Well, it finally happened. As of November 3, after 209 days, the last person hanging onto Nintendo’s old Wii U and 3DS Nintendo Network servers, known by the username Fishguy6564, was finally forced offline. His Nintendo 3DS gave up the ghost after nearly two-thirds of a year of staying connected to Mario Kart 7 servers, which was a remarkable feat [thanks to GamesRadar for the heads up]. The chapter has closed, but not entirely.
For those who still enjoy their Wii U and 3DS systems—which Nintendo no longer officially supports—there’s still hope. By using custom system firmware, fans can access Homebrew software and Pretendo. Pretendo is a service that allows players to connect to fan-operated replacement servers for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games that would otherwise be offline. Although Pretendo’s game library isn’t extensive, it’s a vital tool for keeping these relatively recent systems playable.
Before Fishguy6564’s 3DS finally bowed out of the Mario Kart 7 server marathon, it had been patched to keep a lobby of bots running continuously—after the last player left—to dodge the inevitable official server shutdown. He explained to GamesRadar during an earlier interview, “I didn’t think we would even survive the official shutdown. From that point on, it had simply become a test to see how long we could keep this going.”
It was a valiant effort, but it appears the end was inevitable. Yet, thanks to Pretendo, fans of modded original hardware are still able to enjoy some of their favorites. On the 3DS, games like Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Mario Maker 3DS are Pretendo-compatible. Over on the Wii U side, you can still dive into titles like Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, and Pokkén Tournament, with Pretendo restoring anything from simple online play to full-fledged server features, all depending on the game in question.
Regrettably, many exclusive titles that were once available on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops are now lost to time, except for those who previously downloaded them. Though none of these titles could be classified as console sellers, their effective disappearance is certainly unfortunate. The challenge of our post-offline gaming world is that official game servers and access vanish for good, leaving the job of preserving these experiences to dedicated fans, modders, and yes, sometimes pirates.
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