Wii

Wii
Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Released in JP: December 2, 2006 Released in US: November 19, 2006 Released in EU: December 6, 2006 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

The Wii is Nintendo's second disc-based home console, and the first to have fairly in-depth online capabilities, plus a sophisticated updatable operating system. The Wii shares much of its base hardware with the GameCube, and thus most models are backward-compatible with GameCube discs and memory cards.

To do: The console allegedly had some early plans for the Virtual Console. Maybe there's more hidden things in the Virtual Console files?

Unused Banner

To do: There also exists a reflection of the DVD Disc in the diskBann.ash file, this should also be uploaded. Also get an image of the DVD Disc showing on the Disc Channel if possible. The brlyt layout can be viewed with WiiLayoutEditor.

The system menu contains a "DVD" banner for the Disc Channel, which would presumably be displayed when a DVD was inserted. This, along with spotted functions in the code (specifically syscalls 50 and 51, which control DVD video-related functions), suggests Nintendo planned to include DVD playback for the Wii.

The Wii's hardware is capable of DVD playback, but it was scrapped likely because they had to pay a small fee with every console shipped for licensing issues (a similar situation occurred with the original Xbox, which required an add-on for DVD Video playback due to Microsoft accidentally omitting the DVD logo on its console).

The ability to play DVDs on the Wii can be "unlocked" through Wii homebrew software, but this does not work on some newer Wii consoles due to the drive chip being changed.

In discBann.ash, the brlyt files show that the DVD Disc is actually still in the Disc Channel's banner, but invisible and also to the left of the Wii Disc but is slightly off-screen. The same is also true for the reflection image of the DVD Disc.

Unused Text

To do: Are "Please connect a Nunchuk to the Wii Remote." and "Please connect a Classic Controller to the Wii Remote." used?

Wii Menu 1.0 has some unused text, shown below.

Watch DVD

This would probably be shown if you were going to watch a DVD on your Wii (before the idea was scrapped).

Reading the disc...

The Disc Channel does not display this text when reading a disc, although it may be a leftover from the Nintendo GameCube. In later versions of the Wii Menu, these strings were removed.

Channel Time Remaining: 

Less than a minute

The period of use for this 
Channel has ended.

These strings link in with the unused time limit option for Wii Channels.

This Channel cannot be launched on 
this Wii console.

The Wii doesn't display this text and simply uses the "This Channel can't be used" string.

What's a Wii Number?
What's a nickname?
What's an e-mail address?

These strings aren't used and probably because people actually do know what a Wii Number, a nickname, and an e-mail address is.

GB
MB
KB

The Wii does not use byte sizes to determine space on the System Memory or the SD Card, and instead refers to 'Blocks'.

The Memory Card inserted in slot A cannot be used with this menu.
The Memory Card inserted in slot B cannot be used with this menu.

Messages referencing the GameCube memory card slots, purpose unknown.

Nintendo's Internet-based services
have not yet launched. Please check
back at a later date.

This was never used, even in Wii Menu 1.0, but the text seems to suggest that the Wii may not have launched with the Address Book or WiiConnect24 until Wii Menu 2.0. Interestingly, this string still exists in Wii Menu 4.3.

Dear Tommy,

I have gone out to buy groceries.
Your ice cream is in the fridge.

Mom

This letter is from Grandma.

This is my neighbor's cat.
Isn't it cute?

Love, Grandma

Grandma

See you at Christmas!

These are some of the messages that were used to demonstrate the uses of the Wii Message Board.

Grandma

Dad's Cell

Michelle

These contacts were used to demonstrate the uses of the Wii Address Book.

Animal Crossing

-Notice-

The Flea Market is open for business tomorrow!
Visit other folks' houses and pick up gently used items for dirt cheap!

It seems that Animal Crossing: City Folk would have sent messages regarding events happening in the game to your Wii Message Board. However, it uses an in-game Bulletin Board instead for whatever reason.

Remote Control Functionality

Within exBtn.ash are multiple files indicating that, at some point, the Wii Remote had functionality to act as a TV Remote.

This feature would later be implemented in Japanese-only TV no Tomo Channel G Guide for Wii, and later on the Wii U's GamePad.

In Wii Menu 1.0-3.0, you can find a file called tvrc_DB.arc which has .bin files which probably were used to control the TV. TV no Tomo Channel G Guide for Wii also has this file.

	Volume Control
	Power On/Off Change Input

rimocon_sousa.tpl shows the controls of said functionality.

rimocon_btn.tpl shows a sphere-like picture.

rimocon_btn_min.tpl shows a "TV" button.

Unused Icons

In board.ash, there is an image called Nigaoe.tpl ("nigaoe" translates to "portrait") that contains a small picture of Mario. This icon was also used in early screenshots and video of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Wii Menu 1.0 has a file called tanuki.arc, which inside it has a picture called okane.tpl ("okane" translates to "money") which has a picture of Tom Nook from Animal Crossing.

Early	Final

myLetterS.tpl contains an unused picture of a memo for the Wii Message Board, while myLetterS_a.tpl contains the final picture of a memo.

myLetterS_Game_a.tpl contains an unused Animal Crossing graphic used for memos regarding the game which was apparently shown at E3 2006.

Early	Final

In letter.ash there are 2 Mii icon pictures: myNigaoePos.tpl, an early Mii icon used to select Miis on the Wii Message Board, and th_mii_icon_a.tpl, the final Mii icon with the same use above.

Unused Font

In Wii Menu v1.0, matDbg24.brf seems to contain an unused font.

Error Messages

Some DOLs in the Wii code have an early version of the standard error message. The "Startup Disc" placeholder System Menu has an even earlier message that mentions the Revolution.

Very Early	Early	Final Version 1	Final Version 2
An error has occurred. Turn the power off and refer to the Nintendo Revolution Instruction Booklet for further instructions.	An error has occurred. Turn the power off and refer to the Instruction Booklet for further instructions.	An error has occurred. Press the Eject Button, remove the Game Disc, and turn the power off. Please read the Wii Operations Manual for more information.	An error has occurred. Press the Eject Button and remove the disc, then turn the Wii console off and refer to the Wii Operations Manual for help troubleshooting.

Startup Disc

To do: Update this section if a Startup Disc rip ever surfaces. A NAND dump of one of these early consoles exists and contains a few more things not yet documented here.

Wrong Disc	Insert Startup Disc	Checking Disc	Error
			250px

The first roughly 300,000 Wii units to be manufactured included an incomplete System Menu. Rather than re-flash all of these units before shipping, Nintendo included a "startup disc" that was required to be inserted to update the system's firmware on first-run. Most of these units were shipped to retailers for use in demo kiosks. These units would display the above screen instructing the user to insert the Startup Disc.

Early Wii retail boxes included a reference to the "Startup Disc" in the package contents, however, only a few actually incomplete units shipped to end consumers. Nintendo asked that users affected ship their units back to Nintendo for replacement.

The Startup Disc System Menu also checks if a Title ID of a Wii Disc is "RAAE" and if it is any other Title ID, then the disc is rejected. In any other version of the System Menu, if a Disc ID has "RAAE" then the disc is rejected.

A error sound only present in the Startup Disc System Menu exists and does play, but is not in any other System Menu. It is located at WSD/ERR/ with the filename "MSG".

(Source: https://hackmii.com/2010/09/insert-startup-disc/)

Usage Period for Channel Ended

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: If Wii titles do have a time limit, is it possible to set one, and once the limit is over, will this screen popup when Start is selected?

In limitover.ash, there are some unused graphics indicating that you can't use a Channel after a certain period of time. This was most likely intended for demos. Each title for the Wii has an option for a time limit, but Nintendo never used this on the Wii. Despite this, this was still left in the Home Menu data from before the idea was scrapped. This feature would later find its way to both the 3DS and Wii U, which do have demos with a maximum play limit. The brlyt files also show that the layout also displayed the borders of the Channel, but it's unknown if the Channel borders are also in the layout of the other screens as well such as the "This Channel can't be used." graphics.

(Source: CCCen)

Regional Differences

US	Europe

The warning symbol was yellow in Europe and white in US. The URL to Nintendo's health and safety webpage was blue in Europe and white in US.