I managed to get the emulator (stella I think) on the physically Wii hardware but the controllers don't work right. I have NES, Sega, and atari controllers with a USB connector on the end. That's all you need. Just use the emulators on the PC and be done with it.
Usually I get a itch to play a couple of Atari games, I play it, and then I don't bother again for several months.
Yeah, older stuff is fine, more often than not. Like you, I hacked my Wii back in the day and it was about a 98% success rate for 8-bit and 16-bit - some of the weird FX7 chip games like Yoshi's Island had struggles. Any of the 3D systems are basically a tweak fest, if they run at all, on WIi hardware. I've heard the WiiU is actually one of the best systems for retro gaming, since it's powerful enough and has HDMI.
I have a Wii U as well but it's been sitting. I've planned to do the retro software but never got around to it.
Saving the White race (specifically my family) takes up too much of my time to mess around with games nowadays. .