N64 Goldeneye Homebrew on the Nintendo Wii

The Virtual Console system on the Nintendo Wii has become one of the most popular features of the machine among retro gamers – recent hacks using the Virtual Console feature of the Wii have brought classic N64 games such as Mario 64 to the Wii even though they are not yet available over Nintendo’s online download service.

One of the latest hacks to appear for the Virtual Console is a homebrew version of Goldeneye! This hack is similar to other N64 hacks on the Virtual Console in that it essentially replaces an existing Virtual Console game – in this case, the game appears to be Sin and Punishment – with the emulator code and rom for an N64 game. A relatively new trick with this one is that the title that the Wii console displays for the game has also been edited to reflect Goldeneye instead of Sin & Punishment.

As can be seen from watching the videos of this Goldeneye hack, there are still some issues with frame rates – about every fifteen or twenty seconds there’s a slight jump in the frame rate and sound emulation, but with better N64 emulation on the Virtual Console being developed and Virtual Console hackers learning new tricks all the time, it’s only a matter of time before the Nintendo Wii gets a seamless Goldeneye homebrew.

With all of the excitement that the videos online have drummed up for this classic first person shooter, let’s hope that Nintendo picks up on it and comes out with an official Virtual Console release. Preferably, a Virtual Console version of Goldeneye which lets us play the beloved multiplayer mode over the Wii’s network connection! Such a game, if indeed it is released, would be sure to quickly turn into one of the best sellers on the Nintendo Wii’s revolutionary Virtual Console.

You can get this and loads more hacks up and running with the USB Gecko.

Have you done anything interesting while hacking the Wii? Leave a comment and let us know!