Panasonic Q + US power = ?

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theclaw
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by theclaw »

I can't help there right now. I'm not sure about US or PAL version Freeloader and Action Replay disc compatibility on Japanese systems.

Or for that matter what features Japan's own version of Action Replay has (I don't think stand alone Freeloader discs were released in Japan).

But if any of the stuff does work, an unmodded Q would obviously run imports under Japanese language setting. Since Freeloader like a modchip does not change the console's native region.

I only know of a single western release that changes text into JP mode, US Star Fox Adventures.
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pheria
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by pheria »

Thought I'd post my findings for those that are interested or someone looking for answers in the future.

My action replay and Panasonic Q have both arrived. The Action Replay works on my US Gamecube, but not the Q.

It very explicitly states in the manual that the Action Replay includes Free Loader (and it does). It reads:

"If you're one of the many gamers that bought an imported GameCube console and you now want to play gmes from your own country, then FreeLoader is also ideal for this task."

But then the outer packaging and the disc itself ominously say "FOR USE ON US CONSOLES"

The disc can't load at all on the Q. It came with an Japanese Gamecube game and that works, so I know the disc drive is functional on the Q. I think the bit in the manual was just sloppy cut&paste documentation.

I'm getting the vibe that their older version products exclusively were region free, as I found a thread online where someone couldn't use a PAL FreeLoader disc with their Q and responses told them to get an older one. One of the ones that doesn't say "Compatible with Wii" on the packaging.

The action replay I tried was v 1.2 and is one of the "compatible with Wii" versions.

I just ordered an older FreeLoader disc. Whenever that arrives and I get a chance to test it I'll update again. Cheers!
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pheria
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by pheria »

Small update here:

Standalone Freeloader works (I think my version is 1.4, it's not one of the "compatible with Wii" ones). The Q is now a US gaming citizen. 8)
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by theclaw »

That's good. Q has the US game region internally. As its GC BIOS is so similar to normal.
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by theclaw »

BTW since I was curious I found a glimpse of the localized Japanese AR running.

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200909%2F04% ... 3102%2Ejpg
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by CRTGAMER »

pheria wrote:Small update here:

Standalone Freeloader works (I think my version is 1.4, it's not one of the "compatible with Wii" ones). The Q is now a US gaming citizen. 8)
Congrats!

Your newer US Gamecube Action Replay includes FreeLoader but no code entry. The older Action Replays have code Entry capability. One thing nice about the newer Action replay is it also has undocumented SD Media Launcher for launching Homebrew DOLs thru a SD Gecko card without dealing with a Mod Chip. The older Action Replays can also do this with a code entry.
theclaw wrote:BTW since I was curious I found a glimpse of the localized Japanese AR running.

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That is the older Code Entry capable Action Replay, you can tell by the purple background. I'm pretty sure there is also a Japanese version of the newer Gamecube Action Replay if you want to try something different with your Q. The pain would be translating the language.

Adding a region toggle switch is only a couple of solder points, no Mod Chip needed. Still, there is a small risk in the soldering. Something to be cautious of on a rare Panasonic Q.
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theclaw
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Re: Panasonic Q + US power = ?

Post by theclaw »

True. Except you can't region switch into PAL (or from PAL). He'd still need a modchip to boot European games right from the disc tray the normal way.

The switch mod is most useful for US systems. I'm not aware of even one single US game with any form of glitch run in Japan mode. Of course so few much fewer users care about US games on a Japanese GC, compared to the popular opposite, it's hard to say how much testing has been done.
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