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A Wii U emulator for Android just leaked, but you should definitely wait
- A Wii U emulator for Android has leaked online, and it’s a fork of the Cemu emulator for PC.
- Videos online show games like Mario Kart 8, Wind Waker HD, and more running via the app (albeit slowly, for the most part).
- The team behind Cemu cautioned that this wasn’t an official release yet and that it’s still at least a year away from launching.
We’ve seen a variety of emulators for Android over the years, but we haven’t seen a Nintendo Wii U emulator on the platform just yet. That looks to be changing, as a fork of the popular Cemu emulator for PC has just leaked.
Several videos online show a forked version of Cemu running games on an Android phone, albeit with slow performance and glitches for the most part. Check out one clip below. Do bear in mind that this is a leaked, early version of the emulator, so it doesn’t reflect the final release (more on that in a bit).
Cemu moderator Jaimie set the record straight on the emulator’s Discord group, though.
“If y’all are here for Android Cemu, you’re maybe a year too early,” Jaimie stated, suggesting that we’re still a long way from a proper release.
Cemu for Android: You’re better off waiting
“The ‘leaked’ APK was not intended for public use and there is no support for it here as it’s not (yet) part of the official release,” they explained, adding that it only supported Snapdragon devices, only ran some games, and required a high-end smartphone. The moderator also noted that you could compile the emulator yourself if you wanted to try it out. You can check out the Cemu for Android FAQ for the steps and other details, but you’re on your own as far as support is concerned.
Googling for an APK instead? Then the moderator cautioned users to be on alert for fake Cemu apps, saying that apps from more than a week ago are very likely to be malware. This makes sense in light of Cemu for Android only leaking in the past week. Either way, the leaked emulator understandably doesn’t offer great performance on Android right now. So you should definitely wait for the official release.
We’re nevertheless excited to see a Wii U emulator in the works for Android. Many Wii U games have since been ported to the Nintendo Switch, but the ill-fated machine still hosts a few notable titles. These include Yoshi’s Wooly World, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Star Fox Zero, and more. The console even got ports of titles like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mass Effect 3, and Watch Dogs. That means you won’t have any shortage of games to try out when the emulator is officially released, even if you own a Switch.