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 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 all Nintendo discs, but closed their USA plant on April 30, 2015.[1] Thus, all discs manufactured after that were made in Japan. |
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 | Production Run |
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 a 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. |