Player buys every single Wii U and 3DS eshop game ahead of store closure
The entire project cost over $22,791
A player has purchased every single Wii U and 3DS eShop game, ahead of the closure of both stores.
Popular content creator Jirard ‘The Completionist’ Khalil claims the entire collection amounted to 866 Wii U games and 1547 3DS games.
This equated to 1.2 TB of Wii U games and 267 GBs of 3DS games, DsiWare and DLC. The entire collection cost Khalil $22,791/£18,715 and took almost an entire year to complete.
Khalil said he raised funding for the purchases via sponsorships and will be donating the completed collection to the Video Game History Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of video games.
From March 27, it will no longer be possible to purchase games on the Wii U or 3DS eShops. As revealed by VGC analysis, up to 1000 digital-only eShop games will effectively disappear for good once 3DS and Wii U eShop transactions end.
Last year Nintendo assured that even though no more transactions (including the downloading of free demos and content) will be possible after March 27 next year, the online service won’t shut down completely.
“Even after March 27, 2023, and for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates, and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems,” it said.
Khalil used eShop credit cards to add funds to their account, as they had concerns that their bank would flag the huge number of transactions. This meant acquiring 464 eShop cards and redeeming them one by one onto each system.
However, the group ran into an issue wherein the eShop would only allow a single digital wallet to hold $250 at once, meaning they would have to continually buy games, then redeem cards, then repeat the process around 72 times. “This is why it’s stupid!” Khalil says jokingly throughout the video.
Further reading
Analysis: Up to 1,000 digital-only games will disappear when Nintendo closes its 3DS and Wii U stores
Some of the more notable Wii U download-only exclusives set to disappear forever when the stores close include Affordable Space Adventures, Amiibo Tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Bits, Chasing Aurora, Dr Luigi, The Letter, Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge, Pokémon Rumble U, Pushmo World (Pullblox World in Europe) and Shut the Box.
On 3DS, the list of games set to disappear is even larger. These include 3D-enhanced re-releases of a number of classic games, including Nintendo’s 3D Classic range, which offered stereoscopic versions of games like Excitebike, Kid Icarus and Kirby’s Adventure.
Finally, the closure of the Wii U and 3DS eShops will also mean the termination of the final systems to support the Virtual Console service. Once this happens, the only retro games provided by Nintendo will be the ones available on Switch Online’s various apps.
