It's the end of an era, as both the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS will be moving on to that great end-of-life cloud in the sky. Nintendo has put out a warning that they'll be winding down support both the eShop on both platforms. Starting May 23 of this year, credit cards will no longer be able to be used to add funds to the 3DS or Wii U eShop, with support for physical eShop cards going away on August 29th. Digital download codes will still work and will be redeemable until the final plug is pulled in March 2023.

As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make purchases in Nintendo eShop for the Wii U system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It will also no longer be possible to download free content, including game demos. Furthermore, as this date draws closer, related services will cease to function:

• As of May 23, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a credit card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
• As of August 29, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a Nintendo eShop Card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. However, it will still be possible to redeem download codes until late March 2023.

Users who link their Nintendo Network ID wallet (used with Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) with their Nintendo Account wallet (used with the Nintendo Switch family of systems) can use the shared balance to purchase content on any of these systems until late March 2023. After that, the balance can only be used to purchase content for the Nintendo Switch family of systems.

In an FAQ released alongside the announcement, Nintendo clarified that this will not affect online play, and users will still be able to redownload games they have previously purchased.

If someone visits Nintendo eShop and wants to download something on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family systems after late March 2023, what will they able to do?

• On both platforms, users will still be able to:
  • Redownload content they own.
  • Download existing software updates.
• On both platforms, users will not be able to:
  • Purchase any content:
    • On Nintendo 3DS, this includes paid content, plays and passes in software such as StreetPass Mii Plaza, Theme Shop, Nintendo Badge Arcade and Pokémon Bank.
    • On Wii U, this includes passes in software such as Wii Sports Club.
  • Download demos.
  • Download free-to-start software.
  • Redeem a download code.
  • Add funds to their Nintendo eShop balance.
• On Nintendo 3DS family systems, users will still be able to:
  • Download a small number of free themes from Theme Shop.

Nintendo released the 3DS in March 2011, with multiple revisions to the handheld released throughout its lifetime. The Wii U came out in November 2012, and had a short life, being officially discontinued after the launch of the more successful Switch in 2017. The Virtual Console service was well known on either system, where classic games were sold individually, ranging from decades of Nintendo history. Nintendo chose to mention that they currently have no plans to continue the Virtual Console line, and will be focusing support on the Nintendo Switch Online classic library.

Source

 

[Marc_LFD]

RIP 3DS. Even you were a better handheld than the Vita.

It had better games overall, but the hardware, that was on Vita's side.

Well, except the terrible proprietary memory cards it really didn't help the Vita at all and PSP go is stuck in hell with 16GB storage unless you buy an overpriced, used 16GB proprietary card or hard-mod it to have 64GB/128GB/256GB.

Sony ruined something good they had going.

 

[LoggerMan]

Two of them but as mentioned earlier, there was a recent new exploit that's free.

Sweet. I been meaning to buy more WiiUs as backups. EB Games used to stock them for 99AUD each but they don't anymore, I was too slow. Though by the time I need to replace my WiiU I probably will have forgotten how to even mod them.

 

[Marc_LFD]

If they're gonna bring back GameCube/Wii era ideas like sports, at least bring back THE shop theme.

GameCube.. sports? That gimmick was more of a Wii thing.

 

[Tsukiru]

GameCube.. sports? That gimmick was more of a Wii thing.

I was referring to Mario Strikers coming back too.

 

[lordelan]

And here we go.
While I understand that a company can't maintain servers forever, it still f*cks me up every time since it's declaring a console's digital death. Yes, you can still buy (used) games on eBay, but updates and DLCs? Nope. Nice little indie games? Nope. VC games? Nope.

Guess I give Wii U USB Helper a final spin at the end of 2022 and while I bought a Haxchi compatible game back then, I'm still sooo glad that Tiramisu exists now, making any Wii U hackable forever.

On this occasion let me once again tell you guys how much I loved the Wii U and still love it. I'll be honest, I don't fire it up very often since I got Switch, but especially before the Switch announcement, this was my favorite console ever, since it is able to play GC, Wii and Wii U games natively while being able to play almost all older systems up to PS1 via RetroArch, VC and/or emulators in the vWii. Thus it was a rich house for gamers. And all that could be done without using the TV.
After all, being able to use two screens at once is still a thing that lifts it up from the Switch.
I'm glad to own a Wii U!

 

[MasterJ360]

It had better games overall, but the hardware, that was on Vita's side.

Well, except the terrible proprietary memory cards it really didn't help the Vita at all and PSP go is stuck in hell with 16GB storage unless you buy an overpriced, used 16GB proprietary card or hard-mod it to have 64GB/128GB/256GB.

Sony ruined something good they had going.

The vita had a huge drought of games after its launch which put the 3ds in a good position in sales and popularity in the US. The only good game it had for the longest was Persona 4 Golden. The biggest problem with the Vita aside the sd card was that it heavily advertise to cross play that didn't go so well b/c in reality you would have to own the same game twice on different consoles. But yeah it had better hardware mainly b/c its built to play psp and compressed versions of ps3 games

The majority of the vita's library were also ps3/ps4 games. By the time the Vita got hacked thats when we started seeing more jpn ports landing, but alot of us were already playing them on ps4 & PC or simply pirating vita games. In Japan the vita is definitely more popular tho not surprising considering how loaded their psn was compared to ours.

 

[SkyDX]

It's sad when "experiences" like this go missing, the Switch is so barebones in that regard without music or style ;/

 

[DinohScene]

The end of an era.

 

[RashoLazer]

F for VC

 

[CoolMe]

Actually i'm surprised it's not March 2022, or at least this year.. at least there's enough time for people who wish to get stuff before they shut it down..

 

[zxr750j]

No more Pokemon bank?

 

[Noctosphere]

Those are still running?

 

[Lostbhoy]

Just gonna lay a little rose here.....

 

[Bladexdsl]

ah good ol nintendo keep things running as long as it lines their pockets and abandon it as soon as it doesn't!

 

[KimKong]

Well, the good news is that online multiplayer will still be working!

 

[Deleted member 42501]

People whine too much.

Current platforms get current support and when the hardware went EOL due to being superseded by Switch they still give you another 3 years of eShop access and people still moan.

That and they give absolutely immense amounts of notice for those latecomers who were always super interested in a 3DS yet somehow never managed to pick one up in the past 11 years to finally get onboard.

See how ridiculous your complaints are? Or are you still upset that you can't send Aeromail via the 430 Auto Gryo to the Prussian Consulate in Siam any more?

 

[Ferris1000]

I got that feeling that Nintendo is doing this on purpose.

First they take down the shops so that nobody can access their digital contents anymore, then they are waiting for rom sites to appear.
After that they are going to sue the rom site holders.
That’s another way for Nintendo to make Money without having the costs to maintain another server to host all the games.

It’s just disgusting what kinda jerks are working at Nintendo.

 

[64bitmodels]

Exactly. For anyone with the option, buying multiplatform games on Xbox is probably the most forward thinking choice.

Or PC since they probably arent gonna shut that down either

 

[Drak0rex]

Does this mean that Wii U Helper will no longer be helpful?

 

[isoboy]

Hacked and preserved long ago.