Nintendo optical discs

The GameCube Game Disc (DOL-006) is the game medium for the GameCube, created by Matsushita/Panasonic,[1][2][3][4] and later extended for use on the Wii through backward compatibility.[5] The GameCube Game Disc is a 1.5 GB,[6] 8 cm miniDVD based technology which reads at a constant angular velocity (CAV). It was chosen by Nintendo to prevent copyright infringement of its games,[4][7][3] to reduce manufacturing costs compared to Nintendo 64 Game Paks,[1][4][8] and to avoid licensing fees to the DVD Forum.[1][4] This also prevents the GameCube from being used as a general DVD player, although the Panasonic Q was released in Japan with that capability.[4][9]

Some GameCube games with large amounts of data span two discs, such as Resident Evil 4, Enter the Matrix, and Tales of Symphonia. Multi-platform games that fit on PlayStation 2 and Xbox DVD discs occasionally saw the removal of certain features in order to fit on GameCube Game Discs. Full-motion video scenes and audio are more compressed to fit on a single disc, reducing their quality. Prior to the GameCube, Nintendo consoles traditionally used cartridge-based media.

The Wii Optical Disc (RVL-006) is the physical game medium for the Wii, created by Panasonic. Nintendo extended its proprietary technology to use a full size 12 cm, 4.7/8.54 GB DVD-based disc, enabling it to have the benefits of the GameCube Game Disc, while having the standard capacity of a double-layer DVD-ROM. Although the Wii can use double-layer discs, all titles are single-layer prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[10][11] With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo admitted that some Wii systems may have trouble reading dual-layer discs due to a dirty laser lens.[11][12] Nintendo repaired systems with dual-layer problems,[11][13] and later released a disc cleaning kit for users to purchase.[14]

The Wii U Optical Disc (WUP-006) is the retail physical game medium for the Wii U, with a capacity of 25 GB. The Wii U system software is backward compatible with Wii Optical Discs, but not with GameCube game discs.[15] The optical discs used for the Wii U differ in appearance from most other optical discs in that they have soft, rounded edges.[16]

The format was developed and supplied by Panasonic, which is one of the major patent holders in Blu-ray technology. It is not clear whether the Wii U Optical Disc is similar in physical design to the Blu-ray physical disc specification. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated, "Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities. The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies", as, like with the GameCube and Wii optical discs, was chosen by Nintendo to prevent copyright infringement of its games, to reduce cost by avoiding licensing fees to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and to reduce loading times. This also prevents the console from being used as a general DVD or Blu-ray player.[17][18]