I’m still working with RetroPie as a vehicle for introducing myself to the Raspberry Pi. As I saw Wii consoles for sale for $30 – I’m wondering if they are a more cost effective fit as an emulator.

Wii Pros:
1) Natively a console – can play Wii discs, etc.
2) Comes with an enclosure
3) Comes with a power supply
4) Integrated wireless
5) All the standardized integration means less variants to code/account for
6) As a native console, usually comes with some form of game controller
7) Source is a larger company presumably with a more fully-stacked design, debug, test, etc. team for hardware. (possibly flawed assumptions here)

Raspberry Pros:
1) More active development community (assumed) – because Raspberry was designed as a development platform.
2) Overall smaller – for applications that need it.
3) Higher resolution
4) Faster core speed although I am not sure if how this translates in performance not having reviewed emulators in both platforms
5) GPIO headers / hardware customization part of original design goals (easier)

Sure there’s more to list on either side – but at $30 and only slight disadvantages, the Wii looks to be an attractive alternative.

Regards,
Jason