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Hacking Homebrew The FULL lore about the Wii Shop Channel revivals + my thoughts

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Released on the 2nd of March, 2025. it tricks Nintendo servers into thinking you bought the wanted game and you are trying to redownload it, when actuallly you never bought it. AKA, 100% piracy.
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Of course it would be a hard brick or a soft brick, or a banner brick. idk about Wii much, but of course, but you know, there is also a Wii Shop thing that is exact same thing as WSC, but it downloads WAD's from a Google Drive link and of course you need to mod the console before installing it.
URL: no because I'm a Newbie.
 
UselessHammerBro said:
Of course it would be a hard brick or a soft brick, or a banner brick. idk about Wii much, but of course, but you know, there is also a Wii Shop thing that is exact same thing as WSC, but it downloads WAD's from a Google Drive link and of course you need to mod the console before installing it.
URL: no because I'm a Newbie.
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what are soft and hardbricks? I know what banner bricks are.
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LNLenost said:
(This is going to be a long post, just so you know.)


This is the full, uncensored lore of the Wii Shop Channel revivals. If I missed something, let me know.

RiiShop
Status: SHUT DOWN

When it released I was 12 and I had almost no technical knowledge about the Wii. It was slow, but almost functional: you couldn't download titles though. The project died for a ton of reasons: first of all the security was weak (in fact the source code has tons of leaked IPs and serials), also it gained a ton of success (they even wrote blog articles about it!) and that probably didn't help the devs.

New Shop Channel
Status: SHUT DOWN

NSC was made with the collaboration of Fin, which did most of the job. There weren't a lot of progress though. I worked on this project as a translator, since my coding skills were bad (they still are...)
It shut down because the owner didn't even know how to code and that led to various arguments and then the project's shutdown.

Reviive Shop Channel
Status: SHUT DOWN

Reviive was made by ChrisPlayzwii. It had a website where they updated on progress, a relatively small Discord server, and a GitHub README. All of the work was made in private repositories so we do not know **exactly** how it was going. There was a public beta but the project was shut down because of raids.

Wii Shoplifting Channel
STATUS: working, but dangerous

Released on the 2nd of March, 2025 by @Larsenv , it tricks Nintendo servers into thinking you bought the wanted game and you are trying to redownload it, when actuallly you never bought it. AKA, 100% piracy.
The problem with this is that you have to overload your NAND with tickets, which could cause a banner brick. Personally I tried it (AFTER backing up my NAND) and it works, but yea it is really dangerous. The WiiLink team released a tool called "WiiUnShoplifter" to remove the app's files.

Wii Like To Party
STATUS: working

Wii Like To Party is a fork of @Larsenv's Shoplifting Channel. It is not much different... what it does is that it directy downloads the ticket onto the NAND instead dowloading a massive size of tickets and causing a banner brick.

WiiMart
STATUS: working

WiiMart is a WSC revival that's currently up and running. Downloads work as of now, but only on real hardware.

What do I think?

I'll be short: idk. Surely the people who have the skills to do it can't do it by themself. Also, Nintendo is always watching us and the first thing we do wrong they give us a DMCA. So... please stop. Stop for now.
Dont get me wrong, I worked in like 3 different revivals and I am happy to see another one that finally works, but for me it's just becoming an obsession. What is so urgent in reviving this? Is it even needed? Like... why?



If you want to learn more about other WSC revivals, you can check this out.
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We dont need a revival. I mean, most of the people saying: "Rest in Peace Wii Shop we will never miss u", are just kids, that never used it. I mean, why do we even miss it? We still can enter it, see the guis, description of games, see the downloading sequence and listen to the music.
It isn't dead, it still lives, just limited. I am thankful to Nintendo that they keep some servers for the Wii. (NUS, Wii Shop, Zelda thing, Wii U Transfer tool servers...)
 
Last edited by WiiWare_lover,
WiiWare_lover said:
We dont need a revival. I mean, most of the people saying: "Rest in Peace Wii Shop we will never miss u", are just kids, that never used it. I mean, why do we even miss it? We still can enter it, see the guis, description of games, see the downloading sequence and listen to the music.
It isn't dead, it still lives, just limited. I am thankful to Nintendo that they keep some servers for the Wii. (NUS, Wii Shop, Zelda thing, Wii U Transfer tool servers...)
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So you mean you WANT no revivals for WSC because Nintendo just limited it.
Example... You bought a brand new Wii from eBay, then opened WSC, of course you can't redownload apps from Titles You Downloaded list, that's why we need to mod it then install WiiMart on it.

Of course if I made my own server, then I would install it.
 
UselessHammerBro said:
So you mean you WANT no revivals for WSC because Nintendo just limited it.
Example... You bought a brand new Wii from eBay, then opened WSC, of course you can't redownload apps from Titles You Downloaded list, that's why we need to mod it then install WiiMart on it.

Of course if I made my own server, then I would install it.
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Why should I redownload games on a different wii? I can just use the Wii, I downloaded them.

Nobody says:" OMG this game is soo good I have to pirate it", because most of the people, that play Wii Shop games, just play it, because of nostalgia.
The only reason is, if u had a demo version of a game and want have the full version.

Also, even if Wii Shop "revivals" dont exist, I could theoritically pirate them, which I ofc dont do.
 
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Gemdation said:
I feel like Larsen when I say a want a break from Nintendo homebrew spaces (because he says it and ends up being right back at those spaces), but this has been a huge part of my time in Nintendo homebrew Discord servers and it has been actually annoying as hell. I still like them as Nintendo consoles are what I primarily have even if I play on Steam/PC more. Too bad I barely create for them, let alone actually play on the systems. LOL
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I no longer participate in any Discords that I do not run. This goes for Wii-related Discords or any in general. In February I was really fed up with being in those spaces, breaking rules, etc. and I needed to break out of that loop.

Lately I have been dabbling with Wii projects but it's for those reasons - just pure passion because I like keeping myself busy with projects like this. But yes I agree the community is annoying as hell so that's why I distanced in that aspect and reading your blog post revealed a lot of drama I was not aware of. I'm torn between the desire to document the history of this, vs spreading old drama. But I did get some treatment with taking different meds, and I have been doing better.

I was a dick to people, and I take accountability for that. As mentioned in the docs, it can be frustrating to deal with people. Henry asked if he could take over the WiI House, and I was sick of hiding and being lonely and isolated from the community, so I came back.

I do regret making Wii Shoplift Channel because I rushed it out, thinking it would be my saving grace from the Rii Shop Channel. I was unaware of the risk involved with too many files being on a Wii NAND. And it backfired. I did hear about WiiMart being offline though, and in the current state of things I lost some hope with it.

LNLenost said:
Article completely rewrote from the ground up. This is one, if not the, most accurate info you can find on the Internet about WSC revivals alongside Gemdation's blog
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I know you pasted that from an AI, which is fine, but the markdown for the lists wasn't formatted properly
 
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Larsenv said:
I'm torn between the desire to document the history of this, vs spreading old drama.
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It can definitely feel like that if you're apart of its shop side. To outsiders, it shows what the history has been for niche projects such as these, and might even inspire someone to work on it or some downloader. Hopefully my blog is the only series, but with Brewtendo and revTendo around we might end up seeing an eShop Hell in the upcoming years. :rofl:
Larsenv said:
I did hear about WiiMart being offline though, and in the current state of things I lost some hope with it.
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And on the topic of WiiMart, it looks like a shell of its former self from what I've seen. The server owner has begun loosely working with the new hoster for DSiMart instead of bringing their proven service back online. Don't ask why because I don't know either.

Despite their hype, they are still at the same roadblock we ran into.
For those who are wondering, the dsi ssl patch is uh
adds r0, r5, #0
movs r1, #0x0B -> movs r1, #0x00
bl NHTTPSetVerifyOption
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Compared to bad hosting to this, I'd rather have irregular hosting. It might be safe to say they aren't making it.

1785501120870.png
 
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Gemdation said:
It can definitely feel like that if you're apart of its shop side. To outsiders, it shows what the history has been for niche projects such as these, and might even inspire someone to work on it or some downloader. Hopefully my blog is the only series, but with Brewtendo and revTendo around we might end up seeing an eShop Hell in the upcoming years.
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I heard that revtendo is a project for spite reasons? Not a good reason
Gemdation said:
Despite their hype, they are still at the same roadblock we ran into.
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ask claude
 
Okay, lemme ask something.

Despite the fact that a recursion problem happened across multiple shop revivals, why aren’t we doing anything to fix WiiMart? Even if the circumstances are out of one’s control, couldn’t the strategies on how a “new shop revival” avoids being like the others also be applied to fix WiiMart’s issue?

The ideas were mentioned, so where’s the “let’s take what we learned, move on, and find a solution” moment? It could happen at any point, and WiiMart wouldn’t die because of it happening. Right?

Just saying, something’s gotta give if we’re this close to have “the public scene [get] …a real working Wii Shop revival.” Otherwise, I should be given a consideration of why I shouldn’t be on WiiMart anymore. I encourage, and even love, any former member to convince me, even if what I’ve said was crazy.
 
Last edited by ZodiaKGalXy,
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ZodiaKGalXy said:
Despite the fact that a recursion problem happened across multiple shop revivals, why aren’t we doing anything to fix WiiMart? Even if the circumstances are out of one’s control, couldn’t the strategies on how a “new shop revival” avoids being like the others also be applied to fix WiiMart’s issue?

The ideas were mentioned, so where’s the “let’s take what we learned, move on, and find a solution” moment? It could happen at any point, and WiiMart wouldn’t die because of it happening. Right?

Just saying, something’s gotta give if we’re this close to have “the public scene [get] …a real working Wii Shop revival.” Otherwise, I should be given a consideration of why I shouldn’t be on WiiMart anymore. I encourage any former member to convince me.
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Hey Zodiak, I saw your tone in WiiMart after people were talking after Subnetic left. It is true that you can salvage a project but we have to take a good look at the top of WiiMart right now.

The owner is oddly barely involved in the project anymore. Even when I was there, it was an "its up to yall" if we ever wanted him to decide between the devs/hoster on something like an owner would.

And speaking of hoster, they get to decide pretty much anything since if they're not happy, they would be gone. I know this because I remember dealing with the first hoster who would get no punishment. (adding pre-patched titles when we said not to, banning anyone who questioned him, etc).

I don't like to point out fingers but it has gotten pretty bad, and Ocarina and Pinecone need to get professional about the project. I've heard that saying a bunch from other staff and suddenly now it is not being used for Pinecone, it is safe to say him being 'hoster' has part in it.
 
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Gemdation said:
I know this because I remember dealing with the first hoster who would get no punishment. (adding pre-patched titles when we said not to, banning anyone who questioned him, etc).
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k, I don't remember any hubbub with prepatched titles, I'd rather you stop having me live in your head rentfree. I would say that I accept, that at this point, any Nintendo shop revival thus far has had one problem or another. Even with AI coding becoming a thing, I guess the people who have the prowess to revive the actual shop have reasons why they dont want to (legal grey area blah blah blah). There's a hard-line people have with making it easy to get games that are not legally obtainable anymore. Most of these revival projects nowadays I've seen are ran by children who don't have access to sustainable hosting. With the infamous Shoplift Channel, I initially thought it would fix the "ashopcalypse" but it looks like that's the only working option for the near future
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ChazJohn said:
this is real interesting! i wanna read it again but in the form of a 30-minute video essay.
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meh, seeing all these attempts over the years to revive the shop, has given me pain. I'm sure that I could make my own shop but I'm not doing that especially because of today's state of things. it'd be interesting if someone made a decentralized version of the shop... but if there's one thing to revive that is the most questionable is the shop. we have people who think it's a preservation effort, others think it's piracy and hates it. the wii shop frontend/backend is also frustrating to deal with
 
Last edited by Larsenv,
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Larsenv said:
k, I don't remember any hubbub with prepatched titles, I'd rather you stop having me live in your head rentfree.
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Oh that's rich. You don't have to get salty because I said the truth, I didn't even say your name. And it was WiiLink channels, the ones that they ended up asking us to take off.

ChazJohn said:
this is real interesting! i wanna read it again but in the form of a 30-minute video essay.
Click to expand...
I was thinking of that as well, this topic could work really well on one of those documentary slop channels. I wonder who is gonna be the person to do it.
 
Gemdation said:
Oh that's rich. You don't have to get salty because I said the truth, I didn't even say your name. And it was WiiLink channels, the ones that they ended up asking us to take off.


I was thinking of that as well, this topic could work really well on one of those documentary slop channels. I wonder who is gonna be the person to do it.
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please dont stir the pot
 
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