Awesome game, lots of fun, go read my review.
Go on.

Finally I managed to find a guy in the UK that would solder the Wasabi modchip into the Wii-Clip V5 for me, and ship it all to me at a reasonable rate. Jay over at Console-Chips was quick to respond on emails, and I pre-ordered his Wasabi Modchip Wii-Clip V5 pre-order bundle. I’ll update again once I get the chip. Should be in the next 2 weeks or so.

UPDATE:
Argh, OK, looking at the Wii-Clip V5 install diagrams (recently updated it seems), it turns out there’s a single wire that needs to be soldered inside the Wii. I really wanted to avoid having to solder anything inside the actual Wii console, but I suppose one wire is better than 9.

UPDATE 2:
Turns out the Wasabi chip is (a) not as upgradeable as advertised, and (b) in a bit of a short supply. See my follow-up on why I ended up getting the D2CKey intstead.

Take for instance a couple of examples I came across at one of my favourite local online retailers Take 2. They’ve consistently managed to get imported games and DVDs at great prices. Compare these titles and prices (as at writing):

Resident Evil 4 Wii UK PAL – R477
Resident Evil 4 Wii US NTSC – R303
Eledees Wii UK PAL – R581
Elebits Wii US NTSC – R197
Mercury Meltdown Wii UK PAL – R659 (On special for R333)
Mercury Meltdown Wii US NTSC – R204

None of these titles seem to have local South-African launched versions (on Take2 anyway, I can’t see them anywhere else either, but I might be wrong?), and after looking at some other titles, it seems we do get some titles at cheaper prices than the import prices, but there are titles that are still cheaper to import than to buy the local version. Looking at the list above (I’m sure I can find more), the price difference is huge (I recall actually seeing the ResEvil4 NTSC version for R200 or so a few months back at Take2)

Now, the fact that NTSC titles are cheaper doesn’t help us PAL users, but then again, it does pose the question of whether it’s now worth it getting a Wii Modchip installed, to unlock the region locking on the Wii? Moral and legal issues aside, paying R800 to have a modchip fitted, is so worth it if I’ll be saving between R150 and R400 *per* *title* that I buy the NTSC version.

What’s a game-lover to do?

Me? I investigated modchip options for the Wii. Turns out there’s some differences between consoles and chips and chip versions and stuff. Wikipedia helped a lot with its list of Wii modchips page. I have a D2C chipset Wii (newer ones), and that limits my modchip options to one of four or so chips: D2Ckey, D2CPro, Argon, Infectus and the new Wasabi chip. After doing some serious research, turns out the Wasabi chip is likely to be the best, due it’s ease of firmware update, and the minimal number of wires needed to be soldered.

Not wanting to do the soldering onto the Wii board myself, I looked at alternatives, and found the Wii-Clip. It’s a device that allows you to solder the modchip onto the Wii-Clip, and then just pop the Wii-Clip-with-modchip-attached, over the necessary chip inside the Wii Console, so no actual soldering required inside the Wii. Sounds like the better solution to me!

And the cost? Well, having the D2CKey fitted locally will cost R1000, due to the kabillion wires that needs soldering on the Wii.
Compare that to: US$39 (About R310) for the Wii-Clip V5 (Wasabi version) from www.ic2005.com with Free Shipping, and the actual Wasabi chip for about US$55 (about R435) on just about any of the Wasabi modchip reseller site (I’m sure there are many of them that do Free Shipping too.) So that makes R750 or so for a non-destructive modchip for the Wii, that will allow me to play US import games.

Sorted.
Decided.
Ordering.

The experience wasn’t entirely as easy as I thought it was going to be. (One special Nintendo-type screwdriver necessary for first disassembly)

One unfortunately has to make some rather ugly marks on the original casing to take it off, especially the top screen’s housing.

Other than that, the whole thing comes apart quite easily, and the insides fit together very nicely, and taking it apart required only disconnecting the top screen’s ribbon cable and speaker cable from the bottom one screen, and no other removal of ribbon cables at all.

I did run into some issues though:

After putting the whole thing back together, I forgot the one little screw that secures the cover that covers the ribbon cable inside the hinge. The reason I forgot the screw is that the cover is in a separate plastic packet inside the box. Don’t forget that screw! It’s a pain to add it afterwards.

Another thing I had an issue with was after putting it back together, switching on the DS resulted in the normal ‘click’ for switch on, power to the screen very briefly, and then the DS would immediately switch off. After some serious googling and forum reading, taking about 2 hours in total, I found this was a common problem. And the fix? Well, the DS switching off was due to the ribbon cable that comes from the top screen not being fully inserted into the slot in the circuit board. I took the resistance the slot gave me as a sign that the cable was in far enough, but pushing the cable a little bit harder made it slot straight into the right spot, and voila, all was well.

All in all not a totally painless experience (My thumb and forefinger are still sore from the strenuous screwdriving I had to do with a tiny-tiny screwdriver), but in the end, with less than 90 minutes of actual hard work, and the replacement casing is installed, and all is well again in the world.

The replacement housing box comes with everything you need to do the full replacement, including all screws and springs for the shoulder buttons. Well worth it.