Wii's GameCube region lock busted

Wii News | No Freeloader required for region free backwards compatibility.

Sometimes, fiddling with your new toy can be useful. And it seems that by fiddling with their PAL Wii, some clever chaps have achieved something not thought possible with an un-modified console. A user of a certain forum (that we won't name because of some questionable activities there, legally speaking) who goes by the handle 'dolqube' apparently decided to experiment with his Wii console's GameCube boot function. And he found that it's actually possible to run original NTSC GameCube discs on a PAL Wii console without modification, and without the use of Datel's Freeloader software.

The method goes like this: Pop a PAL GameCube disc into the Wii, and head to the 'Disc Channel'. A GameCube logo should be up on the screen. Point the Wii Remote's cursor over the 'Start' option so it's highlighted, and while keeping your hand steady, press the eject button on the Wii. For about one second, the 'Start' option will remain active. In this window of time, hit the A button on the Wii Remote and then swap out your ejected PAL GCN disc with an NTSC (Japanese or USA) disc, which the Wii will accept into the drive.

If you get it right, the Wii should boot up in GameCube mode and run your NTSC game! We've tried it with several different games from both the USA and Japan, and after learning the timing, we got every game running on our PAL Wii first time.

What's great about this trick is that unlike many 'disc swap' import tricks in the past (such as those that worked on the Sega Saturn and the original PlayStation) this one doesn't require any physical modification of your console, and probably won't even harm it since the Wii is simply using its own disc loading mechanism the whole time. Apparently the reason it works is that the Wii takes a couple of seconds to power itself down to GameCube mode, but for the sake of brevity it tells the disc to boot before the transformation is complete. It is the window between the two that allows this trick to work.

But will it work with imported Wii discs? PALGN's resident 'import crazy man' Chris Sell has tried and can't get it to work. So it seems not for now, but we'll keep you updated.

Thanks to PALGN forum moderator Cerebral for the tip on this excellent Wii trick!

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59 Comments

Rush152

5 years ago

coooooool now i don't have to import a PAL version of ikaruga

5 years ago

Thanks Gents

I dont have a Wii yet but I do plan to get one and will use it for my GC games as well. The only GC titles Im after now are Baten Kaitos Origins, DK Bongo Blast, Donkey Konga 2, and 3, Mario Power Tennis, and Cubivore. At least four of these will probably never see release in Australia.

I have had freeloader now for about a year (not certain of the version) and it works great with my Platinum PAL GC - hopefully its suitable for the Wii if not I'll track down the latest release quick smart.

Cheers

BlackMamba

5 years ago

I couldnt get the glitch to work but then i tried what Xentri suggested and booted up the freeloader and it worked fine.

Crestfallen

5 years ago

Luke wrote

crestfallen12 wrote

But still is Nintendo going to turn around and say, "Hey PALGN, good find!"

Maybe if it helps them to stop this from happening, yes. We're just reporting the news.

Fair enough. I don't know, I just thought PALGN giving tutiorials on how to work around the region lock that Nintendo intenionally employed as odd.

If you think it won't hurt/impair relations with Nintendo, then all the power to ya.

admeister

5 years ago

With this as front page news on PALGN, expect the next Wii update to correct it.

Shouldn't have made it so public, IMO.

Peveus

5 years ago

Xentri wrote

Wow get this for a work around...

I used the glitch you guys mentioned to launch my old version freeloader... and then used the freeloader to launch RE4 and it would let me put it in progressive mode and showed correctly in 480p...

so I guess those of us who have old freeloaders can use 'em...

I'm guessing maybe it's putting a 480p on a 576i display if you don't force it with the freeloader with this game... as that's what the TV says... that's why the game only takes up part of the screen

From my experience over the past few hours of using this trick, it seems to force whatever you boot with it into 576i, no matter what the game is actually meant to be. This made 60hz games literally run at 50hz, the wii was converting it on the fly... which is an odd function for a region locked console.

Anyway, booting the game with a freeloader worked for me as well, i was gonna say so here like i did in another part of the forum but you beat me to it ^_^

The Truth

5 years ago

What PAL games are you useing?, i've tried a few but my wii just resets.

Peveus

5 years ago

The Truth wrote

What PAL games are you useing?, i've tried a few but my wii just resets.

Every time I tried I used Tales of Symphonia Disc 1. If your wii is resetting, you're taking too long >_>

NismoR34

5 years ago

crestfallen12 wrote

If you think it won't hurt/impair relations with Nintendo, then all the power to ya.

As far as I know the relations between Nintendo Australia and gaming websites such as this one aren't too fantastic anyway, so if that is true it wouldn't exactly change much. Nintendo stick to the magazines and corps like IGN, it seems.

Marlor

5 years ago

Spanca wrote

Marlor wrote

Spanca wrote

ObsoletE wrote

nevermind the fact that modding a console in order to play imported games is a protected activity in Australia.

(note: IMPORTED, not PIRATED.)

Perhaps not for long... (sadly)

In January, the Federal Government passed amendments to the Copyright Act that explicitly make modchips legal. They would have to pass another amendment to revoke this, so I can't see them doing it any time soon (and the ACCC would go crazy if they tried).

My understanding is that while it was made legal recently, post-High Court decision, the US is pushing for that to be reversed (and thus reverting to the original laws or something similar) as part of the free trade agreement.

It looked like that would be the case until late last year.

In August, the Government proposed outlawing modchips as part of the FTA with the US. There was a massive outcry from the ACCC, consumer groups, the Labor party and the minor parties. They all lobbied that modchips should be allowed if they enable imports, since banning them would be a restraint of trade. The Government eventually agreed and passed legislation that legalised them. These laws became active in January.

So, modchips are perfectly legal in Australia now, provided that their sole purpose isn't for piracy or homebrew. Basically, if they disable region-locking, then they are legal.

It is worth noting that they are now legal via an act of parliament so their legal status isn't even a grey area now. Court challenges can't overturn their legal status.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20870905%5E15317%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

Gizmocreative

5 years ago

dammit, why did I spend all that money on my freeloader, on a sidenote, If anyone is actually thinking of buying the gamecube freeloader for the PAL wii, there is a PAL specific version you need to get, all the info is on play-asia.com website.

Has anyone tried the ntsc gamecube version of Alien Hominid yet? After the load save game screen, it just resetrs my machine. I havent had a chance to play that game at all.

admeister

5 years ago

Well, that's good to hear. Now I don't need to worry about mentioning importing in forums, since it's allowed.

I'm glad to hear that that decision was made.

TheAnswer

5 years ago

admeister wrote

Well, that's good to hear. Now I don't need to worry about mentioning importing in forums, since it's allowed.

I'm glad to hear that that decision was made.

It's been allowed, but we just didn't like the fact you were constantly bagging out australia and saying I import in every 2nd to 3rd post

So how's the PS3 btw?

Nev

5 years ago

It's possible Nintendo could fix this with a firmware patch... But I really hope they don't.

Are they really going to be losing any money from people importing GameCube software? Are there even any new games coming out?

Stick to improving the Wii's features... Not spoiling the harmless fun of a few people who'd already imported NTSC GameCube games.

Besides, region-locking is SO last gen.

Tetsuwan

5 years ago

You might want to say where you got this news form in your news. It was reported on *snip*'s forums back on monday

*snip*

And bring on region free. I understand that the world would collapse if we were to do that, but hey just maybe it won't happen. Take the risk nintendo! It's bad enough you region code the VC games!

ObsoletE

5 years ago

if you read the article, it said that links/mentions weren't shown because the site contains quite a bit of questionable content, both legal and illegal.

the person who discovered it (or, who reported it) was given a name-check.

VOOK

5 years ago

My Wii does'nt reset but when I do to stick the second disk in the drive is de-activated.

Tetsuwan

5 years ago

Isn't stealing news from other sites a form of Piracy in itself??? Naming the forum ID isn't exactly referencing. Your article is being mentioned on other sites (kotaku) for one, so you are in turn stealing clicks from the site that the news originated from. Hang on, Stealing, thats PIRACY!

Sorry, I'm a newbie, i shouldn't be so outspoken, but come on guys make up your mind on where you stand.

Googol

5 years ago

^^ No, it isn't. The article mentions that the info is from somewhere else (although the forum itself isn't mentioned) and so as long as Kotaku and the like keep in the part about it being posted in a forum it's all A-OK. If PALGN acted like they found it out themselves, THEN it would be plagiarism, but this is not the case. Not to mention the fact that PALGN is a news sit which gets 99.99999999% of the news stories from somewhere else. It's acceptable to re-report news.

Psst - A forum does not necessarily want 'clicks' to its threads. News site? Yes. Forum? No.

renegadesx

5 years ago

Marlor wrote

Spanca wrote

ObsoletE wrote

nevermind the fact that modding a console in order to play imported games is a protected activity in Australia.

(note: IMPORTED, not PIRATED.)

Perhaps not for long... (sadly)

Rich people pretty much said a long time ago "ALL YOUR LAW ARE BELONG TO US!"

This country was sold to American businesses a long time ago

Peveus

5 years ago

Nev wrote

You're right in that the Wii is the only current generation console to feature a region lock on most things, but you have to remember that Nintendo earn less money than Sony and Microsoft and don't have as much to throw around, so they need to overcharge people where they can and let's not forget it was Nintendo who invented the region lock to begin with

Marlor

5 years ago

renegadesx wrote

Marlor wrote

Rich people pretty much said a long time ago "ALL YOUR LAW ARE BELONG TO US!"

This country was sold to American businesses a long time ago

Huh?

The Government passed legislation making modchips legal. They legislated in favour of consumers and upheld our right to import games.

This is a good thing, and was in the interests of Australian consumers.

Nev

5 years ago

Marlor wrote

The Government passed legislation making modchips legal. They legislated in favour of consumers and upheld our right to import games.

This is a good thing, and was in the interests of Australian consumers.

Absolutely.

Though I'll be interested to see if Sony ends up taking anyone to court over modding PS3s, as the system is already region-free.

That's my guess as to why they did it. As opposed to it being "out of the goodness of their hearts."

Marlor

5 years ago

Nev wrote

Though I'll be interested to see if Sony ends up taking anyone to court over modding PS3s, as the system is already region-free.

That's my guess as to why they did it. As opposed to it being "out of the goodness of their hearts."

The PS3 still contains region locking for Blu-Ray movies.

Any mod-chip that disables the Blu-Ray region locking would be legal in Australia, even if it also allows unsigned binaries to be run.

Crestfallen

5 years ago

Peveus wrote

Don't forget that Nintendo is a huge corporation.

They sold all those Wiis and DSs at a profit. And thats just the beginning.

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