A common goal among the Nintendo Wii console modding community has been creating "trimmed" versions of the console in pursuit of creating the smallest Wii available yet, with the latest crown-holder being the "Short Stack"— until now, with the debut of the "Kawaii." The Kawaii Wii, originally posted to the BitBuilt Forums by its two creators, YveltalGriffin and Wesk, is the new crown-holder for the smallest unit yet by executing a full "OMEGA trim," which has trimmed absolutely every non-essential part of the original Wii's motherboard to create a hyper-compact, digital-only Nintendo Wii.
There are a few caveats attached to this achievement, like the necessity of a docking station to still facilitate core system functionality and the absence of Bluetooth support, but this is ultimately the smallest Wii that can still play games made for both the original Wii and GameCube— though since Wii Remote-required software requires remapping to the GC pad n a homebrew launcher, some may prefer to use this unit only for GC games and Wii titles with GC pad support.
Nintendo Kawaii (Keychain Wii) Specifications
- 60 x 60 x 16 millimeter CNC aluminum chassis (various colors— early renders showcase blue and pink)
- Undervolted OMEGA trim of the original Wii mainboard
- 12-pin magnetic pogo pin connector, inspired by MagSafe
- Internal breakout PCB for video muxing, input protection, and SD-USB functionality
- Dock with USB-C power, 4 GameCube controller ports, composite and component video output, and stereo audio output
- Six acrylic windows (tiny, around the Kawaii logo) for RGB lighting
- Attached keychain loop
Once fully tested and confirmed to be "fully complete," the Nintendo Kawaii will also be open-sourced. The project's current status has already generated much hype from other BitBuilt users and enthusiasts around the web who have heard about it. An EOI form indicates "nuclear" demand, allowing for the bulk purchase of the shells required for the project "at a very good price," per Wesk in subsequent BitBuilt posts.
The most recent status update on the Nintendo Kawaii project (posted in the early hours of July 28) is a photograph of three Kawaii shells, split but currently not colored, straight from the factory. Prior to this, YveltalGriffin's final comments were that the design "still needs some work" and that "test fits and thermal testing with the initial case prototypes" are still required before opening actual preorders for the unit in the near future.
