While recent rumors suggest Nintendo is working on an upgraded Switch console, GingerOfMods has been at work on an impressive Nintendo portable known as the Wiiboy Color. It has been a little while since we have come across a homebrew-style Nintendo console mod worth exploring, but this hybrid portable Wiiboy mod certainly deserves some attention. Head below for a closer look at the Nintendo portable in action and additional details.
Modded Nintendo portable — Wiiboy Color:
As pointed out by the folks at Kotaku, GingerOfMods has sourced a wide range of Nintendo consoles and custom-made parts to make the hybrid Nintendo portable a reality. The video below details the design process which includes a bespoke 3D-printed Game Boy Color-style housing along with all sorts of odds and ends sourced from other Nintendo gear and random hardware.
Along with the 3D-printed case, the 3.5-inch, 480p display was ripped straight from a car back-up camera (not unlike this one), while the re-designed Wii internals and circuit boards have been chopped down to fit in the mobile-ready form-factor.
While this thing was mostly designed to play the Nintendo Wii library on-the-go, some of the exterior parts were pulled straight from other Nintendo hardware releases. The front-mounted joysticks come from a Nintendo Switch work in tandem with face buttons repurposed from a DS Lite and made compatible with one another using GameCube controller circuitry.
The games apparently look even better than the originals when the home-brew Nintendo portable is connected to the big screen. A USB-C port handles charging and you’ll find a handy headphone jack as well.
9to5Toys’ Take:
In the end, it might not be something everyone is going to get their hands on — GingerOfMods claims homebrews like this can run as much as $1,000 — but it is awesome to see the Wii library in mobile form and in such a sweet looking package. GingerOfMods does plan on selling these, however, and is pointing those interested to the social accounts found right here.
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