Looking For Wii Homebrew Apps? These Are The Places To Go

Give your dusty Wii a new lease on life: find the best homebrew software for it. Here’s where to find a huge collection of free games and software for everything from playing videos to emulating classic consoles.

The Wii isn’t exactly a brand-new console – it was first released eight years ago, in 2006. It was replaced a full two years ago by the Wii U. At this point you’ve probably played most of the games for the console you were interested in, but if you want to find another use for the biggest console of the last decade, homebrew just might be the answer. We’ve shown you how to get hombrew working on your Wii with Letterbomb; here’s where to find software to run once you’ve done that.

WiiBrew.org Explains Just About Everything

If you want to learn about homebrew, this is where you should start. The Wii Brew wiki includes a description of just about every Wii homebrew app out there, and also includes tutorials for getting everything set up.

If you just want an overview of what’s available, the list of Wii homebrew offers a complete solution. Personally, though, I’d start with the list of featured homebrew apps. Some of the best homebrew games and apps for Wii are all outlined here.

Take some time to explore and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what you can do with your Wii. The WiiBrew forum is also a friendly place to learn more about the Wii homebrew scene, with a place for newbies to ask questions. It’s less active than a few years ago, for obvious reasons, but you’ll still find a bunch of recent posts.

A quick note, though: if your primary interest is playing pirated backed-up games, this site isn’t for you. WiiBrew is dedicated to homebrew apps – nothing to do with copying commercial Wii games can be found here.

Homebrew Browser Is The Wii Homebrew App Store

Of course, browsing games and software on your computer isn’t necessarily ideal – you’ll be running this software on your Wii, after all. If you want the app store experience, try the Homebrew Browser. It lets you explore the games and software offered by the homebrew community, entirely on your Wii.

Even better: you can download apps in one click, and even make sure you’ve got the most recent version.

The Homebrew Browser lets you sort games by rating, which makes it easier to find something fun. It also automates the download process, meaning you won’t need to download a ZIP on your computer and transfer the files to your SD Card.

Homebrew Browser isn’t perfect – it’s prone to crashes, and isn’t always speedy. Still, once it’s set up, you’ll find that it’s the best way to discover and manage homebrew software.

Complete Softmod Guide: How To Play Backed Up Games And More

Homebrew is cool, but maybe not what you’re looking for. Are you interested in backing up your games to a hard drive, so you can play them from there? Whether you’re worried about wearing out discs or just want faster load times, this site outlines the complete process.

There’s not a lot of great documentation out there for someone who wants to learn about playing backed-up Wii games – searches will lead you to various forums full of dead links and cryptic information. The Complete Softmod Guide is the real deal, explaining the full process. It’s even (relatively) easy to follow, though make sure you read and understand everything before moving forward.

Remember: playing games you don’t own is wrong, and illegal. Don’t do that.

In addition to backups, you’ll find plenty of information about doing things like skinning your Wii. This isn’t without risk, so make sure you know what you’re doing before your proceed.

Mods For Your Favourite Games, And More

These three resources should point you to all of the best things the homebrew scene has to offer – but not everything. The world of modding is well worth looking into. We’ve told you all about the mod that turns Smash Bros. Brawl into a Melee-style game, complete with extra characters and levels. There’s even more out there. If you beat New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and wish you could play more levels, check out Newer Super Mario Bros Wii – a fan-made mod with 128 new levels.

Yep: that’s brand new art. Every Mario game should have an autumn-themed level, because this looks great.

But there’s more than just games. You can use homebrew software to teach your Wii all kinds of new tricks. I want to know: what’s the best software you’ve found for your old console? Or, if I missed any critical resources, please: share them in the comments below for your fellow readers. Thanks!

Image Credit:“Wii-Console” by Evan-Amos – Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons