It finally happened! After a whopping 209 days as of November 3, the inevitable has come to pass. Fishguy6564, who held the title of the last active user on Nintendo’s old Nintendo Network servers for the Wii U and 3DS, has logged off for the final time. His Nintendo 3DS gave out after maintaining a nearly continuous connection to Mario Kart 7 servers for most of the year. While this marks the end of an era in some respects, there’s still a way forward for devoted fans.
For those clinging to this now unsupported hardware and their cherished game collections, there’s hope yet. With custom system firmware, users can unlock access to Homebrew software and connect to Pretendo, a fan-operated network that stands in for Nintendo’s own servers. While Pretendo doesn’t support every game, it does an admirable job of keeping the spirit and playability of these fairly recent systems alive.
Before Fishguy6564’s trusty 3DS succumbed during its epic Mario Kart 7 session, he had ingeniously patched the system to run lobbies filled with bots, once populated by another user. He aimed to keep the game going indefinitely, defying the official server shutdown. Earlier in this daring venture, he shared with GamesRadar, “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 seems that test has reached its limit. Thankfully, Pretendo servers are still around, letting those with modded devices dive back into some of their favorite titles. On the Nintendo 3DS, you can enjoy games like Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Mario Maker 3DS, while Wii U fans can jump into Mario Kart 8, Mario Maker, Splatoon, and Pokkén Tournament. Pretendo offers varying levels of functionality depending on the game, from basic online play to intricate server features.
It’s a bittersweet reality, though. Many exclusive eShop titles for the 3DS and Wii U have vanished, leaving gaps unless previously installed. They might not have been flagship titles, but it’s still regrettable that they’ve slipped into obscurity. This highlights one of the major downfalls of the digital age in gaming: when official servers and availability go offline, the responsibility for preservation falls to a mix of historians, modders, and, sometimes, pirates.
