The 'Kawaii' keychain-sized Nintendo Wii is passively cooled, docks Gamecube controllers and costs $55 (for now)

The Nintendo Wii is one of the smallest home gaming consoles created for commercial sale to date. The Wii ended its run as the sixth-best-selling console of all time, which is saying something. There are countless ways in which the Wii has been modded in the past, including this Wii stuffed into a Game Boy Color shell. Even though Nintendo shut down online services for the Wii U and 3DS in April 2024, it hasn't stopped modders from doing what they do best. This time around, folks over at @WeskMods have designed a keychain-sized Nintendo Wii, quite possibly the smallest functional Nintendo Wii in the world (even smaller than the Short Stack).

The tiny Wii, dubbed 'Kawaii', features a CNC’d aluminum metal unibody with laser etched artwork. It runs Wii games digitally, and can connect to external displays and controllers via magnetic Pogo pin connectors. It even includes a custom dock for connecting up to four Gamecube controllers. This design utilizes an undervolted OMEGA trim with Thundervolt tech. The modders stated that the whole thing is passively cooled and doesn’t include an internal fan. Also, their product will have 'very clear' wording before they go to the buy-in stage - all this to hopefully clear any confusion as to the nature of the miniature Wii. 

Due to its size (60x60x16mm), the 'Kawaii' sacrifices some functionalities of the original Wii. It lacks a disc drive, and traditional Wiimotes are incompatible (likely due to the absence of Bluetooth connectivity). However, users can connect USB-C controllers and Gamecube gamepads, as mentioned earlier. The console also understandably lacks a sensor bar, making motion-controlled games like Wii Sports unplayable.

@WeskMods confirmed that Kawaii's operating system will be open-source once the device is finished, hinting at the possibility of emulation for other gaming systems. The initial batch of 30 units sold out quickly, but there's a chance for pre-orders to reopen in the near future. The devs further added that the current $55 per unit cost might go down further with larger future orders, so that's something to watch out for as well.