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Free open source software turns the Steam Deck into a Wii U GamePad

Vanilla will turn your Steam Deck, pictured and a range of other hardware into a GamePad for your Wii U (Image Source: Valve / Nintendo)
Vanilla will turn your Steam Deck, pictured and a range of other hardware into a GamePad for your Wii U (Image Source: Valve / Nintendo)
The Wii U GamePad was a unique experiment that paved the way for the Switch. However, without the ability to purchase a 1st party replacement, any damage to the GamePad and the Wii U effectively becomes a brick. Thankfully, there is now a Steam Deck compatible open source alternative.

The Wii U might have been a commercial flop, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming a collectible, even if it was unintentional. Nevertheless, of all the things likely to go wrong with the Wii U, a broken GamePad is pretty high up on the list, and once the GamePad stops working the Wii U is next to useless.

Some games will function without it, but that list is short, and given that there was never an option to purchase a replacement either from Nintendo or a 3rd party, only the second hand market remains. 

Thankfully, if you have a Wii U with a broken GamePad, or even if yours works fine, and you want to keep it that way, there is now an open source alternative.

Vanilla appears to let you choose a controller independently of the screen or device, opening the door to a range of hardware including laptops (Image Source: Vanilla)
Vanilla appears to let you choose a controller independently of the screen or device, opening the door to a range of hardware including laptops (Image Source: Vanilla)

Vanilla is a work-in-progress software clone of the Wii U GamePad for a range of devices including the Raspberry Pi, Steam Deck and Android. It heavily depends on low level access to the Wi-Fi hardware, and there is an extensive list of supported and unsupported wireless devices. As it stands at the moment, the ROG Ally and Ally X (available on Amazon) are unsupported due to the MediaTek MT7922 wireless adapter in those devices, but hopefully it won't stay that way for long.

Similarly, there is a version for the Nintendo Switch, but this requires a Broadcom firmware patch or an external Wi-Fi adapter, which likely also requires a modified Switch. However, it will work on a range of Linux based laptops (Windows is also coming) as long as the Wi-Fi hardware is supported.

Given the closed source nature of Nintendo's hardware, reverse engineering the protocol is quite an achievement, both extending the life of the Wii U for those with broken GamePads and giving the wider community options to keep the Wii U in service (despite Nintendo's best efforts to kill it).

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 05 > Free open source software turns the Steam Deck into a Wii U GamePad
David Devey, 2025-05-20 (Update: 2025-05-21)