View source for Nintendo Mastering Code

All GameCube, Wii, and Wii U games have a mastering code on the back of the disc. The format of the mastering code has been completely deciphered.

Example of a mastering code that we will use to explain the format in order: '''308K0111 RVL-RKGP-0A-0 JPN S0'''

{| class="wikitable"
! Character || Meaning
|-
| 3 || The plant the disc was manufactured in. If this character is a number, it was made in Japan. If this character is a letter, it was made in USA. Panasonic manufactured almost all North American discs in their USA plant, but closed it on April 30, 2015.[https://www.dailybreeze.com/2015/04/29/panasonic-closing-torrance-manufacturing-plant-lays-off-90-workers/] Thus, all Wii and Wii U discs manufactured after that were made in Japan.
|-
| 08 || Year the disc was manufactured. In this case, it was 2008.
|-
| K || Month the disc was manufactured. In this case, it was November. "A" would be January, "B" would be February, "C" would be March...
|-
| 01 || Day the disc was manufactured. The full date is therefore November 1st, 2008.
|-
| 11 || Disc lot per day?
|-
| RVL || Platform. DOL for GameCube, RVL for Wii, and WUP for Wii U.
|-
| RKGP || Disc Serial
|-
| 0 || Disc Number. Almost always 0.
|-
| A || Layer type. A for single-layer, B for dual-layer.
|-
| 0 || Revision Number
|-
| JPN || The plant the disc was manufactured in. If this is JPN, it was made in Japan. If this is USA, it was made in USA.
|-
| S0 || Layer type. S0 for single-layer discs, L0 and L1 for dual-layer discs made in Japan, 00 and 20 for dual-layer discs made in USA.
|}