Gamecube region switching

Hello, I apologize if this is not the right place to ask this, but I do have one quick question about region switching.

If I want to switch my GC into Japanese permanently and not care about US region anymore, what would I need to do instead of soldering wires? I don't have any soldering experiences.

Thanks in advance.

 

A right shaped tiny piece of wire should fit into the point holes, bridging them.

I will stress they are SMALL. Makes such wires rather flimsy for beginners to solder.

 

30AWG small.

 

One of those pens with conductive ink should also do the job.

Installing a region switch on the GC is probably one of the easiest hardware mods though. It was my first soldering job and turned out fine at the first attempt. Just follow mmmonkeys guide.

 

So even if I don't plan on switching the region back I still need to solder it?

Some other questions:

1 - Is there a GC controller that has a simple button layout similiar to a PS controller or Wii Classic?

2 - Best alternative to GC component cables? And how come the ones we see on amazon and ebay are the Japanese ones? Did they release these in NA?

3 - Are there programs out there that allow me to add codes to my Datel AR V1.2? They removed the option to add codes for whatever reason. Also, what's the best cheat disc for Gamecube anyway? (Kind of like the best one for PS2 AFAIK is the codebreaker v9.2)

 

What the mod itself does is either bridge the two points or leave them as normal (that is, when the switch isn't bridging them, it's the region it originally was). If you don't plan on switching the region back, you just have to bridge the two points you would usually solder two wires and an SPDT switch to.

other questions time:

1. Not that I've seen, but the GC has an awesome controller anyway, super comfortable. You could do some research on google or eBay, although I imagine they wouldn't really be around these days even if they were produced at some point.

2. Best alternative is s-video (although I don't think PAL consoles support this). The D-terminal cable is probably the most common thing you'll find on eBay; it's exactly the same as the component in that it has the chip doing the digital to analogue conversion, it just has a different connector that is mostly exclusive to Japanese TVs (you can use a D-terminal to component converter if you have this cable). The component cables were released outside of Japan, but were produced in small numbers and discontinued fairly quickly as Nintendo realised only a very small percentage of people were using them at the time. You might get lucky and find some for cheap at a local thrift shop or something. If you have an NTSC console, you're probably better off just using s-video as it's significantly cheaper.

3. A quick google could answer that question, although you said they removed the option to add codes, so probably not. Never used any cheat discs for GC, so I'm not sure what's even out there.

 

The D-terminal cable is almost as much as the component cable... Kind of crazy you will need to spend $150+ do get 480p from the GC

 

No. You'd merely have a wire sitting in two holes. Of course it could get disconnected from bumping around.
In any case it's an official hardware feature, Nintendo installed region switches in devkits.

 

Don't just stick a wire in there with or without tape. Doing that is just asking for that wire to pop out and short something killing the cube. There are plenty of people around here (myself included) that will install a region switch (or simply region mod it) for a good price.

 

+1

If you can stick a wire in there, you mine as well solder it. Tin the wire, stick it in, then dab a little flux on it, then a little solder and its done and done right.

 

Well in that case I'd sell the console in favor of Japanese. Let's not be a total cheapskate to where it deprives the world of a perfectly fine system.

 

Could you explain that more clearly please? Do I just insert the wires in my 2 R5 holes? Where do the other ends go?

Is S-video Nintendo first party?

 

It's just one wire. Follow the R5 traces until they reach holes.

Nintendo sold boxed s-video cables in Japan. For the US they were mail order.

 

One wire, okay. What R5 traces? What holes? Don't I just insert each end in the two empty solders beside the R5?

 

Check this
http://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=Region_Switch

 

I've seen that before, but the only line of interest is:

These two points can be soldered together for a permanent region change

Which means I still need to solder it?

 

For reliability yes. Not to test the connection works.