Nintendo Shutting Down Wii, DS Online Services In May

The Wii and DS were the first Nintendo consoles to offer online play through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The service wasn’t exactly the best and it was more frustrating than anything what wit...
Nintendo Shutting Down Wii, DS Online Services In May
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  • The Wii and DS were the first Nintendo consoles to offer online play through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The service wasn’t exactly the best and it was more frustrating than anything what with players having to enter separate friend codes for each game. If you managed to get past all that, you might have found that titles like Mario Kart Wii actually offered a pretty good online experience. Now it’s all coming to an end.

    Nintendo announced today that it’s shutting down Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection services on both the Wii and DS. In other words, the online portions of every Wii and DS game will be going offline in May. Online play won’t be the only thing affected as games that offered downloadable content, like the Professor Layton series, will also be going offline.

    It’s explicitly noted that services like the Wii Shop Channel and the Nintendo DSi shop will remain online past May. After all, shutting down the virtual console on the Wii would anger quite a few people as the Wii U’s virtual console doesn’t have nearly as many titles on it yet. It goes without saying, but the Wii U and 3DS online services will remain unaffected as well.

    Here’s a full list of all the first-party Nintendo titles that will be going offline in May:

    Nintendo DS
    100 Classic Books
    Animal Crossing: Wild World
    Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
    Clubhouse Games
    Custom Robo Arena
    Diddy Kong Racing DS
    Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
    Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2
    Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
    Fossil Fighters: Champions
    Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
    Mario Kart DS
    Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
    Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem
    Metroid Prime Hunters
    Personal Trainer: Walking
    Picross 3D
    Picross DS
    Planet Puzzle League
    Pokémon Black Version
    Pokémon Black Version 2
    Pokémon Diamond Version
    Pokémon HeartGold Version
    Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
    Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
    Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
    Pokémon Pearl Version
    Pokémon Platinum Version
    Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
    Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
    Pokémon SoulSilver Version
    Pokémon White Version
    Pokémon White Version 2
    Professor Layton and the Curious Village
    Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
    Professor Layton and the Last Specter
    Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
    Star Fox Command
    Style Savvy
    Tenchu: Dark Secret
    Tetris DS
    WarioWare DIY

    Nintendo DSiWare
    Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
    Metal Torrent
    Number Battle

    Wii
    Animal Crossing: City Life
    Battalion Wars 2
    Endless Ocean
    Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep
    Excitebots: Trick Racing
    Fortune Street
    Mario Kart Wii
    Mario Sports Mix
    Mario Strikers Charged
    Pokémon Battle Revolution
    Samurai Warriors 3
    Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
    Super Smash Brothers Brawl
    Wii Music

    WiiWare
    Dr. Mario Online RX
    Excitebike: World Rally
    LONPOS
    Maboshi’s Arcade
    My Pokémon Ranch
    ThruSpace
    WarioWare DIY

    All of the above games will go dark on May 20. That gives players a little under two months to get in a last few games before it’s gone forever. If it’s anything like the shut down of the original Xbox Live, we might just hear legends of a few brave souls who continued playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl online long after the shut down date. Well, that is Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection’s spotty service doesn’t kick them off first.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

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