As we reported just over a year ago, Nintendo will sadly be shutting down the Wii U and 3DS eShop for good very soon. This will leave a massive collection of games in limbo for folks that don’t scoop them up before Monday – a sad and inevitable eventuality for some digital media. You’d better grab the titles you want soon because the clock is ticking, and there’s no telling if some of these titles will ever be seen again in an official (or legal) manner.
Wii U and 3DS eShops close forever on Monday, March 27
While some Wii U titles have since been ported to the Switch and therefore have at least a chance to live on for several more years, there are plenty that won’t, and the 3DS library – a system that makes use of a novel dual-screen setup, among other things – is getting hit the hardest in many ways. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker will no longer be available in any official capacity come Monday, and entire generations of some of the most beloved Pokémon games will be largely no more – titles like Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow will disappear from the eShop, leaving only what could be pricey, collector-worthy cartridges as the only legal way to play them on Nintendo hardware.
One very important thing to remember here is this:
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.
Why is Nintendo shutting down the Wii U and 3DS eShop storefronts?
Well, the short answer is because they are horrible and there is no good reason. But the real reason is largely because it feels this is just “part of the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time.” It did try to offer gamers some consolation (quite unsuccessfully, I might add) by highlighting the retro game libraries available through its Switch Online membership and later by confirming that folks who already own Wii U and 3DS games will still be able to re-download them after the March 27, 2023 shut down date “for the foreseeable future.” But it’s still a hard pill to swallow and seems all too soon despite how old these platforms have quickly become.
Nonetheless, the stores will indeed close, so you’ll want to scoop up whatever games you can between now and Monday. While (almost) no one is going to spend the $22,000+ to actually buy them all, it might be worth zeroing in on some standout titles in the Legend of Zelda series, other first-party Nintendo experiences, Pokémon games, some fun smaller oddities, and some of the games on sale right now:
- Pokémon X & Y
- Pokémon Sun & Moon
- Super Mario 3D Land
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
And here are some freebies you might want to just quickly download and decide later whether they are worth keeping or not:
- Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball FREE
- Stretchmo FREE
- Team Kirby Clash Deluxe FREE
- Pokémon Picross FREE
- Pokémon Shuffle FREE
- IRONFALL Invasion FREE
- Monster Hunter Stories Demo FREE
- Plus more FREE 3DS content…
Plus there are actually some really great Capcom and Atlus games with deep sale prices still:
- Mega Man Legacy Collection $3 (Reg. $15)
- Resident Evil Revelations $3 (Reg. $20)
- Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D $3 (Reg. $20)
- Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition $3 (Reg. $20)
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney $3 (Reg. $20)
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice $3 (Reg. $30)
- Monster Hunter Generations $3 (Reg. $40)
- And even more…
I guess it’s all about as expected as it is disappointing. But at least there are some good titles on sale and Nintendo gave folks ample time to shore up their game libraries beforehand.
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