OK guys, here's my mini-review of the wiikey, hopefully it'll help for people on the edge about this chip and question performance issues of the chip. My Wii chip model is DMS and it is the US NTSC Model.
Ordering/Packaging: I ordered the wiikey from Eurasia and it came quickly, in 4 business days. It was neatly wrapped in a electro-static free pouch and that's the first time I realized how tiny it really is. Barely bigger than a nickel is the best I can describe it.
Installation: I thought the installation was extremely easy for a modchip other than straining your eyes a bit when you stare @ the small pads on the wii dvd-rom when soldering. I watched a video posted elsewhere on taking apart the wii and it was a snap to take apart, when you actually proceed on the installation, you realize there aren't that many screws....probably the most annoying part was taking a razor blade to the little white tabs to reveal the screws underneathe. I just followed the video step by step pausing along the way and had the wii desassembled for modding after 15 minutes or so. Afterwards, I took 30 gauge kynar insulated wires from Radio Shack and spent another 10 minutes stripping and measuring the length of the wires for the chip....then another 10 minutes soldering. And voila, all done, really didn't have any issues...I mean the diagram was very clear on the webpage(www.wiikey.cn) and you see where all 6 points go. Then I proceeded to give the installation disc a quick download and demonstrated the wiikey's upgradeability feature setting the region free to On and kept the read speed @ 6x. Extremely quick and simple (I used 1.0 installation since I had GC controllers laying around, but you can use 1.1 if you only have a wii remote using the reset key). After this, it was on to testing backup games.
GC Games: I didn't test many GC games, I tested Zelda Twilight Princess, Bust a Movie 4, and Paper Mario and didn't have any problems with either....basically I did this while burning my first Wii backup heh. But I'm confident everything works the way it should here. These were all on either Taiyo Yuden DVDR+ or Ritek G05 DVDR-.
Wii Games: This is where I did extensive testing to put the wiikey to the test, keep in mind I played all these games for @ least 10 minutes while the next disc is in the burner to make sure they're playable or not:
1) Red Steel (U) - Working fine.
2) Legend of Zelda: Twilight PRincess (U) - Working fine.
3) Wii Sports (J) - Working fine.
4) Wii Sports (U) - Working fine.
5) Rayman Raving Rabbits (U) - Working fine.
6) Wii Play (U) - Working fine.
7) Hajime no Wii (J) - Working fine.
8) Party pack for Revolution (J) (Another Wii Play iso release) - Working fine.
9) Monkey Ball Banana Blitz (U) - Working fine.
10) Need for Speed Carbon (U) - Working fine.
11) Warioware Smooth Moves (U) - Working fine.
12) Tony Hawk Downhill Jam (U) - Working fine.
13) Far Cry Vengeance (U) - Working fine.
14) Call of Duty 3 (U) - Working fine.
15) Marvel Ultimate Alliance (U) - Working fine.
16) Spongebob Creatures from Krusty Krab (U) - Working fine.
17) Superswing Golf (U) - Working fine.
18) Monster 4x4 Circuit Racing (U) - Working fine.
19) Splinter Cell Double Agent (U) - Working fine.
20) Trauma Center 2nd Opinion (U) - Working fine.
21) Cadeus Z 2 Tsu no Chou Shittou (J) - Working fine.
22) Super Fruitfall (E) - Working fine.
23) Happy Feet (U) - Working fine.
24) Rapala Tournament Fishing (U) - Working fine.
25) Ice Age 2 The Meltdown (U) - Working fine.
26) Barnyard (U) - Working fine.
27) GT Pro Series (U) - Working fine.
28) Open Season (U) - Working fine.
29) Elebits (U) - Working fine.
30) Cars (U) - Working fine.
31) Avatar the last Air Bender (U) - Working fine.
32) Madden NFL 07 (U) - Working fine.
33) Metal Slug Anthology (U) - Working fine.
34) Excite Truck (U) - Working fine.
35) The Ant Bully (U) - Working fine.
36) The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (U) - Working fine.
37) Chicken Little (U) - Working fine.
38) World Series Poker Tournament 2007 (U) - Working fine.
39) Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (U) - Working fine.
40) SD Gundam Scad Hammers (J) - Working fine.
41) Rampage Total destruction (U) - Working fine.
42) Ennichi no Tatsujin (J) - Working fine.
43) Pokemon Battle Revolution (J) - Working fine.
44) Crayon Shinchan (J) - NOT WORKING. Black screen freeze after starting game, can see game title in channel menu.
45) Cooking Mama (J) - Working fine.
46) Necro Nesia (J) - Working fine.
47) Mahjong Taikai Wii (J) - Working fine.
48) Bleach (J) - Working fine.
49) Kororinpa (J) - Working fine.
50) Tamagotchi no Pika Pika (J) - Working fine.
51) Wing Island (J) -Working fine.
52) Fire Emblem (J) - Working fine.
53) Naruto (J) - NOT WORKING. Black screen freeze after starting game. Can see game title in channel menu.
54) Sonic and the Secret Rings (U) - Working fine.
55) SSX Blur (U) - Working fine.
56) Densha de Go Shinkansen EX (J) - Working fine.
57) Eyeshield 21 Field no Saikyo Senshi (J) - Working fine.
58) Bomberman Land (J) - Working fine.
59) Gottlieb Pinball Classics (E) - NOT WORKING. Black screen freeze after starting game. Can see game title in channel menu.
60) Tiger Woods PGA Golf 07 (E) - Working fine except display ratio is a tad off...aka some parts of the screen = cut off.
61) Tiger Woods PGA Gold 07(U) - Working fine.
62) GI Jockey (J) - Working fine.
63) Puzzle Series #1: Sudoku (J) - Works and runs but font is in scrambled in ascii, first Japanese game I've seen behave this way....so cannot really read the in game text.
63) Sangokushi XI (J) - Work fine.
64) TMNT (U) - Works fine.
All games were tested with about 90% Verbatim DVDR- and the rest 10% were burned with Taiyo Yuden DVDR+ and Ritek G05 DVDR-. All tested that says working fine all run beginning fmv's perfectly smooth without a hitch and gameplay has been fine. So far this mod has been completely transparent. I even remember the wii updating itself a couple of times from different region games when you run the backup and it's been still perfect so far. I've only had 2 DRE's throughout testing and it was always starting the game....as in you stick in the game and then DRE, never while it was already displayed in the channel and never while playing any games (I played certain games up to 2-3 hours). All were burned with 4x to ensure maximum compatibility.
Conclusion:
So far, the wiikey delivers big time doing what it promises in my opinion....I may try booting more PAL games like Tiger Woods or the Pinball game just to be complete in all the games but so far everything works perfectly other than the 2 Japanese titles (Naruto and Crayon Shinchan). I'm confident future updates should perfect the region free capabilities of the wiikey and it should be a perfect chip. I can say I'm more than happy with the results so far.
Ordering/Packaging: I ordered the wiikey from Eurasia and it came quickly, in 4 business days. It was neatly wrapped in a electro-static free pouch and that's the first time I realized how tiny it really is. Barely bigger than a nickel is the best I can describe it.
Installation: I thought the installation was extremely easy for a modchip other than straining your eyes a bit when you stare @ the small pads on the wii dvd-rom when soldering. I watched a video posted elsewhere on taking apart the wii and it was a snap to take apart, when you actually proceed on the installation, you realize there aren't that many screws....probably the most annoying part was taking a razor blade to the little white tabs to reveal the screws underneathe. I just followed the video step by step pausing along the way and had the wii desassembled for modding after 15 minutes or so. Afterwards, I took 30 gauge kynar insulated wires from Radio Shack and spent another 10 minutes stripping and measuring the length of the wires for the chip....then another 10 minutes soldering. And voila, all done, really didn't have any issues...I mean the diagram was very clear on the webpage(www.wiikey.cn) and you see where all 6 points go. Then I proceeded to give the installation disc a quick download and demonstrated the wiikey's upgradeability feature setting the region free to On and kept the read speed @ 6x. Extremely quick and simple (I used 1.0 installation since I had GC controllers laying around, but you can use 1.1 if you only have a wii remote using the reset key). After this, it was on to testing backup games.
GC Games: I didn't test many GC games, I tested Zelda Twilight Princess, Bust a Movie 4, and Paper Mario and didn't have any problems with either....basically I did this while burning my first Wii backup heh. But I'm confident everything works the way it should here. These were all on either Taiyo Yuden DVDR+ or Ritek G05 DVDR-.
Wii Games: This is where I did extensive testing to put the wiikey to the test, keep in mind I played all these games for @ least 10 minutes while the next disc is in the burner to make sure they're playable or not:
1) Red Steel (U) - Working fine.
2) Legend of Zelda: Twilight PRincess (U) - Working fine.
3) Wii Sports (J) - Working fine.
4) Wii Sports (U) - Working fine.
5) Rayman Raving Rabbits (U) - Working fine.
6) Wii Play (U) - Working fine.
7) Hajime no Wii (J) - Working fine.
8) Party pack for Revolution (J) (Another Wii Play iso release) - Working fine.
9) Monkey Ball Banana Blitz (U) - Working fine.
10) Need for Speed Carbon (U) - Working fine.
11) Warioware Smooth Moves (U) - Working fine.
12) Tony Hawk Downhill Jam (U) - Working fine.
13) Far Cry Vengeance (U) - Working fine.
14) Call of Duty 3 (U) - Working fine.
15) Marvel Ultimate Alliance (U) - Working fine.
16) Spongebob Creatures from Krusty Krab (U) - Working fine.
17) Superswing Golf (U) - Working fine.
18) Monster 4x4 Circuit Racing (U) - Working fine.
19) Splinter Cell Double Agent (U) - Working fine.
20) Trauma Center 2nd Opinion (U) - Working fine.
21) Cadeus Z 2 Tsu no Chou Shittou (J) - Working fine.
22) Super Fruitfall (E) - Working fine.
23) Happy Feet (U) - Working fine.
24) Rapala Tournament Fishing (U) - Working fine.
25) Ice Age 2 The Meltdown (U) - Working fine.
26) Barnyard (U) - Working fine.
27) GT Pro Series (U) - Working fine.
28) Open Season (U) - Working fine.
29) Elebits (U) - Working fine.
30) Cars (U) - Working fine.
31) Avatar the last Air Bender (U) - Working fine.
32) Madden NFL 07 (U) - Working fine.
33) Metal Slug Anthology (U) - Working fine.
34) Excite Truck (U) - Working fine.
35) The Ant Bully (U) - Working fine.
36) The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (U) - Working fine.
37) Chicken Little (U) - Working fine.
38) World Series Poker Tournament 2007 (U) - Working fine.
39) Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (U) - Working fine.
40) SD Gundam Scad Hammers (J) - Working fine.
41) Rampage Total destruction (U) - Working fine.
42) Ennichi no Tatsujin (J) - Working fine.
43) Pokemon Battle Revolution (J) - Working fine.
44) Crayon Shinchan (J) - NOT WORKING. Black screen freeze after starting game, can see game title in channel menu.
45) Cooking Mama (J) - Working fine.
46) Necro Nesia (J) - Working fine.
47) Mahjong Taikai Wii (J) - Working fine.
48) Bleach (J) - Working fine.
49) Kororinpa (J) - Working fine.
50) Tamagotchi no Pika Pika (J) - Working fine.
51) Wing Island (J) -Working fine.
52) Fire Emblem (J) - Working fine.
53) Naruto (J) - NOT WORKING. Black screen freeze after starting game. Can see game title in channel menu.
54) Sonic and the Secret Rings (U) - Working fine.
55) SSX Blur (U) - Working fine.
56) Densha de Go Shinkansen EX (J) - Working fine.
57) Eyeshield 21 Field no Saikyo Senshi (J) - Working fine.
58) Bomberman Land (J) - Working fine.
59) Gottlieb Pinball Classics (E) - NOT WORKING. Black screen freeze after starting game. Can see game title in channel menu.
60) Tiger Woods PGA Golf 07 (E) - Working fine except display ratio is a tad off...aka some parts of the screen = cut off.
61) Tiger Woods PGA Gold 07(U) - Working fine.
62) GI Jockey (J) - Working fine.
63) Puzzle Series #1: Sudoku (J) - Works and runs but font is in scrambled in ascii, first Japanese game I've seen behave this way....so cannot really read the in game text.
63) Sangokushi XI (J) - Work fine.
64) TMNT (U) - Works fine.
All games were tested with about 90% Verbatim DVDR- and the rest 10% were burned with Taiyo Yuden DVDR+ and Ritek G05 DVDR-. All tested that says working fine all run beginning fmv's perfectly smooth without a hitch and gameplay has been fine. So far this mod has been completely transparent. I even remember the wii updating itself a couple of times from different region games when you run the backup and it's been still perfect so far. I've only had 2 DRE's throughout testing and it was always starting the game....as in you stick in the game and then DRE, never while it was already displayed in the channel and never while playing any games (I played certain games up to 2-3 hours). All were burned with 4x to ensure maximum compatibility.
Conclusion:
So far, the wiikey delivers big time doing what it promises in my opinion....I may try booting more PAL games like Tiger Woods or the Pinball game just to be complete in all the games but so far everything works perfectly other than the 2 Japanese titles (Naruto and Crayon Shinchan). I'm confident future updates should perfect the region free capabilities of the wiikey and it should be a perfect chip. I can say I'm more than happy with the results so far.
