PSA: 3DS And Wii U eShop Download Codes Can No Longer Be Redeemed

Rip Wii U and 3DS eshop you will be missed…😞

And screw Nintendo for being anti-consumer..👎

That's fine for me.
I played my games in physical

At this point I am just glad the constant flow of articles on the shop closing will end.

Bye bye Eshop. Time to move on down the alphabet…. Gimme an H!

It was a great run. I'll be playing my 3DS and Wii U for years to come.

I bought smash characters for both Wii U and download codes for 3DS I guess I just paid them to be have a souvenir

I just want to complete my badge arcade, why cant they just keep that going for free

I managed to grab an extra three games thanks to this extended period, so it was fun while it lasted.

@Dragonite89
The consoles are 10 years old, it’s not like there was a short amount of time to use the eshop. Unfortunately with the shift to digital games, it would be unrealistic to expect these shops to be open for much longer than that.

Oh well. Good I have my spare 3DS to... Experiment with it 👌❤️

@blindsquarel I'm sure they can still manage to eek a few more out... 😉

@blindsquarel PS3 and PS Vita Store says hi..👋

Goodbye dear, dear friend.

sniff

eshop codes can't be redeemed.
Nintendo: 'thank you for playing'.

Well, we can't now, can we?

@Anti-Matter I usually try to do that, too. But some games that I'm interested in don't have a physical version, at least here in the West. So I just ended up getting a bunch of games digitally, even if physical versions of them do exist.

I just wish it didn't take so long to download, though. We have pretty decent Internet at my house, but it could take at least half an hour to an hour to download a game that required over 20,000 blocks of storage.

And because I had quite the list of games, that meant I couldn't get everything, especially DLC for games like Fire Emblem Fates (which was still available on the North American eShop) or Fire Emblem Warriors.

End of an era. I have plenty of games on both systems to keep me going and started Yo-Kai Watch last night though, so I have loads of great times ahead with the 3DS and Wii U!

This so bad actually.

@Dragonite89 everything in business is technically anticonsumer by default since we consumers are antibusiness (until/unless we start one ourselves, that is). We want as much as possible as good as possible and as cheap as possible, preferably free of charge whenever we can get away with it. It's always a conflict of interest and any deal is a compromise.

Nintendo, for one, clearly prefers the anticonsumer reputation to the costs of maintaining old storefronts or risking several countries' worth of regulatory consequences without said maintenance.

"PS3 and PS Vita Store says hi..👋"

And by "hi", they mean "we nearly got closed ourselves a while back and even now there's a bunch of games we can no longer sell you because they were only displayed in the removed webstore sections and nobody ever patched the console Stores to restore the pages there👋"

@blindsquarel Nintendo needs to consolidate all of its titles to be available on every system. This is why I only feel safe buying digital games on Steam. There are less hoops to jump through to retain my account on a new “system” (PC) if my other one dies, games no longer being sold can still be downloaded, and no matter what new hardware comes out I always have access to older titles.

They are great gaming machines. The eshops will be missed.

Funny how Nintendo is the most anti- emulation and have always fought the hardest against piracy yet keep making decisions that actively encourage both more than anyone else.

@nhSnork Sony at least listened to their fanbase & kept the store alive even up to now. And you can still purchase games on PS3 & PS Vita stores that would’ve otherwise skyrocketed in price had Sony actually decided to close the stores by adding funds using PS store gift cards to your Sony account. Nintendo could’ve gone the same route using the eshop cards, but they just decided to screw over their customers like they always do..

@blindsquarel Steam is coming up on being 20 years old. I'm betting they still sell games that have been on their that long.
It's not like Nintendo isn't making enough money to keep a computer turned on.

Another solid reason to avoid digital games, if you're a true gaming fan/collector that is.

@blindsquarel @Dragonite89 XBox 360 is 18 years old and the digital marketplace is still open.

Just pirate. Nintendo doesn’t want your money so don’t give it.

I managed to acquire free indie codes for Chubbins, Soon Shine, and Silver Falls: 3 Down Stars. That’s three bonus games! It was super nice of the devs to give them out.

@KingMike
There is a difference between Steam and the 3ds an Wii U eshop’s.

A good PSA would be to let people know a day BEFORE that date 🙄

@JohnnyMind I think the more likely reason is because no one really plays the 3DS and Wii U anymore. Everyone is all-in on the Switch now. Why continue to support online infrastructure for a system that no one plays anymore?

Now, I wish Nintendo would release their libraries for the Wii U and 3DS onto the Switch (or whatever successor console they have planned), so these games can continue to be enjoyed. Otherwise, we're going to see these ROMs get uploaded to emulation sites pretty soon, and we all know how Nintendo feels about that.

@AstroTheGamosian Your first point is answered by your second point. How much are they losing by not keeping the online services running?
At least let the games be purchased through the Switch or online, so they can be "redownloaded" on the older consoles.
That would solve the issue of keeping payment security up to date (which I assume was the primary reason to turn off the services).
Making them playable on Switch would take A LOT more effort than just leaving the servers for the older consoles running.
How would they make the older games available? They'd have to port every game. Or write emulators since Switch is not backwards compatible with either console. Both options would take immense work.
I believe Sony does/did allow PS3s or their website to be used to buy PSP games (that could be transferred to the console through USB).

Not letting the 3DS/Wii U eShop games be bought and downloaded is only legitimizing piracy methods of obtaining the games.

@AstroTheGamosian Fire Emblem if was discontinued earlier on the Japanese shop because their digital version requires playing through Chapter 6 (maybe a couple hours of actual gameplay, probably another hour or two of cutscenes ) at which point the user was required to download one of the two DLC packs (the fee included with the initial download) based on how they answered a prompt at the start of the chapter. At which point their game would turn from a "Special Edition" into one of the two retail versions.
Whereas the western eShop downloads (from what I'm told) were already one of the two full game packages from the start.

@KingMike Regarding your first reply to my post, I always say that Nintendo can find a way. Just look at the DS games on Wii U, like Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Star Fox Command. You wouldn't think it would have been possible, but it is.

Or heck, look at Duck Hunt for the NES. The original game used light gun technology, but the Wii U rerelease was changed to use the Wii Remote instead. So Nintendo found a way to port games you would never think possible to their latest systems.

And regarding Fire Emblem, it does make me miffed that I had to play through the first six chapters or so before I could even unlock the ability to purchase the DLC. Especially since Revelation was allegedly the "True Ending" of Fire Emblem Fates. Now I feel like I missed out.

I was able to do it for Awakening, making a mad scramble through just the gameplay, skipping all the cutscenes and dialogue, and I was able to download that DLC the morning of the shutdown date. Had I not had to work that day, I would have been able to do it for Fates, too.

And in regards to piracy, this is why Nintendo needs to port these games to the Switch or a future system. If they want to stave off piracy, that needs to happen. Otherwise, don't complain when someone uploads the ROMs to the Internet if you don't plan on rereleasing the game yourself in an official capacity.

Nintendo's attitude towards abandonware kind of reminds me of that scene in Disney's Cinderella (the animated one from 1950), when the stepsisters threw away parts of their dresses, then got mad when Cinderella wore them and tore her dress apart. Just replace pieces of a dress with older video games and emulation sites, and the scenario is almost identical.

So frankly, if I was a judge who specialized in copyright law, I'd tell Nintendo's lawyers that if they want to stave off piracy, they need to get to work on porting these games to their latest system, otherwise don't bother my courtroom with legal cases involving titles you don't ever plan on releasing again.

@Dragonite89 not to break into anything. But this was going to happen sooner or later. Nintendo can't keep those eShops active forever just because of a small bunch of people clamoring "game preservation" (that's a very lame excuse for them to do so). If you really cared about the games, should have archived them already (you had enough years to do so). If you didn't, that's not Nintendo fault, but yours

@AstroTheGamosian that's the issue. The DS family (including and the 3DS and all it's variants) and the Wii U are designed in such a way that making ports for the Switch (and surely its successor) is impossible without having to remake (from the ground up) each and every title to remove the Dual Screen features. That's a waste of money and time in most cases if they will not sell in the end (as we've seen with Miitopia and Pikmin 3)

@Arkantos2990 Well, if Nintendo could do it with Duck Hunt, or even redo Skyward Sword on the Wii to have traditional controls for the Switch version, I see no reason why they can't try for the Switch. And it doesn't even have to be for the Switch, specifically. As I said, it could also be for a future system, whatever shape or form that is going to be.

Ultimately, my point is that if Nintendo doesn't want anyone pirating abandonware, then they need to rerelease it themselves, plain and simple. No more of letting these games disappear into the digital ether with no plans of rereleasing it themselves, and then get all mad when someone uploads a ROM of it to the Internet for free distribution.

@AstroTheGamosian the problem is not replicating Motion Controls, that has been done before. I'm talking of the Dual Screen aspect which is something the Switch can't do, and very likely the successor will not do either.

@Arkantos2990 Eh, I disagree. The Switch is already a touch screen to begin with, so what they could do is have one part of the screen be the "touch screen" for the DS, and the other part be the regular screen.

But as I said, even if we think it's impossible, leave it to Nintendo to find a way to make it possible. That's why they still lead the pack in terms of innovation, whereas Sony and Microsoft just settle for updated versions of the same 20-year-old hardware.

Has anyone else noticed that in my 3DS I had a number of downloadable games on it. Notably Nintendo Badge Arcade, the Photos with Mario and Pokémon Sun and Moon Special Demo version apps, and Pokémon Bank. And they all disappeared.

Even now, I still get tears in my eye.