I took the plunge and installed the Homebrew Channel

[Tek7]

I installed the Homebrew Channel (using the Twilight Princess hack) on my Wii and it's been an educational experience.

I downloaded the Savegame Extractor app using Homebrew Browser and backed up my Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl saves to my SD card. Rock rock on.

I hear there's a way to play Duck Hunt with the Wii Remote, so I'm going to check that out, too.

Anyone else braved installing the Homebrew Channel? If so, what nifty stuff have you found?

 

[rizz]

My friend did it on his wii and has all the VC games on a disc somewhere (hes a dirty pirate!).. it works well but i didnt try it on mine due to the bricking fears... but i guess its come a long way since then.

 

[Tek7]

My friend did it on his wii and has all the VC games on a disc somewhere (hes a dirty pirate!).. it works well but i didnt try it on mine due to the bricking fears... but i guess its come a long way since then.

Aye, there's always some risk of bricking your Wii when installing the Homebrew Channel, but I didn't run into any snags.

I took the risk because my Wii, except for recent games of Boom Blox and future games of Okami (I'm waiting until I finish one RPG on my DS and one RPG on my PS2 before continuing Okami), is at risk for gathering dust.

That, and I've always had a fondness for making hardware do things it wasn't designed to do.

 

[Wh1te Out]

Ooh... I've been wanting to do this but am so afraid of ruining my Wii. I don't know any of the specifics of how to go about it either, like size of SD card needed, how to install the Homebrew channel, anything. I want it simply because it will allow me to hack Animal Crossing: City Folk to keep my town's grass/snow from degrading and possibly to allow me to have beautiful flowers that don't require hours worth of watering each day.I want to know EVERYTHING, Tek.

 

[Tek7]

Ooh... I've been wanting to do this but am so afraid of ruining my Wii. I don't know any of the specifics of how to go about it either [...] I want to know EVERYTHING, Tek.

First question: Do you own a copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess or can you rent it from a local video store?

If not, there's no way to install homebrew on a Wii.

(Fortunately, Elihu bought me Z:TP as a Christmas present in 2006.)

For the rest, read here.

DISCLAIMER: There is ALWAYS the chance of bricking your Wii when using the Twilight Hack or installing homebrew (including the Homebrew Channel). If anyone decides to take the risk, it's their choice. You can't say I didn't warn you.

 

[Wh1te Out]

I'd like to hear how your experience plays out. If all goes well, I MAY give it a shot. I do have all the necessary items. Just gun-shy.

 

[Tek7]

I'd like to hear how your experience plays out.

So far, it's been awesome. I've been cautious when downloading and trying out new homebrew, but I haven't run into any issues yet. I can still play newer games like Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I can still play recent WiiWare like Mega Man 9, I can still play games online, and I can still play Gamecube games. I haven't lost any functionality.

I do have all the necessary items. Just gun-shy.

Understandable. I wouldn't have done it if my Wii was still under warranty, but the warranty expired in March.

 

[Wh1te Out]

What kind of hacks are using Homebrew for anyway?

 

[Tek7]

What kind of hacks are using Homebrew for anyway?

All sorts of stuff. See this list for more information.

I was mostly interested in the Savegame Extractor and Savegame Installer applications so I could back up my Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl save data.

 

[Taneres]

Joined the realm of the Homebrewers today! Now I can play imports, DVDs and free n64, snes, genesis, gba games too! Woot!

 

[Neirai the Forgiven]

My brother-in-law runs homebrew, but for now I'd say that (other than nostalgia factors) the games tend to be mostly lackluster... but I think that will change.

It's the utilities that are cool, and that, frankly, Nintendo should be taking notice of and not trying to supress.

 

[Tek7]

I recently installed NuGaSa, a utility to back up Gamecube save files, using the Homebrew Browser and, from what I can tell, it works great.

Now I don't have to worry about losing my Soul Calibur II save files, should anything happen to my Gamecube memory card.