The Wii Shop Channel, as you might recall, ended up looking a lot different when it was officially released, and has now of course been shut down. Here's a look at an early Wii Shop Channel, dated. The Wii Menuis the graphical shellof the Wiigame console, as part of the Wii system software. It has four pages, each with a 4:3 grid, and each displaying the current time and date. Available applications, known as 'channels', are displayed and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote.

The guide is also available in other languages! To change the language, please press the icon at top right and change your language.

What is “homebrew”?

Homebrew refers to software not authorized by Nintendo. This can include games, utilities, emulators and much more!

Running homebrew on your Nintendo Wii can be done for free by exploiting bugs in Wii’s software. The modifications installed by following this guide will give you easy and persistent access to Wii homebrew.

What can I do with homebrew?

Here’s a list of things you can do using homebrew. While this list is by no means totally comprehensive, you should have a good idea of what is possible, and the guide will help you easily get started.

• Patch game disc contents (allowing you to load game modifications) using Riivolution.
• Install themes to your Wii Menu using MyMenuify.
• Install a USB Loader like WiiFlow or USB Loader GX to launch all your favorite titles from a USB storage device and more.
• Back up your discs with CleanRip and installed games and titles with YABDM
• Back up and restore your save files with SaveGame Manager GX
• Download new homebrew apps with the Homebrew Browser
• Restore discontinued online services, such as WiiConnect24 & Nintendo WFC services.
• Backup and restore copies of your Wii system memory (NAND) using BootMii.
• Protect your Wii from bricks using Priiloader and BootMii.
• Turn your Wii into a media player with WiiMC.

Ready?

Get started by choosing your exploit!

More Resources

There are also few more good resources for Wii modding and troubleshooting that can help:

• Wii Hacking Explained - by Cyan…and of course, this site

For modding a Wii U, follow this guide:

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.

• 4Unused Text
• 14Regional Differences

Sub-Pages

Disc Channel Banner Files

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 diskBann.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 and is slightly off-screen. The same is also true for the reflection image of the DVD Disc. A shade for the DVD also exists, but is incorrectly named 'DVDSahde' and is still invisible.

It is possible to get this image to show up, but you will need to edit the .brlyt file manually since Wii Layout Editor cannot save .brlyt edits correctly.

These images remain in all known and datamined versions of the System Menu, including Korean 3.5, vWii, and the Wii Mini.

If all images are set to Visible, the DVD icon and reflection will appear in the Disc Channel in the positions mentioned above, but the DVD icon only performs the default animation for when no disc is inserted and doesn't seem to have any other animation assigned to it, as the DVD and reflection icons do not spin when a disc is being read, and do not stop and fade out when a disc can't be read. Interestingly, the reflection image for the DVD icon doesn't perform the default animation.

On July 20, 2021, a few prototype designs for the Wii Remote were leaked on the Internet, and some of them featured 'Back' and 'Pause' buttons as opposed to the final's 'Plus' and 'Minus', which may have been the design intended for the scrapped DVD functionality.

Two SD Card Slots

Two SDIO devices and references to two SD card slots are present in the Wii's IOS. While there is a second SDIO device in the Wii used for other functionality, there is pre-release evidence that the Wii was intended to have two SD card slots, and the string '..SDIO SLOT 1: Cannot init!!!..' (slots counting starting with 0) in IOS in addition to the length of the pre-release Wii SD card flap. This relates to the below mention of being able to manage data on the Wii that is gigabytes in size.

Unused Text

Wii Menu 1.0 has some unused text, shown below.

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

The Disc Channel does not display this text when reading a disc, although it may be a leftover from the GameCube. In later versions of the Wii Menu, the locations of these strings still exist but are blank.

These strings would have been used if a Channel has a time limit, and would display on the Channel's banner, but is unused since it never got implemented.

Even if the time limit option was implemented, the system uses the limitOver.ash file and doesn't use the text string. These strings link in with the unused time limit option for Wii Channels.

Originally, games could have had a flag for controller requirements set, with the Wii Menu not allowing the game to be launched until the required controller has been connected. The Wii SDK includes a package for banner mastering; in its release notes, a note dated September 2006 mentions the removal of this flag, which was present in the game's banner.

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

The Wii does not use byte sizes to determine space on the System Memory or the SD Card, and instead refers to 'Blocks' just as the GameCube did. GB is particularly notable, as the Wii's NAND is 512MB in size and non-savefile data cannot normally be transferred between an SD card and a Wii or directly launched (the SD Card Menu copies to NAND); as such, this indicates that at one point in development the Wii had the ability to manage and directly launch files 1+GB in size, which means one would originally be able to have full Wii games or possibly GameCube games on an SD card. This matches up with pre-release material hinting at the possibility to download Wii and GameCube games onto an SD card. This relates to the above presence of two SD card slots in the Wii.

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.

Some of the messages that were used to demonstrate the uses of the Wii Message Board at the Wii Channels conference on September 14, 2006. The message about the cat also appears in the Wii Manual on Pages 32 and 36. The cat picture itself is on the Photo Channel.

These were used to demonstrate the uses of the Wii Address Book. They also appear in the Wii manual on Pages 35 and 37. The UK Wii manual has different names, with 'Dad Mobile' on Page 37 and just 'Dad' on Page 39.

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, similarly to other games in the series.

Japanese Localization

Present in Japanese localization directory which actually has three extra files.

Best proxy server. Most likely DVD player controls relating to the latter is in sample.bmg.

Remote Control Functionality

Within exBtn.ash are multiple files indicating that, at some point, the Wiimote had functionality to act as a TV remote. This may have also been from when DVD functionality was planned.

This feature would later be implemented in the Japan-only TV no Tomo Channel G Guide for Wii and later on the Wii U's GamePad. Coincidentally, the Japanese Club Nintendo offered a Ｗｉｉテレビリモコン (Wii TV Remote) to Platinum members from 2005 to October 2006, the month prior to the release of the Wii and the regular Wii Remote.

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.

In addition, in Wii Menu 1.0, the Wii Settings HTML files have an empty TV_Remote folder.

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 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 videos 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.

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 shown at the September 14, 2006 Wii Channels conference. The only remaining Animal Crossing-related memo graphic that exists is the orange envelope with a leaf logo on the red sticker from sending a letter to the Wii Message Board via Pelly in the Post Office window of Town Hall in Animal Crossing: City Folk.

In letter.ash are two 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 1.0, matDbg24.brf seems to contain an unused font.

Error Messages

Some early Wii executables have a variant on the standard error message, which is also present in sample disc error headers in the SDK. The 'Startup Disc' placeholder System Menu has an even earlier message that mentions the Revolution.

Startup Disc

The first ~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 include 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. The Startup Disc Menu also accepts discs with Title IDs starting with a number, allowing it to natively run auto-boot discs such as the Wii Backup Disc and Movie-Ch Install Disc. If a disc is accepted, the Startup Disc Menu plays a short fade-out animation.

The Startup Disc was discovered on September 2, 2020, when an anonymous user leaked numerous internal Nintendo files to 4chan. The disc includes an update partition where it installs Wii System Menu 1.0, MIOSv1, BCv1, and all v0 System Channels.

An 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':

Time Limits and Usage Periods for Channels

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. This feature would later find its way to the 3DS and Wii U, which do have demos with a maximum play limit. In the Wii Shop JavaScript files, there are references to title categories including subscriptions, rentals, and demos; this is most likely the intended use of this feature.

Wii Factory Tools

When Wiis had their NANDs programmed in the factory, Nintendo would have used discs and tools to install boot2 and important system menu files. However, one of these tools was discovered by fluffy. These tools would be imported onto the NAND, and would then be deleted after they were no longer needed. However, one of these Wiis still had a factory tool on the NAND. The disc itself is known as '0002'. What is known about it is that it can import files from an SD Card and then write it to the NAND. This application reads from a file on the SD card known as 'all.ini', containing a list of DOL files launched from the SD card.

Stub Channels

See also: Prerelease:Forecast Channel, Prerelease:News Channel, and Prerelease:Wii Shop Channel

The Wii Menu has special handling for the titleIDs associated with the 'region free' Forecast and News Channel stubs (00010002-HAFA and HAGA). It will replace the Start button with an Update button pointing directly to the Wii System Update feature (part of the Wii Menu), as well as hide said stubs if the matching region-specific actual Channel is also installed.

While the stub channels appear to be unnecessary for the functionality of those applications, they are still installed on every regular Wii released. They can be seen again by uninstalling the functional channels using homebrew.

Neither the actual channels nor the stubs are present on the Wii Mini or Wii U, as the WiiConnect24 service was not offered on those systems. If manually installed on a Wii U, the Update button not only remains functional but also provides access to the normally hidden Wii System Settings via canceling the update.

The nonfunctional v0 version of the Wii Shop Channel (00010002-HABA) preinstalled on 1.0 Wiis also has a banner and icon in the same style, but it is built into the channel itself instead of a stub.

Version Differences

• System Menu 1.0 does not feature the Wii Menu text or slope present in 2.0 onward.
• System Menu 1.0 does not display a version number in the top-right corner of System Settings.
• Channels cannot be moved around on System Menu 1.0.
• The US version of System Menu 1.0 loads channels faster than any other System Menu.
• The warning text displayed by Wii Menu 1.0 just before a disc update is, confusingly, just the same string displayed during the update itself.
• Wii Menu 1.0 lacks a button in network settings to access the EULA hidden channel (which, along with the Region Select hidden channel, is not preinstalled on 1.0 systems).
• Wii Menu 1.0 lacks an update button in the last page of the settings: online updates can only be accessed through the connection test feature.
  • For this reason, the 'Update' button used in #Stub channels is replaced by an 'Enter Settings' button.

• System Menu 1.0 and 2.0 do not feature the clock which was added in 3.0 and onward.
• The Disc Channel icon in 1.0 and 2.0 has the Wii logo appear every few seconds. In 3.0, it was changed to have the Disc spin. The Wii logo also never appears.
• The Wii Menu text still appears in 3.0 and onward, but is then faded out to show the clock.
• The slope in the bottom UI meant for the clock was made deeper to fit the clock. The gradient was also made more noticeable. Both of these changes are present in 3.0 and on.
• System Menu 4.0 has the option to access the SD card from the main menu.

Regional Differences

Health and Safety Screen

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

Home Menu

In the home menus of each officially-released game, the text showing each player and their number differ. In addition, the menu itself is known as the 'Home Button Menu' rather than just the 'HOME Menu' in Japan, and the 'Wii Remote' is known as the 'Wii RemoCon' (or 'Wii Remote Control').

Note that (just like the network configuration tool in DS and PlayStation 2 games), the 'Wii's' HOME Menu is in fact individually compiled in every licensed title, resulting in differences across them depending on the version of the HOME library used in the title.

Disc Channel

While the international versions contain support for GameCube compatibility, the Korean version of the system menu does not, mostly due to the GameCube going out of production. This change was also reflected in the Wii Mini and the Wii U's Virtual Wii (but not the Wii Family Edition).

Wi-Fi Simple Start

The Japanese version of the System Menu has a Simple Start option in the connection setup menu, allowing you to easily connect your Wii to a Simple Start compatible router. Since such routers are exclusive to Japan, the button got removed in the other regional System Menu versions.

Wii Channels Shop

DVDHome.bmg

DVDHome.bmg is a message file containing strings related to the removed DVD playing and TV remote usage options in the Japanese version of Wii Menu 1.0 (it is also present and identical in 1.0 RC1

Roughly means 'Settings' or 'Configuration.'

Rough meaning is 'Go to Channel List' or 'Return to Channel List.' It is unclear if this is referring to the Wii Menu or an actual TV guide, but considering the filename and context it is more likely to be the former.

'Halt' / 'Stop'. Perhaps a pause or stop control for DVD playback?

Not sure what this is.

According to DeepL, 'the link to the remote control has been broken.' Would presumably be displayed on an unexpected disconnect of the remote control.

'Turned off the vibration of the remote control.' This is likely referring to the Wiimote by a generic name (as most remote controls do not have vibration or rumble functionality).

Ditto, but for turning on the vibration functionality.

BBC IPlayer Channel

Approximate translation is 'Turned off the speakers of the remote control.' Most likely referring to the Wiimote speakers.

Ditto, but for turning on the Wiimote speakers.

How To Add Wii Channels

Amazon Instant Video Channel