Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop Titles Will No Longer Be Available to Purchase Starting March 2023
In a somewhat expected yet still disappointing bit of news, Nintendo released a statement late Tuesday night indicating that titles available for purchase on both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops would only be available to purchase until March 2023, at which point, the servers that support the online stores will cease to function. Though Nintendo did say that previously downloaded titles would still be available for re-download, the logistics of that were kept ambiguous.
As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make Nintendo eShop purchases for the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
More info: https://t.co/uGoxCcDZ70
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 16, 2022
What does this mean for Metroid fans? Well, as of this writing, only Metroid, Super Metroid, and Metroid Dread are available on the Nintendo Switch, whereas across the Wii U and 3DS eShops, other Metroid titles on the Virtual Console like Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Metroid: Other M and Metroid: Zero Mission currently find themselves without a home, as will the original 3DS Metroid titles, Samus Returns and Federation Force, which are available both physically and digitally.
While the hope is that most, if not ideally all, of these titles will find a way to be accessible on Nintendo Switch and future Nintendo consoles, there is nothing on the horizon to give any hope to that happening in the foreseeable future. Grab these Metroid games while you can, and as a silver lining, you can check out your 3DS and Wii U play history by linking your Nintendo Network ID.
Disappointed? Indifferent? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Nintendo
Andy Spiteri is the Webmaster of Omega Metroid and Host of the Omega Metroid Podcast, The Zelda Cast, and Virtual Theater. Probably drinking a Tim Horton’s Double Double as you read this.
