Introduction

UMLan brings you the review for DecalGirl's Retro Wii Skin. When Nintendo released the Wii, there was a few screen shots around the internet showing different colored Wii's. To this day Nintendo has only release the plain white Wii. This can become a little boring over time and DecalGirl provides us with a product to remedy this. With over a hundred designs for the Wii to choose from you are sure to find one that suits your taste. I choose the Retro Wii skin to review. The Retro Wii skin makes your wii look like the classic NES that almost everyone remembers and loves.

Following information is taken from the DecalGirl's website.

About the Product

Dress up your favorite game console without voiding any warranty! Why mess with paint when you can have a stunning new finish on your X-Box, GameCube, Playstation 2 or handheld in a matter of minutes? Perfect for I.C.E. - match your console to the vinyl scheme on your car! DecalGirl has skins available for every major platform, their controllers and frequently special add-ons or original pieces not found anywhere else. All this and Decal Girl uses the same high performance vinyl we swear by for our car graphics. It doesn't get any beter.

Now that we got the basic information out of the way, let’s take a look at the actual skin.

Closer look

Front of Decal Package		Back of Decal Package

After receiving and opening the package, there was a cardboard envelope enclosed. The package is just big enough to contain the skin for the console, controller and nunchuck plus a cardboard backing to prevent the decals from bending or getting damaged. The back of the package contains instructions as well as details on where the decals should be placed on the Wii. DecalGirl recommends that the customer cleans the Wii before apply the decals to ensure that they stick correctly. The back also explains how to remove the decal if needed. Being the perfectionist I am, I had to remove the decals many times to re-center them. This was actually extremely easy and left no type of residue what so ever.

Decals for the front and top of Wii		Decals for controller and nunchuck

When looking at the decals you may be a little intimidated by the amount of decals for the Wii itself. Because of this I started by applying the decals on the controller sheet.

Nunchuck		Controller

As you can see from the pictures above, the regular Wii controller and nunchuck are pretty bland. They are all white with the exception of the power and home buttons, and wii logo. The Wii could definitely use a little makeover to make it more attractive.

Nunchuck with First two decals applied		Nunchuck with final decal applied

Once I started applying the decals I realized this was going to be as difficult as I had originally thought. When removing the decals from the sheet and transferring them to the controller itself you can tell that they are made from a thick vinyl. This is great as it ensures that they will be able to withstand along of abuse from your hands during those long gaming sessions. The nunchuck only has there pieces to apply making it easy to complete in just minutes.

Controller with Decal applied		Controller and Nunchuck with Decals

I found it a little challenging to apply the decal to the controller. You really need a steady hand for this one but once it’s applied the controller looks great!

Applying the Bottom decal		Top of Wii with decal applied

The easiest decal to apply on the Wii was the one that goes on the bottom. I aligned the notches on the bottom of the decal with the Wii, then just applied pressure and smoothed out the decal. I had initially been worried about air bubbles being caught under the decal but to my surprise that was never an issue. The decals are also cut perfectly which makes application even more simplistic.

Front of the Wii with decals applied		Side of Wii with decals applied

Once the Two main decals for the top and bottom of the Wii are applied the rest is just a few small decals and the front decal that puts the final touches on the Retro Wii skin from DecalGirl.

Wii with front pannel open		Wii with side pannels open

Testing

No additional testing was done to this product.

Conclusion

Overall I spent about 30 minutes applying the decals. I hardly think this is the norm, but I really need everything to be perfect when I’m making cosmetic changes to hardware. DecalGirl did a wonderful job on the sizing and cutting of the decals. I didn’t have any problems lining them up, other than my hand not being steady and was amazed at how well everything fit into place for me. The final product amazed me and even inspired to finally grab Super Mario 3 from the Wii online store.

I honestly never could have imagined how great the decals would actually look but the final product is amazing. My Wii went from boring and bland to the first thing people comment on when they look at my entertainment system. The Decals are easy to apply and easy to remove incase of applying them off centered. They are thick and durable as well. I played my Wii for a few hours after applying the decals to the controllers to test how they would feel and to see if they could withstand all my abuse. I didn’t take it easy on the controller and never had a single problem. Its great and I have no complaints. 10/10!!!

Some pros we found:

Great design with plenty to choose from

Easy to understand directions

Quality vinyl decals

Thick and Durable

Easy application and removal

Some Cons we found:

None