gc-forever - Gamecube/Wii Forums

I have always like the Panasonic Q and now that I have decent job(20 years later) I can afford one.

The issue is 2 things....

1) I don't like opening up characters and stages in a game. I like for them to be already available.
2) I live in the united states, not japan.

The only games I would be playing would be Smash Melee and Mario Tennis.

Is there a way to load game saves and play the games in the US without a mod chip? I read about sd media launcher, but there is only a UK version and I also don't think it unlocks regions.

The Panasonic Q can be modded into a US console with a simple solder bridge on the mainboard. See this.
You can also load any custom save file or use cheats with homebrew. Besides SDML and a modchip, this is also an option to run homebrew.

Thanks! I can do the region unluck. Will this unlock also for DVD movies?

For bridging the R5, is there a clear coat on that circuit board that I have to gently scratch off first? Or are the solder points directly exposed?

I think DVD is a different mod.

The solder points are exposed, but tiny.
You should try to hide an emergency switch somewhere. Or at least don't damage the solder points beyond repair.
Due to compatibility issues with some Japanese games, having the effects TOO permanent is not recommended. (while I've yet to try the feature, Swiss is aiming to be a software solution to that)

The DVD modification is to the DVD player circuit board that is included in the Panasonic Q and it involves 2 steps. 1. A special Region unlock DVD disc and 2. Additional RAM to be able to display 576i resolution DVD's properly.

Not worth it these days and the kit is damn near impossible to find (you'd have better luck re-creating the kit by taking parts from a similar Panasonic/Matshita DVD player from that era)

What are the chances that if I bought a used Panasonic Q from ebay that the R5 would be tampered with and ruined? That's pretty much all I have left that I am worried about in making my decision to dish out the $$$.

dman777 wrote:What are the chances that if I bought a used Panasonic Q from ebay that the R5 would be tampered with and ruined? That's pretty much all I have left that I am worried about in making my decision to dish out the $$$.

Hard to say. It's well known a number of units were modded by resellers, no idea about their work quality.
Sometimes wired to use holding down the power/reset button. A nitpick is being unable to confirm the setting at a glance when powered off.

With the sd media launcher panasonic q, would I still need to use the DVD drive everytime I wanted to use the Q to play games? I was hoping I wouldn't since the life expectancy of the drives isn't forever.

If you use Swiss to load games off an SD card you will be using the drive a lot less than if you're actually playing the games off the disks so it doesn't matter much anyway.

dman777 wrote:With the sd media launcher panasonic q, would I still need to use the DVD drive everytime I wanted to use the Q to play games? I was hoping I wouldn't since the life expectancy of the drives isn't forever.

Slightly, yes. sd media launcher is a boot disc.
Gamecube needs modding to do anything without the DVD drive.

Curious...when playing a gamecube game off of SD media launcher to be able to use a downloaded game save, would that gamecube game need to play in a GC emulator(even though it's on the Gamecube)? If so, is there a performance penalty with that extra layer emulator?

There are no GC emulators for GC, that would be silly.

dman777 wrote:Curious...when playing a gamecube game off of SD media launcher to be able to use a downloaded game save, would that gamecube game need to play in a GC emulator(even though it's on the Gamecube)? If so, is there a performance penalty with that extra layer emulator?

Once a save has been placed onto a GC memory card, you can use it without SD Media Launcher.
This is the most important step. Via official methods, games cannot save or load to SD cards. (unless their developer included support)