The 3DS & Wii U eShops Have Officially Closed, Purchases "No Longer Possible"

I’m going to regret not buying all those ace attorney games for 2.99 each aren’t I 😩

I can't believe I'm about to wax poetic about a digital store front.

With the state of world being so precarious, and my own self approaching my late 30s this year, the closure of the 3DS/Wii U eShop has made me sadder than I expected to be. A reminder that all good things, eventually, end somehow.
But also a reminder to spend less time talking about the things I dislike, and to spend more time with the things that make me happy. That includes gaming.

The shops are closed, but the show goes on with games I can, thankfully, play and enjoy for a while longer. I think I'll stop typing now, and go play some Picross 3D.

RIP--you will be greatly missed.

Farewell, old friend.

I've been spending the last year scooping up anything that might ever be interesting to me and I think I'm ready. It sucks, though, that many of these games won't be available to anyone in any way. Some of them will get ported, but some of them only work on the 3DS's unique features, and those will be lost to time.

My days of PLAYING 3DS, though, are far from over. I have a huge backlog of games still to play, and it's still just the best system there is for plane rides and bus trips. As an overall system, it had probably the most robust variety of RPGs and Strategy Games, and other genres that take hours to play. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Farewell Nintendo Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShops. Many good times were had by so many.

@Pak-Man I wouldn't say any way. It's open season on system hacking and rom digging now.

Jumped in this afternoon to grab a few final things off my wishlist. Always been curious about Dillon’s Rolling Western and a few old Gameboy games. Oddly, I think I would’ve waited indefinitely if the closure hadn’t occurred. So in a way the closure got me moving to act.

Fair thee well, eshop. Your jolly jingles will be missed 🫡

Gone but never forgotten

Goodbye, Yokai Watch 3 English version. 😟
I already have the replacement from Yokai Watch 3 Tempura physical version.

It’s been a good run. Now it’s time for all of us to play everything we purchased!

I hacked my 3ds to play mother 3 on it, and since it's been a rigmarole to add funds to the account, and physical games are inflated in price much of the time, pirating games is the convenient thing to do. Ive bought all my switch games and have an extensive digital library, I'm not really pro-piracy, but the 3ds and all systems before are essentially abandonware. I have no qualms with downloading outside of legal bounds when it is by far the most convenient course of action.

Finally, an end to the anxiety.

Time for Wind Waker HD on the Switch!!! And Mario Galaxy 2. No more excuses, Nintendo.

RIP but this is also BS on Nintendo's part

I believe you can still download updates.

@Khezu
I fully agree. While the eShop was up and running, I wouldn't promote hacking a 3ds. But now that the system is not being supported, it's free game

The 3DS and Wii U offered me a lot of good memories from download only titles.

The Pushmo franchise, the Dillon franchise, Rusty's Real Deal Baseball, Dr. Luigi. I also got into Ace Attorney thanks to the final Capcom sale. The games are so full of charm.

I'll definitely miss the eShops. The death of Virtual Console is the saddest for me. Switch Online isn't the same. I dislike its subscription based nature.

The fomo was real. It was an anxiety filled weekend but now it’s all over. Thanks for the guides Nintendo Life. They helped a lot.

Got a bunch of 3d classics, pocket jockey, pushmo, boxboy, affordable space adventures on Wii U, and some other virtual console titles including some old Pokémon games.

It’s a bummer to have things shut down but things change and there’s new games and experiences coming in the future. Honestly, I barely have time to play all the newer games I have on switch.

Nintendo: Execute Order 66...

I will never forget laying in bed at night and scrolling through the shop and finding the hidden gems. At the time, having that thing be able to connect to the internet was so cool to me. I still own and play my 3DS… when I fly somewhere, the 3DS is in my bag. sooooo many good memories and games on this thing!

Good thing the games are still all Archived at a dot organization then.

Meanwhile Xbox Arcade still up and running on my old XB360!! Now THAT is how this should have gone down.

Both of these eShops are gone far too soon. I still have UNopened 3DS games in my backlog!

It's shameful customer care, in my opinion.

Ripperoni in pepperoni 🍕

RIP SMTIV being available in a legit way in Europe.

The 3DS eShop felt like a fun experience every time. From the loading screen, the lovely background music, the fun download animations. So full of personality and charm.
It was almost like going through a toy store as a kid.

It's a shame that all we get from Nintendo now is a sterile, laggy AF alternative filled to the brim with garbage shovelware.
Different era I guess.

@Khezu
Nintendo no longer wants your money anyway and doesn't give a damn if those games vanish from existence. I'd say you're free to do as you please. I certainly will.

I forgot to redeem the smash 3ds stages I bought but ah well. I have em on wiiu which is where I usually play.

So much Taiko DLC to play.

i let my 2ds rest, this weekend. its beyond over for me, with the ds systems. we had fun.

There are two free themes in the Theme Shop!
Now that that's over with, yeah, my 3DS saw me through my senior year of high school. I took it to my first (and currently only) Pokémon VGC tournament in college. I have loads of memories of Pokémon, Smash, SmileBASIC, Metroid, Mega Man 2, WarioWare, Picross, and StreetPass. Sad to see the eShop go, but I'm sure I'll enjoy this thing for years to come!

Goodnight sweet prince.

This is WHY…………I only buy physical. I love the pop sound when you open a game box … the crinkle of the the packaging and yes the new game smell you can’t get that with digital….

At least there's still StreetPass, right?

Well folks, we've had a nice run. I'll miss the charm of both shops and some of their offerings. Heck, I even liked watching the download animations on 3DS. I'll also miss actually buying certain retro games, instead of worrying about subbing to a certain service.....

The end of an era indeed. RiP to both shops.

“Don’t be sad that it’s gone, be happy that it existed.”

bows

The end of an era

Fare thee well, 3DS shopping bag. You were a trooper.

Still don't see why they need to do this in the first place. From my understanding, on Xbox Series S/X you can download games from previous systems? Why can't Nintendo do that.

Actually I know why. Money. Money money money money.

@CharlieGirl If only I had bought Picross 3D Round 2 when i had a chance. At least my wii U has Picross 3D among its few DS games.

@Waluigi451 Yep, time to sink some time in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, the legacy Mario Kart games, Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!!, the Super Mario Advance series and their original versions, the hidden gem that is Polarium Advance and many, many more.

As for my final purchases, traffic didn't allow me to buy more games when I still had about 1 hour left. My last intended purchases were Excitebike 64, Mario Party 2, Kirby 64 and Super Mario 64, I could only get Excitebike 64. Now I have about 320 Mexican pesos in eShop credit for the Switch plus about 330 pesos from My Nintendo Gold Points. I'm saving them in case I cannot find Metroid Prime Remastered physically.

At least I can say I'm glad I have the Super Mario Advance games (including Super Mario 64 DS) and their originals (minus Super Mario 64) on my Wii U.

An End of Era for sure. my last game that i picked up on the eShop we're SMT IV, SMT IV A and Soul Hackers 1.

I rediscovered my 3DS Ambassador Certificate and redownloaded all those free virtual games…what a great deal looking back. Good looking’ out to Capcom for the final sale! DS/3DS/Wii U offered some of gamings most accessible and greatest moments. RIP-Eshop!

I definitely did a little panic buying, and spent way too much money, but I remember the regret from skipping some purchases before the Wii Shop shut down, and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
Still bothers me that Nintendo couldn’t be troubled to even discount any games at the end. I’m sure they have their reasons, but I sure appreciate all the other publishers who offered sales over the last year.
Oh well. Glad I picked up about everything I wanted. The Wii U and 3DS will continue to bring warm memories for many more years as far as I am concerned. Can’t help but think of them as the Iwata generation. Good stuff.

@SpiderBall49 and redownload purchased titles

@Yosher Because you can run those games on the Series S/X. You can't run Wii U or 3DS games on the Switch.

We will miss you, 3DS eShop. Looks like the only thing we can do other than Bank and redownloads are updates still being live, so at least there is that.

My last game purchase: Kid Icarus Uprising, which I used to have as a physical copy, but lately I wanted to play it more than any of the other games I could swing the money for. Firing it up again, I got back to the feels for the game, even though I can still never really find the most comfortable way to play it.

I already picked up everything else I could want beforehand over the years (like all the Zelda content, the Pushmo Trilogy, Etrian Odyssey, Persona Q, the SMT games, Level 5's Guild games, all of Phoenix Wright) and dug in here and there for last-minute quickies that I knew were probably not going to be on Switch but I wanted to try (like Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure).

@sanderev If Microsoft can make it possible to run old games on new hardware then I don't see why it shouldn't be equally possible got Nintendo to do so, though.

Makes me a little sad. Like a close of a chapter of happy memories. I have a gargantuan backlog of games to play but this still smarts. Heck I'll miss the menu and it's music even. Ah man, goodbye dear friend.

@CharlieGirl I really wanted to get Picross 3D 2... but... it was $30... D;

@Ade117 I'm hoping this opens the door for more of the Virtual Console titles to come to NSO.

I returned to pick up a few: affordable space adventures, scram kitty, year walk, armillo, dillons rolling western, alien on the run, starfox guard, chain blaster (cos it was 89p) and the rest of the boxboy series on 3DS

Consider my wallet singed but hopefully have a good time with these 🙂

Kind of feels like a relief the eshop is now at peace after the stress of recent weeks. Rest well, old friend, gone but never forgotten.

Moved on and made my peace a while back. Hardly made any purchases this past year. Got most games I wanted already. Hopefully my Wii U doesn’t die and I can play them in 30 years.

I booted up the eshop last week for nostalgia but didn’t actually buy anything, I loved the 3DS but moved on the switch came out and have never looked back . I have loads of games on my 3DS so if the nostalgia itch ever comes back I will have plenty to play . RIP 3DS

[Salutes] Amaaaaazing gaaaames, how sweeeeet the plaaaay...

A sad day. If store security was the main reason for this, they probably could have patched in 2FA as opposed to pulling the plug

Yea really hope we are past this now and it becomes a continuous eco-system like Xbox has managed since the 360 (for the most part), but especially with the Xbox One onwards being the same one store. With the Nintendo account system, you would hope they have taken the initial steps to root the Switch as the new start for this.

The fact that some games I bought in 2006 digitally on Xbox I can still play today on my Series X is actually so good (17 years of continuity, what!). And it should be like that. If I buy a Virtual Console game, why shouldn’t that come with me across Nintendo generations.

I do feel sad about it! Hope I don’t regret not picking something up down the line but it’s done now. The music, the channels etc, it was all it’s own vibe/atmosphere. Very nostalgic for it.

I only got a 3DS a few weeks ago... I'm not ready to say goodbye

Sigh... Suppose PS3'll shut theirs next. Then Xbox 360. Eventually even the Switch Eshop'll go dark for good. It's tragic. Digital is so convenient but also so horrible for preserving console games without the handful of brave people risking legal action to keep those games available via emulation and piracy.

RIP Dear old friend...

Well, this is it. The end of an era. There is now no legal way to buy and own 95% of Nintendo's back catalogue. Thousands of games down the drain, many of them likely to never see a future rerelease anytime soon, maybe ever. I may have panic-bought a little bit, but I feel like I got all the games I wanted from these stores, so I should be able to rest easy now.

Now that these storefronts have officially closed, I have no qualms in recommending emulation or other alternatives to play all these games that people may have missed. Before, I'd only recommend those methods as a last resort, but now I fully encourage them. Nintendo clearly doesn't want us to buy and own their old games, so why should we endulge them by giving them our money for nothing in return? After all, as the saying for all subscription-based services goes, "You'll own nothing and be happy."

@Eggolor Was gonna write something but you put it perfectly. Exactly this.

@Yosher That's because Microsoft kept the same architecture, or emulate it by offering far superior power.

Both aren't the case for Nintendo.

@Yosher The 3DS has a completely different architecture and two screens. Every game would need to be brought over separately like Miitopia. You really have no idea how this stuff works.

In the immortal words of Douglas Adams, "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

In all seriousness, it is sad that they have shut down. I understand why they did it, but it's still sad nonetheless. I must have spent over $2000 getting all the stuff I wanted. And even then, I couldn't get everything.

I just didn't have the time, and Nintendo's website started giving me errors a few days before the shut down whenever I tried to add funds from my credit card, prompting me to have to resort to eShop gift cards.

It was especially frustrating that for the Fire Emblem games, like Awakening and Fates (the latter of which was still available on the North American eShop), I had to play through several chapters of the game to unlock the DLC Store.

As such, I was able to get the DLC for Awakening, but I wasn't able to get through Fates in time to unlock Revelation. It just makes me wonder: why not just have the DLC Store available from the get-go, and then the DLC chapters unlock as you go through the base game?

I'll either have to watch a Let's Play of Revelation, or (as a nuclear option) find a copy of the Special Edition and shell out yet another small fortune. I don't really want to download a ROM, as we all know how Nintendo feels about that.

But on the other hand, by shutting down the eShops and not providing another way of buying these games legitimately, such as on the Switch eShop, they are setting themselves up for having to deal with pirated ROMS of 3DS and Wii U games now.

I would highly encourage Nintendo to avoid this by putting as much of their 3DS and Wii U libraries on the Switch eShop as soon as possible. That way, they have a better reason to claim copyright infringement against pirates.

I've been visiting these eShops since I was 17 (3DS) and 19 (Wii U) and I'm now 29. I Spent endless hours browsing them and enjoying the music & finding hidden gems. Ended up buying some true classics from both stores, so thanks for the memories Nintendo

I picked up a few bargains but there’s a few games I would like to play that I skipped - I know from history that I rarely go back to my backlog on old consoles given that I always have more than I can feasibly get through on my current console. And many of the Nintendo published games will likely appear in switch online at some point or be remastered if they’re really good.

But yeah, end of an era and all that!

@BTB20 I know enough to know that they did it with DS titles on Wii U so it should be possible with 3DS as well.

Also I never said it would be an easy task, but we're talking about Nintendo here. They are not hurting for money and they have the resources to make it happen, at least for a good amount of their catalogue, even if it excludes (3)DS for now.

I purchased a number of titles that I've spent years wanting to get. Not nearly all the titles I've wanted to play though. Some have physical editions, so I better hurry and get those before they skyrocket in price now. Can you imagine the outcry when Nintendo shuts down the Switch eshop in 10 years? lol

No more EShop… guess I’ll start playing Sea of Thieves, and Assassins creed Black Flag

Still annoyed how few sales (And often region specific) there were at the end. With the exception of the Boxboy series and GBC Puzzle League refused to grab anything without a discount, that also meant no Radiant Historia which had a low print run in europe that I really wanted both times but alas. Still funny how Culdcept's sale price went UP for the final sale tho.

I was able to get some final purchases on the 3DS eShop. Didn't need anything from Wii U eShop as I had most of the stuff from the Wii days brought over to it and anything Wii U specific I have in physical disc. Anyways for 3DS eShop I bought three SNES VC games (DKC 1, DKC 3 and Super Mario Kart. I did have DKC 2 and Super Mario World way earlier). Mario Golf World Tour Season Pass, Gurumin 3D and Go Go Kokopolo 3D. Most of the games I have for 3DS are in physical cart and I did get some DLC for some of them.

I got Spirit of Justice to play on 3DS later, but didn't find anything new on Wii U to pick up. Would have appreciated some more sales so the shop could have gone out with a bang instead of just disappearing

Absolutely the wrong decision to do this. The 3ds has a bigger library and is more portable than a switch console.

@Tyranexx

"I'll also miss actually buying certain retro games, instead of worrying about subbing to a certain service....."

(question: "certain service"?)

I mean it was time. The shops aside from this year’s panic buys were likely seeing a significant decrease in traffic and with the systems themselves no longer being supported they become a financial liability than an asset to maintain. Plus we have no idea their server infrastructure; this could have save them some OPEX costs. And it isn’t like they have a upgrade path similar to xbox (which itself isn’t perfect as BC additions have halted and you still need old systems to play some games and game are being delisted from the 360 marketplace). These ecosystems weren’t originally designed to be forward facing. And it would be a significant resource investment to retool/port ecosystems wholesale. Hopefully you bought what you wanted over the past decade. No product is sold forever. We are fortunate in this industry that ports and remakes and BC are a thing. In most other industries if you miss a product run… you missed it.

exclusive the NSO online base service, i will no buy any game for switch... i'm tired to spend more money in a company who consider only the money and not players
a 22 years old nintendo fan since 2007

@Mario500 I was referring to Nintendo Switch Online. It's fine that it's an option for retro Nintendo gaming on the Switch, but it bothers me that it's the option in many cases. Same with how legal backups are handled.

@Tyranexx
I don’t understand it either. Why not just sell them individually? They’d make money either way.

@GameOtaku I gave up trying to understand the business practices of some companies ages ago.

@GameOtaku It's the business model the industry decided was the " best". It be nice they offer both models of ownership and rental like housing industry does lol.

Picked up Final Fight 3 on 3DS and Axelay on Wii U. I can't imagine these two coming to Switch anytime soon.

@Itakiteacher
Apple, Sony and Microsoft all offer both.

@GameOtaku I meant it's the prefer method of media delivery these days, not the only one. There are plenty of stream only companies; Netflix, Spotify, Amazon with their Prime music and video services, Disney plus with everything except the newest movies, WWE, etc. By " they" meant Nintendo, it be nice they offer both ways.

A moment of silence, brothers and sisters, for the Virtual Console.

...
...

OK, carry on.

@Itakiteacher it's worth noting that Amazon is more in the "both ways" camp. Have Kindle Unlimited? Yep you can "borrow" tons of books and comics, but can also buy to own. Prime Music? Can still buy individual tracks and albums. Prime video? They still sell the movies and usually the shows separately. The video side can be a little back and forth, depending on the owner of the content. But most of the library is available for purchase. Prime gaming? They give you some free games but you can most definitely still buy these games if you'd prefer.

A more comparable Amazon model to NSO's game library would be their Luna service. It's a game streaming service with a curated catalogue. They don't have exclusives, so you can get the games elsewhere on modern hardware, but that's entirely outside of the Luna service platform.

@CharlieGirl especially since one guy bought out the entire store

I buy a massive collection of 3ds (principally) and Wii U games this last day (beginning a weeks ago) for complete all the games i wished. I searched principally the exclusive and virtual console games. F for the e-shop.

@Kisame83 I'm a Prime member and I didn't realize you could buy music on Amazon Music or games on the app. I was aware you can buy stuff on Kindle, so I left that out of my comment. As for Video, I must be in a country where it's mostly streaming because, most of my catalog is stream only. Thanks for educating me on that:).

If they dont want to receive our money.... its hacking time!
Roms, roms everywhere!