Nintendo optical discs are physical media used to distribute
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s on three of
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's consoles that followed the
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...
. These are the GameCube Game Disc, Wii Optical Disc, and Wii U Optical Disc. The physical size of a
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
Game Disc is that of a
miniDVD
MiniDVD (also Mini DVD or miniDVD) is a DVD disc which is in diameter. Most MiniDVDs hold 1.4 GB of data, but there are variants that hold up to 5.2 GB. The MiniDVD is also known as a "3 inch DVD", referring to its approximate diameter in inc ...
; the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
is based on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
format, and
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
The W ...
Optical Discs are based on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
format. To maintain
backward compatibility
Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially i ...
between generations of game consoles, GameCube discs are compatible with the first model of the Wii, and Wii Optical Discs are compatible with the
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
The W ...
. A
burst cutting area is located at the inner ring of the disc surface. All official discs and their formats were manufactured and developed by
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
.
In 2017, Nintendo discontinued disc-based media in favor of
game cards for the Wii U's successor, the
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
, although it would license several more physically released Wii and Wii U games for many more months, with the last one being a port of ''
Shakedown: Hawaii'' to both consoles in the summer of 2020.
Format
GameCube Game Disc
The GameCube Game Disc (DOL-006) is the game
medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
*Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
for the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
, created by Matsushita/
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
, one of the ten founders of the
DVD Forum
The DVD Forum is an international organization composed of hardware, software, media and production companies that use and develop the DVD and formerly HD DVD formats. It was initially known as the DVD Consortium when it was founded in 1995.
H ...
,
and later extended for use in the
backward compatibility
Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially i ...
mode of the first model of
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
. The GameCube is Nintendo's first optical disc console, after mainly
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, electroni ...
based platforms. The GameCube Game Disc is a 1.46 GB, 8 cm
miniDVD
MiniDVD (also Mini DVD or miniDVD) is a DVD disc which is in diameter. Most MiniDVDs hold 1.4 GB of data, but there are variants that hold up to 5.2 GB. The MiniDVD is also known as a "3 inch DVD", referring to its approximate diameter in inc ...
-based technology which reads at a
constant angular velocity
In optical storage, constant angular velocity (CAV) is a qualifier for the rated speed of any disc containing information, and may also be applied to the writing speed of recordable discs. A drive or disc operating in CAV mode maintains a const ...
(CAV). It was chosen by Nintendo to prevent
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
of its games,
to reduce manufacturing costs compared to
Nintendo 64 Game Pak
Nintendo 64 Game Pak (part number NUS-006) is the brand name of the consumer ROM cartridge product that stores game data for the Nintendo 64, released in 1996. As with Nintendo's previous consoles, the Game Pak's design tradeoffs were intended to ...
s,
and to avoid licensing fees to the
DVD Forum
The DVD Forum is an international organization composed of hardware, software, media and production companies that use and develop the DVD and formerly HD DVD formats. It was initially known as the DVD Consortium when it was founded in 1995.
H ...
.
GameCube Game Discs do not use the
Content Scramble System
The Content Scramble System (CSS) is a digital rights management (DRM) and encryption system employed on many commercially produced DVD-Video discs. CSS utilizes a proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm. The system was introduced around 1996 ...
found on normal
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia in the 2000s until it was supplanted by the high-definition Blu-r ...
discs, as Nintendo was not satisfied with its level of security.
The GameCube is not able to be used as a general DVD player, except for the
Panasonic Q
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
which is a uniquely customized GameCube with DVD capability that was released only in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Some GameCube games with large amounts of data span two discs, such as ''
Resident Evil 4
''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror third-person shooter game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by Capcom. It was originally released for the GameCube on January 11, 2005. Players control U.S. government special ...
'', ''
Baten Kaitos'', and ''
Tales of Symphonia
is an action role-playing game released for the Nintendo GameCube on August 29, 2003, in Japan. It was published by Namco and is the fifth core product of the ''Tales'' series. The game was localized and released in North America on July 13, ...
''. Some multi-platform games that fit on single discs for PlayStation 2 and Xbox had certain features removed in order to fit on GameCube Game Discs.
Full-motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
(FMV) scenes and audio clips have higher compression or lower quality to fit on a single disc.
Wii Optical Disc
The Wii Optical Disc (RVL-006) is the physical game medium for the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
, created by Panasonic. Nintendo extended its proprietary technology to use a full size 12 cm, 4.7/8.54 GB
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
-based disc, retaining the benefits of the GameCube Game Disc, and adding the standard capacity of a double-layer
DVD-ROM
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
. Wii Discs always include a partition with files to update the
Wii system software
The Wii system software is a discontinued set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a game disc, allowed Nintendo to add add ...
, which are installed before starting the game if needed. This ensures that systems that cannot connect to the Internet are still updated. For the same reasons as GameCube, Wii cannot play DVD movies or CDs. However, earlier Wiis can play DVDs using
homebrew such as WiiMC.
The Wii can read dual-layer discs, and all games are single-layer prior to the release of ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...
''.
Upon that release, Nintendo admitted that some Wii systems may have trouble reading dual-layer discs due to a dirty laser lens.
Nintendo repaired systems with dual-layer problems,
and later released a disc cleaning kit for users to purchase.
Wii U Optical Disc
The Wii U Optical Disc (WUP-006) is the retail physical game medium for the Wii U, with a capacity of 25 GB. There is no 50 GB dual layer version. The
Wii U system software
The Wii U system software is the official firmware version and operating system for Nintendo's Wii U home video game console. Nintendo maintains the Wii U's systemwide features and applications by offering system software updates via the Inter ...
is backwards compatible with Wii Optical Discs, but not with GameCube game discs. The Wii U Optical Discs differ in appearance from most other optical discs in that they have soft, rounded edges.
The console's optical drive was developed and supplied by Panasonic, a founding member in the
Blu-ray Disc Association. It is not clear whether the Wii U Optical Disc is similar in physical design to the Blu-ray physical disc specification. Nintendo president
Satoru Iwata
was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, video game designer, and producer. He was the fourth President (corporate title), president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. He was a major contr ...
stated, "Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities. The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies". Like with the GameCube and Wii optical discs, it was chosen by Nintendo to prevent copyright infringement of games, to reduce cost by avoiding licensing fees to the
Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), and to reduce
loading times. This also prevents the console from being modified into a DVD or Blu-ray movie player.
Burst cutting area
Each Nintendo optical disc contains a burst cutting area (BCA) mark, a type of barcode that is written to the disc with a
YAG laser YAG laser may refer to two types of lasers that use yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG):
* Nd:YAG laser (doped with neodymium)
* Er:YAG laser (doped with erbium
Erbium is a chemical element with the symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white sol ...
. The data stored in this BCA mark includes an encrypted table related to the hardware-based copy-protection mechanics, in addition to 64 bytes of un-encrypted user-accessible data.
Wii U discs do not use BCA.
A BCA mark is visible to the naked eye. It is different from the
IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...
mark that is on all optical discs. BCA is described in Annex K of the physical specification, and can be seen between radius and . There are also six additional evenly spaced small cuts, visible with a strong light source, located just outside the BCA radius, which are related to the copy-protection.
Their value as a copy protection mechanism diminished after
Datel discovered that the same pattern could be recorded into the DVD instead of needing to be precisely cut later.
''
New Super Mario Bros. Wii'' was the first Wii game to use the BCA as part of an anti-piracy check; however it was cracked.
See also
*
GD-ROM
References
External links
{{Nintendo hardware
80 mm discs
120 mm discs
DVD
Nintendo hardware
Video game distribution
Video game storage media