New 3DS And Wii U Users Can't Go Online In Games

Man, I hate it when Nintendo does this. I miss the days when playing Mariokart online was a free thing. I’m not paying another subscription just to play online on the Switch.

Hopefully the Switch will last longer than the 12/13 years these got. If the Switch successor doesn't have backwards compatibility I fear it will go the same way just lasting a few years longer.

@Enigk 13 years is a fairly long time, we're lucky we got ot for as long as we did

My prediction is they're doing this cause the switch 2 will get announced around then

I can't imagine the reaction of New Nintendo 2DS LL's new owners in Japan...

Nothing lasts forever. Though, I am curious how many more 3DS will be ported to Switch and/or PC. ^^

So no more pokemon bank? 😔

I’m sure anyone who cares about playing these games online will just use custom servers. It’s been 12 years, what did people think was going to happen?

My little nephew just opened the limited-edition Link Between Worlds 3DS XL I bought him for Christmas, along with Kirby Triple Deluxe and Luigi's Mansion. I got it off eBay, and it costed a pretty penny to get one that was as close to mint condition as possible. He's five years old and absolutely obsessed with Zelda. He also really loves Luigi's Mansion and Kirby as well. I think he was really happy with it. He's not gonna be playing online or anything anyways, so this doesn't really effect him at all. But I still wanted to share my nephew's Christmas gift this year. Am I a good uncle or what? 😁

I thought it ended before that

As long as Homebrew has servers for Clubhouse Games and Animal Crossing I'm good.

Welp, nice for Nintendo to give us the ol' middle finger for a Christmas gift! I was trying to finish Yokai Watch 3 so that I could say I was able to 100% the game, but now there's no way to do so anymore. They shut it down without warning earlier than necessary. Screw Nintendo.

…Merry Christmas to you too, Nintendo.

@Vyacheslav333 Those platforms are region lock unlike the Switch so even if Nintendo ended online over here or around the world, in Japan online support for Wii U and 3DS are still active.

Still playing Mario Kart Wii on Wiimmfii. The servers are actually better quality compared to the now abandoned official servers and even have a way to ban cheaters. This Pretendo initiative sounds realty impressive too.

Nintendo really do ***** the bed with online infrastructure which is news to nobody, but it should always be repeated.

Truly, the end of an era.

Just got a 3DS with xmas money.

I started playing Pokemon Black and have some Pokemon I’d like to transfer to Pokemon Home.

My NNID was just created so now can’t be used online.

I guess if I could buy someone’s NNID account and use that then Pokemon Transporter + Pokemon Bank would work?

My 3DS already has Pokemon Transporter + Pokemon Bank installed.

Anyone got a NNID for sale?

Anyone who buys a 3DS in the year 2023/soon 2024 should homebrew it. Eshop is dead + why pay scalpers for overpriced games when homebrew exists

If I recall, these announcements don't affect Pokemon Bank yet? At least that was TPC's last official say unless I'm forgetting about or missing something.

...I do hope they make an official closure announcement though. My Pokemon are still sitting in Bank since I'm still too stubborn to pay for Pokemon Home.

@luckyseven That's what I've done with my 3DS and the 2DS XL I've got for my partners little sister for Christmas, downlaoded 50+ games on it for her which would of cost over £1000 to buy physical yet cost me £40 to send it off to be modded and got the games for free. And I don't feel bad for doing it, looking at some games for myself like Yo Kai Watch 3 which is going for over £150 in the UK and Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse which is costing more than £200, absolute ridiculous prices for a 3DS game.

@Not_Soos LOL good on you! That's an excellent gift that's tangentially related to the article haha.

Ah. A thing that was going to happen eventually. Let's all pretend to be shocked.

@Not_Soos Uncle of the year nominee right there!

@UltimateOtaku91 paying anyone to mod your console is a scam, sorry you fell into that. All that work could’ve been done in an hour or 2 and is extremely simple to set up. Also if something goes wrong in the future, you’ll have no idea how to fix it.

Nintendo 3DS and Wii gamers can no longer play games online?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdKAJPh7pJ4

@RockstarSuicide Thanks for the mental health diagnosis, I'm sure you're an expert on what constitutes narcissistic personality disorder. As if thinking it's your civic duty to put other people in their place because you're the authority on all moral matters isn't self-centered in and of itself.

Its sad the Wii U/3DS purge is somehow earlier than expected.

Only 5 years until they turn switch online off then.

Wii U/3ds > Switch

@Not_Soos Merry Christmas to all, and here’s to more benevolent narcissism in the new year!

Governments should force companies to make the servers open source as soon as support ends. That way people can build their own server. Not only of consoles but also for smartphones. Imagine installing a different OS and use your phone another three to five years. Or imagine installing different functions on it like a security cam or Chromecast function. It would be so much better if we wouldn't be forced to just go to the next thing. I could spent years more to finish all the good games that released on the 3DS and I still have it next to my bed and play on it. Sad it's going to stop soon.

@Tyranexx Pokémon bank still works (at least for me). I've been using it yesterday to transfer Pokémon to Home.

What a date to announce it, Grintendo

I still can't believe they shut down the online for Nintendo NES, absurd that a corporation ends a service when it is no longer deemed profitable.

What a lovely thing to announce just before Christmas 🥹

Nintendo online is now a paid service. This means that the opportunity to play online on Wii U and 3DS is being taken away, by Nintendo, from customers that are still paying them for the privelege of playing online. The fact that the paid online service is not specifically connected to those consoles is, to me, irrelevant.
Xbox 360/Xbox One still have online play, as does PS4. Nintendo wants paid online too, then they should earn it just the same. If your customers are still paying you for online, don't reduce their service.

@VoidofLight if you were already in the process of finishing it, you shouldn't be affected - the issue is encountered by new users (not the users of New 3DS as I briefly misread in the title, too😆). I even checked back with a couple games and Pokemon Bank just in case, everything works as usual.

Companies could at least give out some helping Hand to make own Servers.
It can't be that we can play the original Doom, Quake and Unreal online without any Problem, but everything since the Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube Era is nearly lost.

@Tyranexx pretty gamefreak already has a custom servers up for bank and home. now that i think about it i can't recall any other games that have interconnectability between the 3ds & switch other than pokemon games...
in any case, we'll find out in april if its getting cut off as there will be an

if it is.

@Serpenterror «Those platforms are region lock...»
Yeah, I know.
«...Nintendo ended online over here or around the world, in Japan online support for Wii U and 3DS are still active.»
Hmm. Interesting...

I'd honestly pay a (very) small monthly fee to continue playing MK7 online.
As others have also said, I can't justify an NSO sub just to play MK8.
Nintendo don't seem to realise that they will actually reduce engagement with their games in the long run.
Personally I've taken my online gaming completely to PC over this last year.

@Thief

It was a rhetorical question. I commented because I've been excited for over a month for my nephew to open his gift and was overjoyed that he liked it. I wasn't fishing for compliments, and even if I did--who cares? There is absolutely nothing wrong with needing validation sometimes, and if you were taught that this is the same thing as arrogance, I feel very sorry for you.

Imagine if your gf said to you, "Babe, I've lost 15 pounds in the past 3 months! Are you proud of me?" And you told her, "Not really, you're still fat" because you wanted to keep her ego in check. You'd be single in about five seconds, lol. We could all use positive reinforcement sometimes, and there's nothing wrong with that; it's normal and healthy human behavior to give each other a pat on the back.

My comment was meant to be wholesome and nothing else. You don't know the struggles my family has been through, so I'm sorry, but this really touches a nerve with me. It's literally Christmas, dude, and you're trying to make me feel guilty now for something I've been looking forward to all season. My nephew has had it very hard lately as both of his parents are divorced and he's been having a difficult time transitioning to kindergarten. He gets so anxious before school he throws up almost every morning. I'm happy that I at least have a good-paying job now and am able to buy him nice things that make him happy.

He gave me like 10 hugs yesterday before he left my house, and he's not an affectionate person, so it really melted my heart. One of my own uncles was a disgusting predator, so you better freaking believe I take pride in the fact I'm nothing like that guy and I don't feel bad one bit for thinking I'm a good uncle. The one uncle I had who wasn't complete garbage is dead now and his passing really rocked my family, but something that helps me cope is that I can be a positive light in my nephew's life the way that particular uncle was to my brother and I. Wanting to be there for him is one of the reasons I get out of bed every morning, and it helped me through some dark times when I frankly didn't want to go on. I didn't succumb to those dark thoughts that the world would be a better place without me because I knew there was a kid who needed me.

I almost worded my original comment in a way that would have been even more upsetting to you by saying, "am I the best uncle or what?" which would have been OBVIOUS hyperbole and no reasonable person would have taken literally. But I decided to at least omit that part because I didn't want it taken out of context, which still clearly happened.

I may not be the best uncle in the world, but I'm a darn good one regardless of what you or anyone else thinks. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the holidays with the people who matter and suggest you do the same instead of putting out needless negativity in the world and making hurtful assumptions about people's motives. You're the one acting like you're better than me, not the other way around.

And here I was thinking NL wasn't still a toxic community like it was years ago, but boy was I wrong, lol. Last time I try to share something wholesome on this depraved site.

@sanderev Yep, last I checked (couple months ago) it still worked. Seems I had the Poke Transporter tool once too, so no issues re-downloading and using that. I've read accessing it has been problematic for some who didn't previously have a sub.

@Shadowmoon522 I surmised from previous announcements that TPC has their own setup. Though they were keen to outline it wouldn't be permanent. I hope there will be an official announcement well in advance as to Pokemon Bank's dropped support.

@VoidofLight is only affecting new accounts and not old accounts so you should still be perfectly fine until April.

I wonder if this effects 3DS and Wii U transfers to other 3DS and Wii U

The title of the article makes it seem like you are talking about the "New 3DS" system.

@HatesCheese,

Totally agree, thirteen years is a decent amount of time, even more considering how much the Wii U bombed.

@Not_Soos,

You are an awesome uncle, I bet he is over the moon with those gifts.

@Thief,

Not sure he overstated what he had spent on the items, he never mentioned a price, apart from stating he paid a pretty pennyto get the items in mint condition, which did not seem over the top to me, and would be expected considering the items he bought. Also this was not the main focus of his post, in the first place.

Of course some will always take the negative view, no matter what people post on here.

@Zarlac if you have already downloaded the pokemon bank and transporter app onto the 3ds before March 2023 then you can use another Nintendo ID to transfer the pokemon. If you have sun and moon demo downloaded, would recommend borrowing sun or moon to get Ash-Greninja.

@ActionPanther,

Yes all ten Wii U owners must be in ruins because of this.

And one day the same will be true of switch games, but even worse, if you play switch games on anything other than your primary system, you will be locked out of doing that too. Buy physical games! This digital stuff is a gaming dictatorship. It’s better to retain our gaming freedom and play our own physical games with no restrictions. Maybe they won’t play with friends online someday but at least we can still play the games alone or with friends locally!

@HatesCheese Tinfoil hats off to you… this is a brilliant hot take.

I really don’t care all that much bc I hardly ever play online. But this is really cheap of Nintendo. IMO, you should be able to play online across accounts if you have NSO

@retrokid104 i feel like everything is drowning in subscription, office 365, car navigation, online play, streaming... consumers need to push back.. i get why NES games etc need to be paid for... but online play and cloud safe... its a money grab

@CharlieZee Are you a bot? I find it hard to imagine an actual person wouldn't understand that he bought a console and physical games for his nephew off of Ebay. You do realize not everything off of Ebay are stolen goods right?

Goodbye free internet, goodbye Wii U usernames - a feature they should have kept for the Switch. SMH.

@Not_Soos As one who aspires to be a fun uncle myself, I support your accomplishments. It's remarkable that haters felt the need on this day, out of all the days in the year, to be inconsequentially critical of someone they don't know doing something that doesn't appreciably affect them, but that says more about them than it does about you.

@WiiWareWave doh. I meant to reply to @UltimateOtaku91 and his theft of games.
SORRY my fault i replied/tagged the wrong person (I was distracted playing lets go eevee)

He gave his nephew KNOWN STOLEN GOODS.
Surely this is teaching his nephew to steal.

I've been unable to connect to Mario Kart 7 online since early December I've had my account since 2011 though so it seems odd that it doesn't let me on. The game crashes in the character select screen and then get put back at the 3DS home menu where an error message displays.

@Not_Soos you are an amazing uncle. Don’t let these toxic fools ever even come close to making you believe anything less. Your nephew is blessed to have you in his life. If the people giving you trouble on here had even half a brain they would see that you’re the kind of person this world desperately needs more of. You keep on being that little boy’s much needed light. I think what you’re doing is awesome! ❤️

@Not_Soos You're a great uncle, don't pay attention to the negativity. Some people just don't know any other way to be.

@silberbauer15 I feel the same. Every company that thinks they can get away with it wants to tie themselves permanently to your wallet.

Had to happen sometime.

Many games (not just Nintendo) are having servers shut down. It’s not worth the infrastructure cost and depending on where/how it’s housed, those old servers limit infrastructure moving forward. Sucks for the folks that were still playing or that got a system outside its lifetime but most people that complain about this weren’t even using the services.

@OfficialHigeDan That’s the thing. I don’t have a NNID created before Dec 2023

@johnvboy @ZZalapski @Kiyata @Lightsiyd

Thank you all for the positive words. I try not to let nasty comments get to me anymore, but this was something that is very personal for me. I regret calling this a "depraved site" with so many of you jumping to my defense. It truly means a lot. It put me in quite a sour mood to wake up to accusations of narcissism this morning, and while it's stupid to let the words of strangers on the internet put a damper on your holiday spirit, that's exactly what I allowed to happen. I've perked up throughout the day though, thanks in no small part to your kind replies.

I hope you all have a very joyful, blessed, and safe Christmas. Thanks as well to the others who posted positive replies before the negativity came in-- @TheRealMr_Carpainter and @MH4. Hopefully, I'm not missing anybody else. I guess it's just human nature that we tend to focus more on criticism than the words of affirmation that come our way. Even when my intentions are good, it's easy for me to allow people to get into my psyche and make me question my own moral compass. I try to have thick skin, but some days are harder than others.

It doesn't take much for my thoughts to start spiraling downward and making me doubt everything--thoughts like, "Was I really just looking for clout?" "Am I really a narcissist and a no-count uncle?" "Maybe I am just a bad person." To be quite candid, I have obsessive compulsive disorder and have wasted countless hours in these vicious thought patterns of self-loathing. I cope with it a lot better ever since I started medication and went through about a year of therapy, but as I said, sometimes it's just harder. So I can't express enough how much your compassion means to me. Not to be melodramatic, but just as you all have affirmed me, I feel the need to affirm you that the positivity you put out on the internet makes a colossal difference and that if everyone strive to be more understanding like you, the world would be a better place.

Nothing but love to all of you, and God bless you and yours this holiday season. The outpouring of love reminds me that even amid the internet Scrooges and Grinches, there is still good in the world. Sorry for the long monologue lol, especially to the couple of you who commented before the criticism started coming my way and are probably completely lost about what is happening right now. But I just want you to know that you are appreciated.

Sincerely,

An unapologetically good uncle.

@Not_Soos Word. You have a very merry christmas, for the remainder of the day.

@Not_Soos,

Same to you mate, and I hope you have a good one as well. Hope your Nephew enjoys his DS.

@croz - If the next console is using similar online infrastructure, I think it’ll be much longer than 5 years. Even if it doesn’t, the Switch has a significant install base, I could see it going much longer.

@Vyacheslav333 Why...?

@Aventurier 'Cause I think that buying a console without working digital store and working multiplayer is sad and kinda disappointing, especially when consoles older than Nintendo 3DS still have working digital store and working multiplayer – Xbox 360, for example.