Nintendo Mastering Code
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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 mastering codes:
GameCube: C02H0710 DOL-GAFE-0-00 USA S0
Wii: 308K0111 RVL-RKGP-0A-0 JPN S0
Wii U: G13J1101 WUP-P-ARDE-00 USA S0
| Character | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 3 | Paired with the mastering code. If this character is a number, the disc was made in Tsuyama, Japan. If this character is a letter, it was made in the USA. Panasonic manufactured almost all North American discs in their USA plant in Torrance, California, but it closed on April 30, 2015.[1] Thus, all Wii and Wii U discs manufactured after that were made in Japan.
1 - IFPI LQ11 (Japan) |
| 08 | Year the disc was manufactured. In the Wii example, it was 2008. |
| K | Month the disc was manufactured. In the Wii example, it was November. "A" would be January, "B" would be February, "C" would be March, etc. |
| 01 | Day the disc was manufactured. The full date is therefore November 1st, 2008 for the Wii example. |
| 11 | Disc batch per day. |
| | |
| RVL | Platform. DOL for GameCube, RVL for Wii, and WUP for Wii U. |
| RKGP | Disc Serial |
| | |
| 0 | Disc Number. (Wii and GameCube only) Almost always 0, unless there's a Disc 2. |
| A | Disc type. (Wii only) A for single-layer, B for dual-layer, C for standard DVD-Video (used for Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Beginners DVD). |
| 0 (or 00) | Revision Number. Starts at 0, goes up to 9 for Wii, 10 for Wii U (binary-coded decimal). |
| | |
| JPN | The factory 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. For Wii, L0 and L1 for dual-layer discs made in Japan, 00 and 20 for dual-layer discs made in USA. The GameCube game Super Smash Bros. Melee (USA) (Rev 1) has this set to S1 for some reason. |
(Decoded by Hiccup, PPLToast, Larsenv, and Enker, plus some of it from common knowledge)
