I meant to write this blog like 2 months ago, but I just didn't have time back then.
It may as well be. |ISFShax is a rather recent modding method for the Wii U.| It came out like 2 years ago (2023), and allow me to remind you that |the Wii U came out 13 years ago (2012).|
Copying from the [GBATemp page](https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-set-up-isfshax.642258/), "ISFShax exploits boot1 with specially crafted ISFS (the filesystem of the SLC) superblock." In short, it is a mod that can be used to patch the Wii U operating system (OS) during boot time, allowing extremely flexible hacks. You can follow the instructions on that GBATemp page to install it.
Fair warning: |It's also extremely easy to brick,| but if you don't randomly mess around you should be fine.
I shall talk about what led me to ISFShax in the first place.
For those who don't know, [I stream on Twitch, A LOT.](https://twitch.tv/northwestwindnww) I mainly play Splatoon 3, occasionally Splatoon 2, but I didn't have a Wii U. In the name of content creation, I bought a second-hand Wii U from a Hong Kong online second-hand marketplace. The experience was a disaster, but that can be a story on its own.
Anyway, shortly after I had everything setup, Nintendo announced the end of their 3DS and Wii U online services. So before Splatoon 1's official servers shutdown, I decided to play a bit of it. That's when I realized I didn't have a working LAN adapter for the Wii U.
After some online searches, the main results are "buy a Wii LAN adapter", but as Hongkongers we all know it's never a good idea to buy first-party accessories because they are just so much more expensive for no reason. Looking at alternative results, people had reported LAN adapters with the "AX88772" chipset also work with Wii U.
Never underestimate how hard it is to check a chipset of the product before buying it.
I first tried to order from Taobao (mainland online store). I directly input "AX88772" as the search term, and quite a few of them came up as results. However, they are mostly variations of "AX88772", including "AX88772A", "AX88772B", etc. I don't recall if the one I order was "AX88772" or its variants, but the one that I got was "AX88772A" chipset, which DOES NOT WORK BY THE WAY.
I kind of gave up on that until a year or two later, when I asked my friends out to go to Sham Shui Po with me. Sham Shui Po is a place in Hong Kong that somehow inhabits the tech market. You can find all sorts of technology stuff in Golden Computer Arcade, from conversion cables, to entire PCs. I tried to find a LAN adapter I want.
The problem was that the sales aren't that technical. They could not tell me what chipset any of the adapters are. However, there is a workaround. You can look up a working adapter on an online store like Amazon, and just try to find that in the mall. Using this technique, I found a LAN adapter that is slow and only supports USB 2.0. I thought, "technology this old must be supported by the Wii U!"
I was very wrong. In fact, I got home and checked the chipset with my computer... |It's not even close to AX88772! That was an AX88719!|
Anyway, this was actually when I checked the chipset of the adapter I bought on Taobao, and I discovered that it was "AX88772A".
I mean, it's just a difference of ONE letter. There's probably a way I can still use this on my Wii U, right? And that's how I found out about ISFShax. There is a ISFShax plugin named [wafel_ax88772b](https://github.com/StroopwafelCFW/wafel_ax88772b). It does exactly what I need - Allow the use of AX88772A/B/C.