Earlier this week, Nintendo announced they would be closing down the eShop for both the 3DS and Wii U in March of next year. This move has the potential to completely wipe away up to 1,000 digital-only games when they become unable to purchase. Users will still be able to redownload previous purchased games, so this decision by Nintendo could force fans to panic buy their favorite titles before they effectively become lost media or at least unattainable media.
While the 3DS and Wii U eShop will shut down in March 2023, several games could be lost much sooner than that. From May 23, 2022, customers will no longer be able to use credit cards on the online marketplace, and from August 29, 2022, eShop cards will not be accepted to add funds. Several titles will of course remain available in physical form, but a huge library of games are exclusively digital, meaning they will disappear for good unless Nintendo makes them accessible on the Nintendo Switch. Although, the Nintendo Switch is a very different set-up to the 3DS; it has one screen for starters. Many games would most likely be unplayable on Nintendo’s current console.
According to data compiled by news publication VGC, around 2,000 games are available across the 3DS and Wii U eShop stores in western countries. A breakdown from VGC can be seen below:
- Around 450 digital-only Wii U games
- Around 600 digital-only 3DS games
- Around 100 Wii U games that are also available physically
- Around 300 3DS games that are also available physically
- Nearly 530 Virtual Console games, around 350 of which are not currently available on Nintendo Switch Online
Some popular digital exclusives for the Wii U which are at risk are:
- Affordable Space Adventures
- Amiibo Tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits
- Chasing Aurora
- Dr Luigi
- The Letter
- Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge
- Pokémon Rumble U
- Pushmo World (Pullblox World in Europe)
- Shut the Box
Notable digital-only 3DS games that could be gone forever are:
- Chibi-Robo: Let’s Go, Photo
- Dillon’s Rolling Western 1 & 2
- Dr Mario: Miracle Cure
- Fluidity: Spin Cycle (Hydroventure: Spin Cycle in Europe)
- Ketzal’s Corridors (SpeedThru: Potzol’s Puzzle in Europe)
- Mario & Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move
- Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge
- Nintendo Pocket Football Club
- Picross e – Picross e8
- Pocket Card Jockey
- Pokémon Battle Trozei (Pokémon Link Battle in Europe)
- Pokémon Picross
- Pushmo / Crashmo / Stretchmo (known as Pullblox / Fallblox / Fullblox in Europe)
- HarmoKnight
- Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword (Hana Samurai in Europe)
- Sanrio Characters Picross
- Steel Empire
- Tokyo Crash Mobs
It will incredibly be troubling for long-time fans of Nintendo to completely lose access to so many games. Hopefully, the company has plans to resurrect these titles in the future.