is to dump the ROM files from a physical copy of the actual game onto your computer.

We don’t endorse piracy on this site and always recommend you follow the legal route to obtain your ROM files.

possible via Wii U!

Summary

Without a doubt, Cemu is the best Wii U emulator currently available. It’s the top choice for emulating the console for a reason. Not only does it offer 4k support for many games, natively support the GamePad, but it has a solid user interface and has great compatibility with many of the Wii U games from its library.

We should also mention that for those with a Nintendo Switch, many Wii U games have been released either physically or on the Nintendo eShop. While we totally understand that playing these on the Switch requires you to pay to download them yet again and that the Switch doesn’t offer the same level of customizability as an emulator, we figured we would mention it in case you weren’t already aware.

Frequently Asked Questions

What emulator can run Wii U games?

Cemu is the best Wii U emulator available! Released back in 2015, this free and now open source emulator has been consistently releasing updates ever since. It offers 4K resolution for classic games like Mario Kart 8 and BOTW.

Not only that, installing and setting up Cemu is a simple process. The developers are actively pushing updates to improve game performance and compatibility. Cemu can also emulate both Wii and Wii U games and has GamePad support.

Is Dolphin a Wii U emulator?

Dolphin is not a Wii U emulator. While it is a fantastic emulator, Dolphin can emulate both the Nintendo GameCube and the Nintendo Wii systems, but not the Wii U.

Is it possible to emulate Wii U games?

It is absolutely possible to emulate Wii U games and users can now play games on the PC with the help of Cemu. Cemu has an entire compatible games list that you can see on their website to see the entire list of games that run well with the emulator.

Is it legal to use Wii U emulator?

Wii U emulation is legal in most areas of the world. The only caveat however isn’t the emulator itself, but actually the ROMs used to play the games on the emulator. It depends how you get the game ROM files. Downloading ROMs from the internet is technically illegal and it’s recommended to instead dump your games from actual physical copies of the games that you own.