Slot-loading CD drives would get jammed if you inserted anything other than a round, full-sized disc.
The launch model Wii was an exception, with parts in there specifically for handling mini-discs for GameCube compatibility. The feature was quietly removed from later models.
Correct. There was a very complicated and delicate armature inside the drive that guided mini DVDs to the center. The revised Wii had a tray-loading drive, and no GameCube compatibility. So even though you could insert GameCube discs without issue, they wouldn’t play.
Those original Wiis still could not handle the Diddy Kong Racing disc due to the non-circular shape.
There was a model before the tray loading one that dropped GC support, too. I found out when the disc drive on my Wii died and I replaced it with an official later model drive and it couldn’t read Wind Waker anymore.
I didn’t realize there was an in-between model. So that’s what that black Wii was!
You inserted a GC disc and it didn’t jam? If a mini DVD went in properly and could be ejected, then those guides for the smaller discs were still there, just the software no longer registered the disc as a game.
yeah they released one with the same shell but no GC parts, it didn’t have the controller and memory card ports on the top either. i wonder what they filled all that empty space with.
It’s been a while, but I think the disc didn’t center as it went in and the system just spat it out. The rest of the system was an original model Wii, so the software should have still been there, but the newer drive couldn’t handle minidiscs. Launch model was apparently the RVL-001. The RVL-101 dropped GC support, but looked almost identical. The RVL-201 was the top loader model.
Nintendo HAD to know that people would try putting GameCube discs into the new Wiis. Maybe the RVL-101 has a simpler arm that just pushes the disc back out instead of trying to move it into place.
The launch model Wii was an exception, with parts in there specifically for handling mini-discs for GameCube compatibility. The feature was quietly removed from later models.
Correct. There was a very complicated and delicate armature inside the drive that guided mini DVDs to the center. The revised Wii had a tray-loading drive, and no GameCube compatibility. So even though you could insert GameCube discs without issue, they wouldn’t play.
Those original Wiis still could not handle the Diddy Kong Racing disc due to the non-circular shape.
There was a model before the tray loading one that dropped GC support, too. I found out when the disc drive on my Wii died and I replaced it with an official later model drive and it couldn’t read Wind Waker anymore.
I didn’t realize there was an in-between model. So that’s what that black Wii was!
You inserted a GC disc and it didn’t jam? If a mini DVD went in properly and could be ejected, then those guides for the smaller discs were still there, just the software no longer registered the disc as a game.
yeah they released one with the same shell but no GC parts, it didn’t have the controller and memory card ports on the top either. i wonder what they filled all that empty space with.
It’s been a while, but I think the disc didn’t center as it went in and the system just spat it out. The rest of the system was an original model Wii, so the software should have still been there, but the newer drive couldn’t handle minidiscs. Launch model was apparently the RVL-001. The RVL-101 dropped GC support, but looked almost identical. The RVL-201 was the top loader model.
Nintendo HAD to know that people would try putting GameCube discs into the new Wiis. Maybe the RVL-101 has a simpler arm that just pushes the disc back out instead of trying to move it into place.