Just before the official introduction of Nintendo Switch the company confirmed that it’s stopped producing new Wii U consoles. This, together with the lack of retrocompatibility on the new console, make the latest improvements to Cemu good news for everybody. Since its first public build came out in October 2015, this Wii U emulator for Windows has been improving with each new version. Now it can even run games in resolutions higher than 1080p and 60 FPS.
Surprising as it sounds, the hardware requirements to run it aren’t crazy. The official site doesn’t specify a minimum processor to run it, though it does need a minimum of 4GB of RAM and a graphics card with OpenGL 4.0 support. Your correspondent can confirm that an i5 4770 processor can handle the 1080p/60 FPS on supported games with no need for overclocking.
In terms of the catalogue variety, we’re seeing certain games being refined to be 100% playable instead of a free-for-all to increase the compatibility list that drags in glitches of all kinds. For starters, titles like Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker HD, Super Smash Bros Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Mario Kart 8 are fully functional and it’s easy to find users who say they’ve run 4K without big performance issues.
In terms of the setup options, Cemu is relatively skimpy. Beyond putting the game in window or fullscreen mode and decided whether you want to apply Vsync, you can’t manipulate the graphics that much. Still, from the emulator itself you can pick one of the various presets to optimize the performance of certain games at specific resolutions. Though Wii U runs at 720p, the sprites and textures in lots of games come in different sizes designed to be broadcasted on screens with higher resolutions. The results can thus be surprisingly impressive when emulating certain games.
In terms of controls, it’s possible to map them to either a keyboard or an external gamepad (an Xbox controller works wonders) and make them serve as either a Wii U Controller or a Pro or classic one. For now, the touchscreen emulation has been saved for later updates, but all the games I mentioned above can be played entirely without need for that feature. Still, this is the “easy” part of the control system that will definitely be sorted out sooner rather than later.
Cemu on Uptodown | Download
More info | Official site
