Tag: 3DS

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How to navigate Nintendo’s messy eShop to buy Wii U and 3DS games before they’re gone

On March 27th, Nintendo will officially shutter the eShop on its Wii U and 3DS systems.

The move has been met with a fair amount of controversy, especially given Nintendo’s historically poor efforts with preservation.

The closure of the two platforms’ digital storefronts is particularly noteworthy due to the rich, expansive catalogues — roughly $31,000 worth of games — that they possess. Naturally, then, there are a lot of games that people would like to purchase before Nintendo ceases to offer them, potentially indefinitely.

How to get started

However, that’s easier said than done. As MobileSyrup‘s Brad Bennett outlined earlier this year, you can’t actually use a credit card to buy games from the Wii U and 3DS eShops on the systems themselves. Last year, Nintendo removed that functionality, as well as the option to use a prepaid eShop gift card. This means that you’ll have to go to the My Nintendo Store website and add funds using a credit or gift card.

But there’s a catch. Your old Nintendo Network ID, which was used for the Wii U and 3DS, must be linked to your Nintendo Account. Nintendo introduced the latter system in 2017 with the Switch, and it’s been used ever since.

To link the two accounts, you’ll have to:

  • Go to the Nintendo Account site and sign into your Nintendo Account
  • Click ‘User info’
  • Scroll down to ‘Linked accounts’ and click ‘Edit’
  • Click the box next to Nintendo Network ID
  • Follow the on-screen steps

If you’re running into issues with this process, Nintendo has a troubleshooting page.

Buying and downloading the games

3DS games can be purchased from either a 3DS/2DS system or the My Nintendo Store website. Wii U games, however, can only be purchased from the tablet-esque device itself.

As long as you buy any desired games by March 27th, Nintendo says you’ll be able to re-download them “for the foreseeable future.”

What should you buy?

Of course, with so many games available across a bunch of platforms, there’s a lot to play. That said, some worth checking out include:

Wii U: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Star Fox Guard
3DS: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D, Fire Emblem Awakening (and Fates and Echoes), Pokémon X and Y (and Sun and Moon, etc), Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Metroid: Samus Returns, Mario & Luigi (Dream Team, etc)

There are also a ton of retro Virtual Console titles, including Super Mario RPG (SNES), Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS) and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA). It’s worth noting that some retro games are available through the Nintendo Switch Online service, but the vast majority are not.

What games are you planning to get? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Nintendo

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The Completionist spent $22,000 purchasing every Wii U and 3DS game prior to eShop closure

On Monday, March 27th, Nintendo is sunsetting the eShop for the Wii U and 3DS. As part of Nintendo’s plan to shutter its marketplace, every game and DLC will no longer be available to purchase on either device. YouTuber ‘The Completionist’ took it upon himself to purchase every game available ahead of the shutdown.

In a recently published Youtube video, The Completionist claims to have purchased all 866 Wii U and 1,547 3DS games available in the eShop. This also includes DSi and Virtual Console titles and respective DLC. This entire ordeal cost over $22,791 USD (roughly $31,146 CAD). 

To compile a library of Nintendo games, The Completionist required three external hard drives for the Wii U and four micro SD cards for 3DS. The results came to a staggering 1.2TB of Wii U games and 267GB on 3DS. The latter translates to 2,136,689 blocks, which is the figure Nintendo uses to track storage on the handheld.

This journey of purchasing every Nintendo game on the brink of endangerment by way of the eShop’s closure was also a battle of time. Nintendo’s eShops on Wii U and 3DS are more archaic than the current version on the Switch. On Nintendo hardware, the marketplace runs slower and features less-than-ideal search functions. Additionally, funds pose a major hurdle. Because of this, it took The Completionist 328 days to finish this endeavour.

As shown in the video above, a lot of time was spent purchasing eShop gift cards. Limits on purchases are in place to prevent scams. Plus, the marketplace has a $250 USD cap. The Completionist also had to work around Nintendo’s limit of purchasing 10 games at a time prior to installing them. Throughout the video, he shows how even purchasing DLC for some games meant doing so in-game rather than in the eShop.

The Completionist concludes the video by emphasizing the importance of video game preservation. This idea that games can be fleeting and erased from existence is a very real concern within the industry. The Completionist states that all hard drives and SD cards loaded with the Wii U and 3DS titles are being donated to the Video Game History Foundation.

Image credit: Nintendo

Source: The Completionist Via: IGN

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Mobile Syrup

Wii U and 3DS eShops to stop accepting credit card purchases today

Today marks the last day to add funds to your account on the Wii U and 3DS eShops. Nintendo announced in February that the two storefronts would close down in March 2023. This closure is coming in phases, with May 23, 2022 marking the last day customers can make credit card purchases.

Coming from the official Nintendo Q&A page, the gaming giant writes “As of May 23, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a credit card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.” The site also notes that gamers can add funds by way of Nintendo eShop cards until August 29. And Wii U/3DS game codes will be valid ts right up until March 2023.

You can now easily transition your Network Nintendo ID (Wii U/3DS) to your Nintendo Account Wallet (Nintendo Switch). Making this move allows the remaining funds from these storefronts to be used on Nintendo Switch purchases after their official closure.

The closing of these two stores comes after more than a decade online. Nintendo faced backlash after making the announcement back in February as some deemed it anti-game preservation.

Image Credit: Nintendo

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Mobile Syrup

Nintendo shutting down Wii U and 3DS eShops, dealing big blow to preservation

Nintendo has confirmed that it will be shutting down its Wii U and 3DS eShops in late March 2023.

This means that you won’t be able to make any digital purchases — including downloads of free titles and demos — on these systems after that period. However, Nintendo says previously purchased content will remain available to redownload.

While it’s not exactly surprising that digital storefronts for old, discontinued hardware are being closed, the bigger issue here relates to game preservation. That’s because these eShops offered large catalogues of older titles from the likes of the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy and DS eras — not to mention actual Wii U and 3DS titles.

With these stores shutting down, Nintendo’s only solution is its Switch Online, which offers a selection of titles from the NES, SNES and N64. However, these catalogues are far smaller; they lack Game Boy and DS titles and miss such classics as Final Fantasy VI and Super Mario RPG (SNES).

Further, they’re locked behind a subscription service, so there’s no way to actually own the games. (To be sure, one may argue the legitimacy of “ownership” of a digitally purchased title, but regardless, the Switch offers no option to buy individual NES, SNES or N64 titles.)

Making this even worse is that Nintendo says it “currently [has] no plans to offer classic content in other ways.” The closure of the Wii U and 3DS eShops wouldn’t be as much of an issue if Nintendo was going to make those older titles available on the Switch, but evidently, that’s not in the cards. This is despite the fact that the Switch has a user base that’s now larger than the 3DS and Wii U’s combined.

The company even addressed the issue of game preservation in a since-deleted, decidedly tone-deaf FAQ:

“Once it is no longer possible to purchase software in Nintendo eShop on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, many classic games for past platforms will cease to be available for purchase anywhere. Will you make classic games available to own some other way? If not, then why? Doesn’t Nintendo have an obligation to preserve its classic games by continually making them available for purchase?

Across our Nintendo Switch Online membership plans, over 130 classic games are currently available in growing libraries for various legacy systems. The games are often enhanced with new features such as online play.

We think this is an effective way to make classic content easily available to a broad range of players. Within these libraries, new and longtime players can not only find games they remember or have heard about, but other fun games they might not have thought to seek out otherwise.

We currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways.”

It’s another failure on Nintendo’s part to ensure game preservation, an issue with which the industry as a whole already struggles. While many classic films and TV shows remain accessible on home media and streaming services, it’s regularly harder to play older video games. This has led fans to turn to piracy to play games that companies like Nintendo are otherwise not making available through any modern platform.

Nintendo’s stance looks even worse when compared to main competitors Xbox and PlayStation. The Microsoft-owned gaming label has been the biggest proponent for game preservation as of late, making many popular original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles available on Xbox One and Series X/S.

While PlayStation’s offerings aren’t quite as flexible, the company does still offer some PS2 titles for purchase alongside a larger PS3 catalogue through its PlayStation Now streaming service. The company is also reportedly planning an expanded subscription service, codenamed Spartacus, for early 2022 that will offer PS1, PS2 and PSP titles. This is all on top of continuing to operate its PS3 and PS Vita storefronts following fan outcry over plans to shut them down.

Image credit: Nintendo

Source: Nintendo