I've read the comments, and there seems to be confusion, so let me clarify things: the color of the wii and the model are two separate things, so it's useless to say "I have the black one" "I have the white one", because even a wii white can be backwards compatible, as I said before what matters is the model, not the color
@@HoraceInkling It's a Nintendo console... You could slap the shit out of it for years and it will still work fine... There used to be a video online of a guy throwing a PS2, an Xbox and a gamecube off of a parking garage... The gamecube was the only one that still worked...
It’s interesting how instead of making a new plastic section for the top without the GameCube port holes, they were just like “Yeah, just put some screws in there. Nobody will notice”
The ironic thing is it must of worked pretty well all things considered. As a kid I knew multiple who had the black model and had a white one before. And all of them never mentioned or seemed to notice this difference.
The reason for the optical drive "anomaly" is that the Wii is basically a GameCube with an ARM CPU (the type of CPU in tablets and phones) added to the GPU as a bridge for newer hardware and as a security enhancement. You can use GameCube iso loaders for Wii homebrew (Nintendont) on the Wii U because of this as having Wii compatibility also means having GameCube compatibility.
It’s not even an arm cpu. GameCube, wii, and Wii U all use ibm power pc architecture. Nothing to do with arm at all. Also the wii and GameCube both use almost the exact same cpu and gpu, just the wii runs at a higher clock speeds with more memory. Wii and GameCube are one in the same, one just runs faster, no extra hardware, nothing.
That’s why the system can *RUN* GameCube games, the reason why you can swap the disk drives and then have the family system play GameCube games is because of the disk drive firmware.
@@abysstoid1503 You should watch a video on Wii security. You'd see that it has both ARM and PowerPC. Also, the Wii has WiFi and Bluetooth (that's how the wiimote connects).
Worst part of this? There's certain accessories meant for the Wii that connect to the Gamecube ports that will no longer work. One being the DDR pad for Hottest Party
@@mooses1027 “Virgin Mary” tf lame ass insult is that? The Wii isn’t going to break or get damaged by him slapping it, the Wii is a very dense system and the plastic isn’t going to break over a slap.
It's a Wii bro it's hard plastic you unscrew the feet get access to the CMOS or Mobo and do the most shittiest sauldring in the world to get a ble background in mkeio or smth let it catch on fire and it still boots up fine to play some Luigi's mansion or smth
back in 2009 i got the original wii, i loved it but it broke in 2011 when i dropped it and the disk drive broke. my dad got me a new one, but i was super confused cause it was that exact model - the black one. thanks for explaining, i finally understand lmao
Could have bought a disk drive for less than $40 with a couple tri-wing screw drivers and fixed it instead of buying a new one. I got the eventual unreadable disk problem many Wiis encountered, but ended up fixing it myself. Later on did it for my best friend and a few others. Cheaper than buying a whole new one. Plus made some cash doing it lol. For context I was 12 at the time this happened in 2012
Everyone knows about the Wii. Not many people know about this. Ask someone, anyone, “have you ever heard of the Wii family edition?” The few people that had one don’t know it’s called that. Ask someone “have you heard of the Wii?” And I guarantee the answer will be yes if they are over the age of 20.
I had both, the white at my moms house which my parents originally got for Christmas and the black at my dads which he later got after they separated. I was always so mad cuz the black Wii couldn’t play GameCube games, I swear I almost broke that top off 😂
I have a black Wii like the white one in this video and I just found out that I can plug the controllers in. To be fair I never had anything to do with the game cube lol
I had a black wii family edition. Ended up purchasing a used regular wii on the cheap, swapped over the hardware, and now I have a black wii with the proper gamecube ports. The shells are pretty much identical so everything swaps over, it’s just a lot of pieces to work with
Fun facts, the only thing that was removed was the physical incompatibility with gamecube, the digital compatibility is still there although hidden, Homebrew confirms this. Also there is a way to physically re-add GameCube ports to the family edition of Nintendo Wii's because like I said before only the GameCube ports were removed, the solder points on the motherboard still exist. So in practice you can read GameCube ports and then use Homebrew to flash an older more compatible ROM and then you have a fully functional wii.
I remember I damaged a limited edition blue Wii trying to open the GameCube controller ports, not realising that it wasn't there. I genuinely didn't realize they removed BC I just thought the flap was stuck
The system software still recognizing GC games is expected. Removing GC software functionality in the OS could introduce errors that would need to be found and fixed costing time and money.
I remember waking up on Christmas morning in 2011 and unboxing my first Wii, I got the black one and was confused because all the promotional stuff for it showed one that was white. Oh the memories!
i already knew bout this one, its the reason why my parents had to go online and order a used one, cause the family edition was all that was on sale at the time we needed a new one
I found out this existed when I looked up how to connect a GameCube controller to a Wii (for Smash Bros. Brawl purposes) because I wanted to buy one... and then couldn't open the side. I found out I have that version of the Wii.
Same ikr when I got some gamecube nintendo games at goodwill I was kinda miffed the disc did not fully go into the wii unless its the a launch model. Despire beinf only in fine print beneath the box so when it was locked up you couldnt see that nor did it explain that there ecen WAS a such thing as somethign called a gamexube nintendo that was... like a thing ecen lol so for awhile I hadnt known about what existed prior to my discovery of videogames sometiem in elementary school lols
I still have my original Wii. Was fun to go through the save dates and the “Todays Accomplishments” envelopes to see what games I was playing and when.
Fun fact: the hardware for the GameCube still exists on the board, you only need to solder new connectors to the board and you’re ready to go using it like the original model. Kind’ve bizarre!
Good find! Also the port that’s in the top is used for Nintendo to debug. The GameCube port on normal Wii’s was used, but Nintendo still needed a way to debug in the absence of one.
The family edition Wii was also made to only be used horizontally. Thats why the logo is turned that way. It was sold without the stand and it also only has rubber feet on the one side. I believe trying to use it vertically could damage the console (or so Nintendo said).
Woah wtf? They just left the holes for the ports in the second model though? That’s so weird. I had both because the disc drive on our first model crapped out but we eventually got it fixed. And then before I could move my save data over to the model two, my dad sold both of them in a garage sale because I had them in our living room and he thought I was getting rid of them. So that was most of Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy, and about a couple dozen other games worth of save data gone.
Wow! I have that exact stripped down model of Wii! Found it at a thrift store for cheap, and wondered why it didn't have the same flaps as the others I have
I have a blue family one :c I’m extremely disappointed in my lack of gamecube ports man. The amount of people that kept telling me “just open the side” was insane, like IT DOES NOT OPEN BRO I SWEAR 😅
More people had the family edition than the OG Wii? I was fortunate and my dad managed to get the family a Wii just a few weeks after release, those things were incredibly hard to find at first due to the demand. I'm glad we did get one of the first ones because we had a GameCube beforehand, so it not only allowed us to play all the new games, but we could still play all of our old games. Ours even came with the gray stand you could set it on to hold it upright and Wii Sports 1.00 (fun fact, there were two versions of Wii Sports bundled with the Wii). I feel like I bump into the one with the GameCube ports way more often at used video game stores. Thank God too, because GameCubes are getting expensive and getting one of those Wiis is less than half the price at most places.
Funnily enough, I have this model as my parents received it as a gift in 2011-ish. My dad wasn’t interested in a Wii U until Super Mario Maker came out, so this was what we used for gaming throughout most of the Wii U/3DS era.
This is the Wii me and my family have had for the past ten years. I still love playing on it and the only complaint I have is that it’s not upright. But I fixed that cuz I bought a stand and put it up right :D
So fun fact. If you have one of the stripped down models you can actually still softmod it and play Gamecube games on it (just not the discs unless you swap the optical drive to one one that holds on to the smaller discs). To get the full Gamecube functionality you can plug in one of those Gamecube adapters they sold for WiiU and Switch Smash Brothers and you can use your GC controllers no problem.
I find it funny how the cutouts for the GameCube ports are still there, like it's literally just a Wii with more color options and some minor changes to the software and the shell
The black one from the Mario Kart Wii Bundle has Gamecube controller ports. The only downside of 2008+ Wiis is that they aren't as safe as older ones for installing mods. You can't install BootMii inside boot2 for protection. (e.g if you want to install WiiWare channels that were previously backed up to the internet, cioses to make USB Loader GX work (piracy) or Nintendont (Allows you use the Classic controller in Gamecube games), change system region if it's Korean, change themes, change menu language (ERASES priiloader if installed as IOS and bricks the console if language is set to Spanish), .. You can't do it safely and have to be EXTRA careful not to fkup the Wii.
I actually had the black Wii back then, I don't remember the GameCube compatibility, since I had one of those too, but I feel like I remember being able to play GameCube on it, but I guess not. I didn't even get many games for it, just Wii Sports Resort, some Pokemon game for Wii, you had like a massive park/island or something? I can't remember, Pirates of the Caribbean game and Metroid: Other M. Good times, I think it was just marketed as Limited Edition here in Germany, not sure anymore.
I HAVE THIS WII! when i started to get more into games I was so mad that for some reason my wii didn't had GC compatibility, and then I learned it was bc it was a different edition
The blue Wii is the same way. Actually, mine doesn't have a bar at all. Just holes that lead nowhere. There also isn't a screw to remove that plate, I spudged mine open.
i have a stack of wiis including white, red and black models, i had no idea they still used the same case with all of the ports intact! makes it tempting to gut a real wii with gamecube and put it's parts in a black case just for the uniqueness
I had that black Wii but I sold it because I actually ended up wanting the GC in my Wii. Sadly, I forgot to take out Zelda Twilight Princess 😔 so, someone got a free game too. lol.
I remember our mom getting us the newer Wii because our old Wii’s disc drive was failing. Sucked to find out that it was basically neutered when it cane to backwards compatibility but at least it wasn’t the Wii Mini lmao
while I didnt explicity know about the diffrent models, I had noticed that some (seamed like it was the black ones) lacked the doors on the side for the game cube stuff.
I had that model, was so disappointed as a 9 yr old who got an aftermarket GameCube controller to play Mario Kart just to find out that that lid was closed with plastic studs
Thats the Wii my parents got me as a child. When I discovered regular Wiis had Gamecube compatibility I was too dissapointed to see mine wasnt working.
fun fact... the family edition still will run GameCube games with homebrew (I believe you should mod a Wii if you have a Wii anyways) and have a GameCube to USB adapter.
I remember going to a friend house and he asked me if I had the newer wiimotes (Wiimote fused with the controller rather than a clip-on) or the older wiimotes (clip-on wiimotes). I looked at him and went "New wiimotes???" Then I learned about that model of Wii existing.
If anything, I did not know that people did not know about this. The family edition sold almost as well as the original, so there are a lot of them in circulation. An interesting sidenote: if you have a homebrewed family edition Wii, you can still run GameCube ROMs just fine.
