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The Nintendo Wii U and 3DS eShops are closing next week, which means hundreds upon thousands of games will imminently be forever lost to the shutdown of the respective console's storefronts. Many here are aware of how important game preservation is, and with both the Wii U and 3DS being easy to put CFW and load backups on, it's a fairly simple task to obtain near-complete libraries of either. Of course, while backing up those games may be a legal grey area, playing them without owning them is unlawful, and audiences not tuned into the world of homebrew may not even know about such things to begin with.

Which is why YouTube personality The Completionist has decided to purchase every single available game on both the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U eShops. This endeavor consisted of purchasing 866 Wii U digital titles, and 1,547 3DS games, including all DLC and Virtual Console releases, totaling at over $22,000. The video showcases the difficulties in legally compiling a complete backup of both the Wii U and 3DS, ranging from the problems arising from trying to obtain $18,000 worth of eShop cards, to trying to actually make purchases since you can only load $250 worth of eShop credit at a time, being locked out by Nintendo from making so many transactions at a time, slow downloads from Nintendo's servers, the limitations of the 3DS, and other obstacles.

The video is an important display of why video game preservation is so important, and the arduous process of backing up media so that it does not become lost forever.

 

[Guacaholey]

I am among those who wish that when a game is no longer available to purchase legally, we should be legally allowed to download it for free
In this case, we should be allowed to download for free wii u games since they shut down the only way to buy them
(I'm not considering the used market ofc)

We absolutely should if it hasn't been ported to any system it can be still be purchased for.

 

[CMDreamer]

And this is why piracy is always morally OK

I don't agree. Piracy is selling someone else's work for profit (like those "full of games HDD's" being sold on so many e-commerce platforms), while preservation (backup keeping) is not.

We should have the right to keep a backup of our games so to be able to play them again whenever we would like to, even if their e-shops got closed ages ago. The morality of this all boils to the fact that so many people seek profit out of preservationism, while ignoring it's main reason, and that should and must be illegal.

Piracy and preservation are not the same thing.

 

[Zense]

A great effort and always good to have more people preserve this. I'd like to point out that not all games were preserved like this. Throughout the years titles have already been taken down from the eShop. This is why you'd want regular preservation.

 

[ZeroT21]

The digital future is all about selling you the same thing over and over again

 

[Ryab]

Whilst this is a great effort for preservation. I think other region's libraries are much more likely to have lost content. I know that a lot of the Japanese library has been missed.

 

[Noctosphere]

I don't agree. Piracy is selling someone else's work for profit (like those "full of games HDD's" being sold on so many e-commerce platforms), while preservation (backup keeping) is not.

hum... I don't think that is the only definition of piracy
For example, downloading a game for free is piracy (even if i dont sell it afterward)

 

[djpannda]

Love me Some Completionist, I was LAUGHING MY ASS OFF, when he was Surprised about the 300 titles limit.....
I was Screaming at the Screen " WELCOME TO GBATEMP 2015, MULTIPLE USERS OR ALT LAUNCHER!!!"
and then I remembered he was trying to do it legit.... and screamed "BUY MULTIPLE WII U's"

I spent a Month DL Every WII U title I could... I did the same for Vita and 3ds ... I wake up at night with Nightmares of HardDRive failures lol

 

[Kioku]

Sad.

Internet Archive, also a good and big library of the Internet for storing and preserving many things from the past including software, will be in a terrible destiny if we don't do something...
https://blog.archive.org/2023/03/17/heres-how-to-participate-in-mondays-oral-arguments/

What the actual fuck? It’s amazing how they can sue on the grounds of “assumed” damages that are hypothetical at best and can’t be guaranteed. Fuck them.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

Whilst this is a great effort for preservation. I think other region's libraries are much more likely to have lost content. I know that a lot of the Japanese library has been missed.

There are online archives with full sets already, including European and Japanese dumps. There are people with those sets downloaded, so nothing will be lost with that closure.

For the Switch there are missing dumps, things that were too limited, too obscure and for whatever reason never made to the eshop, or were removed very quick from there. I guess there are some of those for WiiU and 3DS too, but nothing that is available today on those shops is not preserved and available in some way.

 

[Marc_LFD]

What a pointless thing to do and just for views.

Digital purchases are rentals.

 

[AlexMCS]

There was no need to panic and buy everything.

It's an internet media guy. They waste $ for views and get that same $ back and then some because most people today are sheeple.

As for the "preservation" argument, it's called "piracy" and it should be embraced, not shunned.

Long live archive.org

P.S.: All unused IPs and individual works should expire in 20 years at most, becoming public domain. Copyright law is stupid as it is.

 

[Ryab]

What a pointless thing to do and just for views.

Digital purchases are rentals.

Depends if they go through the dumping process.

 

[SylverReZ]

It's an internet media guy. They waste $ for views and get that same $ back and then some because most people today are sheeple.

Just as to what Mr. Beast does with his life.

Post automatically merged: Mar 20, 2023

And this is why piracy is always morally OK

Exactly. Piracy is based, who cares they'll still get paid regardless.

 

[HarveyHouston]

THIS VIDEO IS GOLD.
It covers absolutely everything good and bad about Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U. Thank you GBAtemp for sharing this!

 

[ChibiMofo]

And this is why piracy is always morally OK

And this is how thieves justify piracy.

 

[The Catboy]

And this is how thieves justify piracy.

Piracy isn't theft. Nintendo literally made it so you can't support them. If you want to play any of these games, it's either you don't or you pirate them.

I don't agree. Piracy is selling someone else's work for profit (like those "full of games HDD's" being sold on so many e-commerce platforms), while preservation (backup keeping) is not.

We should have the right to keep a backup of our games so to be able to play them again whenever we would like to, even if their e-shops got closed ages ago. The morality of this all boils to the fact that so many people seek profit out of preservationism, while ignoring it's main reason, and that should and must be illegal.

Piracy and preservation are not the same thing.

I understand the difference but I still consider this to be a valid enough reason to consider piracy to be ok. Nintendo won't be providing an avenue to legally get these games. Preservation is great but doesn't mean much for anyone if they still can't play the games being preserved. Piracy gives the player the ability to enjoy the games being preserved as no legal option will be available. Simply put, piracy is always ok.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Depends if they go through the dumping process.

There is that, but as it is, it's just a long-term rental service.

 

[Ettino]

LMAO, spent 20k on Wii U games. I have 1 tb hdd & a 512 ssd with a whole bunch of games I want to keep for free. Well, not really free I had to buy the console, sd cards, the external drives, Then I have to pay the hydro, Telus etc.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, 20k on wii u games lol. What a freaking lunatic.

 

[MariArch]

Is there not a way to increase the max amount of titles you can have on your 3ds at one time, then just download the entire compendium of games online and mass install via fbi?

 

[PacBunnyXV07]

Didn't cared for the video, tbh I don't find The Completionist that interesting.