Nintendo 3DS and Wii U online servers have officially shut down for good
You can no longer play any games online on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
🛜 Nintendo has shut down online on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
⛔ You can no longer access online on either system
🛍️ The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops were closed on March 27
😢 It’s a big blow to video game preservation as many of these titles are now incomplete or inaccessible
Nintendo has officially pulled the plug on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U online servers, which means you can no longer play games online on either system.
It marks the end of an era for Nintendo fans and means some of the system’s most beloved titles like Splatoon, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Kart 8 are no longer the same.
Many fans took the opportunity to play on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U online before the service was shut down for good. If you try to play online on either system today, you’ll be presented with the following messages.
On Wii U, an Error Code: 102-2882 will appear which says, “This online service is no longer available. Thank you for your interest.” While on Nintendo 3DS you’ll see the Error Code: 002-0110 and the message, “This service for this software has been discontinued. Thank you for using this service.”
The Nintendo 3DS launched in February 2011 and the Wii U launched in 2012. It means that the Nintendo 3DS’s online service was available for 13 years, while the Wii U was online for 12 years.
Nintendo recently shut down both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop ahead of ending online support completely. Fans had until March 27, 2023, to download free content and make purchases from either eShop before some titles disappeared for good.
The closure of both services and some games becoming inaccessible forever is a reminder of why video game preservation is so important. Microsoft has doubled down on video game preservation for its next-gen console, ensuring that current games will be forward-compatible with any new hardware.
Online games are always vulnerable to becoming obsolete as developers and publishers look to save on ongoing server costs. A game can also be shut early if there isn’t a big enough player base to support it, such as Platinum Games’ Babylon Fall which was taken offline less than a year after its release.
While it often feels inevitable, it’s still sad that so many great Nintendo games will no longer work or be fully complete now that the online servers are gone.