Cafe CAT-DEV
The Cafe Tool for Development (CAT-DEV) developer system is the basic Wii U development kit. It connects to a host computer over a network to facilitate application development, with the computer providing file system emulation. This means that the application that is being developed and its associated files can be generated and maintained on the computer. The CAT-DEV has a bridge which transparently routes all file input/output requests to the computer, making it unnecessary to install content on the internal storage of the CAT-DEV. This dev kit comes with the Cafe DRC-DK-MP Gamepad, a Wii Remote Plus, a HDMI cable, a stereo AV cable and a USB to RS-232 cable (only outside of Japan).
Cafe CAT-R Reader
The CAT-R development system is a Wii U development system equipped with an optical disc drive, and lacking the host bridge the CAT-DEV system has. You can still get debug logs and a shell through a serial connection however. Connecting the DRC-DK MP Gamepad and the Wii Remote can be done with this system either with wires or with wireless, and it can be paired with retail gamepads. The CAT-R is the Wii U development device generally used for final debugging and runs various development firmwares that prevent it from running retail software. The CAT-R has 2 GB of main memory, which is the same as standard retail Wii U Consoles. The CAT-R also has 32 GB of NAND memory, which is the same as the Wii U premium model. The CAT-R cannot boot into Wii U Compatibility Mode officially.
(Thanks to members of the RGD Wiki for various corrections!)
Cafe CAT-R Disc
An optical disc that contains Wii U developer software and work-in-progress games. They're incompatible with a standard Wii U.
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"Red CAT-R"
The Wii U development kit lacks a real name but is colloquially called a "Red CAT-R", due to its similar design to the Cafe CAT-R Reader, although it lacks ports for a wired Wii U Gamepad. This device was discovered in documents sent from Nintendo to Anatel, the National Telecommunications Agency of Brazil. The documents describe this device as basically a Wii U with slightly different firmware, and photos of it can be found alongside specifications for Brazilian Wii U consoles and gamepads (see here). The description of it being similar to the base console, but with different firmware, is very similar to how Nintendo describes debug units like the various Nintendo 3DS "panda" units and the Switch's EDEV, HDEV and ADEV units, likely meaning that this dev kit is also simply used for debugging.
If anyone owns one of these devices, PLEASE GET IN CONTACT.
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"Red Gamepad"
This accompanying Gamepad lacks a real name, but was similarly found in documents sent from Nintendo to Anatel. The documents once again describe this gamepad as being the same as the regular Wii U Gamepad, but with slightly different firmware, and photos of it can be found alongside specifications for Brazilian Wii U consoles and gamepads (see here). Judging from the colour, it's probably to be used with the "Red CAT-R" (seen above) as a Gamepad used for debugging.
If anyone owns one of these devices, PLEASE GET IN CONTACT.
