Modders shrink Nintendo Wii to a very “Kawaii” keychain size

How cute: The original Nintendo Wii was pretty compact, but its form factor is nothing compared to the “Nintendo Kawaii” mod (kawaii is Japanese for cute). This custom creation takes portable gaming to a new level by shrinking the Wii to a size so tiny you can attach it to your keychain – at just 60x60x16mm.

Hardware hackers Wesk Mods and YveltalGriffin began the Nintendo Kawaii project as an ambitious challenge to create the smallest functional Wii, and it’s now nearing completion. Under the hood, it features an undervolted “Omega” trim with custom PCBs to condense everything into the ultracompact unibody shell.

Despite the radically shrunken size, this mod supports GameCube controllers, the ports of which are the biggest parts of the console. A miniature docking bay provides all the console’s connectivity, including USB-C power, video, and four controllers. The tiny console connects to the docking system via a pogo pin port similar to Apple’s MagSafe connectors.

The console has an intricately sculpted finned heatsink design to allow for fanless passive cooling. The dock’s design eliminates clutter and keeps the console oriented vertically for optimal heat dissipation.

On the outside, the Kawaii is as adorable as its name implies, with six acrylic windows allowing the internal RGB lighting to shine through. It really is small enough to connect to your keychain. The final design even includes an actual keychain loop.

As you can see, the Kawaii is about the size of a Game Boy Color cartridge.

“The final Kawaii shell will be machined from aluminum and anodized in a variety of gorgeous colors,” said YveltalGriffin. “The back will be laser-etched with the project logo and dope-looking fake compliance markings.”

For Wesk and Yveltal, the path to this impossibly tiny Wii has been arduous, spanning over a year of experimentation. Initial imagined designs featured proper controller ports and fans before the duo realized a machined metal unibody with pogo connectors was critical to maximum miniaturization.

@YveltalGriffin and I have been cooking up something special over the past year or so and we are now happy to show it off.

A Wii console the size of a keychain!

CNC’d, anodized, laser marked, and passively cooled

Follow the link for more details: https://t.co/MgZT0ZBV6V pic.twitter.com/3trRBqoNiU

– Wesk Mods (@WeskMods) July 21, 2024

The Kawaii doesn’t have a firm release timeline yet.

“[It’ll depend on] how quickly our contacts in China can get the prototype shells through to us for test fitting,” Wesk Mods told RetroDodo.

A manufacturing run of at least 30 units is needed to start. Once they verify everything is functional, they’ll open pre-orders, hopefully within a month or two.

Pricing is also a mystery. However, the more units ordered, the lower the per-unit cost. Those interested can sign up using Kawaii’s Google form. Once it’s complete, the Kawaii will be fully open source. The team plans to sell copies of the shell in the future. However, the modders warn that building a custom unit would require very advanced skills.