The Nintendo Wii was a great console for the family, and proof of this is that more than 100 million units were sold between 2006 and 2013. However, it is an old, obsolete and discontinued console, so many people just keep it in a drawer. If this is your case, in this article we are going to give you some ideas for DIY projects (do it yourself, do it yourself) through which you can reuse and give a second life to this mythical console.
For some of the projects that we are going to tell you below, you will need the console to support the installation of software that is not part of the Nintendo ecosystem, but jailbreaking this console is very simple and in addition to open source at this point, for what you have many specific guides that will make you can do it without problems.
Create and run your own Wii games
There is a public list of development tools for the Nintendo Wii, and if you are a programmer or hobbyist it will be very easy to get hold of it to turn an old Nintendo Wii into a test console to create your own games. Of course, there are also tons of community-created tools and you can always use them as well.
Reuse the Nintendo Wii as a multimedia station
Usually the Wii will be permanently connected to the television, so why not use it for multimedia content playback? It is true that the console is already so old that the most popular applications such as Netflix or HBO are not available, but you can always use WiiMC for it. This software is a complete multimedia center for the Nintendo console and is very easily configured through the HomeBrew browser. It is capable of searching for shared media on your local network, on an SD card or on a USB hard drive connected to the console.
Of course, keep in mind that unfortunately this console does not support HD video, nor does it have the ability to reproduce 5.1 surround sound, which makes reusing a Nintendo Wii as a media center more suitable for children than for adults. .
Similarly, if you have WiiMC installed you can also use the console to play DVDs, although this only works on the first consoles, those that had a DVD player (the new ones also have it but the function of playing video content on DVD is disabled. ). You can reproduce, yes, at a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at most.
Turn your Wii into a PC with Wii-Linux
A pretty cool way to take advantage of an old Wii is by turning it into a fully functional Linux PC. Wii-Linux is available through the Homebrew channel and allows the execution of applications compatible with the PowerPC architecture. There are many distributions available, including based on Debian, Gentoo, and Arch Linux.
For best results (including WiFi and USB support), however, Wii-Linux must be installed using the BootMii exploit. Wii-Linux is also known as GC-Linux and as such it is also compatible with the Nintendo GameCube. If you don’t like Linux, the FreeBSD operating system is also supported.
Reuse a Nintendo Wii as a Minecraft server?
Yes, it is possible, and it is that an old Wii is not only capable of running Linux but it can also run applications on it, including a Minecraft server (if a Raspberry Pi can do it, why shouldn’t a Wii ? In the following video they explain how to do it:
If you have multiple Wiis you can also install a dedicated version of Minecraft called WiiCraft .
Other alternatives to reuse a Wii
There are many other things you can do to breathe new life into an old Nintendo Wii console, such as:
- Control your PC remotely using WiiVNC .
- Use your Wii as an alarm clock with Strobe Alarm Clock .
- Turn the Wii into a metronome with Metronome .
- Explore the planet with WiiEarth .
Finally, it should be noted that you could also install emulators to play games on other consoles, although it would be advisable to have a proper USB controller instead of the one included with the console.