Wii: Datel SD Media Launcher review

There has been much hassle for us PAL Wii Homebrewers to say the least. Unlike our American and other NTSC region counterparts, the Action Replay Disk will not be read by our PAL Wii Console, so the use of a standard gamecube SD adaptor such as the Gecko is ruled out. Then, there was a little ray of hope Datel released a Pal Action Replay compatible with Wii. Now I must say, I don't think I'm the only one to have snapped one up quick, only to be met with devastating dissapointment when it was found the "Add new game code" option was removed from this release... It was a crippled Action Replay device that could only be used for cheat codes and Freeloader. The method used for accessing the SD card was made useless with it. Why of dear god why would Datel do such a thing? Were they sufferring from the guilt of allowing the Wii to be exploited in the same was as the cube was? The answer, sadly, is a definite no. Datel decided to cash in on the phenomenon, and offered (a more expensive) alternative the an AR for such a task - the SD Media Launcher. "What cheek!" I hear you cry - "How dare they!" we all scream. This is just yet another example of Datels money bways, but being short on options, I decided it was necessary to also buy this peice of equipment....and as strange as it sounds - I couldnt be happier!
Datel have actually got this one right! In the package you receive the Datel SD adapter, a 1GB SD card, a rather spangly multi card reader (not necessary, but it also reads compact flash and XD memory types) and the boot disk. A pretty good deal for £30 (as long as you werent conned into getting the AR first, bringing the price to £45)
For the first time on Wii you can get to playing your classic games thourhg emulator and homebrew gamecube programs without leaving your seat! You no longer have to start an action replay, eject the disk, insert the disk load into SDload and open your programs, no, the device automatically brings you to a rather slick looking interface (although deep down its just a clone of SDload) and allows you to open straight to your emulator or program, all form the comfort of your armchair (providing the boot disk was already in to start with, obviously..) Theres nothing that SDload can do that this can't do just as well with regards to compatibility, and somethings even load faster (snesGX loads instantly, rather than flikering for a few seconds as it did through the AR expliot and SDload) although I think this may be down to quality of materials and chips, the Datel adapter feeling much more solid than the Gecko, which I used previously...
Overall, I think if you can forgive Datels greedy money grabbing ways and purchase the package (I even made up for most of the cost Ebaying my Gecko and old AR) you won't be dissapointed, it's the fastest, most stable, easiest to use homebrew solution for PAL Gamecubes and Wii's. However, I'm not entirely sure if it is compatible with other region Cubes and Wii's, if anyone know I would love to hear from them via the comments...

Pro's: Fast, Easy to use, Stable and made of quality materials.
Con's: NONE (other than the feeling you've sold out to Datel :p)

Thanks for reading, and I hope I've convinced some of you PAL gamers that tis is the way to go...
Your PAL, Antony Lavelle
http://www.the-exp.com

Anyone know where i can actually buy this in the UK?

www.codejunkies.com is the official site, or grab it on ebay...

as good as bought!!! good find! oh and this will work on a us Wii correct??

I think they updated the firmware to fix this flaw. i was under the impression sd loading no longer works..... at least on US consoles anyway???

hmm maybe not as good as bought then.. GOOGLE TIME!

I posted about this weeks ago! Where's my recognition?!

*sigh* Anyway, I'm glad to see it works and that it's not another Max Media Player. However, I would have liked this to have Action Replay to be built in. That would be so sweet. :D

Can anyone confirm that this can't be disabled by a FW upgrade?

I doubt Nintendo's going to do anything with regards to stopping any sort of Gamecube specific exploits related to the Wii. For one, the Gamecube isn't really supported anymore, so why would they care. Second, I don't really think that they could do anything to block it without breaking compatibility with one or two Gamecube games that used the official SD Card adapter. Third, as long as it doesn't enable piracy, Nintendo probably really doesn't care. Oh, and the last that I know, is that SDLoad does work on US consoles.

Does anyone know if this is compatable with other SD cards, or can you only use the one that comes with it?

I also doubt it for the exactly same reasons, it is even questionable if a firmware update of the original gamecube part is even possible, after all, the Wii does not emulate the cube it is a full hardware layer, probably including the old original firmware.
The plus side of this approach is 100% compatibility, the downside is, that a solution where you can use the wiimote + an addon instead of a cube controller, never will be possible, unless it can be done over a wireless extension in the cube ports.


From a business perspective, for Nintendo the Cube will be dead in about half a year, so why even bother with it. They probably are more concerned with NES roms being downloadable on the net, than they are with cube adapters.

I have the AR + SDLOAD and I also bought the SD Media Launcher. Both work pretty good on my Gamecube and My Wii.

L8r,
nufather

My Datel SDMedia Launcher works but my "Works with Wii" AR doesn't. Does Nintendo have a way of blacklisting certain discs using firmware updates?

- UPDATE ON NEW UPDATED SD MEDIA LAUCHER CD -

email codejunkies now at: [email protected]

tell them you purchased the SDML and its not working now because of the wii firmware update.

they will reply asking for proof etc and will send you a replacement cd.

hope everone finds this helpful.

what all can i do with this on gamecube i cant seem to find any homebrew or anything anywhere:confused: