Meet Nintendo Kawaii, the new smallest Wii build that fits on your keychain

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The whole unit is pictured below in blue, attached to a docking station with 4 GameCube controller ports

The Nintendo Kawaii "keychain Wii" mounted to its docking station.
The Nintendo Kawaii "keychain Wii" mounted to its docking station. (Image credit: Wesk and YveltalGriffin on BitBuilt Forums)

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.

A comparison shot of YveltalGriffin and Wesk's Nintendo Kawaii project (farthest right), the Short Stack (center), and the GC Nano (left).

A comparison shot of YveltalGriffin and Wesk's Nintendo Kawaii project (farthest right, in pink instead of blue, the Short Stack (center), and the GC Nano (left). (Image credit: Wesk and YveltalGriffin on BitBuilt Forums)

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.

Christopher Harper
Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251
    which has trimmed absolutely every non-essential part of the original Wii's motherboard to create a hyper-compact, digital-only Nintendo Wii.

    my pov is soemthing can't do 100% of what original did it is no longer same thing its a lesser version.

    inability to play disc is point its not a wii anymore (as you lost the backwards compat w/ gamecube which was a much used feature)
    Reply
  • Giroro
    That has got to be the world's largest keychain ring, relative to the GameCube controller ports.
    Or, more likely, an entirely fake picture.

    It doesn't matter though. They used Nintendo's name and trademark, so this company is conveniently going to be toast before needing to ship anything.
    Reply
  • TheyCallMeContra
    hotaru251 said:
    my pov is soemthing can't do 100% of what original did it is no longer same thing its a lesser version.

    inability to play disc is point its not a wii anymore (as you lost the backwards compat w/ gamecube which was a much used feature)

    regular Wiis have been hacked to play Wii/GC games off external storage for eons, this is a very strange and silly argument. no back compat has been lost at all- GC titles and Wii titles alike are easy to run off external storage, particularly if you make backups with the original Wii console. really only MotionPlus titles become overtly unplayable with this setup, and most of you weren't playing those anyways.

    Giroro said:
    That has got to be the world's largest keychain ring, relative to the GameCube controller ports.
    Or, more likely, an entirely fake picture.

    It doesn't matter though. They used Nintendo's name and trademark, so this company is conveniently going to be toast before needing to ship anything.

    lmao. "company". did you even read the article? cut-down consoles like these- even ones made into playable handhelds- have been a thing in the modding community for ages. and yes, even sold. look up "Kill Mii" if you want to see a playable Wii w/ screen fit into an Altoids tin.
    Reply
  • gg83
    TheyCallMeContra said:
    regular Wiis have been hacked to play Wii/GC games off external storage for eons, this is a very strange and silly argument. no back compat has been lost at all- GC titles and Wii titles alike are easy to run off external storage, particularly if you make backups with the original Wii console. really only MotionPlus titles become overtly unplayable with this setup, and most of you weren't playing those anyways.



    lmao. "company". did you even read the article? cut-down consoles like these- even ones made into playable handhelds- have been a thing in the modding community for ages. and yes, even sold. look up "Kill Mii" if you want to see a playable Wii w/ screen fit into an Altoids tin.
    So Nintendo won't start going after these guys? Lots of questionable mods are sold and then sued by the rights holders.
    Reply