It’s finally happened! As of November 3, after 209 days of uninterrupted action, the last active user clinging to Nintendo’s old Nintendo Network servers for the Wii U and 3DS, known as Fishguy6564, has been disconnected. His trusty Nintendo 3DS eventually crashed after remaining almost constantly connected to the Mario Kart 7 servers for nearly two-thirds of a year [credit: GamesRadar]. So, the dream is now over—at least in the official sense.
But don’t lose all hope just yet. For those still rocking this now-unsupported hardware, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. With custom firmware, you can unlock Homebrew software and embrace Pretendo, where fans run alternative Nintendo Network servers. This allows some 3DS and Wii U games to live on, preserving both their legacy and playability. While Pretendo’s offerings might not be exhaustive, it certainly helps keep these relatively recent systems alive in some form.
Before Fishguy6564’s faithful Nintendo 3DS succumbed to its fate on the Mario Kart 7 server, it had been cleverly patched to maintain a lobby filled with bots (and previously, one other user), aiming to keep things ticking over indefinitely until an eventual crash shut it down. In a past discussion with GamesRadar, he shared, “I never thought we’d outlast the official shutdown. From that point, it just became an experiment to see how long we could keep it running.”
It seems they’ve finally hit the end of the road, but all is not lost. The Pretendo servers are still up and running, allowing modded hardware users to enjoy some of their favorite titles. On the Nintendo 3DS front, you can dive back into games like Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Mario Maker 3DS. Meanwhile, Wii U fans can still enjoy Mario Kart 8, Mario Maker, Splatoon, and Pokkén Tournament. Pretendo manages to bring back some level of online play or even more complex server features, depending on the game.
Sadly, many exclusive titles that defined digital life on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops can no longer be accessed through legitimate channels unless pre-installed. While these games weren’t exactly system icons, it’s unfortunate they’re now trapped in time. This is the reality in the post-offline gaming world, where an official server shutdown spells a permanent end, leaving the task of game preservation to the dedicated efforts of historians, modders, and the occasional pirate.
