How to use the homebrew channel and browser on your Nintendo Wii?

Answer 1

The homebrew channel is a channel that can only be added to the Nintendo Wii via a software or hardware modification. This channel is accessible from the Wii menu and allows the player to run several applications designed by independent programmers, ranging from emulators of NES, SNES, Genesis and Turbo-Grafx 16 to backup copy loaders such as Gecko and NeoGamma. The homebrew channel also allows access to the application Homebrew Browser, which provides a complete index of all available applications for download.

Using the homebrew browser to download new apps on the Wii

The homebrew browser is extremely easy to navigate, with a user friendly GUI that directs search and browse functions appropriately. Some of the most popular apps for download currently from the homebrew browser include:

• MAME: Remember all of the coin-op arcade games of your youth? Sure you do – that's why you need MAME, an arcade machine emulator which has been generally succesful in porting the experience to the Nintendo Wii console.
• FCE Ultra GX: A NES emulator with excellent compatibility rates, very good stability, and the ability to produce save states and load from states. Sound and graphical quality is excellent overall making this one of the most popular apps for the channel.
• SNES9X GX: Same as above, only for the legendary Super Nintendo. Same great compatibility issues and GUI as the FCE Ultra GX application, only for a different platform. Game on!
• DOSBox: Remember playing the original Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Champions of Krynn, King's Quest, Zork!, and so many others? DOSBox literally allows the user to run this well-established DOS emulator. With USB keyboard and mouse support, what more could a gamer ask for?

What type of independent software is being developed for the Nintendo Wii?

Those players that are genuinely interested in the game and application development forum, as well as hardware and firmware concerns would do well to take a look at the WiiBrew community. The tools provided there are innumerable, and the Wikipedia style format allows for easy access to information with only light research.

The homebrew channel is truly a foundational tool for all of those Wii power-users looking to really stretch the limits of their hardware, and discover new ways to have fun with their consoles. Whether it's something as mundane as being able to play physical back-ups of games that may have been inadvertantly lost or damaged or induling in some deserved nostalgia with a round of Commander Keen from the C:\> prompt – there is a great deal of merit to installing the Wii homebrew channel.