"I don't recall saying 'good luck.'" Nintendo brooms the 3DS and Wii U

[ArugulaZ]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1493752880733503488

It's been feared for months, and now it's official... Nintendo will shutter the eShop stores for the 3DS and Wii U in late March of 2023. If there's anything you want for these two consoles, you've got a year to get it. Sony reversed their own decision to shut down the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores last year after public pressure, but it's very rare for Nintendo to change a planned course of action once it's been made, no matter how much their fans complain. (Besides, with the Switch over five years old and selling over 100 million units, this is probably the best time for them to pull the plug on their legacy systems. Their customers are plenty distracted at the moment.)

Currently, Nintendo is giving people a chance to relive their memories of the 3DS and Wii U on a special page, which chronicles all the time you've spent and what games you've played in an unsettlingly exact way. "You've spent sixty nine hours with Nintendo Badge Arcade," the page informs me, rather accusingly.

 

[Issun]

I've pretty much purchased everything I want on both systems, but it's nice to have a timeframe now in case there's anything else I end up wanting. I'm hoping we'll still be able to download previous purchases for a time after. I feel like that'll be the case, since I think you can still do that on the Wii.

 

[Sprite]

Welp, guess I picked the right time to be done with Neo Geo Pocket collecting, because now I gotta allocate most of my gaming budget to prepping for this apocalypse. I started spreadsheeting for this a month or so ago because the writing seemed to be on the wall. I know what VC games I still want, I guess I should look around to see what 3DS-native games are going to vanish. And figure out if there's a reliable and legal way to back everything up for when my 3DSes die.

 

[Kazin]

how to hack your 3ds

how to hack your wii u

I miss the 3DS so much:

 

[ArugulaZ]

Welp, guess I picked the right time to be done with Neo Geo Pocket collecting, because now I gotta allocate most of my gaming budget to prepping for this apocalypse. I started spreadsheeting for this a month or so ago because the writing seemed to be on the wall. I know what VC games I still want, I guess I should look around to see what 3DS-native games are going to vanish. And figure out if there's a reliable and legal way to back everything up for when my 3DSes die.

Were you the guy from December who was shouting, "Big 3DS sale! Mostly Atlus games! You're probably not going to get another chance at these!"? Looks like that prediction was right on the money.

 

[Kazin]

There's so much good stuff on 3DS. My number up there is just my legit 3DS, not even my hacked 2DS, which I've put a ton of time on too, and there are still a bunch of games I want to play on the thing. I haven't even touched the Fire Emblem 3DS games, for example! Absolutely incredible library on that thing.

 

[Violentvixen]

I played Animal Crossing on 3DS more than the entire WiiU console. Yikes. That being said I played Wii Fit this morning...

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Welp, I guess it's time to finally get around to picking up a New 2DS and transferring stuff over, then seeing what I don't have that I wanna get.

 

[Kazin]

oh thank GOD someone has played more 3DS than I have lmao

 

[Violentvixen]

oh thank GOD someone has played more 3DS than I have lmao

Ha, yep, hell of a system for me. @Lumber Baron pointed out that we shared one copy of Animal Crossing on my 3DS so some of those hours are his but that definitely wasn't even half of it. I'm going to look at the activity tracker thing and see my full top 10 later. Can't remember if there's a similar function on the WiiU but will check.

 

[Falselogic]

Now seems like a wonderful time to to hack your 3 or 2 DS!

 

[ASandoval]

There goes most of the games I made, just wiped from history.

In case my feelings on this kind of thing wasn't already clear.

 

[Vaeran]

I'm still kicking myself for not getting Gradius ReBirth before the Wii eShop closed down, so I'll be going over both systems' offerings with a fine-toothed comb.

...I spent 49 hours on StreetPass Mii Plaza?!

 

[Rascally Badger]

My memories thing is messed up. I did not play 150 hours of Inazuma Eleven. I played that game for maybe 15 hours.

 

[Sprite]

Looking over the exclusives which are disappearing, the biggest standout for me is Pocket Card Jockey. Highly recommended. Horse racing/solitaire is a curiously addictive mix.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Ive been preparing for this for a while; don’t think there’s anything left in it’s library I’ve overlooked, and there’s not much room left in my memory card.

 

[madhair60]

if I could have any system and its compatible library ever for the rest of my life I'd probably take my hacked New 2DS. Thing's an absolute brute.

 

[John]

I can't see the Memories thing, because I unlinked my Nintendo Network ID from my Nintendo account after hackers started using the former to steal money from the latter. Ah well.

I'm good with the 13 month window to buy stuff. The only thing I still want to get is Xenoblade Chronicles X, and I was holding out for a port to Switch. I'll probably keep waiting just until the end, because even though we've still got our WiiU hooked up, it's down in the basement, which means I never play it.

 

[Phantoon]

how to hack your 3ds

how to hack your wii u

I miss the 3DS so much:

Part-timer

 

[Kazin]

1100 hours in Pokemon Y, of all things?!

 

[Violentvixen]

I'm going to look at the activity tracker thing and see my full top 10 later. Can't remember if there's a similar function on the WiiU but will check.

I got my 3DS out and the little blue light on the hinge lit up with this announcement so it's being pushed to the systems too which is nice.

Here's my top 20 for funsies:
Animal Crossing: New Leaf 644 hours
Pokemon Shuffle 300 hours
Fire Emblem Fates 291 hours
Streetpass Mii Plaza 266 hours
Fire Emblem Awakening 264 hours
Tomodachi Life 179 hours
SMT IV 142 hours
Persona Q 134 hours
Persona Q2 86 hours
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones 79 hours
SMT IV Apocalypse 74 hours
Puzzle Quest 67 hours
Fantasy Life 58 hours
Denpa Men 2 56 hours
Miitopia 53 hours
Mario Kart 7 48 hours
Pokemon Conquest 47 hours
Denpa Men 45 hours
Pocket Card Jockey 41 hours
Nintendo eShop 37 hours (amusing)

The WiiU's "daily log" only compiles a month max which is a bummer. But combining that and the graphic above here's my guess at my 10 most played:
Wii Fit (as shown in the graphic this dominated absolutely no question)
Splatoon
Mario Kart
Nintendo Land
Hyrule Warriors
Child of Light
Shovel Knight
Animal Crossing Plaza (I would just put this on as essentially a pleasant screensaver sometimes)
Wind Waker HD
Mighty Switch Force, DuckTales Remastered or Runbow

...I spent 49 hours on StreetPass Mii Plaza?!

There were a lot of minigames! I love that flower one so dang much.

My memories thing is messed up. I did not play 150 hours of Inazuma Eleven. I played that game for maybe 15 hours.

I know on my Vita there was a game that still counted time the system was asleep with that game open as time played. Maybe there was a similar bug here?

Looking over the exclusives which are disappearing, the biggest standout for me is Pocket Card Jockey. Highly recommended. Horse racing/solitaire is a curiously addictive mix.

Yes! Highly recommended.

 

[Phantoon]

1100 hours in Pokemon Y, of all things?!

Pokémon Y is awesome and I regret nothing

 

[Kazin]

Here's my top 20 for funsies:

I decided to do this too, and something is up with the way the memories thing collects data, because here is mine:

1. Animal Crossing: New Leaf 295:40
2. Pokemon Ultra Sun 143:38
3. Theathrythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call 134:08
4. Pokemon Moon 121:40
5. SMT: Devil Survivor Overclocked 102:51
6. Pokemon Gold 77:17
7. Dragon Quest VII 76:32
8. Final Fantasy Explorers 73:13
9. Shin Megami Tensei IV 69:15
10. Persona Q 62:44
11. Etrian Odyssey IV 59:39
12. Mario Kart 7 56:15
13. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire 54:06
14. Ocarina of Time 3D 47:11
15. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 39:21
16. Dragon Quest VIII 37:43
17. Tales of the Abyss 35:50
18. Pokemon Heartgold 35:06
19. Pokemon Y 34:54
20. Fantasy Life 34:50

And that's just the legit 3DS. Odd that it doesn't show Curtain Call as in my top 3 on the memories thing...

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I played my 3DS for 846 hours, with just 22 games. That is way fewer games and surely thousands of hours less than I put into the DS. I didn’t find the library for 3DS anywhere nearly as varied or interesting as it’s predecessor.

I won’t mention the overall stats for my WiiU habits, but I will say almost half of it’s playtime was running Xenoblade Chronicles X, the best Xenoblade.

I am very glad we’re out of the Dark Age of Nintendo.

 

[Becksworth]

Something happened to my 3ds data, because all they had was me playing Kid Icarus Uprising a couple of hours.

 

[Kirin]

Lol, apparently I played my 3DS for 3300 hours and literally almost 2/3 of that time was in Pokemon Shuffle. I played that game daily for years, at the end for no reason other than inertia.

Also hilariously/depressingly, my second most played comes up as Badge Arcade. Though I suspect that Theatrhythm would've bumped up to second if it weren't broken across two game carts. Also curious where Picross-e would rank if you add it all up, since it may as well have been a bunch of download packs for the same game. I'll have to check my actual stats on the 3DS later.

 

[conchobhar]

Just to note, the March 2023 date is when the storefront goes down entirely, but key functions end much, much sooner. The ability to add funds with a credit card will end after May 23, 2022; and adding funds with a gift card is only available until August 29, 2022. If there's something you want you should probably get a jump on it.

 

[gorha]

2007 hours of 3DS for me, probably not counting a recent few because I leave the wifi off most of the time nowadays to save the battery. I wasn't expecting to buy any more 3DS games, but this is still sad news.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Aw, man, I can't link my Nintendo Network account to my current nintendo online and see me records account because the former is Japan-based

Does the actual 3DS have a tracker on it? I should break it out and see what it says...

I also have a bunch of games I bought in Japan and brought back with me to play later that I never got around to touching. ....Hrmm.

 

[Violentvixen]

Does the actual 3DS have a tracker on it? I should break it out and see what it says...

Yep, that's what I used to get my top 20 list. The icon is a little blue and white chart and it's called Activity Log. Open it (if you've never opend it before be prepared for a lot of "new title added!" notifications), then press software library, then "ranking". If it's not on play time by default you change the rankings in the lower right.