It Won’t Be Coming to the Big Leagues
Some like to mod games, some like to mod consoles. Shank Mods has revealed his 3 year long project the PiiWii. It’s a handheld Wii, simple as that. A little while ago, Shank did something a *ahem* little weird. He put the internal workings of a Wii into an Altoids tin. This resulted in a functional, impractical handheld called the KillMii. Just before 2018 ended, Shank completed his more practical project. It plays both GameCube and Wii titles via USB drives.
It also sports the face buttons and D-pad of a GameCube, 3DS analog sticks, and shoulder buttons similar to a PlayStation controller. There is also a Z button, but it is replaced with a tiny button like the ones used on the KillMii. Other components common with handhelds include a 3.5mm headphone jack, a charging port, and air intake/exhaust ports. The airflow is especially important because of the internals. It should be noted that there is no emulation here. All the circuits found in a regular Wii are in the PiiWii, which is obviously a lot smaller. It’s about the size of a GameBoy Advance, so a lot of heat is generated, that’s why the air ports are so important.
Does it Work Properly? Yes.
As mentioned above, no emulation. This means that all GameCube and Wii games work perfectly. You may be wondering about the beloved Wiimote and Nun-chuck attachment. Fret not, because you can sync them up as you would do with a normal Wii. It has a 3.5 inch LCD screen which is a little bit smaller than your TV, but was the Wii really known for its sharp graphics? I don’t think it loses out too much there. It’s one of a kind and cannot be distributed for obvious patent reasons, but it’s still super awesome. You can check out Shank’s full presentation of the PiiWii on YouTube.
What do you think about Shank Mods’ handheld? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Kotaku