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

 

[CoolMe]

I see that the 3ds online servers are still online. It's supposed to shut down in a few minutes.

 

[J-Will]

I'm pretty sure its a server error

Post automatically merged: Apr 9, 2024

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

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14458/~/error-code:-001-0112

Post automatically merged: Apr 9, 2024

I can't even access rverse now.

 

[Deleted member 466238]

Pretendo is not working for me, error 001-0112 (I tried MK7)

 

[HarveyHouston]

Sooo... Steel Divers Sub Wars support?

 

[AkikoKumagara]

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

Seems like Pretendo servers are just struggling from the influx, I can't even get Friends List to connect more often than not at the moment.

 

[J-Will]

Seems like Pretendo servers are just struggling from the influx, I can't even get Friends List to connect more often than not at the moment.

Yep, Pretendo is going through some shit right now

 

[whitesword7]

Well, I'm going based on what some of my friends and what I've seen online. I've heard someone got banned for accidentally saying "dude" to a transfem without knowing that they're trans, and another one had to pay money for them to get themselves unbanned. I also saw that today that they gotten banned, but I don't know the cause for that one.

sounds like a toxic community under the guise of “tolerance”

 

[SylverReZ]

sounds like an toxic community under the guise of “tolerance”

Pretty much every Nintendo community is like that.

 

[NinStar]

sounds like an toxic community under the guise of “tolerance”

I saw that situation in the r/WiiU server, apparently he got banned by the same moderator that once banned me based off a false report of piracy by another user. The incompetence of that moderator is well known at this point.

 

[ertaboy356b]

Well, I'm going based on what some of my friends and what I've seen online. I've heard someone got banned for accidentally saying "dude" to a transfem without knowing that they're trans, and another one had to pay money for them to get themselves unbanned. I also saw that today that they gotten banned, but I don't know the cause for that one.

That's like f***boards level of virtue signaling.

 

[SylverReZ]

I saw that situation in the r/WiiU server, apparently he got banned by the same moderator that once banned me based off a false report of piracy by another user. The incompetence of that moderator is well known at this point.

Sounds like that mod in particular is a well known POS. I'm never gonna use Pretendo if they're banning/suspending people for no reason.

 

[Mike_77712]

lmao the regards are already banning people? hard pass

 

[HellGhast]

Somehow I see Nintendont looking for a way to unleash its attack dog lawyers on this, I wouldn't be surprised if they issue injunction and takedown notices.

 

[Moon164]

It gave me a very strange feeling, I would come back from school, run home, turn on the Wii U and spend hours playing Online, I made friends who I still keep in touch with to this day.

Splatoon in particular was the online console game I played the most in my life, even with Pretendo and Splatoon 3, it's sad to see it officially closed, but it was great to stay until the end.

I'm very happy that I managed to record my last moments with my friends:



I tried using Pretendo, I managed to create my account but I didn't have much success on the 3DS or Wii U. (On the 3DS at least I was able to access Miiverse and the Mario Kart 7 lobby but it gives an error whenever I try to start a game)

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Why is "that" community so fragile?

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

I hear a lot of mumbling about Pretendo and how things are handled. I'm not sure what to believe considering the internet is not as dependable for honesty sake, however, if everything I've read or heard about Pretendo is absolutely true, I'm rather disappointed to the extreme with them.

If you plan to be a revival service, or THE revival service, you shouldn't be shoehorning your beliefs, ideologies, etc. into the mix to the extreme and running your services like so. It's one thing to have objective viewpoints with maybe some personal morals, and running with logical reasoning, but to go off the spectrum and get way too hard pressed based on political stances and such, now that's just straight up petty and stupid. We all have agreements, disagreements, things we stand by, things we refuse to stand by, etc. that's just how opinions work, whether one likes it or not, you can't expect freedom for yours yet take that away from others, and take it to the extent of restricting services just because you don't like them, how they talk, etc.. A service like this should only prioritize what is important for the basic functions of said services, server uptime management, maintaining balance in the online environment so cheaters don't start running rampant fucking things up for everyone else, and overall giving extended longevity to beloved platforms that we enjoy and love. Fuck the politics and the unnecessary details in between on who is what, none of that matters in the grand scheme of things, it's a service for online capabilities for dedicated platforms.

Damn why can't some people just get over themselves already and just stop this petty bullshit with all this nonsense. You are literally inserting absurdities into aspects or services that have no business having anything related to such things to begin with. Stop being an incurable form of cancer, and start handling stuff the right way. If one can't even do the basic right things, then one has much bigger fish to fry, and should probably stay away from anything with meaning, because all one will simply do is contaminate and ruin an aspect of enjoyment and history in general with rather primitive logic.

When you think about it, this is supposed to be about preservation, and if anything, this comes off more like mass destruction, and a major downfall with the scene itself, because we can't seem to get our minds and our hearts in the right freaking places, too butt hurt and worried about what someone says on the damn internet. Every time I think about it, I swear the internet is a resourceful curse, debatable on whether or not it was a mistake invention, one of man's potentially best inventions, yet so poorly utilized, I'm not sure we will ever see its real potential for the good things in life. It's heartbreaking honestly, knowing what could be, but taking on the reality that it won't ever reach such conclusions with the way things are currently handled, this project being no different to that.

Again, if it's all really true, then this service isn't worth any more of my acknowledgement nor time in general. I'll just wait for a better service to exist, who knows, maybe if I build enough knowledge, maybe I could make a service of my own and do it justice for the right causes and reasons, I can at least say without tooting my own horn, I have the mentality for doing things the right way, so I already have half the venture made.

 

[Sir Tortoise]

Damn why can't some people just get over themselves already and just stop this petty bullshit with all this nonsense.

Indeed.

 

[duwen]

I can't even access rverse now.

That happened to me too. I think Pretendo's patches fuck with it. I just reapplied Rverse and it worked it fine.

 

[NinStar]

If you plan to be a revival service, or THE revival service, you shouldn't be shoehorning your beliefs, ideologies, etc. into the mix to the extreme and running your services like so. It's one thing to have objective viewpoints with maybe some personal morals, and running with logical reasoning, but to go off the spectrum and get way too hard pressed based on political stances and such, now that's just straight up petty and stupid.

To be fair with them, most of the staff members seems to be reasonable in that aspect (at least those who I interacted with from my experience), just that one moderator seems to fit into everything you described.

 

[isoboy]

Pre-teen-do. Now, who will offer something better?