Hacking Wii mini homebrew - Is it possible

[EpikJimmer]

I was wondering for 3 years straight, is it actually possible to hack a wii mini?
The wii mini removes the following:
-WiFi
-All channels except disc, mii and manual channel
-SD card reader
-Wireless communications with DS/3DS

So, it's just impossible to hack a wii mini, right.
Not that I want to hack it, it's just that I want to know...

 

[Warmo]

There would probably be a way via hardmod, but then depends how much documentation there is (If at all)

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Looks bad.
You are not the first one to ask this. Happy reading:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/can-you-hack-the-wii-mini.527164/

 

[SCOTT0852]

There's a few exploits for non-mini Wiis:
Flashhax
STR2hax
Letterbomb
Bannerbomb
Game save exploits

The wii mini removes the following:
-WiFi

So no STR2hax or Flashhax.

disc,

Pretty sure discs have to be signed to run properly, so you're not able to burn a disc that hacks the console.

mii

No exploits discovered for it, and one being found is highly unlikely.

and manual channel

Pretty sure there's no way to exploit that.

-SD card reader

There goes Bannerbomb, Letterbomb, and the save exploits.

-Wireless communications with DS/3DS

These would probably be our only hope at exploiting the Mii Channel, but they're gone too.

There would probably be a way via hardmod

A hardmod would require a way to decrypt the nand, which requires console-unique keys, which require software-side hax, so you can't even hack one through a hardmod.

 

[nWo]

There's a few exploits for non-mini Wiis:
Flashhax
STR2hax
Letterbomb
Bannerbomb
Game save exploits

So no STR2hax or Flashhax.

Pretty sure discs have to be signed to run properly, so you're not able to burn a disc that hacks the console.

No exploits discovered for it, and one being found is highly unlikely.

Pretty sure there's no way to exploit that.

There goes Bannerbomb, Letterbomb, and the save exploits.

These would probably be our only hope at exploiting the Mii Channel, but they're gone too.


A hardmod would require a way to decrypt the nand, which requires console-unique keys, which require software-side hax, so you can't even hack one through a hardmod.

Damn. That was clear and direct. Thank you.

 

[EpikJimmer]

Damn, nintendo was really clever and prepared.
As long as the switch can play gamecube and N64 games via emulation, I'm ok. (it's bc I'm going to buy one sometime)

 

[DeadlyFoez]

No public exploits and no one is wasting their time anymore trying to find an exploit for a system that sold so few units and you cant do jack shit with it anyways.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Damn, nintendo was really clever and prepared.
As long as the switch can play gamecube and N64 games via emulation, I'm ok. (it's bc I'm going to buy one sometime)

Well prepared? Mhhm. More like a Wii limited to the bare minimum functionality:
Put in Wii disc → play game.
No data goes in or out to some external source/destination.

As much as I’m for squeezing everything out of every hardware, it does not make much sense wasting energy on the (heavily downgraded) Wii Mini.

The good news is: Wii consoles are considered old and outdated and boring. Their price is extremely low at the moment. Reselling companies sometimes sell the Wii Mini (RVL-201) to a higher price than the partially limited Wii (RVL-101) or the full featured Wii (RVL-001). You know… “newer = better”.

I got some RVL-001 consoles on the flea market last year. One console for 30€ came with two Wii Remote Plus and much more. If you sell your Wii Mini and replace it with a full featured Wii and have a bit luck, you could end up with a better console and more money in the pocket.

 

[EpikJimmer]

True, but... I have all these saves in there and nintendo was too lazy to add the feature to copy save data to an sd card.

 

[bandithedoge]

Why the hell would you even want to hack one? Used non-mini Wiis are very cheap nowadays.

 

[leon315]

hardmod.

i heard the existence of a modchip which goes on motherboard.

But it requires Tiny soldering(R) tho!

 

[Ericsonanzois]

Im wondering if exploit not is possible via a device named "Tower of Power" for play Skylanders. The Tower of Power connect with wii under some form which you can insert an app?

 

[Deleted member 441875]

Im wondering if exploit not is possible via a device named "Tower of Power" for play Skylanders. The Tower of Power connect with wii under some form which you can insert an app?

I was thinking the same thing. the portal device for those toys to life games (skylanders, Disney infinity, and i think lego dimensions came out on the Wii as well) connects via USB which the Wii Mini has, so if we found an exploit in one of those games, then theoretically, we could hack a Wii Mini

 

[Ryccardo]

True, but... I have all these saves in there and nintendo was too lazy to add the feature to copy save data to an sd card.

Not at all, in fact they went way out of their usual way* to remove network and SD features from the Wii Menu, and to rebuild every IOS to simulate the nonexisting wifi card!

* compare with the effort required to remove a Miiverse icon from the 3DS/WiiU launchers, or with covering up controller pak features in N64 VC games

Even the obvious way in (desolder CPU, add SD slot by connecting it directly to the pins used in Wii models with one, reattach it to motherboard, use Brawl exploit) was blocked with all the SD code stubbed, or so I read from a single post somewhere

i heard the existence of a modchip which goes on motherboard.

Real time memory editing (looks like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/micahdowty/sets/72157621023570420/ ) is indeed possible and even nearly guaranteed (on Wii) to work, for getting an homebrew to run, but it's not exactly "a chip that you fit on the motherboard"

connects via USB which the Wii Mini has, so if we found an exploit in one of those games, then theoretically, we could hack a Wii Mini

All true, but it must be clarified that (a practically usable) exploit is not guaranteed to exist at all...

 

[leon315]

Real time memory editing (looks like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/micahdowty/sets/72157621023570420/ ) is indeed possible and even nearly guaranteed (on Wii) to work, for getting an homebrew to run, but it's not exactly "a chip that you fit on the motherboard"

I thought it was smaller... never mind.

 

[Ryccardo]

I thought it was smaller... never mind, why the hell people even bought non unhackable wii mini in the 1st place? i'm sure at time when TC bought that used wiis are around 30-50

Why would anyone buy a NES mini at official price (never mind almost-double street price) for actually playing NES games, when the Pi and all its clones were already a thing (and so were, uhh, standard PCs)?

I don't think I've ever seen anyone in my area intentionally buying a Wii mini for themselves, mostly as a novelty gift or tournament prize

And of course not only is the Wii Mini not really smaller than a regular model, but actually needs more space since it's a toploader! Good job!

 

[tech3475]

I thought it was smaller... never mind, why the hell people even bought non unhackable wii mini in the 1st place? i'm sure at time when TC bought that used wiis are around 30-50

Don't know about TC, but it's likely allot of people simply didn't know or didn't care at the time, especially if they were buying for someone else.

I remember people I know looking at the AtGames Mega Drive when on discount and they didn't care about any emulation issues as it was for a young kid and more importantly it was relatively cheap.

 

[ertaboy356b]

I guess your only option is a mod chip but I don't know if it works with Wii mini.

 

[Ryccardo]

I guess your only option is a mod chip but I don't know if it works with Wii mini.

There are no chips for D4 drives; it should be possible to replace it with an older drive (or ODE) but that would require lots of wires or a custom adapter to solve the issue of different data cables...

And of course it would only play clean backups, since there's no IOS with trucha in it

 

[DeadlyFoez]

There are no chips for D4 drives; it should be possible to replace it with an older drive (or ODE) but that would require lots of wires or a custom adapter to solve the issue of different data cables...

And of course it would only play clean backups, since there's no IOS with trucha in it

I considered trying this with my wode, but in the end I felt that it just wasn't worth the effort.