Nintendo Has Announced the End of the Wii Shop Channel

Wii will surely miss U
.

Hopefully this means the start of a potential replacement on the Switch as far as VC games go.

Stupid.

Time to take a better look at WiiWare's offerings before it's too late.

It had a good innings. Hopefully Nintendo have a competent replacement for the Wii Shop by then.

I still have a couple of 1000 points sitting on my account.
What happens to our purchases, how do we re-download them if we delete them?
No doubt the answer is you can't.

@AcridSkull sure we have to redownload everything and store locally

I'm kind of glad the Wii is so easily moddable. Preservation of gaming is so difficult when it comes to digital-only games. Much of WiiWare will likely not come to modern platforms...so after this date, the only way to play them will be with a bit of naughty downloading.

Hopefully the VC catalogue will come to Switch soon, but WiiWare is gonna be difficult without Wii Remote functionality.
World of Goo managed, but they had to modify the game and create a new version specifically for Switch to do that.

@Wolfcreek897 You should change your '"you" at the end to "U".

@AcridSkull I would imagine you are correct, once the eShop closes you won't be able to download the games again. This will be the same with any online service whether it be Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft. This is the nature of digital downloads - you never own the game forever, just a temporary license.

@AcridSkull You have until january 2019 to re-download stuff ? Not sure as this is all google translate : https://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2017/0929.html

@FragRed That's partly why physical is always better.

I'll have to have a look at it before it closes just in case there was anything else I was wanting to get but didn't.

Quick. Give me some of the best WiiWare games I may have missed! Here are some of my faves:
Cave Story. La Mulana. Strong Bad. Chick Chick Boom and MotoHeroz were great for multiplayer. The Bit.Trip series was mixed, but good overall.
I never played either LostWinds, any of the WiiWare ArtStyle games, or Mega Man 9 or 10. What else is a must-play?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

@SheldonRandoms who could forget this classic
i remember eyeing it in the wii shop years ago. maybe it's time to pick it up.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE ah, thanks for the heads up.

Am i right in thinking the wii shop channel is the only legit way to get chrono trigger & the original smash bros on wii u?

I will need to raid the eShop and VC

Well I hope that stupid Konami port Contra Rebirth and Castlvania Rebirth to Switch. These are the only two games that I bought digitally for Wii back then.

The article says: " Users will be able to add funds to their accounts until March 27th, 2018; after that, you won’t be able to buy games from the shop on either the Wii or the Wii U."

So doesn't that mean that you able to add AND SPEND funds until March 27th, 2018? And after that date, you'll merely be able to re-download what you already have? Or is that a translation error?

I'm just surprised it still exists!

All hail the piracy, so we can have our legally bought titles despite of DRM & eShop's shutdown.

Maybe I'll get Shining Force on there before it's over...

Man dude.. :/ the memories.

@SheldonRandoms
Muscle March !!!

"Users will be able to add funds to their accounts until March 27th, 2018; after that, you won’t be able to buy games from the shop on either the Wii or the Wii U"

So basically its dead after March 27th! A pity, but it was to be expected. Time to check my Wii-points, maybe I have to add some more to make a final download. We'll see.

Goodbye Wii Shop
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone, but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(We've gotta buy it quickly before the end turns into regret)

So glad we use it
Time will never change it
No no no
No no no no

I had no idea the Wii shop was still going

@Henmii
Any other method to buy Wii points for Wii Shop Channel ?
Can I use Credit card ?

Sad but inevitable. luckily I have a modded Wii system for Homebrew stuff. If I ever feel like bring it out of storage. Haven't touched that console in years.

Rest in Peace.

@FragRed
I see...
And that's why Physical form is VERY VERY important.
And for users who think Digital download only is the best way of all, think again about your belongings.

This has nothing to do with the normal e-shop on WiiU, right?

I'll definitely be visiting the shop a few more times just to listen to that wonderful music.

It would be nice if the wii and wii u music was officially released by Nintendo.

Please Nintendo do not screw this up. You have to make sure you have the Switch VC online before ending the Wii/Wii U ones.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

This really shakes up my digital purchases for tge next 6 months! I gotta start up a shopping list when I get home from work.

Barely used it,I bought only around ten game between VC and Wiiware.The one I Iiked the most was Sonic 4 episode 1.

there are some gems on there, it is sad but kind of predictable. I still have a few Wii Ware games to go through. Bit hard to back up, all I ended up doing was transferring to Wii U, and have a spare to back up / transfer to when that one seems a bit twitchy.

So approx 6 months to make a list, calculate funds to allocate and then buy them.

Unless they've become available on another platform. I think Final Soldier made its way to Wii U.

Chrono Trigger is only available on the Wii VC, have been meaning to get that. Hey NL, why not make a video of the most essential downloads on WiiWare and VC before it closes down. I don't have the time to browse the the menus cause it is so slow.

Wow, that took long!

Hmm maybe I should buy the second Lost Winds soon. The first was a nice little game...

@neufel So what do we do in February 2019 when we want to re-download the games we have paid for?

Good bye Wii Ware and Wii Virtual Console, it was fun while it lasted. At least all those NeoGeo games didn't go to waste since we have mostly all of them on Switch now but damn do I regret not buying Castlevania: Rondo of Blood yet, maybe I'll get it before 2019.

@PtM Someone will figure a way, remember the Super NES Classic Edition can be hack and if that is possible so can the ability to add multi-tap function.

@AcridSkull : Cry a lot. That's pretty much it.
@taffy : This is a great idea, I would love to watch a final video on the wii shop

@AcridSkull Unless Nintendo comes up with a workaround, nothing. This is the biggest drawback with digital games.

@Anti-Matter good song obviously Spice Girls but what's the title?

@Anti-Matter yes I use a Visa- it doesn't take AMERICAN EXPRESS FYI

There are quite a few games, both VC and WiiWare that don't exist to buy on Wii U. Will these move to Switch? I hope so, as there are some classics like Castlevania on the PC CD Engine and isn't there a good WiiWare Castlevania game? I wonder how long they'll be supporting those titles that people have purchased? This is why I always go physical when I can. Luckily I'm covered for retro games with my Everdrives and whatnot. I'll have to see what good WiiWare titles I'm missing.

Also, what about Netflix? I still use Netflix on my Wii. I hope support for that continues a while longer.

Whelp, I better buy some of the gems before it closes down. I've already got Muscle March. Any other game suggestions? - Wasn't there some unique Final Fantasy titles there?

Thank god I bought a modded Wii with 7200 classic games on it!!!!! This is why physical is ALWAYS better!

So many good memories from playing all those old games bought from Wii Shop. There were also some fantastic Wiiware games. Wii Shop is really slow and clunky to use and I'm glad Nintendo's online stores have evolved since (and sadly in some cases, taken steps back).

I hope Nintendo talks about Switch VC before Wii Shop Channel shuts down. I don't have SNES Final Fantasy games yet since I never picked them up during Wii era and once Wii U was announced, I thought they'd add them there. I'd rather play them on my Switch.

"It’s a shame to see it come to an end, but this was inevitable". Why it was inevitable?
PSP was released 2 years earlier and store still works. Steam still works.

@GravyThief

Castlevania Rebirth is wonderful. i've played that more than any other Vania. Artstyle Light Trax is fantastic too.

I loved the wiiware selection. sure there was some crap, but also some unique and clever titles. another favourite is escape vector, far superior on wiiware than 3ds

Is the Wii Shop the only place to get Dracula X: Rondo of Blood? Such an awesome game and it would be a shame if it was only available via (non-licensed) emulator.

I can maybe understand this move on the Wii as the system is a decade old, but shutting down the Wii U one as well I think is going too far. Even if us owners want a Switch, not everyone has so much money that we'll all have been able to upgrade by the end of Jan next year.

Yes the Wii U wasn't that successful, even so though, this is a console barely 5 years old. Therefore this announcement is way too soon.

@neufel I don't think anyone's going to shed any tears. But it's not acceptable.

@SayGuh thanks I'll check those out. I'll definitely get ReBirth, as I've really got into Castlevania games recently. Lost Winds is a game I enjoyed on WiiWare, it's a shame that might not be accessible in the future. I see the iOS port is no longer compatible with current software versions. Another reason I go physical whenever possible!

"disabling of redownload functions" Oh **** off Nintendo! This is unacceptable. Meanwhile I can still buy games on PS3 and Xbox 360, stores that have been there for over 10 YEARS. What about the 3DS store? Oh right it's still there. For some reason.

This pretty much confirms that purchases made on Wii U to Switch wont be Cross Buy.

You can try as bury Wii U as much as you want, the real fans wont forget it. It will always be here as one of your biggest failures.

To those worried about losing their digital library, am I missing something ? Cant you just download all the games you own to an SD card so you have them kept somewhere and then transfer them to and from the main console when you want to play them. Or is that function not part of the WII U without the store ? I never owned enough on WII U to know.

@Kirby-in-Kirkby They're not shutting down the Wii U eshop just the backward compatibility Wii Shop Channel.

Very disappointing but not surprising, Wii U next.

@AcridSkull Clearly. And I hope the new gen of consoles will be future proofed so that the connection to the eshop will evolve with the years.

@whodatninja Yes you can still buy and download games on 360 and PS3 using stores that have existed for over 10 years.

The Wii store launched in 2006! Also over 10 years.

But here is the thing, how many legacy consoles do you want Nintendo to support? Because as it stands, Microsoft and Sony maintain two stores across two home consoles, 360/One, PS3/PS4. Nintendo has 3. Something has to go eventually.

Am I happy? Hell no. This is the price of digital distribution, where one day, by accident or otherwise, it'll be gone. Hell yesterday Sony announced they were cutting online to a first party game they released in January. When something isn't worth it, you cut it, and the Wii in the eyes of people who will actually still buy games, or even bother with an online store at all, is a long dead system.

This is why digital on consoles is a major problem. While GOG and Steam should be up indefinitely, barring the companies going under, you know every game you buy on a console isn't really 'purchased' - its borrowed. Yeah it might be 10-12 years, it might be 2028 or something before the same thing happens to Switch, but it WILL happen - its inevitable.

Good thing i have folders full of all the good VC and Wiiware on my pc. Good times.....

@Paddle1 The second paragraph says it won't be available on the Wii U. Unless as you say they're only talking about the version you can still access if you've ported your Wii content across.

I'd forgotten about it... The first thing that came to mind reading this was the music. I remember scrolling through the channel for hours, dreaming of what i could buy. Jet Rocket, Pokemon Rumble, (Max Paint?) i had all the demos as a kid!

What if users have, like, 100 credits on their account after the date expires? Can't those translate to 1€ on the players' respective eShop balances?

All in all, we have plenty of time to think and act. Sad to see it go though, but the fact even Nintendo revenue machines aren't eternal truly shows us that everything comes to an end.

That's an easy question... Bomberman Blast!

Also Driift Mania, Rush Rush Rallye Racing, Bonsai Barber and Retro Ciy Rampage.

@joey302
The title was Goodbye by Spice Girls.

I must get a wiggle on and buy PhysioFun: Pelvic Floor Training before it is too late.

loved the music in the shop. sometimes i just openede it to here the music

There are still many Wii Shop games that never released on U; I’ll make sure to get them before it’s too late 😃

Giving us over a year's notice is generous. I appreciate that.

@thesilverbrick Well kind of, funds have to be added by March next year. Honestly I find it weird, so we have to add funds within 6 months but then have another 9 months to spend it?

In addition to the ReBirth series (awesome), Excitebike: World Rally is fun. I played a ton of Baseball Stars 2, but it's on the SNK Arcade Collection (Wii).

Also downloaded the mini game Doc Louis' Punch-Out!! Not great, but a must for any Punch-Out!! fan.

@FX102A True, but at this point, I dare say most people have already purchased pretty much everything they could've wanted over the past 11 years. I'm moreso thinking that I have over a year to make a couple different backup SD cards for all my purchases.

I might pick up Secret of Mana, since SNES mini won't support 3 players, and the remake... Well, even if I have no nostalgia for the original, I like the pixelated aesthetic a bit better.
EDIT: Besides, I only have one PS4 controller, so it'll be cheaper if I just play it on Wii VC.

Don't waste time buying the games you missed guys. The moment the service shuts down, those games will have zero value.
Just buy a cheap Wii, hack it and download all the digital games for free. If Nintendo doesn't want to distribute these games anymore (making it impossible to buy them legitimately) then I see no problem in pirating them.

This is why I don't love digital games.

My recommendations:

-For multiplayer fun: MotoHeroz, Bomberman Blast (8 players locally!), Tetris Party
-Hydroventure (physics puzzling with cute graphics)
-Mega Man 9 & 10 (must-have for classic Mega Man fans)
-Muscle March (just for the pure craziness)
-Gradius Rebirth (gotta love that series)
-And of course World of Goo & Cave Story, but those you can get elsewhere as well

I have been a bit interested at least in MaBoShi and Chick Chick Boom, are they good?

papAm pApam papAm papaaaam
papAm pApam papAm papaaaam
papAm pApam papAm papaaaam
papAm pApam papAm papaaaam

pam papaaaaaaaam
pam paraparaparaaaapaaaa

pam papAm
pam pam papAm
pam paaaaaa....

Does anyone know of a list of WiiWare exclusive games? If not I'll try to compile one if anybody's interested.

Killing off one of the big sources of VC (the other being the Wii U eshop) when chances for VC on Switch have pretty much been killed off is very disappointing.

@AcridSkull the EU website clarifies that the shop closes in January 2019, but you will still be able to re-download games later than that up to an as of yet undetermined point in 2019.

@Anti-Matter thx- gonna have to grab that song never knew it. A little bit more respect to the Spice Girls lol 😂

Nice to have such long notice, but it still makes me sad. I better start looking into any WiiWare titles I missed or held off on.

@thesilverbrick I haven't. There were tons of VC games I wanted to try but didn't as was hoping for sales that never came and then I moved on to other platforms.

@antdickens I'm an english to italian translator. No need to come round and take what you want without paying - NintendoLife has already reviewed a couple of games I worked on - games obviously acquired through free promo codes so......NintendoLife kind of already took something from me without paying!

Even leaving my own work out of the picture, I'm sure you're aware of WiiWare's Minimum Sales Threshold and the fact that Nintendo is likely taking the lion's share on work that is NOT theirs.

You can manage a Nintendo-centric website even without defending every single choice Nintendo makes. Fact is, in a few months if you lose all your games in an system/HD crash, you have no way to get your purchases back. If this sounds "fair" to you fine, but doesn't sound fair to me.

@AlexSora89 I've had exactly 200 credits on my account since Chick-Chick-Boom released for 800 points and I put $10 on my credit card, that has to be 6 or 7 years ago. Never could find anything worth 200 points after that. I think it switched over to the Wii U but I haven't been in the Wiiware in a loooooong time.

Games I really enjoyed on Wiiware and have no regrets over, though some can undoubtedly be found elsewhere now:

Edit: Forgot Swords & Soldiers - 1 of my all time favorite games. It was so great I forgot it was on Wiiware. The controls sucked when they ported it to PS3 until they added Move support, but it still played better on Wii. The 2nd game was an abomination though. So bad.
Max and the Magic Marker - some of the best use of the Wiimote on the Wii, should have been sequels
World of Goo - the best use of the Wiimote on the Wii
Pokemon Rumble - the game that started the series, and I think still the best in the series, Wii U sequel was garbage
Jett Rocket - I think the game that started Shin'en, short and kinda ugly but a good 3D Wii tech demo
Chick-Chick-Boom - one of the original and most fun vs games
Monsteca Corral: Robots vs Monsters - it only got a 6, but it was a fun neat strategy game
https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2010/08/a_monsteca_corral_monsters_vs_robots

There were probably more, but that's off the top of my head.

Very nice of Ntinedo to give us such a long lead in time, more than enough time for anybody who wants to purchase these things. I only wish Miiverse had lasted until Jan 2018 so I could post my Zelda Champions Ballad comments. But there's no money in that for them. This will make them some money, people rushing to buy a few of these games. Still nice for the 6 month and 15 month heads-up though.

And that's why Physical form is VERY VERY important. And for users who think Digital download only is the best way of all, think again about your belongings.

Fact is, in a few months if you lose all your games in an system/HD crash, you have no way to get your purchases back. If this sounds "fair" to you fine, but doesn't sound fair to me.

I've not lost a single digital game since I started downloading games in 2006. I've had to redownload a few games due to corruption, but have never lost any. And sure I missed out on a few games before they were taken off the store, but that's also true for retail games too.

Who actually plays their old Wii consoles or plays games on Wii mode? As soon as a game I've downloaded on Wii is re-released on a newer platform, I download it on the newer platform and delete the Wii download, never to be played again.

So the greater bulk of the existing VC catalog will be taken down in 2019, and who knows if NS will ever get a proper replacement. For all we know, the Mini consoles and occasional trickle down from the NS online subscription could be all there is new in the near future.

In other words, there's no guarantee that there will be any way other than piracy for most people to play quite a few of the titles available on the Wii Shop Channel. How else are you going to find rare ones like Monster World 4? There won't be any other way to play it after 2019 besides piracy. Others, such as Wild Guns, will require the Wii U Shop. And what about when that eventually goes down too? Wild Guns in particular is going for $100s online physically, and there's no other way than Wii Shop Channel/Wii U Shop to get it right now. Unless it's released through NS, the only way to play it for most people come 2019 will be piracy, unless you're willing and able to shell out for a second hand Wii U. (There's at most 1/8 as many Wii U's available as existing original style Wii's, and that's a liberal estimate.)

This is a chilling precedent to set. It's one thing to close an service for an MMO after years of operation. It's another to completely annihilate the only official method of purchasing many classic titles. Nintendo should have followed GOG's example on this: Make legacy downloads available no matter what, unless your company goes out of business. They have more than enough money to maintain that library, even if it's not profitable. But it would be better if they could, by taking GOG.com's example on bundling and sales for the NS. I don't see that happening, though... From the sound of it, you need a subscription for a trickle of titles on NS (instead of accessing a shop for free, like any normal online game store/repository), or you have to peruse the pitifully neglected Wii U Shop for their extremely sparse selection. (At least it's got Harvest Moon 64...)

So yeah, download what you can now. If 2019 comes and you haven't gotten around to it, don't feel bad about modding your Wii and pirating the otherwise unavailable classics if they cannot be downloaded otherwise any longer. Nintendo would have brought it on themselves. The history of gaming must be maintained one way or another, and if Nintendo ends up not doing so, By God, someone has to.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE It's a year and a half away and it's Nintendo.

Of course they won't have a competent replacement ready.

@BLP_Software Well you seem much calmer today than yesterday. I was going to welcome you back but you already seemed in 3 different fights by the time I showed up, didn't want to inflame you even more.

Does seem like we've finally reached the stage where the downside of digital is really starting to appear. Well it really raised it's ugly head after Sony launched the PSPgo and then PSN went down for 2 months, but Sony has done a good job with it's time traveling ninja's erasing the PSPgo from everyone's memory so nobody remembers that system. But once the PS3 store goes offline people will notice. MS for it's part is doing a pretty good job w/ BC and also the $10 monthly Game Pass where you can play over 100 games on X1, many fo which are 360 games, so they're keeping it alive. Nobody will notice Wii U eShop disappearing as nobody noticed the Wii U existing.

Also, since piracy will be the only way for many people to acquire some classic titles in the future at this rate, I'll leave this here as a discussion point:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/eu-study-finds-piracy-doesnt-hurt-game-sales-may-actually-help/

Take it with a grain of salt, since it's got a 45% margin of error or so, but interesting nonetheless that there is indeed something to piracy affecting the gaming industry differently than other industries, despite what the big businesses may claim. Not that piracy is a good thing, it's not, but it's soon to become a necessary evil for gamers in the future to experience many of the classic titles going by the wayside.

@rjejr
Of course, but Shin'en was on the map before then. They contributed to the sound aspect of Crash Bandicoot XS/The Huge Adventure and they already deserve recognition for just that.

@FragRed @SLIGEACH_EIRE @Anti-Matter @Bass_X0
WAIT, the digital games I do have will always be there, right?!?

For all the people bashing Nitnedo for shutting this down, I get it, but I think all Nintneod really owes anybody is to give the devs free reign to do w/ the games what they want. While the Wiimote was cool, most of these games could be played on PC or even mobile. I'm sure Ntinedo has some of the games locked up in exclusive agreements, but once Wiiware gets shut done Nintnedo should let them take their games whereever, so we can still play them.

My point being - before we start talking stealing, we should be talking purchasing the games on other systems if we want to play them so badly. That's not on Ntineod, that's on the developers. Unless it is on Nintendo for forbidding it, but that we'll probably never know.

Who knows, maybe they'll all end up on Switch after all? Could happen. I know for a fact some of them have shown up elsewhere already.

@rjejr Its cool. I'm enjoying my SNES Classic today.

I'm not really commenting there much now. All I do is enrage people it seems so...oh well. Don't even manage it here!

And yeah, welcome to the digital age. It pays to remember the Wii is now two systems ago, while the 360/PS3 aren't. Its one of those things yeah but it has to go eventually. Not if, when.

Surprised it lasted this long. Who still browses the Wii Shop Channel? It hasn’t been updated with games or promotions in what, 5 or 6 years? The Wii is a dead console. The Wii U is a dead console. It can’t be accessed on 3DS or Switch. You need “Points” to even buy games. I can’t see why it survived this long.

At least you can easily copy stuff over to an SD card and keep it after the shutdown date. Games are small downloads too so even archiving a large library shouldn’t take long.

@Anti-Matter - Yes. You can use it to buy points directly, then spend the points.

@AlexSora89
Of course you still own your digital games despite of no longer available on Wii Shop.
Your digital games will not suddenly disappear after January 2019.

We will probably never see a library of classics like that again. What an era.

...and Wii U!? Nooooo.... Ah that sucks but I get it.... Wow

I came in here thinking "Is 3 months from now too soon? Eh maybe not" But to see it's not closing for another year is frankly GREAT. I mean why the heck couldn't they give the same window for Miiverse?

The Wii still had the best Virtual Console Library

I don't get why this is inevitable when PSN and Steam have been around longer.... I'm worried about when they do the same for Wii U & 3DS where there will be no way to transfer your download games to Switch.

It makes me sad that Nintendo happily make these decisions. ;-;

@whodatninja

While disabling software re-downloads is BS and makes me wish every game was available physically, it's only a matter of time before the other 2 do the same thing. Games from other services routinely get pulled down, don't forget.

Also, 3DS is an active platform. Why on earth would its eshop be taken down? Unless you meant DSi.

And someday it will happen with PS3 & 360!!

@Anti-Matter
Thank goodness!

Wasn't the file size limit 40MB? Insane to think about...

@Yorumi
Better way, buy the game in Physical and you will NOT lose any single things.

Console gaming is NOT a BS.
I still collecting games in Physical form.
PC gaming is NOT the Best of all.

@BLP_Software Fortunately unlike Nintendo, Microsoft has fully embraced their back catalog with even original Xbox games being playable on XB1 this holiday.

@joey302
Nothing is Eternal....
You must remember that.
You can't bring your games into Underworld after passing away.
Just let them go by the time is come.
The games itself has a lifespan.
They can't be played forever.
Someday, they will be rotten and can't be played anymore.

@dazzlerJJD
Wait ?!
The Wii Ware games can be stored at SD Card after being purchased from Wii Shop ??

@Grumblevolcano
But.... NOT All Xbox / XBOX 360 games are Revived on Xbox One.
I wanna play Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 1 - 4 , The Sims Bustin' Out for XBOX & Dance Dance Revolution Universe 1 - 3 , Little League series 2010, The Sims 3 / Pets for XBOX 360. BUT, those are titles are NOT available on XBOX ONE as Digital download.

Well, I let them go away. No need to play any xbox games. I can play the Nintendo and Sony version.

It needs discounts!!!

I am assuming you can copy the contents of the SD card to a PC and then if the SD card dies you can just copy them over to a new SD card? However, if your Wii dies the games are gone because the games are tied to the hardware they were downloaded on. This is true if you transferred to the Wii U too.

This is what the end game of Digital Distribution looks like, all digital stores will close at some point. Look at all those NES carts sold all over the place, those are available 30 years later AND they can be played on any NES or clone NES console. No game is tied to the hardware. I can't believe people are willfully switching to Digital Distribution.

It had a very good innings, farewell Wii Ware

@Sforzando
I'd recommend Lost Winds for sure. I don't know how you feel about retro games but the Mega Man 9 & 10, the Konami ReBirth games (Contra, Gradius, Castlevania), Excitebike World Rally, Final Fantasy IV The After Years, Adventure Island The Beginning are all great. NyxQuest. Drop Zone: Under Fire....

@Anti-Matter it’s been years since I’ve used a Wii but I think I copied a Brick Breaker WiiWare clone I bought on my SD card. I tried playing it on a friend’s and it wouldn’t let me.

@Yorumi
What are you talking about ??
You can straightly buy the Physical retail games from game shop or Ebay or any Game Shop website.
Console gaming (ps4, wii u, Switch, etc) has Physical retail as well. Who said it just ONLY Digital ??
Why don't you check yourself ?

@dazzlerJJD
Ah... I see.
So, 1 download = 1user.

Very good run. I may add some points and look for some gems.

This is a case where the downsides of digital distribution are on display. But physical is not always better. Some games have limited production and become expensive and hard to get, sometimes fairly quicly. There are pros and cons to both. Digital works best if you can trust it will be there long term, like Steam and GOG. I want to see Nintendo come up with a unified multiplatform solution (across Nintendo platforms) so shutdowns don't need to happen.

Time to jump on Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth, then. What else... I have Cave Story and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (NA) already.

@SheldonRandoms Oh yes, Muscle March. Need that, too. Fits nicely with the WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase.

@Fnudde Final Fantasy 3 (or 6) is on the SNES virtual console for Wii and wasn't released on Wii U. There's also SNES Chrono Trigger and many other games (such as Mega Drive games) which weren't released on the Wii U.

Nooooooooo!
Gur lum, there's a lot of games I need to download. My Wii's never been displaced from its spot under the telly.
Does anyone have a link to the music? Love that tune.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Yes because disk degradation doesn't exist and I've never had a Gameboy or SNES cart with a dead battery.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE physical is only better on Nintendo consoles due to Nintendo's own incompetence.

My top 6 (or 7) WiiWare games (no particular order):

-Tetris Party
-World of Goo
-Onslaught
-Art Style: ORBIENT
-Lost Winds (1 & 2)
-Helix

@MussakkuLaden @Henmii From the Wii support page:
Wiiポイントの追加　終了日時 2018年3月27日（火）4:59
Add/Supplement, and it clearly says WII POINTS
Wiiウェア・バーチャルコンソール・
Wiiチャンネルの購入終了日時 2019年1月31日（木）14:59
Buy/Purchase

So the translation in this article seems correct. Seems odd they would give you nearly 8 months later to spend that maximum $100 worth of points, but that's what it says.

Man, I poured crazy amounts of money into the Wii Shop. So many great VC and WiiWare games.

ART STYLE GAMES!!! NOOOO!

Press [F] to add funds.

@sdelfin Limited production runs are the fault of the publisher, not a flaw of physical media. Digital stores have a built in flaw that they will all shut down at some point.

As for Steam/GoG, PC's have different problems like OS changes breaking games that publishers no longer wish to update. This isn't a problem consoles have as OS updates on consoles don't usually break games. With physical games you need not worry about which console/consoles a game is licensed to.

I was so happy when all of the Super Star Wars games got added to the Virtual Console. I definitely bought all of them, and all the Donkey Kong Country games when they got re-added. Had the SNES Classic not been announced, I likely would have gotten Secret of Mana from the Wii Shop Channel as well....luckily I picked up my SNES Classic this morning! I'll have to go back through the Wii Shop Channel and see if there's anything else I want to pick up before it's too late.

@Bass_X0

"I've not lost a single digital game since I started downloading games in 2006. I've had to redownload a few games due to corruption, but have never lost any"

You say you never lost a game but also say that you had to redownload a few because of corruption. Jesus Christ, If the service hadn't been up, you would have lost those games!!

Once the service will be down, if any of your files gets corrupted again, you won't be able to redownload it. The only reason you haven't lost a single game in 10 years is because the service has always been up and allowed you to redownload the corrupted files. But once it's down, good luck to you!

@rjejr My question is: why would shutting down the service be a stepping stone for WiiWare games to be released elsewhere?

@Sforzando Art Style: Cubello. It's awesome! Very therapeutic.

Sad to see it go.... But hopefully this is for the best so that the Switch can be the focus and hopefully they bring the games to the Switch

@Anti-Matter yup agreed- unfortunately that goes for everything in life 😐

Most of the Art Style games are amazing and relaxing. Really hope they bring some of these old WiiWare titles to Switch. Mega Man 9 and 10 are awesome, I loved FFCC: My Life as a King, and thought it could use an expansion. And there were so many great VC games.

I also absolutely loved the Wii Shop music, and the running Mario/Luigi download indicator.

@Yorumi thing is, people thought services like Wii Shop Channel, WiiU eShop et al would have lasted for 100 years. This event is a major blow to digital distribution and shows that any company can erase its entire catalogue and your purchases with the flick of a finger.

Not only it is a huge loss for game preservation - it's also an enormous step backwards in terms of consumer rights.

Unfortunately, people seem to be okay with that. We'll get to the point of old consoles self-destructing to force you to go out and buy the newer model.

For those mentioning Steam, it's worth remembering that Steam both allows you to backup your games and restore them and also works offline. As far as digital DRM goes, it's the most consumer-friendly way of doing it.

@FragRed None "owns" anything forever. Believe me.

Life is ephemeral and such way should be everything we care about.

And even if you give your games and consolas as inheritance, sooner or later, the consoles will stop working, and new more advanced technology will be used for gaming. None will care in 100 years for playing Nintendo 64 games. Only "Nintendo Switch 3000" console games will matter at the time.

@Sforzando The two Konami remakes, Contra and Castlevania? (never tested the Dracula game but the Contra one was pretty good).

Will I be able to rebuy (...) my Wii VC titles on the WiiU for a discounted price after that point?

@Yorumi Apparently you can still re-download games after January 2019, but not buy them anymore.

I actually bought a few Wii Shop games recently in anticipation of this.

@scamander this is not how I understood it. If the channel shuts down for good, how on earth will you be able to re-download your games??

@spizzamarozzi google translate is your friend:
"You can continue to use "Wii Ware" "Virtual Console" re-downloaded, or "Moving from Wii" to move data from Wii to Wii U, but in the future these services It is also scheduled to close."

So yes, the ability to re-download games won't there be forever, but it will not shut down in January 2019.

Darned corporate planned obsolescence. Isn't it obvious? They're just doing this to force everyone to have to upgrade to a WiiU!

@Yorumi I have a mixed opinion on that line of thinking. On one hand "the storage and bandwidth costs nothing" is roughly true (maybe not the storage, but the bandwidth on this thing is going to be so negligible as to not show an uptick next to daily Splatoon traffic...) OTOH as someone that ends up having to maintain legacy service at times....it does have a hidden cost in terms of timeshare. They have to actually keep paying attention to it, monitoring it, updating it as needed, dealing with those servers/ports and their associated network routing configurations.....it's an extra "step" to think of when planning changes, and they'd no doubt live to get to just delete the references to it, break it at will and move on as though it doesn't exist.....and considering how little Wiis are used anymore why bother?

Personally, this is why I disdain "cloud" anything, full stop. It's always lose-lose. The end user inevitably loses access to something or has mandatory updates to "keep up with current" foisted upon them endlessly. And the company providing it ends up supporting a product they don't really want to support longer than they'd otherwise have to support it. No doubt they'd rather have started ignoring it around 2012.

Just say NO to clouds!

Well, with Nintendo planning a Netflix of Virtual Console, it sorta makes sense. Let's also keep in mind that this system was released in 2006, ended most online support and the console in 2013 (due to gamespy shutdown), and is only fully closing down the console in 2019. So if someone purchased a Wii in 2013 (when production was ended), they would have still had 6 years of support.

I think seven years of full support followed by 6 more years of limited support is a fairly good run for a console. Especially compared to the Wii U which only got 4 years on the market, and a very murky future of continued support (TVii & MiiVerse is already being shuttered).

As for the loss of digital libraries, it is just a fact of life. Everything eventually breaks or decays, even physical media. Heck, a lot of stuff regularly goes away simply because of licensing deals expiring long before a console dies.

@MasterWario "why would shutting down the service be a stepping stone for WiiWare games to be released elsewhere?"

B/c Nintendo might have them on some kind of legally binding contract that prohibits developers form porting their games elsewhere as long as they're on the Wiiware platform, but once that platform is shut down then the devs can legally take their games elsewhere. Maybe they will and maybe they won't, a lot of these games have already been ported elsewhere - World of Goo and Swords & Soldiers have both gotten around - but I think rather than everyone going after Ntinedo people should nicely contact the devs themselves and ask them - Hey Wiiware is shutting down. Loved your game, can you please make it available on Switch, PC or elsewhere." Nitneod can control Wiiware, but they shouldn't be expected to keep it running forever.

@Crono1973 my point is that physical is not "always" better as some say. I'm not arguing against it, but it's not perfection. Digital has its problems too. Small production runs are an issue of replication which is tied to physical media. With digital, there's no supply issue and no worry about inventory on the publisher side. I'm not too worried about Steam or GOG shutting down anytime soon. Sure, that's possible, but so is optical disc rot. Right now, I prefer DRM-free digital on PC. I get the benefits of digital, but I also own the games and can back them up.

It saddens me. During its heyday, I could not get many download games all that often due to the type of Bank Card I had at the time which meant point cards every once in awhile. Even when my card was upgraded, the 3DS was coming in and Wii U soon after. A couple of years ago, I started a monthly 1000 point purchase to catch up on what I missed, but being the sucker for TG16 that I am I kept buying those and not many of the Wiiware titles which are more in-danger of never being rereleased again (Or will Nintendo add Wiiware to Switch's VC? XD)

Now, I guess I have to switch my focus on Wiiware alone. Like others have said, time to make a list and calculate how many point purchases I'm gonna have to make. I know most of the Wiiware Library is shovelware garbage but there are some diamonds in the roughs in there and as a collector, its a shame I can't discover hidden gems through the monthly plan I had set up. Guess I just always thought I had more time.

There were some fun memories of a time where Nintendo was just getting used to having a digital store. Heck, its Virtual Console is what got me into Retro Collecting, discovering a lot of games I missed and games I had not played in years. While we never got every SEGA system on the service, it did me own every SEGA system and made me discover the hidden gem that was the Turbografx.

It's a shame Nintendo can't do one final sale, like reduce everything to 500 points or lower. They're going to make a small fortune from us gamers panic buying titles anyway, why not go further and make everything a lower price so that we buy more and more? I'm sure the 3rd parties/indie developers don't care or even recall still having games on the service at this point, least they'd all get one last paycheck from the little console that could.

Thank you for the memories Wii Shop Channel. Maybe the last bunch of titles I purchase from you create new memories to remember forever.... <3

Wait, did I read this right: "Users will be able to add funds to their accounts until March 27th, 2018; after that, you won’t be able to buy games from the shop on either the Wii or the Wii U". So the Wii U shop goes away January 31st, 2019 as well then...?

Well, I’m glad I got some VC games that I did, since they didn’t feel the need to put them on Wii U (like N64 Smash Bros.)

@MeloMan

If you have a WiiU you won't be able to buy on the Wii shop in Wii mode. The WiiU eShop will still be available.

I'm glad I've been preparing for this unfortunate event. I may be the minority but I still play and download consistently games on the Wii shop.

I'm just missing a couple of Genesis, Neo Geo and Snes games never released on Wii U. I got every WiiWare, Nes and TurboGrafx game I was interested except Lords of Thunder, hoping it will be released on Wii U.

Oh, and for people looking for WiiWare recommendations, of course the Rebirth Series or the MegaMan games were awesome. But a hidden gem I recommend everyone is Bonsai Barber, very fun and unique game!

Yeah, I've been keeping my Wii online due to it having the best Virtual Console options and I tend to limit my purchases only to games I know I will have time to play to completion, so I've been slowly buying stuff on it here and there even now. Sad to see it go, but I'm sure we've all been expecting this for some time now.

@Yorumi True but there's all the hidden stuff. Is it running on an older server reaching EOL? Is it dependent on any old libraries from a decade ago? Might be time to nix it before it fails. Can it be brought over to the eshop servers and current libraries? Sure, but then it has to be migrated and tested which is an expense, and manpower for zero gain. Does it make every change to routing tables and security that much more difficult?

Usually no company ends services "just because" (some do it to force upgrades but I think we're pretty sure that Wii Shop isn't interfering with Switch sales at all.) Usually they end it when the existence of it causes some kind of problem. "Hey that old Wii server is failing....should we migrate it?" "Uhm...no, there's like 500 people using it." or "Hey we're locking down security based on the recent audit, but the old Wii server's still using OpenSSL2....if we're going to meet the security goals, we've got to ditch it" or "hey we're planning a streamlining of the network topology in advance of that regional WAN upgrade....the old Wii services will take an extra 5 or so hours to configure and test" ("Why are we spending 5 hours on it...let's just EOL it, it's mostly dead anyway.")

Cloud dependence itself is the ugly thing (and why I disdain digital and "partial digital" for retail games and always, always will.) There's nothing inappropriate or invalid about the above theoretical conversations. The thing that's inappropriate is that they managed to sell the public into accepting an infrastructure about which teh above conversations must inevitably occur.

Might get Chrono Trigger

@Yorumi There's the thing. It always comes back to "steam does this, steam does that." Steam doesn't offer an option for physical games that don't rely on the cloud. More physical games are relying on it, which sucks, but on Steam the availability of that is 0%. It always hinges on Steam being invincible, never running into financial trouble, never moving on to greener pastures, never being sold, and Newell living forever. SOMEDAY. Steam will change. Or Vanish. Or be absorbed by EA Origin or Amazon Prime, or Azure Cloud. And when that day comes, there goes decades of collected games down the drain. It may not be this year or this decade, but it will happen with near absolute certainty. I don't question Steams dependability today, but it would be folly to assume it's forever either. I'd take my cartridge of BotW over anything Steam being there 30 years from now.

As for patches, yep...same problem. Everyone complained about Nintendo not "getting with the times and figuring out online".....but online was a downward whirlpool since day one. Patches alone destroy longterm viability of any game that's not vetted to be very tight at launch. Nobody vets more than Nintendo and even they've had some very critical patches.

PC is being held up by Steam right now, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Steam is the reason physical PC games vanished entirely....which was always the safer bet. It's, literally, a DRM system....and it's not much MORE than a DRM system. It's generous because it's a virtual monopoly and for now chooses to wield it's power over it's clients versus against it's consumers. To a degree Steam's the only one doing digital right, though it's with irony that they created the WORST digital system anyone has managed to come up with yet, and only changed it in court because they had no choice. I can see you many people trust them given their recent track record, but given their original intent and the fact that it's the same people running the show, I surely wouldn't trust them long term any more than Nintendo or anyone with digital. That's the problem with online. The terms change without notice, and you're simply a guest in their establishment, not a customer in possession of your product.

The main difference with PC is that it's simply one permanent platform: Windows, more or less. As long as Windows remains Windows and remains x86 compatible, Steam and GoG can keep selling games from any era because the client software is always current. Consoles have ever changing platforms, or at least so far have (this problem may not exist in the future actually at least with the PC twins....we'll see about Switch given it's ARM backend.) Running Wii servers today would be like running Amiga backends on Steam. Plenty of great Amiga games, but you can't buy them on Steam.

Remember with Windows 8 when MS wanted to FORCE migration to Silverlight/Metro to make a more Apple-like ecosystem of a Windows App store, and all software had to be distributed through them, along with the EOL of native applications and the desktop? That was the original plan. Until enterprise backlash shut it down fast. If at some point MS succeeds in replacing the open platform with a closed one and turns it into an Apple/mobile ecosystem as they definitely want to try to accomplish......you'll see the backward compatibility of those services vanish with it and they too will EOL.

@Yorumi No, that's not the same as upgrading your PC from one OS to the next or upgrading your existing OS with a big Windows update. Sorry.

So I always wanted to play through ogre battle series. Should I invest or hope for a switch release?

Need to grab Castlevania Rebirth, SSF2TURBO, and all of the Super Star Wars....

The Genesis line up on Virtual Console is what I hold closest to my heart.

@Anti-Matter: Yes, you can archive/back-up your Wii, & 3DS VC, & digital games, to an sd card. It's smarter to keep the copy on a pc. You can make multiple copies. The catch however, is that your games will only play on the system that recognizes them as having been previously downloaded.

@NEStalgia: I totally agree on not going with cloud-based anything. I also was going to say something very similar to something I noticed you already mentioned. That is, that pcs have the benefit of not being tied to any proprietary service, except the lifespan, & moreso support of, an os. On the other side of the coin, consoles are under that proprietary control, of, & by whoever manufactured it.

@Yorumi: I honestly think, & believe that a large portion of these kinds of issues are based on what I was going to say to you, & NEStalgia. Consoles are what I would call, "closed-circuit" in a manner of metaphorically speaking. Proprietary, & also partially dependent on an external service, for some of its game library. The nice thing about pcs, is that aside from os lifespan/support, it's an open-ended platform as NEStalgia beat me to mentioning. Ironically, consoles have developed these problems, in my opinion, from trying to emulate pcs, with the obvious exception of not being an open-ended platform, & hardware not being legally capable of upgrade.

@Everyone_Else: It's at least very nice, & welcome, that Nintendo, unless this is mistranslated, is giving ample heads-up notice on this shut-down. Though one has to build upon this assumption it is a correct translation, & ponder, Is Nintendo being nice to their "Wii-customers", in faint hopes of recapturing their wallets?

First I will miss the Wii Shop music. Second get the Konami Rebirth games. Hopefully one day they will get an HD upgrade. Also check out the Art style games.

best shop music : (

Dude I'm going to miss the wii shop channel so much. It was my childhood. Also that wii shop music in unforgettable. I gotta go get the last few games I've been meaning to get on my wii. #RIPWiiShopChannel

@Yorumi I don't have an irrational hatred of PC. I have a rational hatred of everything cloud. You have an irrational faith in Steam.

Nor am I defending Nintendo, I'm,j again, citing my dislike of everything cloud dependent, particularly when money is tied to "good faith" of private organizations who are under no obligation to act faithfully if their own interests are served otherwise. Nor are they evil for doing so. Folly is on the customer for believing something that there was no reason to believe.

Also, Newell is different from Iwata in the regard that he is the owner of Valve and Steam. Iwata was just an elected official to operate the organization. Yes, he was the heart and soul of it. But organizationally the organization endures as is because he was never the organization and final word itself, he was just selected as the leader by a public organization. Newell owns it. It's his organization (and whatever private investors he chooses to share that ownership with.) He's the final word. So no matter how economically beneficial screwing customer might be, if Gabe says no, it's final. But the flip of the coin, without him, someone else owns it and makes all those decisions. Even with Iwata Nintendo as a public company was governed by committee. Valve is governed by his own vision (which has not always been altruistic....Gabe may be useful to you now, but don't mistake him for being your friend as a champion of consumer rights.....he isn't.)

But people seem to confuse Steam (a retailer and DRM platform) with Nintendo/Sony/XBox (a platform operator.) And the two are different. The more direct equivalent to all three would be Microsoft (well, they're in both lists but you know what I mean.) Your old content continues to be provided because the platform hasn't changed. Windows is still windows. Software from 1995 still runs (or does with a few updates patched in.) If Windows were to be replaced with MacOS, Linux, or be radically redesigned to stop supporting native win32 applications (as they intended starting with 8) your Steam games will magically go poof.

I.E. "Nintendo cuts access, and Steam doesn't" isn't the right comparison. "Nintendo Cuts access after 2 platform generations, but windows has been the same platform since the 90's" is the right comparison.

And lets hope that reality doesn't change. Gaming is the least of our worries if our $1000-1.5M enterprise software packages that billions in revenues depend on go poof.....But microsoft does want to change that... So it's the wrong comparison. It's Windows that you're grateful for, not Steam. that's what compares to console generations. Steam's just the distribution system and DRM client.

That aside, you seem to have the same problems with digital I do except for the inexplicable faith in Steam. I'm not telling you to love or not love Steam. I'm just telling you that by its very nature as a cloud service, it's not going to be "Forever" like physical media can be. It'll let you down at some point, and it's going to suck if you convince yourself otherwise. It may be "better" in terms of duration than its competitors, but it's still not permanent. If you want permanent you really need to demand nothing but physical. Which of course Steam did all it could do to obsolete on its platform in favor of it's lovely DRM client.

@taffy I would love to make/participate in a forum for a must-have list for the wii shop channel

I still love the Wii Shop music!

Understandable but I cant help feel sad and nostalgic. I loved buying from it mostly VC games.

End of an era indeed

This makes me mad. There were games that were only on DSiWare that are lost indefinitely & now they're doing the same to the Wii. Grow up Nintendo & stop being so greedy!

WIIU YOU ARE NEXT!

Wait, they're shutting down the online store? Why? How much does that really cost to keep online? So you just... won't be able to buy different games on the system anymore forever? Not even virtual console titles?

I might pick up a few things I'd missed out on. Maybe some DLC for what I already have.

On that note, guys, LostWinds. I know it can transfer to the Wii U now. Question. If I transfer it now, will it overwrite /everything else/ on my Wii Channel? Should I just buy the game again and bite the bullet?

@Yorumi i don't entirely disagree, but i also see the in business if "when do you discontinue a service that's scarcely used and generates no revenue. In this case, it's a store, so it does generate revenue, but at what level of low use dues the effort to maintain it not equal the income from it. Games on steam can be purchased by anyone playing in pc it's all one platform. But are they going out of their way to offet games for DOS? I want my daggerfall and mechwarrior2!

Maybe xbox will remain one long term platform now. Maybe ps will, to. Switch probably won't, but it's more likely than prior platforms. Either way I'm not going to love digital any time soon. Given the x1 backlash, maybe neither will most console gamers. After all, many console gamers, like me, pick console over pc EXPLICITLY because of physical. The switch to digital via steam is why I bailed from PC to begin with. Physical for me to the bitter end for all the reasons you say. Physical is half the point of console.

I should make sure I grab all the virtual console stuff I want before the cut off

@DarthFoxMcCloud
Super Star Wars, ESB & ROTJ are some of the best games on the SNES. It's bizarre how little they're mentioned in online articles etc.

@Yorumi
About digital download games disappearance....
If the things must gone, just let them GONE by naturally !
Nothing is Eternal.
I will miss them, but I will NOT got into Tantrum just because the digital download games gone. If they are gone, just move on to something different.
Try to learn not obsessing something too much or you oftenly show your Tantrum about something like this.

Oh look, it's this website's resident school-marm lecturing others with different opinions again! If only everything came in powder blue and white and was G-Rated all would be good.

@Yorumi: "If nintendo wanted to be more pro-consumer they could."

I know I'm probably going to sound cheap, but I agree with you, specifically regarding prices. I've heard 3DS repair starts at $75, going only higher, depending on needed repairs. Since Miiverse is going in a month, & I don't need SNes games on the go that badly, there's really no reason to justify purchasing a new 3DS. Since I don't actually gamble, I'd metaphorically wager that the parts to fix the 3DS motherboard(in my case, the l/r triggers, cart-loading spring mechanism, & I accidentally disconnected my wi-fi ribbon antennae) are not anywhere near $75. Further still, I bet Nintendo could charge significantly less, & still make a cool profit. & yes, I know this issue of mine is very first-world problem.

If I download games and the shop ends, will I still have the games?

I can't even access the shop

@Voldemort807 Yes.

@Capt_N "I'd metaphorically wager that the parts to fix the 3DS motherboard(in my case, the l/r triggers, cart-loading spring mechanism, & I accidentally disconnected my wi-fi ribbon antennae) are not anywhere near $75."
Probably not, but you also have to pay the labor cost.

@Anti-Matter haha great work !!!

The original Hyrdoventure/Fluidity is an absolute masterpiece. Download it before it's gone!!

It's a shame, but predictable move by Nintendo. If no one uses these E-shops anymore, they get closed down. It's way to early though, for the Wii U.

I think people are complaining for the wrong reasons about this. What is wrong about downloading and making a backup of it all?

The real complain, and biggest problem with digital content, is the DRM. I have nothing against downloading all the content, and make backup to a SD-card.

But all the Wii digital games are locked to my console, so what if it breaks in a couple of years? Then all the games are gone too. I can't move them to another console!

Nintendo should move the DRM away from all these games, before shutting the E-shop down. People could then freely move their content around, and have "real" backups forever. It would then be as good as physical games, actually.

Yes... this would result in some piracy in the end, where people would copy games to each other. But why care about this, when your are closing it all down anyway?!? There is nothing to loose from it.

Nintendo would actually just give the rights for the product to the consumer, who actually bought it. This way, the community could also preserve all these games for the future.

@illy The Wii Shop Channel music has actually been officially released, but it was a Japanese Club Nintendo exclusive. http://vgmdb.net/album/10379

I LOVE the Wii VC and WiiWare and still play those games today. IMO a these are very under appreciated features of the Wii. I will definitely be picking up more games and I appreciate Nintendo giving us a heads up rather than just closing down the service with no notice. All together I have bought a couple of hundred games from Wii VC and WiiWare. Highly recommend you pick up some of these games and especially the N64 games because they look great on modern TVs. Nintendo really did a good job of improving the picture quality of the N64 games on the service. BTW this is a great reason why you don't want to skimp on memory cards and get the cheap ones. This is why I invested in a high quality 32 GB SanDisk SD card for my Wii a while ago so I hope to be able to enjoy these games in the years to come. This does bring up some of the down sides of digital games though.

I had fun with Water Warfare

@Anti-Matter,

I believe you can, though I am not sure.
On a side-note: I fear dsi is next. The dsi shop has already closed if I am correct, but you could still download dsi titles at the 3DS e-shop. I fear that will end soon too!

Ummm…
Netflix channel still works on my old Wii. My parents use it every night, since I gave my Wii to them after upgrading to Wii U in 2012.

@dimi It likely differs between region, but the PSP Store was taken down in the US over a year ago.

You can still download owned games again from the account options, but the PSP no longer allows you to buy games or movies directly off the system.

@Quetzar If you don't play those games anymore then what's the problem whether they are there or not?

It's best to think of digital games as long term rentals. Just make the most out of your rental while you can.

I know some people are finding the dates confusing so I can explain them, you have until March 27th, 2018 to add points to your account, after that you cant add any more points and you have until January 31st, 2019 to spend them or re-download any games you have bought.

I hope this clears things up

I really hope this is because the Switch's Virtual Console is imminent.

But, this does once again raise one of the major issues I have with modern consoles: Often stuff isn't really yours forever, even though you've paid your hard-earned money for it.

It's basically impossible for this kind of junk to happen with classic gaming systems like the NES, SNES, N64 or GC, or even with the modern SNES Mini. With those systems you have access to the games you purchased forever, and you don't have to worry about potentially losing digital versions if you didn't store them all on an SD card or if the online system is closed down, which might be the only way to access some digital games going forward (as they may not even let future gamers actually download versions to permanently store locally).

This is just one of the reasons why I still say the SNES was all-round the most satisfying console of all time.

If you haven't got an SD card for your WiiWare games, maybe it's time to invest in one.

@Fandabidozi I think it's just a matter of the Super Star Wars games splitting opinion. Some still hold them up as gems on the system. Others don't think they've held up or were any good in the first place. They're not as "universally" loved as many other SNES games.

This is crap, soon I lose 300 Wii downloads and then probably 5 years later I lose 300 Wii U downloads.

I don't make that mistake again. Switch is perfect for physical and bad for downloads anyway.

@Caryslan you can still buy them on pc and download them on psp though. Can you do that in Wii?

Would Iwata approve of this?

I'm a late adopter / budget gamer, so this definitely affects me. I'm still building a Wii library on the cheap and have been planning to buy a Wii U sometime next year. I've been putting off buying VC games until then because I don't want to pay to transfer my purchases. Looks like Nintendo is going to force my hand early and I'll be getting a Wii U sooner than I expected to. I'm not mad; as the author says, it was only a matter of time. I'm really glad to know well enough in advance!

It's bad, no way to spin it into positive. One of the best features of Xbox is the DRM and the backwards/forwards compatibility. You don't lose your games.

R.I.P That catchy music on the wii

I loved the Wii shop... I regret selling my Wii. I would actually consider getting another one

@DEAD I was thinking that too. Can't understand why the Nintendo Switch doesn't have any music playing while you're browsing the eShop.

rare downloads for life
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii_u_virtual_console/nintendo_should_charge_more_for_vc_games_that_are_rare_rare_downloads

The Digital trash can has been opened.

I don't get what people are complaining about with digital distribution. It's easy to make sure you have everything downloaded and saved somewhere before the shutdown happens. You can even make backups of your data if you feel so inclined. So you do indeed own your digital purchases forever with a little foresight. Even if your console dies, you can get a replacement and have Nintendo transfer your account to the new one.

I think you people are misinterpreting the way the article was intended to be read. According to Serebii, you can still buy new games (and presumably redownload old ones) with existing points until the 2019 date. You just can't add new points to your account after the 2018 date.

@westmeadow Um, there's no charge to transfer your account from a Wii to a Wii U. You only have to (optionally) pay a couple extra dollars per Virtual Console game to update them to the Wii U version with restore point functionality and so on, which makes no difference in the overall price whether you download it on the Wii first or wait to download it on the Wii U.

@SKTTR Your SD card is where exactly? You must have one, seeing as the Wii's internal memory can't possibly hold 300 downloads, anyway.

@Henmii I think DSiWare games are safe until the 3DS eShop itself closes down, since they went ahead and made almost every single one automatically available on it. On that note, that probably means that after the Wii Shop Channel shuts down, you'll still be able to buy and redownload Virtual Console games to your Wii U that are also available on the Wii U eShop.

@BulbasaurusRex,

You may be right about the 3DS e-shop. As for Wii u: Yeah, I guess those vc titles stay available for now. Recently they added some Turbografx games after all.

Sort out your online for the Switch Nintendo! It's pathetic.

@Yorumi By now, who does really care about re-playing a WiiWare game?

For when it closes down, it'll have been nearly 13 years since the Wii release.

I'm sure many people in 13 years will be playing some other, newer, consoles than Switch or Wii U.

Of course people are using this as an excuse to immediately bash digital distribution, despite the fact we don't yet know the full details and the fact that the Wii Shop closing doesn't magically make your downloads cease to function. As long as you keep them backed up to SD cards, it should work fine. Barring both my Wii and SD Card exploding at the same exact time, my digital library should be fine.

The idea that digital is "renting" and physical is "forever" is a fallacy that needs to stop. As a collector, I'm here to tell you now that physical has it's own set of drawbacks and there is no such thing as forever with either media. I've had physical games up and stop working for no reason (RIP Dawn of Sorrow, had to buy another copy), break, etc.. Disc rot is a thing too, although I've personally never experienced it. Discs scratch, cartridges malfunction, downloads corrupt. There is no such thing as forever. All we can do as consumers is try to maintain our collections as best as we can and if all else fails, we have piracy to fall back on.

Don't mistake this for a defense, however. Nintendo is absolutely wrong to close the Wii Shop when it likely costs them next to nothing to maintain, but it really is too soon to start complaining too much. We don't know that Nintendo isn't planning some sort of replacement. We also don't know if the closure will mean downloads are disabled. There's just too much we don't know as of now.

I'm gonna miss that platformer about pushing the kid around with wind

@jimi No, I am an adult that is old enough to realize that nothing in this world lasts forever. Even those NES carts eventually will fail. Plastics will eventually grow brittle, copper contacts wear out, as do circuit boards. CD's rot, get scratched, fail, and break. Heck, sometimes the game fails with no explanation. Even the hardware to run it eventually goes away. I have three disk holders full of C-64 games that aren't even worth the material they hold now because the disks demagnetized and I no longer have a C64 to run them on.

There is also the fact that I made every purchase on the eShop knowing full well it was a time limited deal. Same as when I purchased Xbox Live Arcade games and every other digital title I have purchased. No matter what I personally think of that agreement (or the legality of it), it is something I agreed to. It was clearly stated for anyone who purchased if they bothered to read it. Caveat emptor.

I also understand, as others have stated, what it takes to keep a few servers up and running. It isn't just bandwidth and hardware, but maintenance, patching new security flaws, and eternally making sure everything plays nice together. Are you this upset that Apple dropped 32-bit support with iOS 11? Because you just lost access to anything you purchased 10 years ago that wasn't maintained.

All I did was point out the obvious, Nintendo supported the Wii well longer than most consoles have been supported. It also isn't in line with their future plans for them to continue to support it. Rage against it all you want, it doesn't change the reality of it. That said, good luck finding a game/entertainment company that doesn't do this in some way.

Content ownership rights have been eroded for years by pushing people to subscription based rentals. Not just in games, but in all media. Media companies have realized, "Why sell something once, when we can convince people to pay continuously for access to it and never actually give them anything?" just as physical goods companies long ago moved to designing things with Planned obsolescence. It is a consequence of a consumer culture that demands instant gratification and an insatiable hunger to always be entertained. Yes greed is an issue, but we as consumers are just as guilty for the situation we find ourselves.

@Onion Physical media does not last forever, but enough if you take good care of it. I have Sonic 1 from Master System since 1991 and I am proud to say that it rarely causes any problems even these days.

If I can't buy a game on a console in time, I can still get it years later. I bought Kingdom Hearts for PS2 several years after its release because physical media allows this.

But digital media and DLCs don't work that way. They are in fact temporary and this is not something that anyone can control (Unlike physical media).

If I didn't buy something exclusive in the Wii Shop before it closed... Game Over. I will never be able to play again unless the company is kind enough to re-release this game, but not all of them come to that.

Physical media and digital media both do not last forever. But if you have a bit of luck and care, the physical media can last for the rest of your life,that's all matters.

@BulbasaurusRex My SD Card that has 300 Wii downloads (Virtual Console / WiiWare / Demos / Wii Channels) is in my Wii U. I have all my Wii downloads transfered to Wii U (with a few games gotten lost in that transfer and not being able to redownload, like LostWinds 2, Toribash Violence Perfected, and Yoshi's Cookie; a loss of about 25€.)

Then there's my Wii U external harddrive, also filled to the brim with 300 downloads - no, even more! - I had to delete games very often from my 1TB harddrive, and it is not even half full yet.

Should I get Boogerman, Castlevania Rebirth, or any other games before they're gone forever?

I need to go through the WiiWare shop and pick up some of the better offerings. Expected them to land on the WiiU eventually, but that didn't happen.

I had exported all the the Guitar Hero and Rock Band Track Packs to my PS3 when they came out, The Metallica track pack was removed without even a wimper, not even visable in my downloads list, i know it affects so few people,but i couldn't re download the songs after my first Ps3 died.

@VinixTKOC

Physical media can and will sometimes up and stop working for no reason, though. Discs can rot, cartridges can decide not to work, discs can scratch even if you take care of them, etc..

The fact is, neither media will last forever and may not last for as long as you live. I could make the same argument for any physical cartridge, but as someone who owns THOUSANDS of physical media, I've had to unfortunately throw out several games because I realize years later, they simply don't work. No amount of cleaning fixes them. While I've never had this happen with Atari 2600 or NES, I've had it happen with several handheld games and Dreamcast games.

Meanwhile as long as I keep my digital media backed up to SD cards, it SHOULD last me. Barring my console and cards both malfunctioning, or being destroyed. Ideally, Nintendo would allow us to redownload but I wouldn't count on that.

I feel you on not getting to the downloads in time though. A Double Dragon game I wanted was pulled from XBLA before I could download it, and I know the DKC games were pulled at one point so that can definitely happen. DLC can be missed out on too, I narrowly dodged that bullet with Marvel Alliance 2.

EDIT: To further elaborate on this because I probably have more experience with this than most.... Cartridges and CDs have a lifespan just like humans. There have already been reports of Atari 2600 cartridges starting to die (All of mine still work but for how long?) and it's already somewhat common knowledge now that most older games are only meant to last 20 years. CDs corrode too so they aren't exempt from this. Ask someone who works at the NYC Game Library and I'm sure they'll tell you that quite a few cartridges are already dead or dying. So if I know this, why do I bother? Because they're still collector's items and I believe even if they do stop working someday, they'll retain value. What about digital items then? They don't have a lifespan like physical carts do, but when downloading ANYTHING, you run the risk of it corrupting at some point, the license being unable to be renewed, the server containing it ceasing to exist, being pulled from the servers, etc. CD's SUPPOSEDLY have a lifespan of 100-200 years but unless you leave it locked in a glass case and never touch or use it, it's unlikely it'll last anywhere near that long.

Bottom line for folks is to enjoy gaming and don't worry too much about what the future holds. Games and consoles break, there's not much you can do about it. This is one reason why I'm glad we have data backups. Someday these backup roms may be all we have.

@SKTTR So then what's the problem? You admit that your Wii downloads are all safe (as long as you made sure to redownload each title again after you transfered them to Wii U; if not, you've still got plenty of time to do so), and you have plenty of time in the upcoming years to backup your Wii U digital collection to external media.

The only real problem you have is that you're either not picky enough with your game selections or have more money and free time than sense to surpass the download limits like you do. Have you tried getting around the download limit by using a flash drive to hold the extra games and passing them back and forth to the external hard drive as you play them?

@VinixTKOC That's only an issue if they pull access with no warning. You still have a couple of months to go through the Wii shop and pick out how much to spend on what you want and over a year after that to actually make the purchases and downloads. Once you do, your digital purchases will be as safe as your physical ones as long as you keep them on an SD card.