Rebuilding game consoles is usually something modders do to spruce up the original case designs. We've seen a number of case mods for a variety of consoles over the years, some of which are simple recolors while others are a lot more elaborate and complex, such as the super awesome portable PlayBox One modification that turned a PS4 and Xbox One into a portable laptop gaming station. Some modifications are a little more extreme than others, and in one case some guy decided to take the Nintendo Wii and completely transform it into a whole other console... well, technically not another console but rather an Altoids tin.
Modder Shank uploaded the nine and a half minute video to his Shank Mods YouTube channel. He starts by talking about how miserable it was making the thing, and that's why it's called the Kill Mii. He spent about a year designing it, which features stripped down parts from the Wii put into an Altoids tin can. It sports a two-inch composite screen, two 3DS sliders that are designed as the analog sticks, four buttons that work as the 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' face buttons, and a makeshift D-pad at the bottom. There's also two infrared sensors for Bluetooth connectivity, an air intake and an air exhaust. There's even a USB port for allowing gamers to add games.
The first couple of minutes cover the external functionality and the internal specifications. If you're wondering how he managed to squeeze a Wii into a can that fits within the palm of your hand, it uses an actual Wii system board that has been manually cut down, along with having the memory arranged to fit on top of the board. It actually runs all of the Wii's software and Virtual Console library since it's an actual Wii board and it's not an emulator. But you won't be able to play for very long because the battery only lasts for ten minutes and automatically shuts off before it gets too hot.
It does run a custom system OS so that it can run homebrew and modded software. In fact, the game that's put on display is a modded XX version of Super Smash Bros.
Throughout the nine-minute video Shank repeatedly makes it known just how awful the whole thing is. It's uncomfortable to play, isn't very fun to use, and isn't very effective. But that's because it was made as a joke just to see if it could be done.
Shank explains that the whole thing started over on the BitBuilt page, where some modders argued about whether or not they could fit a Wii in an Altoids tin. One modder actually made a modified version of the Wii board small enough to fit into the tin, and from there it was just a matter of following through with the joke (and the challenge) to see if it was possible to make a working version out of the tin. Well, it was possible, and the year-long development journey was chronicled over on the BitBuilt forums.
It's amazing what a little bit of time, patience, and a crazy amount of ingenuity can get you. Of course, don't expect to see a bunch of people playing other Nintendo devices such as the Switch or the GameCube out of an Altoids tin anytime soon.
