Nintendo Is Closing The 3DS & Wii U eShops And Has "No Plans To Offer Classic Content In Other Ways"

It was a good run indeed.

Bummer, I guess I need to make a few more purchases sooner rather than later.

Time to pick up all the rest of the eShop exclusives on my list. We saw signs that this would be happening sometime soon so it's not completely out of the blue, but still sad. Hopefully a lot of eShop exclusives get ported over to newer consoles eventually.

How will I farm plat coins now?

Nnooooooooooo! 😭 Such sad news. 💔

The hackers will be happy to hear this.

These consoles had a good one, now it’s time to say goodbye. ):

I knew this day would come, but I'm still not ready for it.
It sucks, because this is an end for legal purchasing of retro Nintendo games. There is no "Virtual Console" substitute for the Switch, and probably won't be available on the next system either. 😔

Physical game prices are about to get even more ridiculous.

Well, at least they gave us a year’s heads up. Better start saving up for my final purchases.

End of an era. I'll have to download a few more games off the 3DS and Wii U eShops like Kirby's Dreamland 3, Kirby 64, Affordable Space Adventures, and Sakura Samurai before the shops close.

Time to pick up Dragon Quest 7 & 8. I misread it as March of this year. So glad I was wrong. Phew!

Welp, time to finally invest in that 3DS Louvre Tour app I've been holding off on buying.

Now comes the people saying how digital downloads suck and we shouldn't trust them, physical media is safer.

But in reality, Nintendo is the one to blame for offering us such a terrible service, with no option to download our games on Switch.

I still buy games on Steam because the service is way more trustworthy, and there's not going to be a PC 2 that will require the store for PC 1 to be closed, but I refuse to buy more Nintendo games on digital downloads unless from now on, Nintendo makes a centralized service where all purchases will be available on future Switch models.

Damn... this one.. really hurts. i was never there for the wii shop or the dsi shop but i grew up with these.... this hurts...

It is all on a certain internet archive anyways, no worries because this is the perfect time to hack your 3DS and free it from its bonds!

Maybe My Nintendo will start offering discounts on Switch games now, it would be about time

I still have so many memories of just scrolling threw both of these shops for hours with my friends or family and just looking at what was on offer, this is something that really hits close.

Nintendolife could we get a list of the eshop exclusives just so we don’t miss anything

Digital bros, physical people keep laughing at us. Th-they can't stop winning.

the end of an era

Only Nintendo would pull something like this and get away with it.

I regret selling all my 3DS games now. I feel like an imbecile right now.

At least it is a year's notice.

Time to hog wild on the virtual console 😂

It’s the end of an Era. Guess it’s time for me to download the last of my wishlists.

Here's hoping we get some really amazing sales between now and then...

The 3Ds will go down as one of the greatest consoles of all time with a library to go with it.

I recommend everyone with a 3Ds to futureproof it by homebrewing it so you still have access to its games after the eshop closes.

Could some folk @ me with what they consider must buys from the 3ds eShop, especially ones from gameboy and gameboy color virtual console. Looking to fill out the library

@Xenobound94 Its a year head start but unless you put money in your account in a couple of months you wont be able to buy anything

Can you still add funds with a gift card after may? Well, I need the Kirby games, dream team and a bigger micro ds card so I can download them all.

You know nintendolife, it would be easy money for you if you put out a list of greatest hits or all exclusives.

"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."
So it's a year from now to purchase, but only 3 months to actually add funds with a credit card? Just trying to clarify.

Any Wii U owners should check out Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Mario Advance 4 if they haven't already because it includes all e-Reader levels.

@ActionNineNews Physical media is dying, because in many cases, your physical media is just a fancy digital purchase.

Since many games require downloads to get DLC, updates and patches, you can't have the good version of the game without internet, if the servers close, you will have the bad or incomplete version of the game, especially thanks to so many games that come broken and unplayable at launch and are fixed later with patches, and even worse, many games require a download to be playable even if you buy physical.

Unfortunately my 3DS doesn't like my new modem, so I cannot make any downloads unless I go to my sister's house, which has far more stable internet than I've ever had.

My Wii U is totally fine, though. Time to get the remaining Smash 4 DLC, the Virtual Console games I'm missing and maybe Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. Just last week I bought Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, Metroid: Zero Mission and Drill Dozer.

Looks like my roadmap of planned purchases for 2022 has taken a bit of a bump.

While we're in the topic of Wii U downloads, which hard drive would you recommend to do my backups? I haven't gotten one all these years and I think it's time to get one.

@shinesprites It's Nintendo we are talking about, it's different.

Not only fans are much more submissive, but even if the complaints were double the size, it probably wouldn't work.

I need to get that NSMB2 DLC

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And this is why an all digital future would be disastrous

@UltimateOtaku91 We need security, laws that allow us to keep our games even if the service closes, and companies need to work to make sure their stores will remain online.

All that Nintendo had to do, is make sure 3DS and Wii U games could run on Switch, at least the digital copies.

@MsJubilee Vita has entered the chat.

Remember that at least for now, you can still download your games, and even when the stores shut down, you can still play the games you downloaded since they have no DRM, you just can't download them again.

Nintendo is still a terrible company for allowing this so soon.

Time to spend spend spend. Might need to compile a list of must haves for both systems. Theres definitly quite a few I'll need before the eshop goes down.

@Tyranexx thank you

Time to jump on those Wishlists. It's understandable but sad...I especially hold the 3DS very close. It carried me through some tough times.

knew this news was coming soon, doesn't make it any less sad

This sucks. There are a ton of exclusive experiences on these eshops that'll be lost forever (legally) when the eshops close. Ugh.

1: How will Pokémon Bank & Transporter work? Will it shut down?

2: Guarantee this is the reason we got EarthBound & Beginnings on NSO - they won't be able to sell it via 3DS XL & Wii U starting next year. We might see a lot more NES, SNES, & N64 games pop up for the service because of this.

3: NintenoLife, please make a list of all the digital-only games for 3DS & Wii U, so we can all see if there's anything we're missing out on.

😱😱😱
NOOOO.....!

The countdown is 1 year 1 month later.

I have to purchase Yokai Watch 3 USA eshop version quickly before March 2023.
I will download the updates for 3DS games if available from eshop in hurry.

I feel like this is way too soon for the 3DS side.

@shoeses Pokémon Bank will become unusable.

"The changes to Nintendo eShop on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems will simultaneously take effect in software on these platforms where it is possible to make purchases, such as StreetPass Mii Plaza, Theme Shop and Nintendo Badge Arcade."

Sooo, this makes things awkward.

While yes, a year is plenty of time to snatch the things you want, both systems can only 300 downloads at a time. You exceed that, then you have to delete something. Yes you can redownload stuff after the store closures for now, that might not always be the case, so the only real option is to buy USB Memory sticks on-top of a dedicated external Harddrive. You can have a 2TB drive but unless you're downloading retail games, you'll hit the 300 limit quicker.

And then of course DLC on top of games. On top of my head, there's the BOTW Pass and tons of Fire Emblem DLC.

And while it said you can still download game patches, you might wanna get those out the way just in-case. One exactly is the 1GB patch for Sonic Boom which fixed some glitches. Okay a bad game, but you really wanna be stuck with the unpatched game someday, i.e the worst version?

And Pokemon. Pokemon, Pokemon, Pokemon. If you never finished those Gen 6-7 Pokedex's, you might wanna send your Gen 5 and prior Pokemon over before its too late. Unless of course you don't care and use hacking to do that.

Hopefully a year's enough....but who know? We had this last year with the PS3 and Sony reversed that decision so we could see that happen here.

Regardless, it makes me nervous that the Switch's successor won't carry over the Switch eShop and they start over again.

It's ok to pirate them now 👍

It was gonna happen eventually. I bought everything I wanted for those systems when they were contemporary and I've long since moved on from playing them altogether, so this does not impact me. With all the games we have on current platforms, I wouldn't have time to play older titles even if I wanted to!

This feels way too soon for 3DS, a system Nintendo was releasing games for 3 years ago.

Any information about the date of eshop discontinuation for Japan and Europe version ?
USA = March 2023
Japan = ??? (2023)
Europe = ??? (2023)

Welp time to stock up my eshop cards and get to buying. Not much left I need for either but I want to make sure. Mostly I just need system exclusives.

@CharlieGirl Um. Pokémon Bank is going free after this but they never said it wouldn't work anymore so we're not losing anything.

@twyliiight [citation needed] on that free Pokemon Bank news

Wasn't a game recently announced for Wii U? I guess nobody will be able to buy it... It wasn't a clever decision to release a game on a long dead console.

@CharlieGirl https://pokejungle.net/2022/02/15/pokemon-bank-to-become-free-when-3ds-eshop-service-ends/

This is where Nintendo Life should write up an article on eshop games that one should definitely get before March 2023.

It feels a bit too soon to end purchases on the 3DS eShop - Nintendo still shipped over 500,000 3DS games last quarter, and no doubt a few tens of thousands of them were purchased digitally.

Man, this is at least a year earlier than my earliest predictions. Am I going to have to pull the credit cards out again?

I promised myself I wouldn't go ham like I did with the Wii Shop (though WiiWare made things VERY difficult). However, it's slightly worse now that I have both a Japanese 3DS and WiiU. At least I already bought the Japan exclusive SEGA 3D Classics vol. 3, Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water (physical!), and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom Cross Generation of Heroes so there goes like 95% of my retail wishlist. Here's hoping there's not too many Japan exclusive virtual console titles.

When it comes to the NA virtual console, we can't automatically expect all the SNES, N64, and Genesis games to hit NSO. Games like Pac-Man 2 probably won't survive. And TurboGrafx-16 and GBA games will be gone, period. It's time to start making that list of games you can't live without and link your Nintendo ID's to get some extra time to buy.

RIP to the greatest console ever

Struggling to use the site they made.

I put in the Nintendo Network ID and it didn't work, it doesn't help that autofill used the old Club Nintendo info. Now I'm realizing there's another account type I have to use.

@Anti-Matter
Japan has announced the same 'late March 2023' date.
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2022/0216.html

Except for already having removed credit card support, the dates seem the same in Japan and US, so it's probably worldwide...

So it's over for the WiiU and 3ds. So I better get to buying the rest of the Battle network games.

@bluesun
Gosh... 😨
Thanks for the information.

@twyliiight "for a certain period of time." -Pokemon Company

this is still bad news.

That memories website was cool.

My most played Wii U Games were Super Mario 3d World, Sonic Racing Transformed, and Rayman Legends.

1671hrs played with a total of 228 different games played on my Wii U. Love the Wii U!!

@tylerryan79 Rayman was criminally underrated….so was Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. I own Rayman on three systems. Vita, WiiU and Switch….tempted to get it on Xbox just for grins…

Goodbye my friend, and may the Force be with you.

Wow! My total WiiU playtime is 1,395 hours, with Xenoblade Chronicles X taking up 785 of those hours! (then Splatoon at 264 and BotW with 227). My 3DS usage is almost up there with the WiiU with 1,389 hours, and more evened out game time. I spent 127 hours on Project X Zone, and 105 hours on Shin Megami Tensei IV. Then Langrisser Re:Incarnation -TENSEI- leads the pack with 140 hours (don't judge, LOL)

Well, got it, that was a waste of time, it says my total play time is only 4 hours, I guess it doesn't do cart times 'cause Smash should've covered about 20 hours at least.

EDIT: it does do cart times, weird.

For the people who claim that physical media is way better, it's not perfect:

• It can be lost, broken or stolen.
• Even if you take care of it, it does not last forever, cartridges and discs will someday stop working.
• Recent discs and cartridges are not made to last, made with cheap plastic.
• Preserving the software is nothing without the hardware to run it, many classic consoles and computers are breaking down and can't be fixed.
• It takes space, not everyone can have shelves full of games.
• Nowadays, physical media is just a fancy digital purchase, you still need to make a download to play the good or complete version of the game, play online, or just play at all, many games require a download even if you buy physical.

Neither physical or digital media is good for videogame preservation, the only option is piracy.

@brandonbwii

Yes but adding money to your account with credit cards ends this may, aka in like 2 months. Also, same on the dragon quest!

That's a shame. I know it's inevitable, but this still seems rather quick in the grand scheme of things considering the PS3's shop is still working. Gotta boot up the Wii U for the first time in forever and buy some GBA/TG16 games.

Already did my panic buying from the last time.

Honestly, this is normal. You can't keep running a store with little to no customers. Luckily you will still be able to redownload purchases and updates. Also online play is not going away.

i put 6,000 hours on the 3DS...horrifying

Well it all seems a bit soon. OK a year is not bad notice, but in all honesty it's only giving us until August to add any funds via eshop cards. So unless you have credit after August you can not add any funds.
Really dont understand that.

I have a quite a few eshop games on WiiU , mainly indies, a few Virtual console and a smattering of retail releases which were expensive in physical editions.

There's a few I would like to get like a couple of indies and a couple of the DS and GBA games on on WiiU as i THINK THEY WORK GREAT ON THE SYSTEM.

Plus I need to grab the BOTW dlc on WiiU as well.

3DS I mainly want the Sega Ages titles I dont have , though I could try and locate a physical cart for those as they did release a bundle cart. But it is annoying as if they said it was going to be another two years or so that we could buy we could spread the cost more, it will mean not spending on other systems if I want to get the titles I want before I can no longer add funds.

Time to grab the 3DS Fire Emblem games I was holding out on- Echoes and Fates. I have everything else I really wanted, and can't think of anything I need for Wii U that I couldn't find a disc for (or Switch port of)

3DS has a superior N64, SNES and (3D) Mega Drive service compared to NSO. I suppose that instead if improving over their previous service, they decided to delete the old one.

So naturally they're going to make the plethora of Virtual Console titles that aren't available legally anywhere else on the Switch now right?

... right?

So say you bought a crap ton of digital download games on your Wii U, and for whatever reason need to redownload them next year. Now you're just out the money?

@RPGreg2600 They say you can redownload stuff for the foreseeable future. It's just that you won't be able to buy anything after March 2023

"Even after late March 2023, and for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems."

Quite a few purchases I need to make.
This is the last chance to get a lot of DLC and retro games.

@NintendoEternity

Well, that came out of nowhere...good thing both systems are stupidly easy to hack, but like...come on, Nintendo. Surely this will lose them money...right?

Time for a list of essential games to download before the service disappears, including original wii u ware and virtual console games

I miss the Wii U eShop music. Sounded like an old Macca song!

I won't hack them. Nope , not me. Why would I hack devices I paid for that won't be able to legally access the games I paid for. Nope. Not hacking... Never..

Atlus please port the amazing games u have on the 3DS and Monolith please bring xenoblade X to switch.
If you haven’t played soul hackers or SMTIV/IVa don’t pass it up

Way too soon in my opinion. Way too soon

NOOOOOOOOOOOO WHYYYYYYYYYY😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I go months without turning on my Wii U now, but spent so much time and $$ on its eshop before I Switched over.
Time to stop procrastinating and get some of those GBA Metroid games I never played, and just bask in the eshop music for awhile before closing time… 🥺💔

Oh well, this is very, very sad...
Still there are games that i want get, but my economy is low..., This really I don't expect very soon...

@victordamazio Server don't stay forever though, it's likely some of these could get archive somewhere.

@victordamazio The thing is, most of these games wouldn't even work on Switch, hence why they don't let you download them on switch. The 3DS titles depend on having two screens, and same with the Wii U ones.

So sad... ;/ I spent about 10 years playing my DS/DSi and 3DS, and before that, about 10 years playing the GB/GBA/GBM systems. It's sad to see the support end for the 3DS. I suppose support still exists for the 2DS?

At least they're not shutting down the online multiplayer for the WiiU/3DS games.

A true end of an era. Not just for 3DS and Wii U, but also the Virtual Console. A lot of games are going to disappear following this, it's a real shame. Why can't Nintendo offer both NSO AND Virtual Console on Switch to let people choose what model they want? This is such a bummer.

Press F and all, but credit for setting the deadline far enough for Sony to be advised on taking notes. Although since Vita will end up the only Gen 8 portable with working digital purchases afterwards, Sony better not take the WRONG notes - they already came dangerously close last year.

While the heads-up comes with the memetic Nintendo fine print of axing the fund sources waaay earlier, shared Switch wallet does save the day here. Granted, given the sheer size of my 3DS wishlist and the much rarer discounts on its contents, it's doubtful that I will pick up everything fancied even by next April, so I guess next summer (or this one if a plausible local offer floats up) I will be in the market for an extra unit just like I was for my extra Vita last July - and from what I've seen, all the used ones here in Minsk have come Luma'd for years now. On the other hand, might want to look up if there are some entries benefitting from cross-franchise save bonuses with the ones I already have - they should preferably go to the main unit and thus could make priority purchases.

A tangential downside? Doomsayers will come out the woodwork with their server shutdown paranoia again (even here in the comments we already have the usual rhetoric about someday "losing the digital 3DS games forrreverrrr" because the console's romset clearly hasn't inhabited torrents for ages).🙄😏 A tangential upside? Come April 2023 and shared wallet demise, I will have no remnant concerns and might actually consider fully changing my main Switch account to the US. The amount of releases skipping Russian eShop is growing uncomfortably PlayStationesque as of late, and while the lack of region locks makes it more of a FWP, I do prefer keeping these eggs in one basket. On the other hand, I already have a bunch purchased on an extra account anyway... so time will tell.

The biggest blow will be to the Game Boy family systems because the 3DS and Wii U are the only place to purchase Game Boy games outside of their original hardware.

I wish I could be optimistic and say Nintendo is going to bring the Game Boy family system to the Switch, but this is Nintendo.

They make amazing games, but otherwise, I don't expect much.

Basically….
Last chance to get your Smash 4 DLC?
(frl tho, im sad, f in the chat)

@octokid is there Smash 4 DLC exclusive to, well, Smash 4? I thought it was largely extra fighters and stages, all of them seemingly migrating to base SMBU since.

Man, why does this news feel so sad?

Now people wonder why I spend so much on physical versions of Switch games I want. If there's a physical version of a Switch game I really want then I'll pay whatever it costs to get it.

@Tasuki
I read somewhere that if you call Nintendo and explain the situation they may be able to move your purchase ID to a replacement console and allow you to redownload the games at no additional cost.

@Yosher
That’s exactly wondering as well. I would have paid an upgrade fee to redownload a lot of my virtual console purchases plus new VC games. Oh well Nintendo, your loss.

Better get to it with buying 3ds games then. I got one very late in its life cycle so I ended up missing a bunch of games. Definitely need to buy the two Luigi's mansions, not sure what else yet, wish metroid fusion was available, bit of a blind spot for me

@CharlieGirl You’ve captured my feelings exactly. Knew it was inevitable, but still stings. Really stings.

I guess the homebrew scene is about to get a lot busier. I was planning to do mine eventually, now I suppose I’ve got a push to do it. And you’re right, we’re about to see the end boss of physical cartridge prices.

Right kiddos buckle up since it's boomer time. Long story short? It sucks though at the very least we'll still have access to our libraries for foreseeable future. They're shutting down the storefront, but what you already got will stay with you for longer. 10 years huh? That's how long you could buy some of those games and you know? Even in worst case scenarios those games were available longer than many physical releases from before digital storefronts became a thing. Sure you can keep physical copies for longer assuming you do take care of them but actually getting them? 2-3 year window from release maybe longer if original print was higher. After that unless the distributor would do re-releases you're out getting second hand copies for increasingly higher price or just go for the grey zone.

There goes support for 2 of my favorite consoles. Get hacking 😁

@SlimPieEats I’m right there with you. I will never back up my games to ensure I get to keep them.

It was a glorious run while it lasted. I'll never give up on my old systems.

For **** sake. I was talking about this hypothetically happening maybe an hour before this got announced...

****.

@Aurumonado Yup, I've been thinking about that too. I'm surprised they didn't include an "everything" pack so it would be simpler to purchase. Presumably the DLC wasn't a hot seller if we're just now getting around to it.

@Jaquan Indeed try getting a third party or even an older 3DS game new physical these days. It's nearly impossible.

Luckily the eShop still exists until next year.

Sony fans: Fight it and get the company to change their decision, keeping both the PS3 and Vita stores up, the Vita of particular note because it released around the same time as the 3DS and was infinitely less popular.

Nintendo fans: It was a good run I guess.

I play the badge arcade everyday, and still download the odd picross game, this is very sad news

Nintendo really are the worst at supporting their digital storefronts. Probably won’t be long before you can’t re-download your purchases either. This digital present stinks.

@ATaco Because we know it will do absolutely nothing at all and Nintendo won’t reverse this decision now they’ve made up their minds.

@NintendoEternity
"Anyone who thinks the wiiu and 3ds were "great" really has poor taste in Hardware."

I played a lot of 3DS games, as well Wii U games and I like the games library from 3DS with wide variety of casual games. Still like 3D slider despite I only used for several seconds to avoid dizziness.

damn. still got like 49 cents left

Don't support digital content unless it's on Steam or Xbox, they atleast care about their playerbase.

Meanwhile the Xbox 360 store is sitting there strong. My 2008 HD copy of Banjo Kazooie (that I got free with Nuts and Bolts) is there ready for me to download on 360, Xbox One or my Series X - all with the same save file. Or for those that don’t want to buy it it’s on Gamepass and I believe on Xcloud (it’s also included in Rare Replay; quite often for £5. Choice is good). It’s not hard - Nintendo just refuses to offer this to it’s customers.

This really sucks due to lack of Virtual Console on Switch. If it was all there; I wouldn’t care so much.

@NintendoEternity You’re trying to make an inane distinction by saying ‘hardware, not gaming’. When people talk about the consoles they’re talking about their respective libraries by extension.

@victordamazio
1. I have quite a lot of physical games, more than 350 games by total. I like to collect physical things.

2. I can always provide bigger space to hold all my physical games and the empty boxes.

3. Not every physical games I bought just for fancy purpose. I have some retro games that still working like new even they are already 20+ years old.

4. Physical things will always dying someday, we will never knew. The thing is, prepare your mind to accept the situation when your physical things dying and let them go.
Nothing is eternal and we will not bring our games to another world.

I've been waiting for this to happen and have been questioning whether or not my 3DS collection is already complete. I only got mine in summer 2019 but I've pretty much been able to get every game I want. I think the only remaining games which I'm curious about are the Luigi's Mansions, Majora's Mask and SMT IV Apocalypse. Seems I will have to jump on these relatively soon, especially if I want physical copies of the first two (SMT is way too expensive!).

For Wii U I think it's just the GBA Fire Emblem games and Wind Waker that I need to get.

Imagine if there was a sale of at least the Nintendo games, of more than 50%, that allowed gamers to buy up all the games they wanted. So that the systems could go out with a bang and Nintendo could bring joy to gamers without the "*at a cost" in the disclaimer.

Edit: Hold on. What about this?

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/02/the-wii-u-is-getting-a-new-eshop-game-in-2022-will-include-balance-board-support

It's a shame.
It would be good if we could get a discount 50% of existing game prices so we could buy a few games we never got round to buying when the Switch arrived.

Very sad and this is why for Nintendo platforms I buy physical where possible. Xbox is the only one of the 3 I can actually trust regarding digital libraries being kept intact.

3DS came in March 2011 and Wii U came in November 2012, this would be like Sony and Microsoft shutting down the PS4 and XB1 stores respectively.

This also makes me worry about the PS3 and Vita stores again. Sony did hold off shutting them down last year but if it's considered ok for Nintendo to shut the stores down for even newer systems then Sony may try to shut them down again.

Don't forget to buy Attack of the Friday Monsters!

What are the best 3D EXCLUSIVE eshop games? (I got all the SEGA 3D Classics)

What happens to Badge Arcade... Can we still access our collection to toggle and view...
Nintendo should address this some of us payed money into it. They need to plan it to be offline accessable.

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Thought this day would come, shame as I still play both and still buy games on boths (prefer physical but a few are digital only). Better make sure I use my remaining credit before the closure

@NintendoEternity

The issue with those NSO classic games is that unlike the virtual console, you very likely wont be able to even play them when the service is closed.

thats a big reason many people preferred VC over NSO

Am anyone answer a couple of my questions?

After May, will I still be able to buy eShop games on 3DS using the “funds only” option? Or on the Nintendo UK site? Just trying to line up my purchases whilst I can!

Also, can you still even buy eShop cards?(£)

I guess this was nound to happen.. nrecently bought a wiiU game, the gameboy advance mario 3 because of the exclusive levels.. ecause i had bought the nintendo life story credit instead of just paypal. (Creditcards were blocked). 3ds remains one of the nicest and friendliest systems ever made, but the features which made it so special ( miiverse, spotpass) were already cancelled… still, will remain playing it until it breaks down)…. An exclusive eshop download titles you must still try would br nice nintendolofe…

Surely this means they then will be available with switch online, as you don’t ever “purchase” games through that service.

my usb-stick for the WiiU just died and now I can still download my games onto the new stick. I'm a bit afraid of whats gonna happen when that stick dies.

@EightyTwoStu
I don’t know about the first question but right now you can buy eshop cards at many stores like Currys, Smyths, Argos etc.. I believe the eshop cards work both for Switch and for 3DS, I hope this helped!

@EightyTwoStu the May seems to be for credit cards , which are already gone from Europe as an option on 3ds and Wii U already few years ago.
Eshop cards are still arround both physically and digitally they work for switch too.
I believe you can top up on nintendo website but I just top up on my linked switch.

It was to be expected. Now its probably time to get Pikmin 1 and 2 (I have 3 on Switch) and maybe that Mario vs dk game. Purchases I kept delaying. In case of Mario vs dk: I waited for a discount that never came.

I just realized that it may be possible to ad funds through your Switch, if accounts are connected. But yeah, when the e-shop's dead you can't use anything with those funds.

Quick question for anyone:

Is the DLC for the 3DS Fire Emblems worth buying?

They’re all in my backlog, but I believe you’ve gotta clear part of the story in each to unlock the relevant shop, which is a bit annoying…

@Grumblevolcano

Agreed, but there the people took action by protesting (the people in the west anyway, I don't know about the Japanese). But the Nintendo crowd...nobody will take a stand sadly, so Nintendo won't care.

Time for me to celebrate, my collection just gained some value.

Well, guess i better buy and install dragon quest 8 off of the 3DS eshop then since Nintendo is making it sound like the world's gonna end

Nintendo: We're going home and taking all our toys with us. They won't be made available moving forward.
Customer: Okay, Citra emulator, then.
Nintendo: No! No! Emulation is evil! You'll have to buy these titles from us!
Customer: But you're not going to be selling them anymore.
Nintendo: And THAT is why you'll need to build a time machine.

@PinkPuffball amazing, thanks!

@Roibeard64 ooh! Linked from my Switch, cracking option! Thanks.

Now that virtual console is technically gone, they’re either going to have to offer us a way to purchase these games outright, with a large library, or give us a wider selection of retro games across their entire library on other consoles through NSO. If they don’t, they are literally only offering a fraction of their games through proper means, and excluding several games that would very likely sell very well on Switch.

This is sad Nothing else to say just sad..

@Nintendude78
sadly i feel like the only option people will have is to use the NSO apps, especially going by the answer to that Q&A thing.

the thing is it feels like the actual answer just sidesteps the big part of the question which mentions "owning" while there is semantics about how much of a digital game you actually own the main thing is with something like the VC you can still play the games after the service has gone down, where's the NSO app removes even that aspect, once the service is down or a game gets delisted its gone for good.

While there could easily be another service to replace it i dont really like having the games availability at the whims of publishers and the like.

I suppose if Nintendo has "no plans to offer classic content in other ways", I can justify to myself that it's time to hack my 3DS.

@MsJubilee,

No, any company could get away with it as well.

@Henmii
I feel like the question on a few peoples minds when it comes to the idea of pushback against this is whether or not it would even make a minor difference.

i know its good to take a stand even when it comes to something as relatively minor as video games (though i do feel like things which make you happy are important, mental health is still health and all) however in this case i can see why people would feel like its not worth it, especially when it feels like even parts of the fanbase you are a part of is actively against you.

Just over ten years is a good run. I had always assumed whatever games I purchased would be forward compatible with the next system as Nintendo had made a solid "push" for digital games with Wii U. The early incentive outclassed any offer at the time, making the purchase of a 1Tb hard drive a no brainer. I have VC games from my Wii on Wii U, and 100s of downloaded games from eshop.
My account holds the licenses to play alot of games, all those licenses in time will be lost, like tears in the rain.
Misquotes aside, Nintendo didn't do their best, with practically no transition. Other companies have done worse, but they also learned, as both MS and Sony are doing an admirable transition into their next gen. I just hope any games I get on Switch will be compatible with it's successor.

I interpret it as Nintendo saying to fans that it's okay to start downloading ROMs for retro gaming, if that is the more convenient option to play what you have bought for the 5th time already. I take a pragmatic approach to private copying. I prefer paying, but I'm not jumping through insane hoops to pay for the same thing, often in worse condition, when I know that the easier and better thing would be to port the existing shop solution to the new hardware. And I don't think Nintendo minds, they just mind when people set up solutions that actually compete with the convenience of their new technologies. Keeping it low key, is key. Sure, there is the share holders to think of, with their short sightedness. But I think the actual workers prefer to keep their games played by new generations in the best experience, in stead of spinning to make new tech for the sole purpose of selling it as something new. They know this slowly kills the community and appreciation of their creations. I think copyright should be 10 years, to make room for selling things and establishing a reputation, but then I don't see why it should be protected any more really. I'll still prefer respecting the law as it is, but within reason, and pragmatically.

@CharlieGirl If you want to focus on the negative I dunno what to tell you. Literally nothing lasts forever. Gaming services are no exception.

"...you'll still be able to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and play online beyond this date..."

That's good news for my Switch library for the future!

What about europe?

Nintendo just painted itself enemy #1 to game preservation.

This honestly motivates me to acquire games in a somewhat "dubiously legal" manner when the eShop does indeed shut down.

One of the biggest defining traits of the Wii U eShop is the huge amount of content for Virtual Console. It had GBA games, which were exclusive to Ambassadors on the 3DS, and it had DS games, something which was never done for the 3DS for no clear reason. Playing DS games on the Wii U certainly drew out the Wii U experience and it's something that the Switch would not be able to accomplish; on the Switch, you'd be forced to play in handheld most in the most awkward way possible, unless Nintendo themselves release a flip grip and that stylus that they seemed to have released only in Europe.

@NintendoEternity
You've been hit with many disagreements already. New doesn't necessarily mean better, you know? The Switch, in terms of hardware, isn't as durable. It also wasn't that huge of a jump from hardware compared to the Wii to Wii U. Aside from hardware limitations, the Wii U had capabilities of playing virtually any game because of the GamePad.

at least over a year is plenty of notice

End of an era….oh well….

@EmmatheBest
Lose them money?

No, Nintendo will make more money by not having to pay the overhead costs of maintaining the digital stores of two dead or dying platforms.

They'll probably also see a tiny boost in sales from people panic buying some hard-to-find or digital-only Wii U/3DS games.

Not like any of that ultimately matters as Switch is 99.5%+ of their dedicated non-mobile gaming revenue.

@victordamazio Steam is PERFECT. My favorite all time system to buy games. Extremely trustworthy.

@ActionNineNews

How are physical bros winning? They won’t be able to play digital exclusives like Pocket Card Jockey.

The only winners in this situation are sailing the seven seas with their loyal parrots atop their shoulders.

@ModdedInkling Agreed! Switch is very unreliable hardware. The joy-cons are a durability joke and not very comfortable to use. As discussed on the other threads, there are very few AAA games developed by Nintendo that are not Wii U ports. No new Zelda since Wii U (yet), no new Mario since Odyssey, no Metroid except Dread which is not a great Metroid game for many fans, no new Donkey Kong, no new Pikmin, no new Star Fox, no new F-Zero, no new Wave Race, etc. Much Kirby and Splatoon but the same Mario Kart as Wii U for eight years (2014-2022). On top of that, you can't copy save files unless you pay for Nintendo Online and transfer the saves to another Switch. You can transfer everything like on Nintendo DS but on Nintendo DS/3DS it was free and there was no other way while Switch has SD card support. Besides, new third-party games are being released as a cloud version, defeating the purpose of the Switch.

But these news also mean something else. Nintendo is killing the Virtual Console that still works on 3DS and Wii U, leaving no other option for purchasing retro games, offering a selection of retro games on Switch with no purchase option, on an overpriced and poor-value service. It's like they are asking people to hack Switch, to use unofficial emulation on PC or to get a Steam Deck that can run emulators and new games. The way Nintendo is "preserving" games is pathetic.

@victordamazio "Nintendo is the one to blame."

They can't just wave a wand and say, "Tah-dah! Now it's a Switch game!" Porting games is costly.

A few years ago some fan voiced his concern to Reggie about spending a ton of money on virtual console games and the ability to retain the games post Wii U. Reggie said they are aware of this concern, stay tuned…

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/01/reggie_fils-aime_briefly_addresses_topic_of_carrying_over_online_purchases_to_switch

@Don Five years later, the best solution they could find is ... all those fans off and closing the Virtual Consoles.

@LiNeR
Don't overlook Donkey Kong 94!
Starts out as the original donkey kong game but becomes this excellent puzzle platformer that has aged incredibly well. Well worth the time and low price.

NintendoLife, you should make a list of all the games that will be missing, never got ports for other systems, and make a list of the best games missing, like Pushmo.

@LiNeR Gameboy - Gargoyle’s Quest and Link’s Awakening.
NES - Ninja Gaiden 1-3, Mario 1-3, Zelda 1+2, Metroid, Mega Man 1-6.
SNES - Super Metroid, Mario World, A Link To The Past, Axelay (this might be Wii U) Mega Man X1-3, Earthbound.

That should get you started

THANKS NINTENDON’T.

This is the reason that people clamor for physical releases on Switch. We all know in a few more years, this eShop will go under. This should be illegal, and they should unify their online platform, like GOG and Steam.

@Dr_Corndog I know, and in many cases, porting the game natively to Switch is impossible, since the source code was lost.

Nintendo could at least make a 3DS emulator for Switch.

@Dr_Corndog Moving forward, they should consider backwards compatibility. We can play games dating back 20 years on Steam; Nintendo really should consider a similar system, and put in the extra work it would take to make that happen.

@RushDawg Yar Har!

@CharlieGirl What do you mean? Physical games are cheaper than ever right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they get more expensive in the future to account for inflation and fewer people wanting them.

Well now I need to pick up Crimson Shroud and Aero Porter.

As most are saying I really don't like this. I think now my 3rd party purchases will be done on Steam.

This is quite sad, but it’s to be expected I suppose. Nintendo can’t keep the net code up and working forever, and they aren’t going to try.
RIP Virtual Console, 3DS, and Wii U.
You will be missed…
Okay, maybe not the Wii U.

@PBNightmare Crimson Shroud was quite enjoyable, definitely worth picking up.

@AlienX Same for me. I've got 13 hours on 13 games, according to the Memories site, with my third most played game being one I don't even own (I played a bit of multiplayer). No mention of the hundreds of hours I put into MHU4.
It looks like it's just the first month or two, for me, and is ignoring the other 10 years.
I assume it's something to do with the disastrous mess of accounts.

I understand the WiiU, but I wish they'd reconsider the 3DS. I still buy games from there, and that the library is so big that buying games digitally will probably be the only way we can play some of these games in the future without spending an arm and leg on the physical copy.

“Even after late March 2023, and for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems”. Well, Nintendo is once again being a bit ambiguous. It begs the question when are we no longer able to download our reloadable and DLC content?
Does anybody know what’s the maximum gigs for the SD card in a 3DS and on the Wii U? I was not very smart and I downloaded most of my library’s for both systems. My bad.

I have no issue whatsoever sending Nintendo a monthly fee for access to their games. I personally get more use out of my Nintendo subscription than I do Netflix, Prime or Disney+.

What I am very unhappy about is that there are a LOT of games on 3DS and Wii U eshops that are missing from the Switch. That's a desperately poor effort by Nintendo.

If they are shutting down the income from the 3DS and Wii U eshops - which let's be honest, must be bordering a nominal amount compared to Switch eshop right now - and they are claiming there's no plans for any other way to purchase the content... then which genius at Nintendo thought it was a good idea to just forget all about them?

Or, are we supposed to believe that this is the moment they actually get serious with their online subscription and add the games we know they can add anytime?

Pretty poor effort all round it has to be said.

Oh no... I don't have much time to purchase Zara the Fastest Fairy!!

@westman98 They'll have the data to back up whether or not they need to keep these sites up, is it worth keeping eshops open for two dead consoles when the only traffic is a few hundred enthusiasts a day worldwide tops? I can't imagine there's millions of people mulling around in there every day.

Maybe they have a plan B...possibly for the 3DS but I doubt they'll have anything in place for the Wii U.

Sad news, but I already feared that this would happen since they announced the discontinuation of the 3DS in September 2020.
At least we'll have a few more months to buy the games that were on our wish lists. I've already made a list of what to buy for my 3DS "Lite" and my 3DS XL:
Lite: Mario Golf, Super Marios Bros. Deluxe, Lufia: The Legend Returns
XL: Dragon Quest VII, Crimson Shroud, Pokémon Red, Pokémon Gold

Don't worry customers/consumers, you can still buy some of these games again and keep repeating the pattern.

Fingers crossed for a massive sale before it closes.

So their stance going forward is "you get what you got and you'll get access to more content when we decide you can". Man that Steam Deck is sounding more and more enticing...

Then Nintendo has the audacity to get angry at people who emulate games. Nintendo should either provide an alternate and affordable way for players to play classic games or stop being such [redacted]

On one hand, it feels like it came way too soon. But then again, the Wii U and 3DS have been discontinued for years. I guess it makes sense. The Wii U was a good system with a great set of games, and hopefully Nintendo presents a new way to acquire some of the older games that we'll be unable to purchase again once these shops close for good.

+1 for NL making a list of exclusives and DLC. Although it will probably make me buy more than I really need to or will actually play.

I think I have most of what I want. Can’t worry about buying every game I might one day wish I had bought.

Right now I am thinking about picking up:

• Affordable Space Adventures in case my kids will play it with me at some point. Probably wouldn’t be fun alone.
• Mole Mania because it is a quirky game that I saw and NL video or article about
• Maybe the 3rd Box Boy game
• Maybe DKC 3 since I think those games look best on the 3DS
• Maybe the GBA SMB3 because I’ve heard about the e-reader levels. But I already have the NES one on 3DS
• Maybe the GBA Super Mario World but I already have the SNES one on 3DS
• Maybe buy a New Super Mario Bros 2 cartridge and the DLC, but I haven’t heard great things about that game. It sounds like it may be a bit unique though. I’m not a huge fan of the “New” SMB games though.

I haven’t read through everyone’s comments, someone may’ve mentioned it. The thing about this that makes me SAD is the loss of the adorable little e-shop animated shopping bag! I loved seeing it cheerfully hop around, it made me happy to watch. May seem like a small thing, but it bothers me, because 2022 Nintendo lacks the charm & playfulness to bring it back. I’m a Nintendo fan going back to getting my NES in 1987. Of course they’re a company, they want money. But, their decisions lately feel especially greedy and anti-consumer. I think they’ve become too big for their pixels, and lost touch with what has made people love them over the years. Like little e-shop bag. I REALLY don’t like worst timeline Nintendo. We don’t see sweet little touches like this on the Switch storefront (heck, 2022 Nintendo won’t even give us folders). Rest In Peace, little guy, I hope we see you again, outside old YouTube videos. 😞

@OnlyItsMeReid @Xenobound94 It states that if you have your Nintendo Account (switch) wallet linked to your Nintendo Network Account (Wii U/3DS) that you can continue to use the shared total to purchase until March 2023. So I'd guess that you can keep adding funds via the switch wallet and buy up until March 2023, so no need to load up the money this year it seems.

Reference from article:
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.

Well, is it good that I purchased everything as we went along?

You are running out of time to buy Ever Oasis digitally.

Nintendo being anti-consumer as usual. Shocking.

@mikegamer
To be fair, it's not an all-or-nothing case. It's bad becoming worse.

@JakedaArbok
Most Wii U games definitely belong on the Switch... however, Wii U Virtual Console is irreplaceable, especially looking at the DS library. The Switch could technically emulate DS games if the games are played in portrait mode with a flip grip and stylus, but it will never do it as great as the Wii U.

Honestly that whole statement just reeks of generic cookie cutter corporate response. You generally don't expect a Nintendo QA customer service rep to have complete knowledge of Nintendo's future plans.

@Kirbo100 ahhh, I missed that part. That does make it better, but also makes me wonder, if they have to maintain all those files for download on a server, why the heck wouldn't they want to allow people to keep buying them? Makes no sense to me. Perhaps it's just a move to get more people to upgrade to the switch 🤔

@Mgalens

It worked with Sony (for now at least). The Sony shop didn't get closed. But I feel it won't work with Nintendo. Nintendo just doesn't care.

That being said, I feel like Nintendo's audience in general just takes to much bs from Nintendo all the time. I mean, the hardcore audience. I can't blame the casuals.

Sony and Microsoft’s digital shop longevity is due to it being available across different gens unlike Nintendo who changes it every time a new system comes out. I honestly don’t see why we can’t transfer content between systems as we own individual licenses for content we purchase on the store.

@nhSnork Actually thats true.

@AJWolfTill that was my 2nd download right after Links Awakening

Get 3D Classic Collection while you still can. & maybe a few others.

Meh just buy whatever games you can't bootleg. Nintendo doesn't like money

Well guys, guess they've given us a year to panic buy everything we want.

Seriously, it's a shame to see so many games be no longer available to other people when the eShop closes. I thought they'd give more time than this before closing it down.

The more I think about this, the more it angers and upsets me that Nintendo would do this.

I don't expect them to keep an online store running for discontinued systems forever, but at least Wii and Wii U owners got several years after their systems were discontinued to pick up the games they wanted

3DS owners basically have till August 2022 to get the games they want before the shop closes forever.

We don't even get a year.

I am mad at Nintendo right now over this. It's so abrupt and sudden, which gives gamers, many of whom live on a tight budget a small window to get a game or risk not getting another chance or be forced to explore legally questionable methods.

I am not happy with Nintendo right now. Once the 3DS shop closes down, so many games will be potentially lost.

@victordamazio I'd be curious to know whether the Switch is powerful enough to emulate 3DS games. Probably, but I couldn't say. And Nintendo being who they are, the emulation would have to be perfect, or if wouldn't happen.

Then there is the issue of many games requiring the second screen.

Getting 3DS games on Switch would be cool, but I understand why Nintendo isn't doing it.

@BloodNinja They originally intended did the SNES to be compatible with NES games, then dropped the feature to cut costs. Even when hardware is similar, there's some cost to backwards compatibility. Nintendo's tendency to dramatically revise their hardware between generations makes it much more difficult.

The PC platform, by contrast, has changed relatively little over the past few decades, so backwards compatibility isn't as big an issue.

@Luigi05 We don't have a year. You won't be able to use credit cards in May and eShop gift cards will be unusable after August.

So, unless you buy a download code, you have at most a few months to pick up games off the eShop.

@Dr_Corndog Right, that's exactly my point. The burden falls on Nintendo to devise system architecture that doesn't vary so wildly. In the case of the NES/SNES/N64, that's passable since each iteration was so markedly different. But in 2022, they could make devices that improve more gradually, thus giving room for the eShop to flourish across several generations of systems, instead of forcing the user to buy their stuff again with each new hardware iteration.

@Maximumbeans The problem is I've never seen people stick to their guns concerning Nintendo. The fact that the mentality is "Nintendo decided, there's nothing we can do." Is the exact reason why Nintendo always gets a free pass on literally everything.

Best start buying the 3DS games you really want to play now because Nintendo is creating forced scarcity once more and I can see the games skyrocketing in price as a result.

@ATaco You may be right, but ultimately this can go round and around. Nintendo don't listen, so nobody talks, so Nintendo don't listen. Ad infinitum. I haven't ever seen them renege on even the stupidest decisions but maybe this time will be different, I'd certainly love to be wrong.

Luckily my own physical collection for 3DS titles has pretty much everything I care about. The DS stuff shouldn't be affected by this but I wouldn't be surprised if scalpers use it as an excuse anyway.

Meanwhile, you can still buy PSP games (released seventeen years ago) on the PlayStation Store...

@Caryslan The article says that you can still buy things if you added funds via a Nintendo account.

Is there a way to pressure them like we pressured Sony?

@Smt_nerd The only way I see that happening is if the Japanese fans do it as they'll probably be more likely to listen to them than to Western fans. Even then, I doubt they'll retract their decision as I don't remember any time Nintendo has retracted a business decision because of fan outrage. If they did, NSO Expansion wouldn't be $50 lol

@ModdedInkling And they wonder why people resort to you know, THAT

@mikegamer
Yeah. Nintendo pretty much just justified doing that if they're gonna give out content through a subscription service with very, VERY few exceptions that are probably limited-time releases.

@Specter_of-the_OLED

I would say;
The People are happy that there were Hackers.

I am confused? The Switch has been around since 2017 and people are taking now, about purchasing games on the Wii U eShop?

If we had this effort during the Wii U timeframe, the console might had a longer lifespan.

But regarding to the closing of the eShop we are still able tonlosere the purchased games correct? Then I don’t understand where the issue is? Definitely beats a subscription plan! 😁

Like... I get it... But also they have to expect piracy to skyrocket right?

@Maximumbeans It won't be different because people have already resigned themselves to Nintendo not listening. The thing with Nintendo fans is that they complain...but then they buy the thing. They complain...but then they forget a week later. This isn't exclusive to Nintendo fans since Madden/fifa fans are the same but it just sucks to see people roll over and just toss Nintendo more money. I hate that this Company makes great games, otherwise they'd be treated like EA/Activision...

@ATaco Like I said, this can go round and around. There's no smoke without fire; people's sense of resignation with Nintendo didn't come from nothing. There's a reason we don't try to navigate their heads from their arses. But I really don't think we have anything to gain by representing each side of this endlessly spinning coin.
Agreed about people buying into things despite their supposed opposition of them, I mean Pokemon Sword and Shield demonstrated that beautifully. I will say that this is slightly different, though. This is them taking away something that we can't just buy or not buy back in to. I'm convinced that the 3DS store is still making them money so what else can be done in this case? If they don't care about that income stream enough to save it then it's out the window.

@victordamazio Would you be able to explain how "But in reality, Nintendo is the one to blame for offering us such a terrible service, with no option to download our games on Switch." would even be possible? You do realize that the 3DS and Switch are wildly different animals?

@River3636 The Wii U I think it is 2TB if you're using an external HDD. More than enough space to store everything on Wii U that you'd care to buy. The 3DS is a bit more finicky, but multiple SD cards and you're good. I'd recommend for 3DS you use SDHC cards that are 32 GB. That should be enough space to store your VC games, DLC and larger titles... plus they're like $12CND so they are super cheap.

Remember to archive your purchases kids.

Wii u games are available to view on nintendo.com any longer. That stinks as I regularly view and buy from nintendo.com. I really need to kick these purchases into high gear.

Wait, wasn't there a new game coming to wii u a few days ago? How would they sell it?

Sure, switch online has 130 games, but 5 of them are worth playing. Those gray borders also ruin the entire experience for me

March is a cursed month for Nintendo.
1st, they killed Mario. And now, they are killing their Wii U and 3DS eShop.
Random person online, 2022

What games can I play in the future?

Nothing!!!

Welcome to the future

It would be nice to have a console and stick with it. How much trash do we need to make for this planet we live on?

I'm just realizing now that this really sucks for the developers of Silver Falls White Inside Its Umbra

Well, that's the end of flowerworks on Nintendo hardware. Maybe one day will complete the Steam release, and no plans to support the switch... Although that would be great.

Yo ho yo ho A pirates life for me!

@Wexter thanks

@sanderev oh I didn't mean just 3DS games. I was talking in general. Before the Digital Storefronts became a thing getting a 2-3 year old game was a lottery since it was mostly out of print at that time.

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@RubyCarbuncle True. There were so many classic Virtual Console games that I would have picked up if I had known it was closing. I was on a hiatus and hadn't played on my Wii for over a year when it shut, so I completely missed all warnings.

So my nintendo account is linked to my 3ds,switch and wii u. It shows the same balance on all three systems e shop. Would it be possible to circumvent this inability to add funds with cards by simply adding them on the switch and then logging onto the eshop with your 3ds/wii u?

I guess we just go on the pirate website and do it that way lol.

Nintendo is infact forcing people to pirate games, as there is no way to legally buy them
1) There is no place to buy a Wii U anymore NOR a 3DS
2) There is no way to get the games legally
3) I couldnt be bothered

So piracy is the way to go

One more problem with these online games guys, they never last forever, it only last until the company who's storefront it is decides to shut it down for good. Once they do theres nothing you can do about it...