Topic: Know If a Game Has Any Updates Or DLC

Hi all,
I really like the Wii U, I think it's an amazing underrated console.
We all know that because of the Wii U eShop closure there will be a lot of good games that we'll be unable to play but I'm also thinking about all the physical games that have important updates and DLC which we may not be able to download. So my question is: How can I know if a game that I want recieved an update on the Wii U before buying it? I want to prioritize which games I'm gonna buy and play next based on that. Al so if there is a convenient way to check for DLCs that would also be great.
Thanks!

@liavcol

Are you thinking of buying it digitally or physically?

As for the DLC question- if the Wii U shop is like the switch you should be able to type in the game and it will show both the dlc and the game (if it has dlc). Also, a simple google search would be able to tell you.

@SmashBall35
I want to buy the games physically, that's why I need to know if the ones I want have updates.
And yeah for the DLC it's much less of a problem, I can just got to the eShop and search for the DLC.
For the updates, google searching isn't giving a clear answer, it pretty much depends on the game and how famous it was.

@liavcol

Do you know how to update games? If so, you can do the same thing with ones you just bought. I think you’re able to update any game- but I’d update them before the e shop closes just in case. (Hopefully that makes sense)

@SmashBall35
Yeah, I know how to update games but that's the whole point to my question haha.
I have more games that I would like to play someday and I want to know if they have updates before I buy them so I can decide which games to buy first.

@liavcol

Any game you buy you’ll be able to update. Even if you aren’t able to, usually you can still play the game it might just have a few extra bugs or something.

@liavcol I agree, Wii is underrated. the console and the games are good but they are underrated.

I noticed recently there's a way to search for game updates on the 3DS eShop. Grabbed a few for cartridges that I potentially might acquire down the road.

Been meaning to check if there's a way to do the same thing over on the Wii U eShop, but haven't had the chance yet to go see.

There's no major rush just yet though. We've had a timeline presented to us for the discontinuance of digital purchases. Nothing though has been said yet about discontinuing online support in general and if the Wii and DSi are any evidence to go by, we can expect the servers to stay up afterwards for at least a very respectable amount of time. I suspect 2024 at the earliest will be when the sun fully sets on the online features of the Wii U and 3DS.

Wii by comparison started to see core features discontinued when Nintendo shuttered their own online multiplayer in May 2014 (3rd party titles though that didn't use GameSpy like Nintendo did were unaffected and some officially remain active to this day). Then in March 2018, Nintendo disabled the ability to add credit with purchasing of games disabled the following January (With streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu going at about the same time). Then the final end came when the plug was quietly pulled a couple of months ago on the Wii Shop, ending the ability to redownload purchases and do transfers to the Wii U.

Nintendo has an established precedent of giving a long window with each step of the discontinuance process. So I imagine Wii U has time yet to go after game purchasing ends before the remaining streaming apps get axed, redownloading of purchases closes, online multiplayer gets shuttered, and the ability to download patches is killed.

@Atariboy
As far as I'm aware, you can still redownload purchased games.

The Wii and DSi shops have been offline for about two months now. Nintendo hasn't officially said anything past that they're doing "maintenance", but it's looking permanent.

Not sure if it's a serious problem though for virtually anyone. If one cares about their Wii Shop purchases, it seems like they'd of had them downloaded and installed already. But I suppose a warning still would've been welcomed for a few exceptions here and there that for one reason or another weren't already all set to go, and just for the principle.

Thanks for the information, I really didn't know that about the Wii and DS. Hopefully support for downloading updates for games won't go down in a long time. After thinking about all this I really hate the current culture of developers to just "patch the game", as a developer myself (not for games yet) I can see the appeal and convenience in that, but I can't help but feel like developers these days just don't test their games enough. Well, that's another topic though. Again thanks for the reply and please
do update here if you do find a way to check for updates

You will be able to redownload purchased games and any updates for any disc based games you acquire for years to come.