Nintendo Mastering Code

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 21:13, 28 August 2021

All GameCube, Wii, and Wii U games have a mastering code on the back of the disc. The format of the mastering code has been completely deciphered.

Example of a mastering code that we will use to explain the format in order: 308K0111 RVL-RKGP-0A-0 JPN S0

Character	Meaning
3	The plant the disc was manufactured in. If this character is a number, it was made in Japan. If this character is a letter, it was made in USA. Panasonic manufactured almost all North American discs in their USA plant, but closed it on April 30, 2015.[1] Thus, all Wii and Wii U discs manufactured after that were made in Japan. Unsure what the different letters and numbers signify anything.
08	Year the disc was manufactured. In this case, it was 2008.
K	Month the disc was manufactured. In this case, it was November. "A" would be January, "B" would be February, "C" would be March...
01	Day the disc was manufactured. The full date is therefore November 1st, 2008.
11	Disc lot per day (unsure)
RVL	Platform. DOL for GameCube, RVL for Wii, and WUP for Wii U.
RKGP	Disc Serial
0	Disc Number. Almost always 0.
A	Layer type. A for single-layer, B for dual-layer.
0	Revision Number
JPN	The plant the disc was manufactured in. If this is JPN, it was made in Japan. If this is USA, it was made in USA.
S0	Layer type. S0 for single-layer discs, L0 and L1 for dual-layer discs made in Japan, 00 and 20 for dual-layer discs made in USA.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ! Character || Meaning
 |-
-| 3 || The plant the disc was manufactured in. If this character is a number, it was made in Japan. If this character is a letter, it was made in USA. Panasonic manufactured almost all North American discs in their USA plant, but closed it on April 30, 2015.[https://www.dailybreeze.com/2015/04/29/panasonic-closing-torrance-manufacturing-plant-lays-off-90-workers/] Thus, all Wii and Wii U discs manufactured after that were made in Japan.
+| 3 || The plant the disc was manufactured in. If this character is a number, it was made in Japan. If this character is a letter, it was made in USA. Panasonic manufactured almost all North American discs in their USA plant, but closed it on April 30, 2015.[https://www.dailybreeze.com/2015/04/29/panasonic-closing-torrance-manufacturing-plant-lays-off-90-workers/] Thus, all Wii and Wii U discs manufactured after that were made in Japan. Unsure what the different letters and numbers signify anything.
 |-
 | 08 || Year the disc was manufactured. In this case, it was 2008.
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 | 01 || Day the disc was manufactured. The full date is therefore November 1st, 2008.
 |-
-| 11 || Disc lot per day?
+| 11 || Disc lot per day (unsure)
 |-
 | RVL || Platform. DOL for GameCube, RVL for Wii, and WUP for Wii U.