Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A deep dive on how music's made and played on the Nintendo Wii. We'll be looking at different ways music can played back, how different music/audio related features work, and some examples of games using the system's tools creatively.
Background Music: pastebin.com/q5SJiXS7
Corrections, clarifications, and notes:
1. 3:12, although PCM itself isn't compressed, the option between the 3 formats is referred to as "compression format" in the SDK. But referring to PCM as a "compression format" outside of that context is indeed incorrect.
2. 3:55, MKW doesn't exclusively use PCM16 audio. Many fanfares and some songs do, but many full songs are encoded in ADPCM.
3. 18:07, "CPU" may be misleading here, as the processing was done on a custom DSP microprocessor and not the Wii's main CPU.
4. 19:24, this list of supported game is incomplete, and there seems to be more than just a "handful" of supported titles.
5. 20:11, rippers such as "PieJee1" likely didn't choose to rip with this method just for effect accuracy alone. Methods commonly used today didn't exist, or were less accessible at the time.
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
2:12 - Streamed Music
6:33 - Sequenced Music
12:49 - Mega Man 9 & 10
15:14 - Pokemon Rumble
16:54 - DSP
21:43 - Closing
John 6 37
A deep dive on how music's made and played on the Nintendo Wii. We'll be looking at different ways music can played back, how different music/audio related features work, and some examples of games using the system's tools creatively.
Background Music: pastebin.com/q5SJiXS7
Corrections, clarifications, and notes:
1. 3:12, although PCM itself isn't compressed, the option between the 3 formats is referred to as "compression format" in the SDK. But referring to PCM as a "compression format" outside of that context is indeed incorrect.
2. 3:55, MKW doesn't exclusively use PCM16 audio. Many fanfares and some songs do, but many full songs are encoded in ADPCM.
3. 18:07, "CPU" may be misleading here, as the processing was done on a custom DSP microprocessor and not the Wii's main CPU.
4. 19:24, this list of supported game is incomplete, and there seems to be more than just a "handful" of supported titles.
5. 20:11, rippers such as "PieJee1" likely didn't choose to rip with this method just for effect accuracy alone. Methods commonly used today didn't exist, or were less accessible at the time.
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
2:12 - Streamed Music
6:33 - Sequenced Music
12:49 - Mega Man 9 & 10
15:14 - Pokemon Rumble
16:54 - DSP
21:43 - Closing
John 6 37
