NIntendo Co., Ltd. is a multinational developer and publisher of software and video games headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1889, Nintendo has focused on games and toys since the 1960s, moving toward electronic games in the 70’s. Today they are best known for flagship franchises including Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid and Animal Crossing and unique hardware innovations like the Nintendo DS and Wii.
Along with the end of the Wii Shop Channel and the Virtual Console, the Nintendo Wii will apparently be losing its streaming video services on January 30th, 2019. We’ve known since 2017 that the Wii’s gaming marketplaces would be switched off in 2019 but according to an email notification sent out by Netflix, we now have confirmation that all streaming video apps are coming to an end the same day.
Obviously, the loss of original and unique games on the Wii Shop Channel is the most meaningful news, but seeing Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video going dark really drives the point home: Nintendo is done with the Wii. The only holdout looks to be the ability to re-download your previously purchased content. While the last update Nintendo gave said that purchases from the Wii Shop and Virtual Console would end on January 30th, they very nebulously maintain that “at an undisclosed time in the future the ability to redownload this content or transfer it to a Wii U would also be suspended”.
It seems likely that you’ll be able to dig through your purchase history and re-download games into 2019, but if you’ve put it off this long you should probably get on that. We’ve got a handy walkthrough to help you out!
Leading up to the May 4th release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on the Switch, one redditor decided to revisit the original title on Wii U this week and found it was missing from the eShop. I did a quick check and, sure enough, the “Buy Digital” link has been removed… but only in North America. The game is still available to download from both Nintendo Europe and Japan.
While the thinking is that the game was delisted in a nefarious push to get consumers to buy the more expensive Switch port, Archive.org shows it may have been removed a while ago. The last capture from February 25th is missing any reference to the eShop version. The latest capture that shows the download was available is from all the way back in October of 2017.
There’s still a lot of unaccounted for space between all of these dates so I’m going to wait before adding the game to the site in case this was all a big mistake. Maybe it’ll pop back up, say, a week after the Switch port has been out? I’ll circle back then and update. For now, the Wii U version remains available on physical media at around $30 in North America.
Nintendo announced early on January 25th that Miitomo, their first foray into original mobile games for Android and iOS will be shutting down on May 9th, 2018. The notice is brief, confirming the date and that the sale of Miitomo coins for real money ended on January 24th.
To show their appreciation to fans of the app a “Final Thank You Festival” was announced on the game’s homepage. Every day until May 9th, players will receive 2,000 Miitomo coins and 5 Game Tickets used to buy items and play the Miitomo Drop game. Users were also able to create Sidekick Mii characters which can be exported to a 3DS or Wii U console via QR Code until May 9th. Likewise, any Miifotos created in the app will need to be exported to your smartphone before the deadline.
Miitomo launched on both iOS and Android on March 31st, 2016 putting its lifespan at just over two years by the time it is to be shut down. The date has been added to the Watch List calendar.
Nintendo Support announced on September 29th the beginning of the end for all online services on the Nintendo Wii. The first milestone is March 25th, 2018 which is the last day to purchase points or redeem points cards on the Nintendo Wii Shop channel. Just ten months later on January 30th, 2019 the ability to purchase WiiWare titles, Virtual Console games, and Wii Channels will be removed. No dates were given but the notice also points out that in the future the ability to redownload this content or transfer it to a Wii U will also be suspended.
This makes January 30th, 2019 one of the biggest dates in Delisted history. Besides nearly 250 Virtual Console titles that span decades of video game history, the date will also see the delisting of hundreds of WiiWare games, many of which aren’t available anywhere else.
I’m not sure I’ll ever have the time or energy to add a page for every one of those games but there will eventually be a Nintendo Wii Channel page to collect the names of the extinct exclusive titles if nothing more. For now, dates have been added to the Watch List calendar.
