Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop closing in March 2023

Wii U and 3DS eShop

After closing services in Latin America, digital store closures are imminent worldwide.

Nintendo of America announced the global discontinuation of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops on its Twitter account yesterday night. Nintendo has decided to shut down the services of buying and redeeming eShop vouchers for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. This comes after the termination of both platforms’ services in various Latin American countries in April 2020.

The end of two eras

From March 2023, users of the New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL, New Nintendo 2DS XL, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS, Wii U Deluxe, and Wii U Basic will be unable to shop in the Nintendo eShop. There will also be no way to download any free stuff (i.e. demos) that haven’t already been downloaded.

Disclosure: We may earn a commission from links on this page

Following the closing of the eShop, the following services will cease to exist:

  • Credit cards will not be accepted for adding funds to a Nintendo eShop account on the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of platforms as of May 23, 2022.
  • As of August 29, 2022, Nintendo eShop gift cards will not be able to be used to add cash to a Nintendo eShop account on the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of platforms. However, redeeming download codes is allowed until the end of March 2023.
  • Purchases of video games or DLC will be unavailable.
  • Microtransactions will no longer be available in StreetPass Mii Plaza, Theme Shop, or Nintendo Badge Arcade.

This marks the end of a generation of consoles that provided tens of thousands of hours of entertainment and served as a testbed for the technologies that Nintendo is presenting today with the Switch.

One last dance of the Wii U

Despite the impending shop closures, developer Sungrand revealed a new game for the Wii U in 2022 called Silver Falls: White Inside Its Umbra. It takes advantage of the Wii Remotes, Nunchuk, and Wii Balance Board technology to deliver us a fantastic survival horror experience.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Silver Falls series, it’s a genre-defying horror game franchise for Nintendo systems. The game series depicts the lives of residents of Silver Falls, a tiny mountain town that has seen a lot of UFO activity over the years.

The games in the series include plots that span several decades, allowing players to explore the characters at various ages and stages of their life. The Code Linker technology connects the games in the Silver Falls series, unlocking material in each game and allowing characters to appear in games they would not otherwise appear in.

The game will be available in Europe through the eShop in 2022. Players will no longer be able to contribute cash to their eShop accounts using credit cards as of May 23, 2022. So we’ll have to wait for further details on this title and how it will launch before the eShop closes.

Live your best memories of the 3DS and Wii U

Wii U and 3DS eShop

Nintendo has launched a website where gamers of the various versions of the Nintendo 3DS and WiiU who have their Nintendo Account with a connected Nintendo Network ID may revisit all of the games, data, and much more they have played along their journey through these two platforms.

On these two systems, you can see which games were your favorites, which games you played the most, which game genre was your favorite, and which game was the most memorable. Along with this information, you can view a lot more and reminisce about your time playing on the Wii U and 3DS.

If you’d like to wander around the website and relive some memories, you may do so here.

Watch the Silver Falls: White Inside Its Umbragameplay trailer down below!

Leave a Comment