Today is the day. Nintendo is shutting down the 3DS and Wii U eShop meaning that thousands of digital games will no longer exist in the world. After today, both stores will remain accessible for existing customers to download any previously-purchased game or DLC. However, you will no longer be able to purchase anything new or browse the store for any content.
The shutdown comes with great sadness in the gaming industry. Not only does it questions the rights gamers have to digital ownership but it will also sunset some great 3DS and Wii U exclusives which will likely never see the light of day again. Nintendo has done a somewhat decent job porting games to the Switch but many titles aren’t available on the system.
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Games such as The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker HD and the Twilight Princess aren’t available on modern hardware. You also can’t play Xenoblade Chronicles X, Yoshi’s Wooly World and Wii U Party.
On the 3DS, all the Pokemon games released for the system are going away. There are also loads of 3DS classics which will cease to exist. These include Ever Oasis, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Luigi’s Mansion and more.
Nintendo originally stated that the company would work on preserving the classic libraries. This would be porting them to the Nintendo Switch Online membership and remastering them. However, the statement was short-lived after the company removed the point from the official FAQ. It used to read:
“Across our Nintendo Switch Online membership plans, over 130 classic games are currently available in growing libraries for various legacy systems. The games are often enhanced with new features such as online play. We think this is an effective way to make classic content easily available to a broad range of players. Within these libraries, new and long-time players can not only find games they remember or have heard about, but other fun games they might not have thought to seek out otherwise. We currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways.”
If you are a fan of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, you’ll need to find other means to play classic games going forward. This likely means finding physical copies of the games.
