![8BitMods MemCard Pro GC](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/ab540dbf7921c/8bitmods-memcard-pro-gc.900x.jpg)
It never ceases to amaze us how active the retrofitting community is when it comes to augmenting classic systems. Whether it's upgrading a console's AV options, switching it to more efficient power or swapping out an optical drive for a more liable (and spacious) ODE, there's an abundance of options out there for anybody looking to bring their beloved vintage hardware into the modern era.
One of the less invasive means of upgrading your system is giving it a fancy new memory card, which doesn't require any modding. We've already seen this with the N64, which has benefitted from a modern-day means of preserving save data thanks to the Forever Pak 64, and now that console's successor has its own alternative – and it's one which goes way beyond simply making sure your treasured saves last longer.
Produced by 8BitMods, the MemCard Pro GC follows in the footsteps of the MemCard Pro for the PlayStation, a memory card replacement which boasts all kinds of fancy tricks. This Nintendo-themed model comes with a backlit 128x64 monochrome OLED panel (larger than the one on the PS1 version), a MicroSD card slot (more on that in a second), WiFi capability (more on that soon, too) and uses FPGA to ensure accurate timings.
The first thing that's worth noting with the MemCard Pro GC is the fact that your saves are placed on a MicroSD card (or a USB flash drive, if you prefer), and can therefore be backed up by removing the card and plugging it into your PC. However, because it has built-in WiFi, the MemCard Pro GC supports a web-based UI system (and FTP access) which allows you to interact and back-up files without having to remove the MicroSD card at all – but again, we'll get to all of that fun stuff in a moment.
The MemCard Pro GC supports MicroSD cards from 1GB to 2TB in size, which means you can access almost unlimited amounts of storage using it. For example, 1GB of space allows you to create 2,048 standard 59-block, 512 KB/4 Mb VMCs ('virtual' memory cards) – that's likely to be more save data space than you'll ever need.
Using the GameCube's second memory card slot, you can back up your existing memory cards to the MemCard Pro GC via the console's standard data interface, and once they're on the MemCard Pro GC, you can then preserve them on your computer using the aforementioned web-based UI or FTP.
Getting the whole internet connectivity set up does take a little time, but the reward is well worth it. From your computer, tablet or even smartphone, you can interact with the contents of all of your VMCs, giving you supreme control over your data. While it's not available yet, there are plans to harness the MemCard Pro GC's WiFi capabilities to permit users to store their saves in the cloud, meaning your game progress will be even more secure; in fact, a future firmware update may well bring with it the ability to ditch the MicroSD altogether and only use cloud saves.
It's worth noting that this element of the MemCard Pro GC's functionality is massively enriched if your console is using the all-in-one homebrew utility, Swiss to boot your games (it doesn't matter if it's from original media or an ODE). The latest version of Swiss enables 'GameID', which means your save data is automatically labelled with the name of the game it relates to. This makes organising your VMCs much easier, as you can see which game data is where. An added bonus of this system is that, irrespective of which VMC your save data is on, Swiss will automatically pair it with the correct game when you boot it up. Furthermore, the name of the game currently being played is displayed on the MemCard Pro GC's screen – a neat touch.
![8BitMods MemCard Pro GC](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/025523e9372f0/8bitmods-memcard-pro-gc.900x.jpg)
It's hard not to be impressed with the MemCard Pro GC – its range of features is truly remarkable. The question is, do you really need it? That part of the argument is going to be harder to answer in a satisfactory fashion for many people. Given the GameCube's relatively modest library of games, most people will be perfectly happy with their current memory card situation, at least in terms of storage space.
Of course, there's the question of how long the data on those cards will remain usable for, but the GameCube cards don't rely on an internal battery, so the limiting factor is how many times they're written to over a period of time. There's a good chance your original memory card from the early 2000s is still in perfect working order, so there won't be a pressing need to replace it – not yet, at least. Also, if your GameCube isn't using Swiss, you're missing out on the whole GameID thing, which further limits the appeal of the MemCard Pro GC.
It all depends on how invested you are in making sure your GameCube is future-proofed; this is, without question, the best option for save data storage money can buy – and should it introduce cloud saves in the future, then it could potentially become even more interesting – but for now, we'd argue that the MemCard Pro GC is for dedicated enthusiasts rather than people who are casually firing up their old GameCube consoles for a small taste of nostalgia. That said, now we've sampled it, we're honestly struggling to go back to the bog-standard memory cards – that little OLED screen is adorable.
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Comments 26
Such a nice little device. Although it is a little redunant especially if using swiss as Memory Card Manager can be used to back up your saves. But that screen. Take my money.
This looks incredible, but your final sentiment sums it up. While I want one, I do wonder if I'd really make use of its real potential.
I have a GameCube, but the only real incentive I have to use it is Rogue Squadron because they're so hard to emulate. Otherwise it will just look like jank on my TV without an external upscaler.
This does look like a useful device to backup my Gamecube saves safely forever. However, what this article doesn't mention is whether this memory card device works without any problems on the Wii.
I prefer to play my Gamecube games on my Wii, and I have read that official 1019 memory cards can sometimes be corrupted when used on a Wii. That's never happened to me on my Wii, but it concerns me a little. So, before I consider buying this MemCard device, I'd like reassurance that it works fine on a Wii.
@sabreman64 If you want to keep your saves safe it's better to use gcmm on a Wii and store as raw or gci files depending on your use case.
If your card becomes corrupt, all you have to do is restore the raw file with gcmm.
The raw file is compatible with nintendont and devolution, so you don't have to rely on a memory card.
The Wii currently has no loaders that support the mcd pro's game id reading, so you'd have to rely on swiss, which is a waste of time on Wii, when you have better options.
What about locked files, like with F-Zero GX?
If this 8BitMods card uses the GameCube's own interface for copying from a real memory card, then some games' files most likely can't be copied to it.
Fortunately, there are other backup solutions involving SD cards and homebrew, and they can override the lock, but the MemCard Pro GC doesn't seem too good for backing up existing saves- only managing new ones, or those that were already ripped.
@sabreman64 It works on Wii
@smoreon We could've had SD card support in 2001!
I remember reading in a Nintendo Power issue (though not until many years later until I bought a lot of mostly N64-era issues from ebay) reporting that Nintendo was going to sell an adapter to use SD cards, in addition to the standard proprietary GC cards.
But no, Nintendo had to be Nintendo and want us to buy only the latter.
I remember one other thing that might be an issue for only a small number of users: standard GC memory cards also format into region-locked formatting.
As I hear, you can use memory cards from any region BUT will have to reformat the card when playing games from different regions.
@KingMike I never knew that!
No surprise that things went as they did, though- what do you think the profit margins were on selling just 512 KB of flash for $20 or more?
(Consider that the PS2 launched over a year earlier, and all its memory cards were 8 MB!)
@KingMike I do recall reading about that back then. Even though the GC memory cards were pretty pathetic in size, I never really felt too constrained back in the day.
I don't really feel like I need this, but it's very cool.
@KingMike I recall that SD card adapter too they even had a picture of one in a magazine called CUBE here in the UK. I think it came down to the fact they would have made no money from people using SD cards at the time as the adaptors would have been dirt cheap to sell. Also getting a hold of there largest official capacity ones (8MB) was very hard in most places and it didn't help they had compatibility issues with some older games and was probably one of the reasons behind it not being as readily available.
@KingMike That's never happened to me at all. I've bought many GameCube games from import sites in the GC days and have their saves on standard, official memory cards which are mixed with PAL game saves.
There's no reason why save data would be region locked when its encoded into the discs - that would have caused too much of a headache for devs to implement back then.
@smoreon From the looks of it in previews, it likely wouldn't. So unless you're able to have another method of retaining saves for games that tend to not allow moving or copying (like the Pokemon games, again Pokemon trying to prevent duplication...) and then transfer them to this thing, it likely would be rather redundant.
Man, I'm still waiting on mine. I didn't pay for the express shipping so that might be why I've not heard a thing since pre-ordering: Not paying the extra shipping, then to the back of the list I go.
Haha, I'll probably be lucky to get mine before the year's end, like how it took a year to get an analogue pocket.
@Tobunari Yeah, I figured, but it's unfortunate.
Smash Bros. Melee was also locked, as I recall... so basically, all of the games that you'd most want to back up.
@TheFatPlumber You can mix NA and EU saves on the same memory card, but you need to reformat or else use a separate card for Japanese games, for whatever reason.
Maybe it's a character encoding issue?
I don't see how region locking would have been difficult to implement, now or then (just check the card for any saves with a different region ID than the current game), but seeing as it's only a partial region lock, I'm thinking there's a real technical hurdle.
@smoreon Well I currently have JP and PAL game saves on one memory card and US and PAL on another and I don't have any issues. I've never had to reformat a card either so all this is news to me.
@FatPlumber Strange. I distinctly remember my friends running into problems when mixing JP and NA saves.
I looked it up to confirm just yesterday, and sure enough, that's the common knowledge- that the card needs to be dedicated to either Japan or other regions, but not both at once.
It might depend on the game, where some force a reformat, but others just have text glitches. (Do any of your save names have glitch characters where the kanji/kana should be?)
@FatPlumber Maybe it depends on the console. Are you using a mod/Freeloader?
I actually own two separate consoles. I bought a JP console when it was cheap enough to import one for Nintendo Puzzle League. It is one of the games which is reported to use the BIOS font. So it would only display text correctly with a JP BIOS.
@KingMike It's an off the shelf PAL GameCube that hasn't been modded. I do use a Freeloader disc to load the US and Japanese games though.
Yes, I'm thinking there could possibly be a difference between using a single console with Freeloader and transferring a card between multiple different region consoles. I'm not an expert though.
@smoreon "Smash Bros. Melee was also locked"
Just checked. It's not. Melee is fully able to be moved and copied between GameCube Memory Cards so keeping your Melee Data for this Memory Card is going to be possible.
If I recall correctly, the only Smash Bros game that doesn't allow you to back up data, at least given the availability to do so, is Brawl. And I know that because I used to always upload and download save files on the Wii.
Don't know about 3DS and Wii U outside hacking, and Ultimate allows cloud saves on NSO. So that's at least one out of the six Smash games where save backup data can't be accessed - well half the titles given Brawl, 3DS, and Wii U...
@Tobunari Good catch. Seems I misremembered that one.
Another couple of files that are locked, however, are the Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 Chao Gardens, so again, some of the files that people might care most about backing up.
Fortunately, I didn't notice any others from this quick glance. And I backed up all of my saves via unofficial means a few years back, so I'm covered!
I don't think Wii U allows backing up in any form. IIRC, I looked into it years ago, and you can only move all of your save data to another console- no cloning.
@smoreon Just checked, you can still move the Chao Garden data from one Memory Card to another provided there's no Chao Garden data, you just can't create a copy. Which makes sense considering there's an option to use Chao from both memory cards for Racing and Karate and the ability to move them between cards.
(I used Sonic Adventure 2 for this, as I don't have DX at the moment, but I'd argue its similar.)
As for the Wii U: I have a external hard drive for the thing, and I'm able to copy my data to said external hard drive. Accessing it outside the Wii U though, I don't think that's possible.
@Tobunari Yeah, both SA games let you move the file, but not copy it. I forget if any games like GX, etc., are fully locked or not.
Right, you can offload your stuff to an external drive, but it's still tied to that specific console. Nintendo did offer migration tools to go from one Wii U to another (or from a Wii to a Wii U), but those delete the original data- unless there's an exploit involving a last-second unplug!
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