Game plays on Wii but not Gamecube?

[Aguy | 772]

I sold a GC copy of Twilight Princess last week on ebay. The disc looks like it's been buffed before so it has a lot of light circular marks but I tested it on my Wii before sending it out and had no problems. A couple days later, the buyer wants to return it saying it boots to the title screen on his GC but errors out when trying to start a game. He sends it back, I put it in my Wii and of course it plays fine. 

TL;DR Does the GC have a shittier optical drive than the Wii or was it buyer's remorse?

Listing pics: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154417283934

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

This has happened to me more than once. On the description now, I specifically say it's been tested on a Wii. I think overall the Wii is just a better machine and since the optical drive is buried in the system it gets a lot less grime bc of it. 

[drxandy | 3,225]

Prob buyers remorse but who knows, find someone locally with a cube and give it a go?

[Estil | 1,265]

I did in fact have to replace my launch (2001) GC around 2005-2006 or so for much that same reason.  Luckily that replacement GC is still working perfectly...though since I got my Wii in 2008 I only use it for the Game Boy Player.

[Naked Warrior | 288]

I bought about 100 different Gamecube games over the fall/winter of 2020 and this exact thing happened to me twice - I put the game in my Gamecube, it didn't work, I made sure the disc was clean, tried it again, it didn't work, then tried it in my Wii and it worked.  I kept both of those games, but it does bother me that I can't play them on Gamecube  .  I also had one case where the guy swore his game worked even tho it was badly scratched, but I tried it in both my Gamecube and Wii and it booted the title screen, but as soon as I hit start it crashed...had to return that one.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

8 minutes ago, Naked Warrior said:

I also had one case where the guy swore his game worked even tho it was badly scratched, but I tried it in both my Gamecube and Wii and it booted the title screen, but as soon as I hit start it crashed...had to return that one.

I'm betting he wasn't trying to mislead on that one.  Odds are he just powered it up and it worked so he figured it'd be fine.  Most times if people actually test it, they don't try to play the game for any significant amount, they just boot the title and that's that.

[Naked Warrior | 288]

26 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

I'm betting he wasn't trying to mislead on that one.  Odds are he just powered it up and it worked so he figured it'd be fine.  Most times if people actually test it, they don't try to play the game for any significant amount, they just boot the title and that's that.

Agreed. It's funny because when I told him I was going to have to return it because it crashed if you pressed start on the title screen, he was like, "What??? I tested it and it worked!!" And my exact response was, "Are you sure you got past the title screen?  Because every time I test a game, I just make sure the title screen boots and then I turn it off, assuming it works."  He accepted the return 5 minutes later...

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Just now, Naked Warrior said:

Agreed. It's funny because when I told him I was going to have to return it because it crashed if you pressed start on the title screen, he was like, "What??? I tested it and it worked!!" And my exact response was, "Are you sure you got past the title screen?  Because every time I test a game, I just make sure the title screen boots and then I turn it off, assuming it works."  He accepted the return 5 minutes later...

Yeah, I'm getting in the habit of playing the games I'm trying to sell (unless they're worthless filler PS2 sports games or some shit) for at least a few minutes.  I've started making repro carts, and I've had a few that do weird shit, but only after a few minutes.  Mostly it's things I learn about after the fact - like when I played the Jesus repro I made only to have it crash part way through.  Turned out that the ROM was expanded, and was no longer compatible with the donor I used.  Had I simply just powered it on and sold it, there may have been a real unhappy camper later on.  But yeah, I'm learning to test a few minutes of gameplay before giving it the all clear.