There are almost two weeks left until eShop cards are no longer used to add money to Nintendo 3DS and Wii U digital stores.
Nintendo has already removed credit card support from North American video game stores (Europe was removed in 2019), and from August 29, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use eShop cards.
The restrictions come as Nintendo seeks to completely eliminate digital stores by March 27, 2023, after which users will not be able to purchase games at all, even with existing standards.
Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Details
Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack overview
Between August 29 and the deadline Nintendo Switch owners can add money via credit card to their account for use on 3DS and Wii U stores. See the article : Tesla is moving closer to Steam integration to take its gaming platform to a whole new level.
Beyond this point, some of the Wii U’s and 3DS’s eShop libraries will still be available as physical releases, or through other formats. However, as the VGC study revealed, up to 1000 digital-only eShop games will disappear for good.
Some of the more popular Wii U download-only titles set to disappear forever include the affordable Space Adventure, 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 Close the Box.
On the 3DS, the list of games set to disappear is much larger. These include enhanced 3D re-releases of a number of classic games, including Nintendo’s 3D range, which produced stereotypical games such as Excitebike, Kid Icarus and Kirby’s Adventure.
Finally, the closure of the Wii U and 3DS eShops will also mean the end of systems to support the Virtual Console service. Once this happens, the only retro games offered by Nintendo will be the ones available on the various Switch Online applications.
At the time of publication, approximately 350 retro games released on the 3DS and Wii U in the west are not available to play on the Nintendo Switch, including over 100 Game Boy game system games, 40 TurboGrafx-16 games, 30 DS games and 35 Wii games. .
For the full list of games missing from the 3DS and Wii U eShops, read VGC’s review.
