Pikmin 2 PAL on a NTSC-U Wii question

[nintendofan1203]

Hi, I'm going to hack my Wii (4.3U) for playing imports, and Gecko OS is apparently the best way to load them, official disc wise.  The first game I want to import is NPC Pikmin 2, but before I start all the work, I want to now from people who may have tried this, will I be able to load the PAL game correctly on an NTSC-U Wii? I hear I need component cables and NTSC forced to make it work, but will I be able to complete the game?  Does it work fine?  Than you so much for any possible help :)

[dcx2]

I have never tried it myself, but from what I've heard, if your TV supports PAL (e.g. pretty much any HDTV), then it should Just Work (tm).  If your TV doesn't support PAL, then you can try Force NTSC, but it still might not work.  With some language patches, pretty much every game will work.

[Bully@Wiiplaza]

it will work.  ;D

I can play *ANY* game region and game on my PAL Wii.
There never was an issue, except for the foreign languages >:D
PAL, NTSC-U, NTSC-J and even NTSC-K (Korean) worked.

Gecko OS and others can boot them ALL.
Homebrew Game Loaders are regionfree, that´s pretty neat.

Using the right boot options improves stability:
force ntsc when trying to play ntsc games for example.

Enjoy :p

[WiiPower]

Pikmin 2 PAL on a NTSC Wii? If you tv doesn't support PAL, forget it. I don't think there's any patch that gets it to work with NTSC video mode. You could try Sneek's video mode patch if you find a loader with it, but i think even that is known to not work for this game.

[nintendofan1203]

Thanks, all of you! I do have a 720p hdtv w/ component cables (480p), so I should be good. Thanks again! :D
A few questions:
1. How can I tell if my TV is PAL compatible?
2. Do I force PAL or NTSC?
3. What is the VIDTV patch? I've seen the option in Gecko OS videos but I don't know what it does...
Thanks again! :D

[dcx2]

1) The manual, or google the model number, and it should tell you what types of input formats the TV supports.  If you have an HDTV, my initial guess would be that it does support PAL.

[WiiPower]

Games will always work in the video mode from the game's region. That's why the compatiblity for import games mostly depends on your tv.

The vidtv patch is important for some import games, it gets some japanese fonts to be correctly displayed for example.

[goemon_guy]

I hear I need component cables and NTSC forced to make it work, but will I be able to complete the game?  Does it work fine?  Than you so much for any possible help :)

I can tell you now that Pikmin 2 (PAL) DOES NOT work on an NTSC-U Wii, when trying to Force NTSC!
Whether or not it works with Component Cables is unknown to me, as I do not have a set.

However, loading the game without patching the video seems to make it play - in black and white, and the screen half-gone. (Rendering it unplayable, essentially)

[dcx2]

However, loading the game without patching the video seems to make it play - in black and white, and the screen half-gone. (Rendering it unplayable, essentially)

That's what would happen if your TV doesn't know how to speak PAL.

[goemon_guy]

Yeah, but other games like One Piece were able to be imported and played flawlessly with Gecko OS. (Only example that comes to mind for me, right now.)
I wonder why Pikmin 2 is so different?

[lizard81288]

Most games will work correctly when you force it. However Pikmin 2 is one of those games that don't, and even if you have the cables, from what i have heard it is a 50/50 shot at best. I haven't bother with Pikmin 2, due to this issue. I don't know why Nintendo never brought this to America.