Lingcod
| Developer(s) | Nvidia Lightspeed Studios |
|---|---|
| Latest version | N/A |
| Active | No |
| Platform(s) | Nvidia Shield TV |
| Architecture(s) | ARM |
| Emulates | Wii Nintendo GameCube (unused) |
| Website | Nvidia |
| License | Proprietary |
Lingcod is the Wii emulator used for several first-party Wii games brought to NVIDIA Shield TV, a lineup codenamed Northport, sold exclusively in China. The games were licensed to NVIDIA by Nintendo, presumed to be part of the deal for bringing the Shield TV's Tegra X1 SoC to Nintendo Switch. While there were plans to release the Wii in China through iQue (Nintendo's representative in the country), ultimately those fell through, so the Shield TV releases are the first time the region saw these games officially. The games were distributed by iQiyi, a Netflix-like Chinese service that replaced Google's services in the Chinese version of the Shield TV's Android firmware.
Overview
The emulator doesn't run unmodified Wii games. Instead, games are recompiled with a build system that outputs a custom executable format containing extra information about functions in the code. This allows the emulator to "hook" any function and run a native implementation instead. This is used for several things, including general HLE of SDK functions, performance optimizations, and the emulator's DRM.
DRM
The emulator required an internet connection to perform a standard license verification, and to decrypt a re-implementation of some code removed from each game essential to playability, which would run on the Tegra's security processor, TSEC (a much more difficult layer of DRM to bypass than the license verification). Without this replacement code, called the "snippet", the game has a silly effect that makes the game extremely difficult or even impossible to play, such as disabled rendering or restricted player movement.
However, the NVIDIA server that handled this DRM was shut down in 2021, rendering the games unplayable.
As a side effect, even upon converting the game into a valid Wii ROM that can be run on a Wii, Wii U, or another Wii emulator, the functionality from the snippet is never restored to the game, thereby "triggering" the anti-piracy effect.
Features
- All games were given Simplified Chinese localizations (some of which were originally made for the cancelled iQue Wii)
- Texture packs, which allowed higher definition textures to be applied at runtime
- This feature was only used for Twilight Princess, added in a patch downloaded from the iQiyi storefront
- Cloud saves synced to an iQiyi account
- Games run at a higher, HD native resolution (about 1080p)
Games
Five games using Lingcod were released:
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Punch-Out!!
- Super Mario Galaxy
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In addition, Cooking Mama and Mario Kart Wii are mentioned in the emulator's internal files, but were never released (although the latter was demoed at trade shows).