End of Support for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U: What You Need to Know

Nintendo has recently announced the upcoming end of support for its popular gaming consoles, the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Starting from April 8th at 4:00 AM PDT, online services for these devices will be discontinued. In a Twitter post directing users to the customer support page, Nintendo confirmed this final closure and encouraged users to visit the page for more details.

As a result, online co-op, internet rankings, and data distribution will be disabled for the following consoles: New Nintendo 3DS, New 3DS XL, New 2DS XL, 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS, Wii U Deluxe, and Wii U Basic. However, there is still an opportunity for users to link their unused Nintendo eShop balances to their Nintendo accounts, allowing them to utilize the remaining funds on their Nintendo Switch consoles. More information regarding this can be found on the informational page.

It is important to note, though, that even with the server shutdown, gamers will still have access to offline features and game modes that do not require online communication. Notably, Nintendo has decided to keep the StreetPass functionality active, as it relies on local communication and does not require an internet connection.

For the time being, users will still be able to update and re-download purchased games. The closure of services will not immediately impact functions such as Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter. Users will continue to have access to these services.

This end of support for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U marks a significant step forward for Nintendo. However, it should not come as a surprise, as the 3DS was discontinued in 2020, and the Wii U reached the end of its lifecycle back in 2017, almost seven years ago. This highlights how little we know about older Nintendo consoles.

FAQs

The source of the article is from the blog be3.sk