PSA: You Only Have One Week To Purchase 3DS And Wii U eShop Games

Yup, got my weekend planned to buy a few last chance pick ups. 3DS got a new Micro SD Card installed last night.

You have a week until it's morally ethical to homebrew lol

I have pretty much everything I'm interested in. I bought all the Ace Attorney games on 3DS, just need to pick up their DLC. Same with needing to buy DLC for Monster Hunter Stories and Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology. I still need to buy the two sequels to Dillon's Rolling Western and Yokai Watch 2 and 3, and then I'm good for 3DS.

For Wii U, I have a handful of Virtual Console games I still want to pick up, Sonic Lost World, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate Deluxe Edition. I wasn't aware that the Wii U can't power a portable external harddrive by itself, so I bought a Y cable the other day, so that it can plug into both USB slots.

Support the 3DS INDIES!

I have most of what I want. Now it’s the b list games that aren’t on sale and I am not sure if I want them. Stuff like batman origins or splinter cell.

Definitely bought into FOMO. Its just worriesome to think that i might not be able to pick more games off the eshop. The Wii U has some good games but the 3DS has many. Hard to easily make the purchases still.

I bought all the fire emblem stuff but I'm not sure I'm willing to risk on anything else given it'll be undownloadable eventually and my memory card is already full...

I already took advantage of Wayforward having a sale, so I'm "Ret-2-Go".

If I had a 3DS, I'd get the Electroplankton titles.

One more week and I hit the seven seas!

What makes these closures especially disheartening is that with the exception of third-party collections (like the excellent ones Konami put out), we've reached the end of classic game ownership. Everything is transitioning to a live service, including access to classic titles. It's a bummer for those of us who just want to own the games we love, and it's why I was willing to buy every classic game I was interested in before the clock runs out.

I also bought Bravely Default and Bravely Second. I have no guarantee that those will be made available again in the future seeing as how Bravely Default isn't one of Square Enix's top franchises, and I really wanted to dive into them before giving Bravely Default II a shot.

Now the real question becomes: Will these digital purchases be available for redownload in perpetuity? If the portable hard drive I have attached to my Wii U fails in, say, five years, will I be able to redownload the games that were on it? I think all companies that sell digital goods should have an obligation to keep those goods available for as long as the company exists in some form (or else refund the full purchase price to the customer). I seriously would like to see federal legislation to that effect here in the US.

You can download Wii U stuff after it closes, correct? I had to delete the Xenoblade Chronicles X QOL DLC to make room for everything else, and I'm not in any shape to be able to buy a Y-cable and external storage.

I got my blue New 3DS:XL in early 2019 and by the time mid-2020 came, I had got everything on my Wishlist so I'm not concerned at all.

People had shinty-six years to get all the games they wanted...

Sad Eel noises

Shame on any company that doesn't have a discount running on their eShop titles right now.

That includes you, Nintendo.

@Tasuki It's not stealing if there is literally no other option. That's just called finding.

Anyone else finally ready for this to be done? I get it, I loved the 3DS and many of the games. I have fond memories. But I can't wait until this date comes and goes so I don't have to see another article about this ever again!

Got what I needed a year in advance, which wasn’t a lot honestly. I am locked up and ready for Armageddon.

I'm gonna miss the eshop background music on Wii U. It's a tune!

@mercilessrobot "no other option" besides buying it now.
Also, just because something is not for sale, doesn't mean it's not stealing if you take it. What if your kid drew you a picture, and someone takes it and claims that it's morally okay, because you weren't selling it?

Nintendo should have hosted a FOMO sale …but they like $ too much! Not too much else I’d consider grabbing on 3DS, Wii U I’m still considering Devils Third, will download Affordable Space Adventures for sure tho. Goodbye Eshop…you will be missed!..until u get homebrewed of course!

As a completionist, I just had to buy everything that’s available on the 3DS eshop.

I plan to finish every game 100% in this lifetime or the next.

Or the one after that.

@ElRoberico Purchase a flash drive, and you can use that. The original reason Nintendo suggested against that, was the argument of flash drives not being fast enough, and not being tolerant beyond so many read from/write to processes, wearing out a flash drive prematurely. A large capacity USB 2.0, or 3.0 should work fine.

@InJeffable I agree, and have always felt digital license laws need to be more consumer friendly.

@Everone_Else Remember that the Wii U uses NAND flash memory. That type of volitle memory requires an occasion electric charge, or degrades to the point of malfunction. Some Wii U owners, who have had their systems unplugged for a long time, have already discovered this problem. So, hoping your purchases will be usable in 5-10yrs should also factor into how much you are willing to spend, before next week.

@Tasuki not stealing if it's not available for purchase

How can I use money I put on my Switch to buy off the 3DS shop?

So a week until I'll homebrew them both with Tiramisu and Luma, then. Already got sd cards on the way.

@riChchestM A kids drawing that isn't for sale is a straw man argument. We are talking about extremely large corporations here. I am not saying you shouldn't buy the games while they're available. That is what I myself am doing. But if a corporation wants to make it impossible to "legally" buy their stuff then I personally have no moral qualms about procuring their software through other means.

@Chunkboi79 Uh- oh. I hope you're prepared for the crucifixion that will follow below me ...I wish you luck, my friend.

@k8sMum if the Nintendo Network ID (the one on the 3DS) has been tied to the Nintendo Account (the one in the switch) the the funds will be shared automatically.

You can link them in your account settings on the Nintendo website.

@k8sMum If you have linked a Nintendo Network account to your regular Nintendo account, the funds should be shared between the Switch, Wii U and 3DS.

I spent way too much this past month. The good news is that I've been introduced to so many new games I would never have played otherwise. The bad news is that I'm broke.

Even still, though...Ace Attorney for the win!

@TheBigBlue Yeah, I agree. I know NL is just being helpful.

Why panic? I have a modded Wii U and 3DS That can run roms of anything on the VC and i know how to install any other game on Wii U from Nes all the way to Wii U. Even the eshop games. I'm covered.

I’ve been running through Layton vs phoenix wright just so I can get the dlc before it disappears… that’s a surprisingly long game

@Vil It's just the reality of products not being available, everyone is welcome to crucify me as they see fit.

@Eel, @Vil
Thanks muchly!

Your first script may be more accurate than you think. People should stop worrying about their back logs!

I had rather large 3DS library to begin with so I didn't have too many games I wanted to pick up before the shop closes. I've been buying the rest here and there. My wishlist has one more game on it. I have all Etrian Odyssey games except V. Atlus has had sales fairly often but for some reason, they always skip V. I'll finally buy it for full price unless it's miraculously discounted for the last week.

That reminds me, I should go back to playing Xenoblade Chronicles X on my homebrewed Wii U!!

I'm curious if all these articles about panicking from the end of digital access will actually lead to a shift in how all-digital platforms are covered in the future. Or will games journalism simply continue to be thrilled about all-digital products while simultaneously bemoaning the inevitable loss of access?

@OhianGamer Scott? Is that you?

@dkxcalibur I'm kind of over it as well. It's been an exhausting year, and at this point, it's all kind of the same stuff, especially since a majority of the games on it are available elsewhere. I only have maybe one game I'd pick up, but I have yet to check if it's available elsewhere yet.

@Captain-N sadly, I won't get paid until the end of the month. I just have to hope, I guess.

No panic here. Got everything I could want and then some for a very good very very low price 😉

But I must admit I love using these FOMO articles to see if there's anything else I might want to add to my ever growing backlog. At my own pace and own price, of course

@Chunkboi79 I respect that. It'll be a very long time, if ever, we'll see Nintendo doing something official with the Wii U and 3DS library again. We're not hurting anyone anymore after March anyway ...so I say go for it.

@ElRoberico You can download updates and games you've already bought, but you can't buy new things anymore.

@Tasuki That makes literally no sense. 😹

I am going to buy Samus returns, and codename steam. I highly recommend people give CodeName steam a play as it has a demo as well.

@Tasuki That is a straw man argument. Not equivalent. Corporations aren't people. No need to get all bunched up over them.

@MegaMari0 Codename Steam is very underrated.

I feel like I am good with all of the purchases.

@Tasuki Steal from whom exactly? They're removing the ability to purchase it from them. They see nothing if you buy it used. Thus, it's no longer stealing, just a very viable way to play these games in the future.

@Captain-N Holy crap I didn't know about that "NAND memory" stuff where not having the system fired up could result in a dead system!! I hope mine is good! 😮

And c'mon Ninty, PLEASE ***Xenoblade Chronicles X*** to Switch!!!

@Ade117 There's DLC for Monster Hunter Stories and Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology??? Crap, I guess I have to spend some more than I anticipated

@theModestMouse People and corporations have as much right not to sell their property, as you have to not buy them when they are offered.
If all the people boasting about being pirates had any guts, they'd be emailing Nintendo to tell them what they are doing.

@riChchestM You're a strange duck. Enjoy your corporate overlords.

A GameCube title could max out at roughly 1.46GB. Even if the average NGC/GCN title is only a few hundred megabytes, and Nintendo used very efficient compression, Nintendo still makes their consoles with low internal memory capacity. A GameCube library app would take a lot of storage, especially compared to the appropriate applications for the NES, GB, SMD/SG, SNES, SGB, N64, GBC, GBA, and their respective libraries. Hopefully, either I'm wrong, or in due time, Nintendo will have access to very high quality compression.

Also, if I had to guess, Nintendo probably originally planned on the Wii U having GameCube compatibility in some form, then scrapped the idea. Additionally, the Wii U uses the same PowerPC tech that is inside the GameCube, and Wii. So, it made backwards compatibility less of an issue, to a degree.

@riChchestM If the kid scanned the drawing and posted it online, you're free to print as many copies as you want.

@Tasuki And generalizations are always bad.
I don't know, seems like a very first-worldly viewpoint to me. And there can be a difference between "morally wrong" and "against the law". Both are constantly discussed and changed.
In this case, it's not stealing, because there's simply no loss.

@mercilessrobot criminally underrated. Such a shame that it never got a sequel.

@Tasuki strawman, because taking someone's personal belongings is completely different than a company taking away the option to purchase a commercially available product.

Keep reaching.

@Kovats56 Over the last few years, I had my Wii U system inconsistently plugged in, and used. Recently, I have been using it much more frequently. Since February, I have been playing games I missed years prior. The longest my Wii U system has been unplugged for was roughly a year. It still works. If your system has not been unplugged for too long, it should work.

I think I am good on Wii U or 3DS purchases. Even if there were games that I wanted, I know I will never get around to playing them. Hopefully the people that will actually play them get them before they can't any longer.

Gurumin 3D, NightSky, Pushmo, Crashmo, Siesta Fiesta, Ever Oasis, Mighty Switch Force are just some of the absolute gems I've picked up over the last few weeks. It's been wonderful getting back into this console for a last hurrah, and stocking it up for loads of future sessions.

@Tasuki
if you cant find a 3ds for sale at those shops and absolutely cant find one at all then why not just emulate at that point?

I still currently have my 3ds and havent really been into pc emulation (its why i wish that you could still buy legacy games like nes or snes games on switch) but if you really cant find a 3ds and really want to play the games then i wouldnt judge anyone.

@Chocobo_Shepherd
I mean you still see a lot of talk about things like NSO and thats even worse when it comes to future proofing since unlike digital even if you have those downloaded you wont be able to play them when the service ends.

While I didn't get nearly everything I wanted for my 3DS - I still have a ton of DLC and Themes that I never got the chance to buy - I'm satisfied with what I have. Just need a couple more DSiWare, and I'm all set.

Glad I don't have a Wii U, or else I'd be in debt! If anything, though, I'll be glad once the eShops close down next week, so I'll no longer have to scramble around trying to buy everything for FOMO reasons...

Now I can focus on Vita titles, and then the Switch!

@riChchestM
What would nintendo do if they emailed them to see they're modding their systems or whatnot?

People are gladly posting on social media about these kinds of things including in comments on nintendos own social media, i imagine there are even people who contact nintendo to say that others are doing so.

People were even talking about how they were emulating switch on their steam deck on social media and thats for games which are currently easy to buy which feels like a much larger problem than people going after some nes or snes era games they arent even selling at this point.

I still can’t believe Nintendo never released VirtualBoy games on the 3DS Virtual Console. They could have made it a “New Nintendo 3DS” exclusive with “Super Stable 3D.” Talk about a missed opportunity!

Never again will you be able to officially experience the 3D effect of the VirtualBoy on a Nintendo console.

Our only hope now, is if the HomeBrew community releases a VirtualBoy emulator for the 3DS.

These waters are getting dangerous with all those skull and bones ships on the horizon!

I don’t know why y’all are trying to argue with pirates. If a person has already made up their mind to steal (and taking something including a copy of that data is stealing and it has an impact) then that’s that. Their morality has said it is ok and that’s what they are gonna do. If you know better, do better. Just don’t do what they do.

At the same time, pirates just pirate. If you don’t want anybody to call you out just do what you are gonna do but don’t act like you are waving a flag of virtue. No one wants to hear a thief brag. Next the scalpers will be preaching how they are just good at business.

@TheBigBlue
i feel like in an ideal situation there shouldnt really need to be a warning or shutdown since iirc even the vita still lets you download and purchase games, including psp ones.

Though i do feel like with things like the 3ds and wiiu they didnt feel as "future-proof" as a lot of online stores (as mentioned they initially launched without even having account systems) so i understand the "why" its just one of those unfortunate cases. (though also as mentioned the switch retro games being service based feels like a worse situation since once the service ends they are gone for good even if you have downloaded them)

I have £9 left to spend on either/or 3DS and Wii U.
I don't have a Switch and I'm not sure what to get.

@Chunkboi79

Alternatively, if you're a prepper like me, now's the time to start stockpiling money for the enviable Switch eShop closure! (Although I will admit a large part of it is waiting for sales on a lot of the more expensive titles on my wishlist.)

I'm so mad that we can't add funds without using the points cards... I current have 1.99 WHICH IS PERFECT FOR ONE FINAL THEME but because of tax, it sends it over. I refuse to buy another points card just to cover like 8 cents. I know I can use the leftovers on Switch but that's beside the point!

I feel like I should quick download some more games before the e-shop shuts down, but... In the last six months I've downloaded so many games on top of the backlog of physical I've got, buying more at this point would just be absurd.

I did extensive research and pretty much got everything I wanted, shame about dragon quest xi being region locked, hopefully somebody will translate it one day

@Chunkboi79
Yeah it feels like a unique situation, while in other cases with digital media the "making a copy" argument doesn't work as well because in those situations the product is still available to purchase so people are getting something which would normally require one to pay for it for free.

When there is no way for someone to buy said product then it makes things a lot more complicated.

@Captain-N
in my case i plugged in my wiiu sometime around last year because i was in the mood for some old school kirby games to get hyped up for forgotten land but didnt play much because either the gamepad cable or worse, the cable port itself seemed to be broken meaning if i tried plugging it in (which is the only way to play on max brightness iirc) then the screen would end up flickering.

Hopefully i will be able to find a good charging cable and that its not the actual port itself since theres still a lot of stuff on wiiu i wouldnt mind going back to (especially the virtual console games)

I'm kissing that free Layton vs. Wright DLC goodbye. No way I'll get through the end of the game by the end of the week!

@Ryu_Niiyama
In this case it feels like there's a lot more variables.

In a lot of cases in the past it can be a case of someone not wanting to pay for something and making excuses such as how "they wouldn't have bought it anyway" or the whole thing about how its not stealing because "its a copy" despite getting something that others would have to pay for without actually paying.

However when it comes to things like products being delisted or online stores being discontinued you also get a lot of cases where its the opposite case, where people want to buy something but cant, its why you often see people who lament the loss of the virtual console or the many cases of people hoping for remasters of older games, or things like how you still have people hoping for an official mother 3 release.

fortunately for some of the games there are other options to buy certain games, you can still play a lot of the castlevania games and megaman games as part of their respective collections for example. fortunately without being exclusive to a service so they wont need to depend on online checks to work or anything.

@Captain-N Thank you so much for your response. Here's hoping my luck is the same!

Have I mentioned I'll miss Xenoblade Chronicles X and want it on Switch??

Oh, and LoZ Wind Waker?

And.......?

hmm, yes I would Kent.

@Mgalens Yep, the "games as service" model is even worse.

@Chunkboi79 Exactly my thoughts...

Argghhh... this is gonna be tough to deal with matey.

@Mgalens No there’s not. The store has been available to legally purchase games for a number of years. Nintendo gave advance notice. And even if they didn’t, if all of a sudden Nintendo just said “screw it we will only sell switch games” it is their product and their code as well as their servers. There is no justification for taking something without paying for it. Don’t like how Nintendo functions? Stop using their products. Now as I already said I’m not arguing that because a pirate already has their justification. Folks talked about piracy in here during the VC days too. A thief is gonna be a thief no matter what. All I am saying is just go do that quietly. The rest of us will either buy or miss out on games. It’s a luxury product, no one is entitled to it.

Got all the games i wanted years ago. I have yet to beat half of it though but i plan to finish them eventually...

Honestly, over the past year, I got more games than I’ll probably ever play. It’s been a heck of a run. Long live the 3DS!

@Midge Same here!

Got everything I was after from sales, and various Nintendo games and DLC too. Capcom decided they didn't want European money, so I haven't bought any of the Ace Attorney games, which is a real shame. I'd already bought all the Sega 3D Classics I wanted ages ago. And I downloaded a couple of themes with leftover funds.

Bye, 3DS and Wii U eShops, and goodbye to my favourite era of Nintendo.

Making sure I got all Zelda backups covered, MC, PH & ST for wii u to backup the carts. I’ll be glad when the fomo is gone lol

I just got my new old 3DS in the mail yesterday, and it took a couple of hours to get everything set up, but I was able to purchase the KORG synthesizers that I already have on my main 3DS. And that is all! Goodbye forever, eShops!

@Ryu_Niiyama
i agree no one is "entitled" to luxury items, though i feel that people can be critical about aspects of said luxury items, in the same way i agree that a companies choices are their right but it doesn't mean people cant discuss whether the choice was "right"

weve had articles on this very site discussing things like emulation and game preservation, even people involved in the gaming industry itself have mentioned game preservation including those comments from phil spencer mentioning the importance of preservation as an industry going forward.

Yes even if such lofty dreams were fulfilled there would be those who would still pirate the games, but that doesn't mean that things such as future proofing games should just be given up on.

again there are many different takes on this than people saying whether or not they are going to emulate games or not.
in my case my hopes are that we end up seeing more games make their way from 3ds to switch in the future in the same way that wiiu games did, as it is it feels like a relatively untapped market outside of things like miitopia and Aliance alive, i know for sure i would double dip for something like Radiant historia.

In short yes the situation is a complex one, even articles on this very site have referred to it as a "grey area" and feel like discussion is fine (so long as it doesn't violate any of the site rules) and no im not planning on emulating or pirating the games but definitely feel like preservation and future-proofing is important for gaming.

@MythTgr The term "native" gets thrown a lot when talking about GC on Wiiu, but it can't even use the original clock speeds of the GC.

Getting Wii games to run without the disc and with gamepad support does not compare to getting GC games working properly in Wii mode.

The homebrew methods are not 100% compatible, look at the source code for nintendont, there are game specific fixes for over a 100 games.

Devolution most certainly does something similar, because F-Zero GX works, but F-Zero GX from a demo disc... doesn't.

Not to say Nintendo couldn't do anything like this, but it's certainly a lot more complicated (i.e. costly) to implement.

Plus, the GBA ambassador method on 3DS can run any GBA game with nothing special (besides the knowledge of what save type the game uses) and Nintendo still didn't sell GBA games on 3DS.

Nintendo works in mysterious (and dumb) ways.

@BASEDSAKRI
The region lock was definitely something i dont miss from the 3ds.

I remember the EU situation with SMTIV was a frustrating one, iirc it took a long time to reach Europe and ended up digital only, and it was a game with a large file size, Rune factory 4 was in a similar situation but at least in that games case the switch version was physical.

@InJeffable
To be fair PlayStation and Xbox still do have an option to purchase the games when it comes to their live services its just unfortunate that Nintendo themselves don't offer the same thing, its why im not against the idea of NSO existing but just wish that they offered the option to buy said games.

Should I get the DLC for Breath of the Wild?
It doesn't really seem worth it to me.

@Midge And this is how I discovered there's DLC. Thanks for mentioning it! I might not have long but any heads up before the deadline is a massive help. Double checking that made me realise the Shin Megami Tensei games were hiding a few things too.

@Kovats56 @Mgalens I just checked the Nintendo site, and unless I'm wrong, it appears they are still repairing Wii U, and Wii U Basic systems. At least, for their American website. So, if anything is wrong with your system, there is still a chance to get it repaired.

@Captain-N
ah thankyou for the reply,
if it does end up being the gamepad port itself its reassuring to know that its still fixable.

@JohnnyMind I'd be interested to know of literally any physical game that can no longer be found for purchase at a retro game store or on eBay.

@JohnnyMind
yeah i do feel like the games being played native to the system do put it above something like a cloud service. hopefully things like modding will help keep the games playable even after the service ends.

@JohnnyMind yea, I mean, a high cost is better than no possibility at all. imho.

@Mgalens You're welcome. Hopefully, it's just the cable. Additionally, in case of an emergency, sometimes a person might be selling a Gamepad, or battery for one, on sites like eBay, or Amazon for a reasonable amount. Other times, sellers will try to sell one for an exorbitant amount. Hope everything works out for you.