Nintendo Appears To Be Pulling DSiWare Games From The 3DS eShop

That's an argument for getting physical copies for sure.

I get why folks don't want to go full digital and that's despite me still preferring it.

2011? Are we time traveling to turn this stuff off?

One of the big issues here is storage. If you bought a good number of DSiWare games (like I did), then you can only store them on the internal memory of a DSi or a 3DS, both of which do not have much internal storage. If the games are removed from the shop permanently, then some folks might have to pick and choose the games they keep.

2011? Whoa. R.I.P. Shantae

@Kalmaro ...you do realize that delisting the game only affects people who haven't bought it yet, right? Anyone who already bought it can still redownload it.

Currently browsing eShop to see what's gone in Europe and what's still available that I need. I thought they'd give a warning like they did with Wii Shop Channel so I've been putting off buying DSiWare games.

Can't wait for the rest to be removed on March 31 😑

@Kalmaro The issue here is that these titles were never available physically to begin with.

At leat these games are preserved online, provided you have no issue with emulation or piracy.
Of which, when the original is no longer available to purchase legitimately, it removes a tiny bit of the feeling of doing something wrong with emulation

Huh, I thought they already removed them.

I was wondering when this would finally come. The last DSi games I bought were Pucca’s Noodle Rush and Mario’s Cement Factory. I did want to buy Bomberman but frankly it’s too expensive seeing that it’s only a DSI ware and not a full 3DS title. The cost of some of these games are far too high, you’d think they’d be discounted in relation to sales performance or just general economics and dated they are now but no....

@Gwynbleidd Because physical copies last forever? Like for example my pile of non working cartridges or Gamecube discs that can not be read.

Edit: just to clarify, I'm not advocating digital, far from it.

@link3710 yes, but for how long before the Redownload option is removed too?

@Marioman2020 Still has games on Apple Arcade and Switch and stuff tho...

People argue that game backups are piracy, but this is a perfect example where if you purchased the game you should be entitled to keeping the ROM forever.

What is it with Nintendo pulling the plug on everything in 2021 (the Mario-games, dsi-Ware)? Are they closing?

Asphalt 4?, Is this game never supposed to be on the 3DS eShop?!
Oh well, really It's a shame that events like this continue, and that good games are no longer available for future generations ...

@Gwynbleidd non working cartridges? What did you do to them? Did you drop them on the floor and dance on top of them? I have games since the nes era and they all work perfectly.

Luckily the ones I remember wanting are still on European eShop. Grabbing them while I can. Noticed couple of games missing that I already have though. Namely AlphaBounce which I ended up not liking that much and Picdun which I really enjoyed. At least the sequel is still available since it's a 3DS downloadable.

Since it's only a bunch and not the whole lot, I wonder if it's the licensing agreements expiring? Sometimes companies can renew agreements if they want, like how Ducktales Remastered vanished only to come back soon after.

Though given the 3DS is in its twilight years and this is a service from the previous gen, neither party might bother.....

@link3710 @RupeeClock @ianl579
Hey guys, I hear what you're saying. My point is just that, as we shift to digital formats and step away from physical, it's going to make it harder for people who never had the option to get the games.

Sucks that you can't buy games if your system memory is full. I'd rather get everything first (download to SD) and then sort them later in the settings. Now I have to do the boring copying and deleting part first to make some space. And I don't even know how much I need.

If one goes to the shop from a 3ds and hits search then selects “dsi..” in the filter:
it seems NA region dsiware released prior to 5/23/2011 is not currently available (this is just from a quick check)

That sucks. Glad I own RR already.

This sort of thing is why all-digital isn't a great option, since games can just permanently vanish.

What I'm objecting to is that the games were pulled without warning. They announced when the Wii Shop Channel was going down to give customers a chance to buy/preserve software. Also, were the developers and publishers notified of the sudden removal of their games? I'm curious what was in the contract they signed with Nintendo.

I hope this is a fluke, but it's inched me over to Team Physical.

@Bizaster I think Photo Dojo got more playtime on my DSi than both Shantae and Cave Story combined.

@link3710 This is still a problem, when a game gets delisted, there are people who wanted to buy it but can't.

@chiefeagle02 @acNewUpdates
Exactly- An announcement would inhibit so called piracy and keep good will, of course, it could just be a temporary matter.

And- yes, some of us are new to the 3DS.

I just purchased Mighty Flip Champ and Airport mania in the last two days. I was looking at The art style series presently and came here wondering if it was just me.

@rosemo But doesn't the 3DS have a micro SD card slot to have more space? (I'm pretty sure I have a 128GB card, which is an overkill.)

Have a really nice little collection of these on my 3DS. Had Shantae DSiWare which was banging. Now it's on my SD card (can't play DSiWare gamed from an SD card wierdly).

Good times.

I think we may see Switch eShop version of a fair few of them. We currently have 10 Second Run on the Switch eShop.

@PosterBoy Cartridges being completely broken is rare. Most of the time it's just dirty, most common issue is dead save batteries needing the proper skills to replace.
As to scratches on discs, well, that's not the medium's fault is it?

Mr. Driller has been gone from the U.S. shop longer. I checked for it a couple of months ago and it wasn't there.

I won't get into a "physical vs digital" conversation, but I'll will say that this is why videogame preservation is an absolute must, which totally becomes digital in the end (before conversation of "how to play" begins). If the original IP owners (or new owners) don't continue to provide a means to play their games, then emulation becomes essential rather than illegal.

I bet they have pulled these from the E-Shop ready to sell as full priced switch ports now they have ran out of wii-U games.

I stopped buying DS games after my 3DS got destroyed and I lost my full download library (including my Ambassador collection), Nintendo couldn't do anything to help as there wasn't enough of the console left to transfer the saves across. Morale of the story, don't take a handheld to play on lunch when you work on a building site lol.

@Roronoa11 you mean Bomberman Blitz? Even if it's not a 3DS title, it's still a great game if you like classic Bomberman multiplayer with CPUs. A lot of maps and different settings, gets insane on higher difficulties. Worth money, in my opinion.

Aaaaand this is why people hack their consoles. It's not illegal to play a ROM of they took away your only way of buying it.

I've never looked through DSi digital games, as I own a DS Lite, but if I was to buy some titles through 3DS, what games would you guys recommend me that are exclusive to the DSiWare? Thanks

@rosemo If I remember correctly, DSiWare could be moved to an SD card for storage, it only needed to be on the internal memory if you wanted to use it.

@Kalmaro It's only really a problem on consoles so far though right?

Buy a game on steam and it's still there 5 years later no problem.

@LUIGITORNADO
No, I own several steam games, which are not on sale anymore.

@RupeeClock That's dumb. I did not know that. Thanks for the info, I will have to double-check my old games now. I feel like a small update from Nintendo could fix that, but we both know that is highly unlikely.

@LUIGITORNADO No games have been de-listed from Steam before, if you've got a game on your wish list from a developer that no longer exists you should probably buy it now. There's no telling if it will be there forever.

@LUIGITORNADO What the other guys said.

Shoot, there was a recent scandal where that horror game was removed because it made fun of China. I think it was on GoG, called "Devotion".

Made by red candle games.

Even if you get a physical now, thee are patches and updates tied to your device. We are at the mercy of Nintendo regardless. Nintendo’s answer will be to sell you the game yet again on another system.

I like buying digital because I know I don't have to search for the game that I want to play, however the only place that is best to actually buy digital games from is on PC. Consoles force you to buy the game multiple times depending on the system(on brand) that you want to play it on, While steam/gog you can access it anywhere/anytime.

While I prefer to play online games on console(Less cheaters/No KB&M) once steam comes up with an option to only allow gamepad players to play with other gamepad players and not the latter, then console gaming(for me) will be the thing of the past.

Just bought the Shantae games from LR for the switch. Most of the DSi games have already gone anyway. Plants VS Zombies, Mario minis, Birds and Bombs. Buy physical media people

They’ve been available longer than most physical games stay in print. I guess physical you can get second hand, assuming you can find it or indeed afford it. It’s a lot easier to start redistributing digital games than it is to reprint physicals too. So I’d say these games’ futures are still brighter than say Doshin the Giant on GameCube for example.

I'll never understand who says "I've already played it/it's an old game/it's a small game... So it's no problem that it will vanish forever. Who cares about who would discover these games years later?"

This way of thinking is disrespectful for videogames as a medium, and for all the people that work behind them. Whenever something like this occurs, emulation is the only right way to choose.

Games preservation is a more and more important matter for our passion.

@Kriven Are you trying to say I was not taking care of my cartridges – how in the world did you manage to obtain this brilliant insight? If by that you mean "you played them a lot so the contacts got worn out" than fair enough.

Considering DSiWare can be used as an entry point for installing homebrew, this makes some sense. That said, you can also use an R4 cart to achieve the same goal, and the firmware for those are always being updated whenever Nintendo updates the 3DS, so maybe that's not the reason at all, and it's just not profitable to keep DSiWare games available on the 3DS eShop anymore.

@KingMike What you're saying is probably statistically true but not in my case. For example the top layer of my GC Super Smash disc just started peeling off, the disc is not scratched at all (edit: the bottom side that is). I never dropped it, sat on it, improperly stored it, nothing. It just fell apart.

@RupeeClock Well, as long as you've already bought the games, it isn't that hard to keep the game data and save files backed up. Even if your (2/3)DS dies, you can get your account transferred to a new one (or a used one that's new to you since legitimately new ones are going to be harder and harder to find now).

@Fido007 Nobody forces you to double dip on digital console releases. As long as you aren't stupid enough throw out or box your old systems, you can just buy the game once and keep playing it on whatever system it was purchased and perhaps another one that's backwards compatible with that system. That is, unless new added content makes a second purchase worthwhile.

This reminds me of when the virtual console version of Tetris as well as Tetris Axis were both removed from the 3DS eShop. Other regions issued warnings indicated when they were going to be removed, but North America issued no such warning. I assumed that meant they weren’t being removed here, but sure enough they were without warning.

@Fido007 Outrageously off topic, but that’s the best Avatar I’ve seen in a while. I know a place....

@Moroboshi876
Art Style series - particularly Pictopict, Kubos and Boxlife. Brilliant.
Bejeweled Twist (better than bejeweled)
Pop+ Solo
Ivy the Kiwi? (Mini)
Glow Artisan
Aura-Aura Climber
Dragon Quest Wars
Reflect Missle
Surfacer+
Starship Patrol
QuickPick Farmer
AlphaBounce
Suijin Taisen
Game & Watch DK Jr
Bookworm
Paper Plane
Birds & Bombs
Pyoro
Photo Dojo
Rytmik series (esp. Retrobits)
10 Second Run
Puzzle Quest

(Switch eShop has the best version of the last two games there).

Also lighter versions of Mario vs Donkey Kong, Bomberman Blitz, Plants vs Zombies, Dr. Mario etc. which are all good.

Others: Airport Mania, other Game & Watch games, DodoGo Robo, Flight Control

Weridly Risky revenge is more expensive than the switch release of it in Euro shop.

@victordamazio Agreed, but that has nothing to do with buying physical prior to that point being better.

@chewytapeworm Well Emily and I tried to make it to Crobar but it was a Bridge too Far.... I'll see myself out

@BulbasaurusRex Unless you have a Huge collection of consoles in your basement, your not really gonna keep your old consoles, between breaking from extended use or just life. The only 2 consoles I have left over the past decade is my vita and my 3ds, both of which have controller issues (Vita has drift on the right side, and 3ds L/R buttons are broken) With steam all you need is a laptop and any controller to play any of those games, for way cheaper/easier then it is to find an old console.

I get nervous when Nintenders messes with my favorite consoles (3ds) eShop, and I don't like ANYTHING without WARNING...unless it's a wizard walking by.

@Bizaster I sure do. I sunk a bunch of time into it and even drew my own characters and backgrounds for some of the pictures I took.

@Fido007 hehe for certain consoles I absolutely plan to keep even after I'm dead. I have my original Gameboy and games from when I was a wee child. It still works perfectly and I still sometimes grab it instead of 3ds or switch to take with me to play during break times. I love how even to this day there is still NO BETTER console than old Gameboy to play outdoors or in a bright environment. Also I love 3ds so much that I will absolutely be keeping it forever. I have 3 of them and my game collection, both physical and digital is immense, I couldn't imagine not having it around, and since ol Nintenders isn't continuing the DS/3ds line I'm sure I'm not the only one who plans to keep theirs. Also a 3ds console saved my life once (no really, not jhoking) and I kinda feel obligated to return the favor. But that is a story for another comment section

Bring out the nintendo defenders.

@Zorox88 Nintender Defenders Assemble!

More reasons why digital games are a bad idea.

@PosterBoy
Clean the Contacts with Alcohol, they'll work like new.
Never blow into them, thats what destroys the most.

@rosemo AYou can still redownload them & they can be backed to the SD card, just thet they can only run on the internal memory.

@Bizaster My kids still play it occasionally, even though we have a switch. My six year old son thinks it is hilarious.

Oh nuts, I’ve been wanting to buy Soul of Darkness and I sat on it. 😟. Is it truly gone as of the 1st?

I hope it’s an error and they’ll put it back up at least for a last chance kind of deal. I don’t think it’s fair at all not to give a heads-up like they’re doing for Mario’s 35th.

If I wanted to buy the Europe version on my American 3DS, is it at all possible?

Unfortunate but inevitable.

@RupeeClock Wasn’t Aura-Aura Climber delisted...?

@Tourtus I didn't know that. I'll have to look into how to do that and download all my DSiWare games again.

Forever physical baby

These games are also now unavailable on the US 3DS eShop.
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair 2
Space Ace
Rayman
Bomberman Blitz
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again
Mighty Flip Champs

@Marioman2020 All the Shantae games are on Switch anyways so you're not really missing out on anything.

I must be mistaken, because on 3DS, I was always able to play DSiware games stored on my 3DS sd card. Granted, it may have just quickly copied the data to system memory, whenever I would launch a title, and I didn't notice.

@Azuris …as absolutely everybody knows. But to repeat: the contacts are worn out, not dirty. It can be seen with naked eye.

Edit: anyway I gave a like to your comment because what you're saying is generally a good advice (does not apply in my case but nevertheless)

@Jhomesjones "a 3ds console saved my life once (no really, not jhoking) and I kinda feel obligated to return the favor."

Come on you can't drop something like this and leave it at that. Either tell the story or (better yet ) contact the Nintendolife staff with the details and let them make an article out if it!

It's just a matter of time before the only eshop around will be on Switch so all those digital games on older systems will no longer exist unless you get them while you can.

You can actually get that delisted Shantae on Switch now which is also a director's cut too. All the Shantae games are now available on Switch except the original, now is probably a good time to snap it up on the 3ds before that too is removed if only for completion sake and to see where it all started as physical nowadays are probably hard to find or way too expensive.

its times like these im glad i bought and enjoyed photo dojo back when the 3ds first came out

@PosterBoy
But not as fast as many think
My Super Nintendo and Gameboy Games work just fine.
Until now only two of my Batteries died (had luck, Terranigma and Pokemon Silver, thanks to the Clock, but i just put a new one in)
We'll see more Discs rott in our Live before most of the Cartdridges die.
Discs have an estimated live Span of 25-50 Years.
The oldest one i have are about 30 Years old.
One burned from my uncle and one Music CD.
My Drive has Problems reading the first one, the Music CD still works fine, just a Matter of Quality how long they'll survive.

I think the best Solution to have lasting Software is something like GOG.
You can Backup your Software in so many different Ways as you can imagine (there is nobody holding you back to write Cyberpunk on Tape).

Nintendo has gone too restrictive with the Switch.
You can just backup your 3DS and Wii U Games and Save Files on a SD-Cart or USB-Stick and save the Data on your PC.
You are independend of the online Store.

The DSiWare is nostalgic to me, since I used to love looking at the DSi Shop as a child. Sad to see that these nostalgic games might soon be pulled off the eShop.

This sucks. I would have at least grabbed Shantae if I had known. This aspect of Nintendo is really frustrating to me. No doubt there would be a sales boost to anything going away forever, but I believe Nintendo has decided the sales boost isn't worth highlighting the fact that digital games are not forever on their platforms...

@Kriven I'm really happy for you that your cartridges work fine. Some of my cartridges don't anymore (note I'm not saying all of my cartridges stopped working, just a few – but still, a few too many considering I parted with my hard earned to get them!), and believe me when I tell you that I took all reasonable measures to keep them in good shape. No, I am not a collector and I did not keep my cartridges / discs locked in a cabinet but I also never treated them roughly or kept them in a moldy basement or anything like that.

But fair enough, I guess you won't believe that cartridges and discs can stop working unless it happens to you personally. Maybe I'm some silly dude that plays frisbee with his discs or uses cartridges as tea cup coasters or something.

@Kriven I see, well, same here. To me it's so frustrating because I have a few acquaintances that keep their cartridges basically under their bed / fridge (not really but close) and all their games just work. I, on the other hand, try to keep my games in good shape and yet… look what happens.

Maybe I'm just unlucky but still, it can and does happen. I mean if it didn't happen to me personally I would also find it hard to believe. A quick look online confirms this is indeed rare (judging by threads on GameFAQs and Reddit). Anyway physical is not eternal (and digital has its own problems) is all I'm saying.

Out of curiosity why do you think this happens, improper storage (found it on old NeoGaf)?:
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/the-nintendo-gamecube-appreciation-and-collecting-thread.553958/page-36#post-98453291

I loved Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon! Brian Blessed!

Well, this sucks! I already have the Shantae game, but I did lose out on my chance to buy 10 items on my Wishlist. I'm snatching up the remaining DSiWare games on my Wishlist while I still have a chance. At least "Ace Mathician" is still available!

@Fido007 Of course I do, and so do all the smart gamers out there! Only rich people have such a huge collection that they can't keep everything available in a reasonable space in their basement or other rooms, in which case they'll have a very big house anyway. There are also quality clone consoles that play multiple retro systems to save space and replace broken ones. This is especially true for handheld systems, where there's no absolutely no excuse not to keep something like an old GBA around if you once bought one. You've merely confirmed that you're among the stupid ones if you can't manage to keep your old systems around for even a mere decade. (As for your 3DS, you'd better get a new one while you still can. That expense is unfortunate but still better than permanently losing access to all your DS/3DS exclusive games, but at least most systems don't break down so badly so relatively quickly.) If something recent enough to have digital games does break down, then you you just need to keep proper data backups in advance and get your account transferred when you replace it.

You don't get to complain about re-releases of old console games if you're too stupid and lazy not to do what is necessary to make it a moot point. Steam or (even better) GOG are great when they're options, but there are plenty of console exclusive games that will never be available on those platforms, in which case you just need to be smart about it and still only need to purchase the game once, or it's your own fault if you miss out on them.

@BulbasaurusRex Well I guess I'm not a casual gamer as some people..... Wear and tear has nothing to do with stupidity, or are you just so full of yourself.

Anyways I'm not paying double or sometimes 3 times for 1 system just to play a hand full of games that you cannot get on PC.

@Kriven You have No way to back that up, Casual gamers DON'T play their consoles, so their would be no wear or tear, and can have their consoles longer then a Hardcore gamer. Pressing the same button over and over again eventually causes issues with controls - Look at nintendo drift.

I only just learned about Aura Aura Climber. If they’d announced this ahead of time, I’m sure someone would have highlighted it as a good one to grab. Too late I guess

Great to see Plants vs Zombies and Shantae return.

This is why you should always buy physical copies of games, regardless of which system. I’d say check back with me in 20 years on this but this comment and website will probably be gone too... eh, it’s a digital thing. 🤷🏻‍♀️

You know what DSiWare game has never come back since 2014? Freaking The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition. I'm so disappointed in Nintendo for keeping this away from fans, and it's always overshadowed by Four Swords Adventures just because of how difficult it is to play Four Swords.

You either need to be lucky and have someone play with you on a GBA via link cable (no pun intended), assuming you have two GBAs, two copies of ALttP + FS, and a friend willing to play, OR you need a time machine to download the DSiWare version.

@Bobb I heard there's exploits in DSiWare made in a certain time period. I'm not sure how many games are affected, but it seems like a vast majority of them.

@Bobb I wonder if maybe Nintendo didn't inform the publishers and some of them kicked up a fuss.

@NathanTheAsian
Send a letter to Nintendo. Maybe they'll do something for the Zelda 35th.

Only game worth buying is Shantae: Risky's Revenge; never heard of the others.

@nukatha
It's not likely that they'd answer. For now, I'll it speculate that it may pop up as an NSO bonus game for the anniversary.

@NathanTheAsian
I've mailed NoA many letters over the years. They always reply. They do not frequently take action, but they always write a specific reply on the topic I wrote about.
I'm not saying I had anything to do with it, but I did write them right after Pikmin 3 came down from the Wii U eShop, and that did reappear just over a month later.

@nukatha
Wow, that's a bit interesting to hear. I expected a bunch of automated corporate-styles to come as responses. Maybe I was wrong...

@NathanTheAsian
The most memorable one was from shortly after I beat Odama on Gamecube. I asked if they had the lyrics to the end credits song available, since it is clearly English, but hard to understand. After a canned opening, it had the specific bit: "Unfortunately, the lyrics to the end-credits of Odama are one of these mysteries. If I had the sheet music to the song, I would gladly send it to you."

And will return Asphalt 4?
ok, maybe, just kidding, I don't know, really; But really I am interested for that game, but if it's still no possible to get it in 3DS eShop, well...., really I will be sad...

Seems that all PopCap DSI titles plus cut the rope are gone. Kind of sucks, I was gonna get them for the cheap novelty. At least i got pvz