Today, April 8th, 2024, at 4PM PT, marks the day in which Nintendo permanently ends support for both the 3DS and the Wii U online services, which include co-op play, internet rankings and data distribution, according to Nintendo's own news post.

This means that games that heavily rely on online services, like the original Super Mario Maker for Wii U (and 3DS), Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon's online multiplayer, and several other games will effectively stop working, more so for Super Mario Maker since that game is entirely relying on online user-created levels for the gaming experience.

However, all is not lost, as the fan and homebrew community is here to save the day (as is always the case), even in the most dire of events like the closure of all online service for said consoles, with the great community network known as Pretendo.

Pretendo is basically an entirely open source project that aims to replace Nintendo's network for both the 3DS and the Wii U, and even their respective emulators like Citra (or its forks given its recent demise) and Cemu, which will allow all users to interconnect with each other even after the demise of Nintendo's own servers later today, and while their compatibility isn't entirely 100%, they developers behind the Pretendo network are still hard at work developing the service so that more and more games get proper compatibility.

Those interested in trying out the Pretendo network can follow their own installation instructions found at their site, which includes installation guides for both Citra (or its forks) and Cemu, and in the case of the original hardware, the user will require a hacked console, be it a hacked 3DS and/or a hacked Wii U, depending on which console the user has. Just be aware that your current Nintendo ID (and everything that it entices, like friends list and other things) will not be carried over to the Pretendo servers, as Nintendo's servers hold that data, and repurposing the original ID for Pretendo could pose a severe privacy violation, so a new ID will need to be created for usage with Pretendo's servers.

A recommendation for a more detailed look into the Pretendo network is a recently released video by renowned game developer and homebrew enthusiast, Modern Vintage Gamer (MVG), gives takes a deeper dive into it, as well as its current status, usage, game tests and installation of the fanmade network into your own consoles.

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Source
Pretendo Network

 

[Thistles]

... So away from the topic of drama for a second and onto the topic of pretendo's services how exactly does pretendo handle mostly peer to peer connections? as a noob I couldn't exactly tell by looking at the progress section.
So for example if I were to try to trade with somebody on my friends list(which is currently empty for pretendo) in yo-kai watch 3 would I be able to because it is mostly a peer to peer system or would I be out of luck because yo-kai watch 3 isn't listed as one of the games pretendo is currently working on?

In case anybody else cares I tested this and the answer is no

 

[ZenIsFluffy]

Excited to have some fun with it! Love how projects like this give game consoles a new chapter after Nintendo closes theirs.

 

[raxadian]

The PSVita online functionalities have outlived both Wii U and 3DS online functionalities.
What a timeline to be in, huh?

What, you can still buy digital Vita games, for real?

 

[DJPlace]

He literally was not banned for that. I don't know why people are running with this, but it's just straight up not the reason. He wasn't even manually banned by a moderator. He was auto banned for having too many past violations.

The moderation bot on the Pretendo Discord server can issue warnings, kicks, and bans. If someone is warned 3 times, they are kicked (but are able to rejoin). If someone is kicked 3 times, or receives a 4th warning, they get a ban.

Each time one of these actions happens, the user is alerted of the matter with the reason why. That way there's a clear paper trail of communication regarding why something happened. When being kicked due to warnings, you're even directly told that a 4th warning results in a ban. So he was fully aware of what was happening and why, and just continued to act out.

The user in question was warned 3 times, got kicked due to it, rejoined, and then received their 4th warning which issued the ban.

As for WHY he got warnings, it was due to him being a toxic and disruptive member of the community multiple times, and breaking the server rules regarding piracy.

I've also seen people here claim it's "just one mod" doing this, but he was warned by 3 separate mods at various different times (and the mod who did the final warning wasn't even "that mod"!)

He was also banned from the rverse Discord server for similar reasons. Screenshots from the rverse Discord server, as the messages from our server are long deleted:

View attachment 430891View attachment 430892View attachment 430893

Post automatically merged: Apr 9, 2024

The fact that the person in question who started these stupid rumors wasn't even banned by this "one mod" just makes this whole thing ironic, to be honest. Multiple mods had to deal with him

i must of mis-read about the warining my bad. so this guy's an asshole troll huh? should of knew better.

 

[btjunior]

Tried this on my 3ds and every time I try multiplayer in Mario Kart 7 I get a 001-0112 error code and in Mario Maker if I go online it just black screens. What on earth am I doing wrong lol

Pretendo isn't up yet I don't think.

 

[AmandaRose]

Pretendo isn't up yet I don't think.

It is I have now been able to play both Mario Kart 7 and Mario Maker online with no issues.

 

[chrisrlink]

ok gotta ask Pokemon support?

 

[MPS64]

Man, I really wish I didn't have to make this post

I'm genuinely curious as why I was completely banned from the server? I was never given a reason why, and when I tried to contact staff, their dms were closed. I would really appreciate it if anyone let me know if I did something wrong cause I never did anything rulebreaking to my knowledge. Was it a rouge moderator on a power trip? I have no idea. But I would appreciate it if I was unbanned from the server. I've been supporting the project for nearly 3 years now and it's a shame that my long term support means nothing to the staff team.

 

[ertaboy356b]

The PSVita online functionalities have outlived both Wii U and 3DS online functionalities.
What a timeline to be in, huh?

I kinda understand that servers do close especially if there are no monetary incentive to keep it open. We can't really expect to keep it open forever, especially for Nintendo and their shitty servers. They are probably made as inefficiently and costly as possible and keeping them open just eats more resources in the long run. Hopefully the paid server will remain open as long as paying customers exists.

 

[Ondrashek06]

So is it open to all now? I recall there either being a waitlist, or a subscription/registration fee initially...granted that was a while ago.

Also...could Pretendo 'theoretically' use an existing NNID? Is there a technical limitation or is it just 'a privacy violation'?

Pretendo does not have access to Nintendo's databases...

 

[dtlux1]

God, so many people in this thread doom posting about Pretendo Network. It's an amazing service, and if you think it's fishy just don't use it. It's not that hard. Fork it if you want too, but it took them many many years to get to this point and it's not even that far into development yet. Also good luck getting people to populate those servers instead. "Completely uncensored" internet sounds like the worst place I could imagine, and is usually just an excuse for people who want to say terrible things to be allowed to say them.

 

[DJPlace]

What, you can still buy digital Vita games, for real?

yep the PS3 and Vita store were not taking down in 2021 cause people got on sony so bad for it. but yet when nintendo does it's one of these people don't care or people don't want to riot about it.

 

[46neko]

What, you can still buy digital Vita games, for real?

Yep. And play online. I play Ragnarok Odyssey Ace from time to time. BO Declassified also works, but that game sucks. I think the only game that was shut down was Killzone: Mercenary, but that wasn't only on Vita, as the PS4 game died as well.
Heck, I still use Wake-up Club and it has people on it!

I kinda understand that servers do close especially if there are no monetary incentive to keep it open. We can't really expect to keep it open forever, especially for Nintendo and their shitty servers. They are probably made as inefficiently and costly as possible and keeping them open just eats more resources in the long run. Hopefully the paid server will remain open as long as paying customers exists.

I mean, yeah, I get it, but PS3 and PSVita servers are also free and they're still up. Well, I'll miss Splatoon until Pretendo implements matchmaking. Plus, Splatoon is peer-to-peer-based (IDK about MK8 but I'd bet it is too), the only costs were with matchmaking servers I guess? Like, c'mon.

 

[MPS64]

God, so many people in this thread doom posting about Pretendo Network. It's an amazing service, and if you think it's fishy just don't use it. It's not that hard. Fork it if you want too, but it took them many many years to get to this point and it's not even that far into development yet. Also good luck getting people to populate those servers instead. "Completely uncensored" internet sounds like the worst place I could imagine, and is usually just an excuse for people who want to say terrible things to be allowed to say them.

It's definitely a great service. I just wish the moderation in their discord was better. From my personal experience with them, they aren't very professional. I know that yesterday was so crazy especially in the general chat, and they did not de-escalate the situation well at all. I think that they got so fed up that they started banning people in the chat, and I was unfortunately one of them. I wasn't given any warnings, and to my recollection, I never did anything wrong up to that point. I was just helping people in the support threads and having fun with everyone else. Out of everyone in that chatroom, why was I given zero mercy when people who were posting a lot worse material got off with mutes and warns? At this point, I'm begging for closure. And I personally do not know what I can do at this point.

At least I'm not actually banned from the service, but I enjoyed the server vcs sometimes, and I'm definitely going to miss all of the wonderful people that I did enjoy talking to there.

 

[raxadian]

Killzone: Mercenary

The thing that Killzone: Mercenary had is that it was the best first person shooter on the Vita, on the PS4 it was just another first person shooter. At least is not like Tearaway that only really worked well on the Vita because it was a console showcase.

 

[0DanDan0]

Might get a wii u soon already have an n3dsxl

 

[PotatoStatic]

The fact that the person in question who started these stupid rumors wasn't even banned by this "one mod" just makes this whole thing ironic, to be honest. Multiple mods had to deal with him

The fact is that we don't care that one specific person was banned. Multiple people in this thread collaborated with their own experiences about how bad one of your mods is. Nice job ignoring that. Now sweep it up janny.

 

[RedDucks]

The fact is that we don't care that one specific person was banned. Multiple people in this thread collaborated with their own experiences about how bad one of your mods is. Nice job ignoring that. Now sweep it up janny.

I’m not ignoring anything. There’s almost 40,000 people in our Discord server and what? A handful of people are complaining about being banned? And I’ve proven with screenshots that people do lie about the reasons and blow it out of proportion? Yeah, I’m not exactly inclined to believe that everyone is being entirely honest or fair about what happened.

And while mistakes do happen, because everyone is human, when people DO claim to be falsely banned it’s ALWAYS looked into when brought to our attention and if it WAS found to be false, it’s reverted. Also we DO handle staff misusing their power and we DO remove people as we see fit.

Again, have some receipts showing us looking into false ban claims (including one of the people on this very thread), unbanning users, and discussing how to handle reports about a mod we’ve gotten (censored for privacy reasons):

 

[NinStar]

when people DO claim to be falsely banned it’s ALWAYS looked into when brought to our attention and if it WAS found to be false, it’s reverted. Also we DO handle staff misusing their power and we DO remove people as we see fit.

Not sure about that part.

 

[RedDucks]

Not sure about that part.

You can doubt it if you want. But I did send screenshots of it actively happening. So at this point, people can believe what they want. I’ve corrected people enough and sent more than enough receipts, more than really should have been necessary. If people want to still believe otherwise, that’s on them as far as I’m concerned. At that point there’s no changing their mind