Nintendo Says To Stop Using Its Wi-Fi USB Connector Due To Security Concerns

Can't say I have heard of these, presumably as I never needed them, but good that they was a solution for those who did not have Wi-Fi. They may not be safe to use, but still a good bit of Nintendo history.

Here's a fun fact: The charger and charging port that the DSi and 3DS lines use was first used for the power adapter for the Wi-Fi Network Adapter. (The network adapter itself is WAP-001, while the power adapter/charger is WAP-002.)

They probably just want people to stop using the dns exploit you can use in Pokemon ds games to connect to wifi and download previously distributed Pokemon events that had long been gone via fan made servers.

This piece of junk never worked for me as advertised anyway. You would have to be very lucky for it to work.

I remember this device. It was very difficult to get it work with our computer.

@belmont I used to use this all the time, I did have to tell my computer to talk to it lots but other than that it worked really well.

@Dragonite89
A small time of messing around with dns settings in your own home router configuration is enough to enjoy endless events…

I actually had one of these when I was a teenager. We had WiFi but dad had the router configured for WPA security, which my DS Lite didn't support. So I needed one of those to play Mario Kart DS online.

I got one of these, I think it was because we didn't have a wireless router, they were expensive back in 2005!

I used this for my ds and wii, ahhh the memories of bad wifi lol

That sure brings me back. We didn't have Wi-Fi in our house and even when I got the adaptor, my dad was very "Oh that thing will give us viruses" over everything I did with the family computer, so I played my first ever online matches of anything in secret. Mario Kart 7 was my first real online gaming experience.

Sold the Adaptor when we had Wi-Fi and my dad was more eased over online safety. Kinda want an adaptor again for the collection someday.

Is anyone still using this thing?
I feel like everyone (especially anyone who can read that warning) has wifi by now.
Only people still using it are exploiting it, and do they care what Nintendo says?

I still have mine. But haven't used it in years.

Oh I remember the days when I avoided using a wireless router and used LAN for everything. My only exception was the DS, of course. (I used the LAN adapter for Wii.)

I remember these, but I think they were only ever available directly from Nintendo, if I memory serves.

Fortunately, we likely had a router at the time, so we didn't need one of these.

@Silly_G I still have one, haven't used it in forever. They were available in stores in Canada but not sure elsewhere.

Never even seen one before O.o

I used one in the past before I had a device with a wireless signal. At some point the stick even died. It doesn't matter anymore to me though.

I have one of those. It worked atrociously at the time. I couldn't imagine using it today.

@Jokerwolf : Then it might be the case that it was just Australia. I recall the Nintendo DS Browser being available exclusively via Nintendo Australia, but the DS Lite version was available in stores (at the low, low price of AU$70!).

IIRC the DS only support WEP security and is therefore now always insecure, which makes the advice to switch to another device a bit dubious.

@Silly_G In the US, Nintendo sold the prettier DS Lite-only version of the Internet Browser to stores, but required people to order the more-compatible original DS version directly.

I used to have one of these. Wish I kept it for nostalgic reasons.

@Dragonite89 Maaybe? That's pretty niche and personally I just use a cell phone as an unprotected hot spot (very briefly) to get my DS connected to those servers. Even cheapo Straight Talk plans offer a tethering alottment these days.

@Dragonite89 Yes, that conspiracy theory sounds totally sensible.

Well... it's either that, or WEP for DS systems, and since I don't have a WEP system, or any other way to play online with real DS hardware that isn't this device... you know.

I had one back in the Wii days before I had wifi in my apartment. This thing NEVER worked right.

Didn't even know such a device existed

Either that or my memory is very sketchy as it's obviously something I've never needed

I had one of these that worked great for about a year, then was completely useless.

I had one back when. Generally worked fine for what I needed it for but I really only used it for downloading Virtual Console games.

The Japanese WiFi Network Adapter is actually pretty brilliant if you ever need to get some old wireless devices (that don't support WPA2) online for some reason. Just connect the Network Adapter to one of the LAN ports on your modern router, plug it in and switch it on when you need it. It's very compact, with a nice minimalist design that doesn't even look out of place in a modern home. Japan really got a much better deal with that adapter than we westerners did with the USB Connector, which, as others have already mentioned, was awful and couldn't even be used with devices other than the DS and Wii (at least not without some advanced messing around with drivers - and regardless I was never able to get alternative drivers to work).

Ah, this device was my first foray into the wonderful world of online gaming with Mario Kart DS (Well... aside from Runescape), awesome stuff and also allowed access to the wonderful Wii Virtual Console, didn't regret buying this back in the day. I think I actually saw the thing when I was moving late last year but I'm pretty sure I dumped it at that point.

This thing was wonderful back in 2006, to me it's the doorway to Wii's Virtual Console and I wouldn't had gotten my over 200 VC games without it as my DSL internet connection back then didn't support WEP WiFi. Back then this dongle was essential my first WiFi router.

Still have mine, but obviously I don't use it anymore. Now it's just a curiosity that has it's own big custom box for the installation CD, the dongle itself and a USB extension cable that came with it.

Back in 2007 it was great, as we didn't have wifi at home until January 2008. But for the 5 months or so I had to use this, it did its job well.

Now, here's where I have to ask, is anyone still really using it?

I have one of these somewhere but it was always a pain to get it to work. I can’t imagine anyone has used one substantially in a long time.

Me and my friend used these so much in 2006 to 2008. They were great, along with the dongles you could buy when there was no WiFi

@Silly_G When they came out it was only available on the Nintendo online store and when the wii came out they start selling them at retail stores which made sense because online shopping wasn't as big during that time where it was easier to buy at the store with cash instead of ordering it.

Funny how I got one back in 2006 where my step grandpa need a cat carrier that I bought from a garage sale for $2 about a week before.

So being smart I asked to order one instead taking the $10 offer for the carrier because I didn't have any understanding about online shopping where it was best to ask someone that had everything to order it.

But unfortunately I don't have it anymore after I sold it at the local used gaming store back in 2013 due to money problems and I always had problems using where it works when it wanted to that was annoying.

I've only seen one of these irl once. It was 2009 and I had a DSi. My father had taken me with him to visit an old friend of his who had a PC (we had one at the time, but not with internet access). I was allowed to use the PC to get some music, convert it to m4a and put it onto my DSi's SD card to listen to it. Amongst the things this person had for his PC was one of these adapters. I didn't actually use it that day and never sae one again, but every time I set up wifi on a device like a Wii or 3DS from 2011 onwards (when I started to have home internet access), I always remembered that day when I went through the process and one of the options was to use this device.

I have one, ahh the memories. It was the only way I could get online to play Mario Kart DS online as we didn't have a wireless router when that came out. It was very awkward to use, but I loved it. Jump forward to the release of the wii, and I was still having to make use of it then to play those games online, and to even download wiiware/ wii vc games.

By that point I was pretty fed up with the problems it had, and never looked back once we finally got wireless broadband.

@RupeeClock idk about Japan, but other nearby countries I've been to still use those OSes very often. Chinese schools, for instance, rely on them so heavily, especially Vista, that they paid Microsoft somewhere in the millions to keep supporting it for a few extra years.

Those things never worked in the first place, completely useless, computers wouldn't even recognise them.

And nintendo only needed to make them in the first place because they insisted on making the ds only compatible with a security system that was already outdated at the time

Well, Nintendo, if you make spin-off games that are less ***** due to your finish it later approach, I may consider it.