You could of just got the retail Wii version and played it on your WiiU anyway or even soft modded the WiiU to play backup original Wii games
I can't give much advice on modding the WiiU though as it is a console I do not own, even if I did I still have the original Wii modded so would have little interest in modding the WiiU to play Wii backups, but I am certain it is possible as some of the hacks have included WiiU hacks that are not to be used on the Original Wii.
I use real consoles anyway myself anyway most the time and most the time I do emulate it is more for testing/helping others or if I'm just hacking a game either by codes or just testing a hard hacked/modded game to make sure I did not break the game.
I emulate much older systems but 90% of the time that is via another console
Both the Wii and Xbox are great platforms to emulate older systems on
The Wii asides from Wii games can play GameCube games even the versions of the Wii that do not have GC pad and memcard ports can do that (HID USB pads can be used) and via emulation can play PSX and under, though personally never tested PSX on the Wii
The Xbox asides from Xbox games that are still not emulated can play all sorts of emulators mostly PSX and under also (I just don't like the Xbox pads so use a Xbox to PS2 pad converter's so everything is good for me there)
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