How to turn the Steam Machine and Steam Deck into a modern luxury Wii U

The Wii U is widely regarded as Nintendo's biggest console failure. But perhaps its unusual dual-screen concept wasn't a bad idea - just ahead of its time. Or maybe the Reddit community simply enjoys ambitious tech projects. Either way, users in the Steam Machine subreddit are currently discussing how Valve's mini PC and the Steam Deck could be combined into a modern, high-end version of the Wii U.

At first glance, it might sound like another niche modding project with little practical value - similar to launching Steam Deck games from floppy disks. For Wii U emulation, however, the idea actually makes a lot of sense. Many Wii U games display the main gameplay on the TV while maps, inventories, or other secondary information appear on the GamePad's touchscreen. On a traditional PC, emulating these games usually means displaying both screens side by side on a single monitor or constantly switching between them. A second monitor can serve as a substitute for the GamePad display, but it hardly recreates the authentic experience.

Technically possible, but far from simple

The Reddit solution is based on the Wii U emulator Cemu. The Steam Machine acts as the console itself, rendering the game on the TV, while the Steam Deck serves as the controller and displays the content that would normally appear on the Wii U GamePad. Setting everything up, however, is anything but straightforward.

Cemu can output both screens separately, but the virtual GamePad display must be streamed from the Steam Machine to the Steam Deck. One possible solution is to pair Moonlight on the Steam Deck with Sunshine on the Steam Machine. Moonlight receives the video stream while also sending the handheld's button and stick inputs back to the host. Sunshine then exposes those inputs on the Steam Machine as a virtual controller, which Cemu recognizes as if it were a connected Wii U GamePad.

As if that weren't complicated enough, there's another hurdle: Cemu requires a second display so it can output the gameplay and the GamePad view separately. Under SteamOS, there is currently no reliable way to create such a virtual secondary monitor. Some users therefore recommend using so-called dummy plugs. These are inserted into one of the Steam Machine's video outputs and trick the system into thinking an additional monitor is connected, allowing Cemu to display the GamePad view there. Alternatively, Windows could be installed on at least one of the two Valve devices.

So, turning a Steam Machine and Steam Deck into a hassle-free luxury Wii U still requires quite a bit of tinkering. Even so, the idea clearly has potential. Many Reddit users say they would try such a feature immediately if it were easier to set up.