How to (Almost) Turn Your Steam Deck a Nintendo Wii

Kicking off Wii’re Going Back, this guide will walk you through everything you’ll need to make your Steam Deck, or other PC handheld, work like a Nintendo Wii complete with motion controls. I’ll be upfront: if you don’t own any Nintendo Wii hardware already, this isn’t going to be the cheapest journey. On the plus side, Wii hardware isn’t insanely expensive and due to its popularity, hardware and accessories are still widely available from places like eBay, CeX, Facebook Marketplace along with a plethora of online retro stores. I’ll run through what gear I used (with links for a few things) and the setup steps to get your Steam Deck working almost like a Nintendo Wii. It’s not a like-for-like experience and at times it’ll feel clunky, but unless you want more consoles in your house this is about as close as you’ll get.

Nintendo Wii Hardware:

JSAUX 5-in-1 Dock

I recommend using some kind of dock or USB-C hub with a HDMI port so you can plug your Steam Deck into a TV, or monitor, like you would with the original Nintendo Wii console.

OriGlam Wired USB Sensor Bar

I landed on this sensor bar as it was fairly inexpensive and plugs into either my TV or Dock without issue. You could try the two candles method instead, but I was more than happy just sticking this to the bottom of my TV. I ah, also didn’t have any candles.

Official Nintendo Wii Remote with Motion Plus Attachment

This one should be pretty self-explanatory. Motion Plus is optional, depending on what you want to play. But you’re going to need at least a Wii Remote to have that authentic Nintendo Wii experience.

Nintendo Wii Revolver Attachments

I was lucky enough to pick up a Wild West Shootout revolver and one of the original AMS revolvers from the House of the Dead Overkill: Bang Bang Box that I owned all those years ago for some sweet nostalgia. It’s safe to say I’ll be having a look at a few arcade shooters.

Nintendo Wii Zapper Attachment

The Wii Zapper is a bit contentious, I guess. You typically either love it or hate it and I didn’t hate it back in the day. I won’t say no to a more interactive Call of Duty experience.

Dolphin Emulator Setup

Disclaimer: I highly recommend using EmuDeck for Steam Deck emulation, including Dolphin. It’ll install all required emulators, tools and create file structures for you. I suggest following Russ from Retro Game Corps’ guide for EmuDeck. You can also download and install Dolphin manually from their website or Discover, if you prefer. This guide was made using Dolphin installed via EmuDeck.

1. Swap into Desktop Mode on your Steam Deck.
2. Install Dolphin, I highly suggest via EmuDeck.
   See above disclaimer. You can install Dolphin manually, if you prefer.
3. There’s two ways you can open Dolphin to adjust your settings:
   • While in Desktop Mode, from the Application Launcher (Start Menu, if you’re stuck in Windows terminology) launch Dolphin, open ‘Options’ and select ‘Configuration’.
   • Add Dolphin to Steam as a non-Steam game, launch it in Gaming Mode, open ‘Options’ and select ‘Configuration’. (You’ll need to set something to act as a mouse in this shortcut’s controller settings)
4. Under ‘Paths’ select ‘Add…’ and navigate to your Nintendo Wii game folder.
5. Under ‘Graphics’, I updated the following:
   • Backend: Vulkan
   • Aspect Ratio: Stretch to Window (don’t crucify me)
6. Under ‘Enhancements’, I went with:
   • Internal Resolution: 3x Native
   • Anti-Aliasing: 2x MSAA
   • Texture Filtering: 4x Anisotropic

The above graphics settings seem to work well across most games I’ve tried so far. You’ll likely need to adjust them depending on the game, your hardware and personal preferences. Regardless, I’ve found 2-3x resolution to be the sweet spot.

Wii Remote Setup

1. Open Dolphin.
2. Select ‘Options’ and ‘Controller Settings’.
3. Scroll down to the ‘Emulate the Wii’s Bluetooth Adapter’ section.
4. Under ‘Wii Remote 1’, select ‘Real Wii Remote’.
5. Tick ‘Continuous Scanning’ and ‘Enable Speaker Data’ (if you want the Wii Remote speaker).
6. Put your Wii Remote into pairing mode by holding the 1 and 2 buttons until the lights start flashing. Once detected, a solid light will come on under the chosen controller number.
   You may need to press the sync button on the back of the controller.

To add additional Wii Remotes, repeat steps 3-6 and swap out the controller number as you go. To reconnect a controller, you will need to press the 1 and 2 buttons while Dolphin is open, or a game is launched. Obviously, to add a nunchuck, just, uh… plug it in.

Sensor Bar Setup

1. Plug your Sensor Bar into a USB port.
2. In Dolphin, head to ‘Settings’, select ‘Wii’, under ‘Sensor Bar Position’, select ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ relative to where you placed your Sensor Bar.

That’s… uh, that’s it. The Sensor Bar doesn’t even need to be plugged into your Steam Deck, it simply needs a power source.

Nintendo Wii Menu and Mii Setup (Optional)

1. Open Dolphin.
2. Head to ‘Tools’, select ‘Perform Online System Update’, choose your preferred region and wait for it to complete.
3. Head back to ‘Tools’ and select ‘Load Wii System Menu 4.3E’.
4. Run through first time setup like you would a Nintendo Wii console.
5. Here, you can setup Mii characters for use in Wii Sports and similar games.

Launching, Playing and Quitting Nintendo Wii Games

I use EmuDeck with the EmulationStation Desktop Edition (ES-DE) frontend, so I use ES-DE as my Wii launcher. The advantage of using ES-DE and EmuDeck is that all the EmuDeck hotkeys are built-in, so a lot of additional setup is done for you. Saving and quitting games is made easier, along with a lot of other functions within Dolphin. It’s a relatively minor hassle, but I’ve found using the quit hotkey after making a save state has been the most reliable method to quit games. For me, anyway.

Alternatively: you can add and launch Dolphin as a non-Steam game and after specifying your game paths, all your games will be listed and can be launched by, uh… selecting the game. You’ll have to specify your own hotkeys in the hotkey menu if you go this route.

ES-DE is my pick as it completes a lot of that additional setup for you and it’s an overall smoother experience.

See below for EmuDeck’s Dolphin hotkeys:

That should get your Steam Deck vaguely resembling a Nintendo Wii console. Hardware-wise, at least. Complete with hotkeys, provided you took my advice to install EmuDeck. Hey, you! Install EmuDeck! I honestly can’t recommend it enough. If you put in a little time to learn how it works and read up on some individual emulator requirements, it’ll make your entire Steam Deck emulation setup a lot smoother.