Wii U and 3DS eshops to permanently close in late March 2023

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

 

More info here:

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57847

 

I'm sadly not surprised this day has finally come, but it's always disheartening to see digital storefronts close, and games lost to time.

 

Thought I'd post this here as although this is primarily a PlayStation forum, I'm sure many people here also use Nintendo consoles. Make sure to buy anything you still want on Wii U and/or 3DS within the next year. As with the Wii shop closure, downloads of previously purchased content will not be affected (yet), though demos and other free content will apparently no longer be downloadable.

 

Online play will also still continue to exist for games that still support online multiplayer past the closure of the eshops, which is interesting as I'm pretty sure online functionality was shut down for the Wii before its eshop was closed.

Edited February 16, 2022 by SuperSmexy500

[You]

Wow, abandoning the 3DS already? Sony don't even care about the Vita and even they aren't abandoning the store for it.

 

Yes I know there's an irony in me typing that, since they abandoned updating the store in about 2016 or so.

[da-Noob123]

Thanks for sharing SuperSmexy. I just started playing my 3DS actively again this past December and some of the games I have and want have DLC. My poor wallet...

[Retrogamer125]

The wii u i can get but the 3ds eshop damn

[SeedersPhD]

Today's reminder on why physical is king ?

[AK-1138]

Whelp, the unrelenting onslaught of inevitability stops for no man, woman, or chemically dependent talking towel. Ain't spent a dime on the Wii U shop since before Nintendo brutally murdered Zelda and got away with it, and I'm pretty sure the last thing I bought on 3DS was the Apollo Justice remaster that I still haven't played.

 

Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken them this long to Old Yeller the shit out of the U, as they genuinely come across as more proud even of the Virtual Boy. Still a better console than the GameCube, though. I might not even have the chance to use the 3DS shop again before the thing bricks out on me, and I buy a clone console in a genuinely legally defensible manner due to Nintendo's nonexistent approach to a console-independent account system like any sane game publisher would enact.

 

Obsolescence is calling you home...

[ccase137]

Sad to see this happening no matter how inevitable it was.  At least Nintendo gave just a bit over a year's notice, and at least the 3DS still gets sales from time to time.

 

That said, the 3DS has been hacked to oblivion that I think most games and their DLCs won't be lost to time.  Still got 60 (physical) 3DS games to play on mine  but make sure you download all the patches from eshop before it closes down!

[IAMERORR]

The question is, which are the essential games to purchase before closure. I'm keen to get on there and download some GBA games like Konami Krazy Racers - I can't get enough of SNES Mario Kart.

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

44 minutes ago, ccase137 said:

Sad to see this happening no matter how inevitable it was.  At least Nintendo gave just a bit over a year's notice, and at least the 3DS still gets sales from time to time.

 

That said, the 3DS has been hacked to oblivion that I think most games and their DLCs won't be lost to time.  Still got 60 (physical) 3DS games to play on mine  but make sure you download all the patches from eshop before it closes down!

 

Yeah, hopefully everything (or mostly everything) is already backed up elsewhere anyway, or will be within the next 12 months.

 

According to the support site:

"For the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems."

 

So I think patches will still be fine, but it may be best to download them sooner rather than later. I still have around 30 (physical) games in my 3DS backlog, and I'm not sure if they're all updated, so I should prolly get around to that at some point.

 

That being said, I'm pretty sure the Wii can still be updated to this day, as the servers are still up (and you can still redownload purchased content), so hopefully patches and system updates on the 3DS and Wii U will remain available long after the eshops have closed as well.

 

32 minutes ago, IAMERORR said:

The question is, which are the essential games to purchase before closure. I'm keen to get on there and download some GBA games like Konami Krazy Racers - I can't get enough of SNES Mario Kart.

 

That's always kind of a hard question to answer, because what's "essential" is going to vary from person to person. I suggest looking for general "best of" lists and articles, and maybe searching for games in specific genres you're interested in to see what the platforms have to offer.

[MrHealthy]

Time to hack my 3DS I guess.

[Beyondthegrave07]

I see stuff like this and wonder why I bought any digital games on switch just to save a few dollars on first party games knowing that they'll eventually abandon that storefront too. Ideally, they would integrate stores when going to the next generation, but why would they suddenly start now? ?

 

This is just a self reminder to buy physical copies going forward when possible I guess. Luckily, never bought games from the 3DS store so I won't be losing anything there.

[JorgeSleep]

[Zephrese]

Supposedly this was removed from the FAQ.

If this is true, it just further solidifies my tremendous distaste for how Nintendo operates as a company and shows how scummy they really are. :/

Edited February 16, 2022 by Zephrese

[jgm4789]

I honestly expected them to wait until 2024-25 at least considering how much a fiasco the ps3/vita closure and reversal caused but this shows that nintendo is easily the most scummy of the 3 in terms of letting us buy thier old games. Sony and microsoft at least are making efforts to future proof thier digital content(though Sony still has ways to go with ps3 content) since ps6 and xbox series xx will probably be backwards compatible but theres no guarantee nintendo woldnt do something weird with a switch 2 sucessor with a silly gimmick that wont guarantee that systems followup will work with switch 1 and 2 games.

[MidnightDragon]

It's nice they're giving this much advance warning at least.

[ArmoredSnowman]

2 hours ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

This is just a self reminder to buy physical copies going forward when possible I guess. Luckily, never bought games from the 3DS store so I won't be losing anything there.

Personally, I just use a modded Switch, and save my money for PS4/PS5 games. I never go online on that console anyway. 

[Ich1994-1994]

Does anyone know what this means for Pokémon bank? As it is the only way to transfer Pokémon up to the switch I would have to decide what to do ich all my shinies^^

 

edit: seems like as long as you download it in time it will be fre after the shutdown:D

Edited February 16, 2022 by Ich1994-1994

[arcanehornet_]

Literally no reason not to mod the console now. Especially the 3DS

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

For anyone interested, Nintendo has opened a website that complies your 3DS and Wii U gameplay data to show what your most played games and genres were, assuming you had a NNID linked anyway. Just to add extra salt to the wound I guess.

 

If you've played anything on either system in the past 2 years, it won't count it however as it apparently only dates from 2011 to February 2020. I played Xenoblade Chronicles X last year, which I put over 100 hours into, but apparently my third most played game is Pikmin 3 at 28 hours... I put more time into Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and even Paper Mario than that. Kinda sad to see how inaccurate it is, though it's also a little shocking to realise I only really got around to my Wii U backlog properly in the past 2 years.

[SnowxSakura]

18 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

For anyone interested, Nintendo has opened a website that complies your 3DS and Wii U gameplay data to show what your most played games and genres were, assuming you had a NNID linked anyway. Just to add extra salt to the wound I guess.

 

If you've played anything on either system in the past 2 years, it won't count it however as it apparently only dates from 2011 to February 2020. I played Xenoblade Chronicles X last year, which I put over 100 hours into, but apparently my third most played game is Pikmin 3 at 28 hours... I put more time into Twilight Princess, Wind Waker and even Paper Mario than that. Kinda sad to see how inaccurate it is, though it's also a little shocking to realise I only really got around to my Wii U backlog properly in the past 2 years.

Kinda weird they need a website for the 3ds, since that already has the activity log that tracks all games with playtimes, including longest sessions for each game

[IntroPhenom]

Granted, I haven't played (well, haven't enjoyed) a 3DS Pokemon game since X&Y, but the thought of losing all of the little guys with hidden abilities, or from limited-time giveaways, or shinys that I collected over the years that are stored in the Bank (which isn't going away immediately, but may in time) makes me sad.

[Speling_Expirt]

This saddens me in a way that I can't quite grasp.

 

I'm no huge lover of Nintendo. Sure, my daughter enjoys her Switch and I've still got my 3DS and Gamecube somewhere. But knowing that games will be stranded with no way to play them deeply unsettles me. 

 

Things like this make me appreciate physical that little bit more each time. Getting up from my sofa and changing disc is somewhat of a miniscule inconvenience, compared to the complete shutdown of a store - forcing away hundreds of games at the same time. 

 

Stranded. 

 

 

[Lord_Bane999]

Honestly one good thing is, some great shop only titles had ports elsewhere. So some will still be available, but honestly I'm surprised the eshops lasted for this long.

 

Sucks about some do the classic VWare games though like Super Mario RPG and Earthbound 1&2 on WiiU. Theta re by far the most affordable ways to own and play these games.

[TJ_Solo]

45 minutes ago, LOWERCASESUCKS said:

 

I'm no huge lover of Nintendo. Sure, my daughter enjoys her Switch and I've still got my 3DS and Gamecube somewhere. But knowing that games will be stranded with no way to play them deeply unsettles me. 

 

 

 

 

Why is the removal of the means to purchase being conflated with removal of access? 

In a year the ability to buy digital games on the 3DS and WiiU store will be removed. However, any purchase that was made before the cutoff date can still be downloaded and played to their respective devices. There's no statement from Nintendo ever removing the access to the games for people that have bought them.

[the_real_culture]

So unfortunate, if there is any game I could recommend would be the classic Pokemons. I believe Gold & Silver are still in the eShop.