How would you approach a build that required you to hack apart a perfectly good console motherboard? With aplomb and a strong finish. [jefflongo] from [BitBuilt.net] — a forum dedicated to making consoles portable — has finished just such a task, unveiling his version of a portable Wii to the world.
While this bears the general appearance of a portable GameCube, it’s what 
inside that counts. A heavily modified Wii motherboard — to reduce size — forms this portable’s backbone, and it includes two infrared LEDs on its faceplate for Wii Remotes. A single player can use the built-in controller, but [jefflongo] has included four GameCube controller ports for maximum multiplayer mayhem. Although he’ll likely plan on taking advantage of the built-in AV Out port to play on a TV and charge port for those extended gaming sessions, four 3400mAh batteries — with an estimated four hour battery life — should keep him satisfied on the go until he can recharge.
While the electronics display an impressive amount of work, but the final piece is a sight to behold. Check out the demo video after the break!
After an 11 month Odyssey of a build — extensive build log laid out here — we hope [jefflongo] is relishing the fruits of his labours.
We have the Wii represented here in portable format, what about the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360?
[Via /r/smashbros]
Not bad at all, very nice finish. Playing on the PC is just not the same and faffing with all the wii stuff is a pain.
Great to see the game he chose to demo the build with is the one I still spend more hours playing than any other console game – even after all these years.
Any thoughts on selling one????
I really hope so omg
Really nice build! I especially like the finishing work on the case. Since there was already so much done to the motherboard, I wonder if [jefflongo] considered adding the HDMI output board in lieu of analog outputs (not that it takes away from this build in any way to have analog outputs).
From what I understand, the Wii board is also slightly more power efficient than a Gamecube board, so it makes sense to use it in portables. One major annoyance is that the Wii menu screen refuses to let you operate with the joypad, instead forcing you to use a WiiMote to launch the game. There are hacks for the Wii that enable the menu to be used with a gamepad, though.
I guess those bright lights at the bottom are IR LEDs so you can still drive it with the WiiMote.
Build looks very nice. It is *very hard* to make these things super thin, from what I’ve seen – even if you do things like move the controller ports to an external Peripheral Box, etc. Seems like most Console -> Portable projects end up in some horrendous Frankencase, with parts epoxied together and drill holes all over, and ill-fitting screen cutouts. This is much better.
Almost forgot (possibly) the most important reason to use a Wii board instead of a Gamecube: built-in component video support and progressive scan, instead of needing an (expensive) Nintendo-brand cable, or an (expensive) FPGA replacement.
Since I don’t see an optical drive, I’m sure he’s using an alternative launcher anyway in order to load game backups from the SD card. I agree this is a beautiful build!
Or just buy the 3 DS version
I want one!!
if i asked you to build me a portable console from Nes to Gamecube games, could you or would you for a price?