Kawaii

[YveltalGriffin]

OPEN SOURCE ON GITHUB!

Kawaii is a functional metal Nintendo Wii keychain created by @YveltalGriffin, @Wesk and @Ding.

It's a technical tour de force that prioritizes aesthetics over practicality, and fully utilizes the OMEGA trim.

Kawaii may be the zenith of Wii portablizing as an artform.

Features:

• 60 x 60 x 15.8mm CNC aluminum chassis
• Anodized, with laser-etched artwork
• Fake compliance markings
• Keychain / tassel loop
• OMEGA-trimmed undervolted Hollywood-2 Wii Mini motherboard
• AVEflex and nandFlex
• Powered by Thundervolt
• Internal microSD card for homebrew and games
• Six internal addressable RGB LEDs
• Magnetic pogo pin docking connector
• Composite video, 480p YPbPr, and stereo audio output
• 4-player GameCube controller connectivity via magnetic dock

Gallery

Building One
Kawaii is 100% open source, but due to the extremely challenging nature of the build, no assembly guide or build tutorial is provided. Keep in mind that this project is portablizer jewelry (it's literally a keychain) and NOT a console you want to daily drive.

Check out the hardware folder for all of the MCAD, ECAD, and BOM files. A full MCAD assembly is provided in both F3D and STEP format, which shows how everything fits together. The BitBuilt thread has lots of pictures from the assembly process of two Kawaiis and is a valuable resource.

World's Smallest?
Whether the Kawaii is the world's smallest functioning Wii is up for debate. Since it requires a dock or bundle of adapter cables to play games on a TV, it's certainly not the world's smallest fully self-contained Wii— that's still @loopj's Short Stack. Kawaii also requires an external fan to stay cool enough to touch during extended use.

Still, the Kawaii does contain a complete Wii. Its only inputs are power and GameCube controllers, and its only outputs are analog audio and video. So it may be the smallest functional Wii build, but not the smallest functional Wii console. The distinction is semantic and largely irrelevant to the project's goal, which was to create something beautiful, not to claim a title.

Credits

• YveltalGriffin: Concept, ECAD, MCAD, artwork, assembly
• Wesk: MCAD, sexy renders
• Ding: CNC machining, anodization, laser etching

 

[Wesk]

 

[VoxelTek]

Regardless of if this is practical or not, it's beautiful. It looks so so much like it could've been a real product, and I honestly can't believe it was just a hobby project by 3 people. Even though it definitely prioritises aesthetics over practicality, it being functional is unbelievably cool, and I can't wait to see what interesting things people end up doing with this.

 

[loopj]

Congrats on the cutting edge post guys!

This is now my favorite build of all time, everything about it just oozes quality and craftsmanship. To me this is what this hobby is all about.

 

[dammit.jeff]

Absolutely insane feat of engineering, this might actually be end-game Wii mod. Well done

 

[Lazr]

Didn't think I would ever actually build one, and then I got the last black shell.

My wallet is crying (should have seen it coming) but I am joyous at the masterpiece! Thanks Yveltal for the group buy, and thanks Ding for making the shells in the first place! GOATs

 

[StormEye45]

Didn't think I would ever actually build one, and then I got the last black shell.


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My wallet is crying (should have seen it coming) but I am joyous at the masterpiece! Thanks Yveltal for the group buy, and thanks Ding for making the shells in the first place! GOATs

congrats on the build

 

[KingColdestFrieza]

Heres a sketch of your amazing project!

 

[Stitches]

Heres a sketch of your amazing project!View attachment 42243

Your enthusiasm is great, but please stop replying to every thread that you read with your thoughts; it clutters the feed. Forums are an information repository and question hub, not a chatroom. We have a discord server for that. If you check the top right of the page under the search bar, clicking the Discord icon there will give you an invite.

 

[KingColdestFrieza]

I literally joined just to show this sketch anyway

 

[Y2K]

I literally joined just to show this sketch anyway

That's great, your enthusiasm is appreciated. It's important to understand that every time a user posts a reply to a thread, the original poster (OP), anyone who has interacted with this thread, and otherwise anyone who has clicked the watch button on the page get email and browser notifications. I hope you can understand how frustrating this could be for users to get potentially multiple email notifications from the same poster that added nothing of substance to the thread. It's bad etiquette is all, and we ask you to kindly respect our desire to keep the feed clean.

 

[DragonGate]

I will really like to see a full functional sistem mini like this concept: It only will be a few more mm:
Mini gc/wii

 

[Y2K]

I will really like to see a full functional sistem mini like this concept: It only will be a few more mm:
Mini gc/wii

Already been done:

GC Nano (mini GameCube) https://bitbuilt.net/forums/threads/gc-nano-the-worlds-smallest-gamecube.5697/

Short Stack (mini Wii) https://bitbuilt.net/forums/threads/project-short-stack.6020/

 

[DragonGate]

Already been done:

GC Nano (mini GameCube) https://bitbuilt.net/forums/threads/gc-nano-the-worlds-smallest-gamecube.5697/

Short Stack (mini Wii) https://bitbuilt.net/forums/threads/project-short-stack.6020/

OOO I neever see the short stack mini wii, jajaja I need it so hard xD

 

[Derptastic1]

A
I am curious about placing a external sd card slot via a ribbon adapter like the PSP GO. Obviously i am thinking a ribbon that has a 45° bend and one that bends back straight to go almost straight out the other side. The only real problem is can think of is the reduced air flow within the unit. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[JamesPi]

A
I am curious about placing a external sd card slot via a ribbon adapter like the PSP GO. Obviously i am thinking a ribbon that has a 45° bend and one that bends back straight to go almost straight out the other side. The only real problem is can think of is the reduced air flow within the unit. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I mean the main thing is that having an external SD card would compromise on the aesthetics, which are a huge priority with this project. There's not really air flow inside the unit, the CPU and GPU are connected with thermal paste directly to the "fin half" of the shell, which then acts as a heatsink. The ambient air temp matters so much for this build, internal temps not so much.