this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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The Issue With Wii U Gamepads And How To Clone Them (hackaday.com)
submitted 3 months ago by IcedRaktajino@startrek.website to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The Wii U console and gamepad communicate via 5 GHz 802.11n WiFi, but in order to deter other parties from simply hopping onto the access point, Nintendo slightly obfuscated this WiFi standard. Specifically the WPA authentication was modified by a byte swap in the PTK, rendering every existing WiFi stack incompatible with the Wii U.

Knowing this, the key is to use a platform that allows one to pre-break WPA in a similar fashion, such as is possible on e.g. Linux and BSD. Along with the use of the hilariously insecure WPS that is triggered when the gamepad’s sync button is pressed, this enables one to connect a modified Linux system to a Wii U console. After this the console starts sending h.264 (AVC) encoded video to the ‘gamepad’, and a binary packet can be sent back with the controller inputs.

Suffice it to say that this finding was immediately turned into a GitHub project called Vanilla Wii U, that enables a Steam Deck to be used as a gamepad, as well as any Linux – and presumably BSD – system with a compatible WiFi adapter.

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[–] THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

You should. Now is the time before they go up in price like everything else. Great little thing for emulation, along with the 3DS. And it has some great games, if you don't have a Switch. Even if you do have a Switch, there are a few still left on the U.

[–] Baaron87@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The fact that Twilight Princess HD and The Wind Waker HD are still trapped there surprises me.

I need to reconnect my Wii U again

[–] philophilsaurus@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Keeping it plugged in can also help extend the lifespan of the console apparently

[–] THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yep, the first thing I did on the day the E-Shop closed was I backed up my NAND.

[–] Baaron87@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I finally did this last week. I had been meaning to for a while now. I got homebrew stuff setup, did a NAND backup and looked at what type of chipset my system has. I lucked out with a Samsung chipset.

Now I’m working with the fun stuff: homebrew apps, Pretendo, etc

[–] Baaron87@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Super delayed reply on this; I got around to setting it back up this past week finally. Did a NAND backup too right after

[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone 3 points 3 months ago

Hopefully that won’t be the case for too long, I think there’s an anniversary this year and hopefully they drop a Switch version of the games.

That said, I did buy a copy of TP HD on Wii U, I want to build up my Wolf Link Amiibo for BotW and TotK

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Mario Chase in Nintendoland was always a popular one when we had parties, and not something that could be easily recreated on other systems.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 3 months ago

I often wondered why they didn't do a Nintendoland-style game for the Switch once they started pitching it as a per-person device rather than a per-household device, having some games which use one Switch connected to the TV and another replicating the gamepad could have made for some cool mini-games