Shinobii Console Toolkit review

There’s nothing more annoying than a broken games console, unless it’s a broken console with an expired warranty. With Shinobii’s Console Toolkit you can try and repair your console yourself.

Console manufacturers aren’t too keen on users tinkering with their machines, and have used a variety of tamper-resistant security screws to keep people from doing so. Fortunately, Shinobii’s toolkit contains almost all the tools you’re likely to need to dismantle everything from an original GameBoy to your prized Xbox 360.

There are 18 different bits, including small standard Philips screwdrivers (#1, #0, #00, #000), a 0.05 hex head, Torx stardrivers (T2, T3, T6, T8, T10, T15 and T20), triwing drivers (#00 and #01), two Linehead nut setters (#6 and #8) and a slotted 7/64 bit. Also included is a pair of tweezers and an Xbox 360 case opening tool. The tools are well made and were generally a perfect match for our consoles, although the supplied Triwing #00 was little too bulky to fit the screws on our Nintendo DS Lite.

Although a guide card tells you which tools you’ll need to dismantle each console, no further instructions are provided or available on Shinobii’s site. You’ll have to rely on various internet guides to tell you how to use each tool – this particularly applies to 360 case opening tool, which looks rather arcane at first glance. Fortunately, such instructions are easy to find.

Obviously, opening up your console will void your warranty and, if it’s currently working, runs the risk of killing it. However, if it’s already broken and out of warranty, you have nothing to lose. The toolkit provided us with everything we needed to open our consoles, but better instructions would help.