It will soon be over for two consoles
Two Nintendo consoles are slowly but surely being pushed to the sidings. The Wii U and 3DS will soon lose their eShop. The result is the loss of numerous classic games.
Nintendo pulls plugs for Wii U and 3DS
Update from July 19, 2022: Nintendo announced in an update that the Sales of the Fire Emblem Fates game will end a month earlier, on February 28, 2023. However, downloadable content, such as storylines, will be available until March 27, 2023.
Original article:
The Wii U and the 3DS have long been part of the old console iron. Now Nintendo announced in a blog post that the online shops of both consoles will soon be discontinued. On 03/27/2023 the Nintendo eShop for the Wii U and 3DS will disappear completely. From then on, it will no longer be possible to make new purchases or download free content and demos. (Source: Nintendo).
However, as of August 29, 2022, you will no longer be able to top up credit on accounts in both eShops. You can still redeem download codes until March 2023. After the shops have closed their doors, it will still be possible to re-download previously purchased content and play on the Wii U or 3DS. Nintendo does not reveal how long this will actually be possible.
With the closure of the eShops, only the Switch is available for Nintendo. The latest piece of hardware is the OLED version:
Nintendo classics are lost
In addition to the games released for the Wii U and the 3DS, both shops also offered a “virtual console”. There many could Classics from the NES, SNES and Game Boy days to be experienced and, above all, to be possessed. After the closure of the eShops the Switch subscription model may be the only option, to get classic or retro games. In the “Questions and Answers” for the blog post, it was said for a short time that Nintendo currently has no intention of making its own classics available in any other way. The statement has since been removed from the blog post, presumably due to negative fan feedback.
This makes access to some great moments in video game history extremely difficult, especially for new generations. It is logical that support for consoles has to be reduced after more than a decade. However, it remains questionable whether Nintendo’s handling of its classics is the right one.
