Wii U+3DS eShops Closing (Also Mother Debate Club Thread)

[Sengoku Strider]

UPDATE FEB 15th/22:

Nintendo have put out an official message on the Wii U & 3DS eShops winding down:

As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make purchases in Nintendo eShop for the Wii U system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It will also no longer be possible to download free content, including game demos. Furthermore, as this date draws closer, related services will cease to function:

As of May 23, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a credit card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

As of August 29, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a Nintendo eShop Card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. However, it will still be possible to redeem download codes until late March 2023.

Users who link their Nintendo Network ID wallet (used with Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) with their Nintendo Account wallet (used with the Nintendo Switch family of systems) can use the shared balance to purchase content on any of these systems until late March 2023. After that, the balance can only be used to purchase content for the Nintendo Switch family of systems.

Even after late March 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.

END UPDATE
==============================================

Having owned both a Switch and Switch Lite for a couple of years now, I have to say - in all honesty I prefer the Wii U as a couch/bed experience. The Gamepad is WAAAYYYYYYY more ergonomic and comfortable to hold than either Switch, has a larger screen (no OLED though), and not only has an actual dpad, it's right in the middle like a proper gentleman's console.


The main system didn't get too many shooters during its lifetime, and I believe most of them are available on other platforms as well.

I know these titles are available:

Aperion Cyberstorm
Ghost Blade HD
Nano Assault Neo
Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails (This is kind of cool)
SkyForce Anniversary
Teslapunk

Of the above, I'd say definitely give Shinen's Nano Assault Neo a look. (Or the PS4 port, Nano Assault Neo X). It's a twin stick shooter with a Metroid-like sci fi bio/bacteria theme with CRAZY good visuals, and plays really well. I had it in my top 25 last year, people looking for an alternative to pixel art indies/retro should check it out.



Satazius Next & Armed 7 DX were released as the Wii U Shmup Collection in PAL territories, I don't know if they also got a digital release there but they don't appear to be on the North American eShop.

The real meat is in the Wii U's Virtual Console. It never got as wide a selection as the Wii's, but on the plus side it still exists. One caveat - emulation is not perfect. Most titles play just fine, including the shmups, but I did find a couple of others like Zelda II & NES Punch Out!! too laggy for even my lax standards.

But still, there are titles here like Pocky & Rocky with Becky which can't be found anywhere else, and I have no idea if/when the TG-16 stuff will ever surface again either as it's all owned by Konami now.

NES:

Galaga
Gradius
Life Force
S.C.A.T.
Sky Kid
Stinger (Moero Twinbee)
Xevious

SNES:

Axelay
Super E.D.F.: Earth Defence Force
Wild Guns

N64:

Sin and Punishment
Star Fox 64

GameBoy Advance:

Pocky & Rocky with Becky

TurboGrafx-16/ + PC Engine:

Air Zonk
Blazing Lazers
Lords of Thunder
Gradius
Salamander
Super Star Soldier
Final Soldier
Soldier Blade

Wii:

Sin & Punishment 2


Sadly, Irem had some PCE titles there (R-Type, Image Fight 1&2, Mr. Heli) which were delisted a couple of years back.

There are also a few other titles in other genres on the eShop worth getting before they're gone, like the Capcom D&D Collection, or Pushmo World which is a forgotten Nintendo digital-only title exclusive to the platform that may well never see release again anywhere.

There are some other cool oddities on the Virtual Console like Car Battler Joe, Onimusha Tactics, the GBA Klonoa games and Mighty Final Fight. Not to mention DS titles like Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon or Zelda Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks which may never see official physical dual screen hardware which can properly display them again.

[Jonpachi]

Capcom D&D Collection you say...

[Udderdude]

Phew, good thing nobody actually bought a Wii U.

[Austin]

The Wii U eShop is not closing down. Only credit card payments are. Just as Sony did with the PS3 store, you will be able to add funds from another device, like with purchasing Nintendo point cards. It's possible that full closure will rear its ugly eventually, but as of now the shop is *NOT* closing down.

Side note, Japanese Wii U owners also have access to some MSX shooters, like Space Manbow.

[Sima Tuna]

I would say the main games you want from the 3ds eshop are these:

Recca
Star Soldier
Mighty Final Fight
Streets of Rage 1 and 2 (these are the M2 sega ages ports!!!)
Shinobi 3 (another m2 sega ages port job iirc)

You can get a lot of the other stuff elsewhere. The PCE Soldier games are on PSN if you have a ps3, vita or psp. But Mighty Final Fight isn't anywhere. Recca isn't anywhere. Streets of Rage and Shinobi are ubiquitous, but these are the M2 ports with save states, mappable controls, extra features and strong emulation. These are not available on switch except as part of the shit-ass sega classics collection, with no special features, only in-game button mapping and extra lag.

[Spacemonkey]

I would say the main games you want from the 3ds eshop are these:

Recca
Star Soldier
Mighty Final Fight
Streets of Rage 1 and 2 (these are the M2 sega ages ports!!!)
Shinobi 3 (another m2 sega ages port job iirc)

You can get a lot of the other stuff elsewhere. The PCE Soldier games are on PSN if you have a ps3, vita or psp. But Mighty Final Fight isn't anywhere. Recca isn't anywhere. Streets of Rage and Shinobi are ubiquitous, but these are the M2 ports with save states, mappable controls, extra features and strong emulation. These are not available on switch except as part of the shit-ass sega classics collection, with no special features, only in-game button mapping and extra lag.

Something else I recommend on the 3DS eshop, although you can get SEGA 3D Classics on cart, you can buy certain titles separately or the collection digitally.

They are by M2 as well. I am not a fan of 3D on most 3DS titles, but they did a good job on these. Lots of options as well. Space harrier, Outrun, Galaxy Force II, and Fantasy Zone in 3D are a blast.

[harborline765]

The Japanese Wii U eShop had quite a bit more virtual console titles, including those on MSX:
- Space Mambow
- Parodius
- Quarth
- Twinbee
- Sky Jaguar
- Salamander
- Gradius
- Gradius 2

As has been mentioned above, the store itself is not closing down, just the support for credit cards. You'll still be able to add balance using the website, or a Switch, or a prepaid card. As the same thing happened a few months ago on the 'legacy' PS Stores (PS3 and Vita, then), I'm guessing there was some new regulation at some region of the world that changes the way they have to handle payments and both parties didn't see it worth the effort of supporting.

The Wii shop is still online via Wii and Wii U consoles but you can't buy anything. Was able to redownload a bunch of games over Christmas.

[spmbx]

Not sure about the other systems but NES emulation looks absolutely horrible on the WiiU. Recommended if you like a blurry mess, avoid otherwise.

[John4300]

I think it's because European banks want a stronger authentication, and you need to make a specific kind of page just to support that. I don't think Switch still supports my credit card due to that, I have to use Paypal instead. Was real fun trying to buy online subscription however, since you can't use paypal for that.

Nintendo is especially touchy about giving any kind of internet browser support to freely go anywhere because some older consoles could be cracked using a web browser.

So, instead of updating the old consoles to support this, they just remove credit card support altogether. It's also because the old consoles are getting less secure every day, so there wouldn't be any kind other security problems there.

[Sima Tuna]

Not sure about the other systems but NES emulation looks absolutely horrible on the WiiU. Recommended if you like a blurry mess, avoid otherwise.

Yeah, the nes emulation on 3ds is shit as well. You can't map controls and the games look like ass. There are no extra features obviously or any interface upgrades (except for one save state iirc.) But I mentioned Recca anyway because it's the only place I know of where you can buy Recca and Mighty Final Fight legally. Mega Man V for Game Boy is also worth a mention. It's not the same as MM5 nes. It's a totally new game and a really fantastic one.

[Sengoku Strider]

Phew, good thing nobody actually bought a Wii U.

You know, it's funny that this has become such as standard view. For sure it was a huge letdown for Nintendo after the Wii, but when put in broader context of the systems that are revered/have cult followings in hardcore circles (and around shmup folks) it did historically well:

Wii U: 13.5 million
Sega Master System: 10-13 million
PC Engine/Turbografx-16: 10 million
Sega Saturn: 9.25 million
Sega Dreamcast: 9.15 million
WonderSwan: 3.5 million
Sega CD: 2.75 million
Neo Geo (AES+MVS): 1.2 million
PC Engine CD ROM²: 1.9 million
Atari 7800: > 1 million

Numbers pulled from Wikipedia

[harborline765]

Not sure about the other systems but NES emulation looks absolutely horrible on the WiiU. Recommended if you like a blurry mess, avoid otherwise.

NES wasn’t great, especially coming from Wii which had native 240p output for older games (the last console to do so!)

GBA emulation was handled by M2, not sure who did PC Engine but its front-end doesn’t scream Nintendo, same with MSX emulation. Nice UI: https://youtu.be/YXAjbrEzemY?t=1069

[Sengoku Strider]

Speaking of NES, that reminds me. They released Mother from the Famicom for this thing back in 2015, fully translated into English as Earthbound Beginnings. The Wii U is the only place it's ever been released. SNES Earthbound is on it as well, also the only place that's ever been re-released in English.

[Wittischism]

Speaking of NES, that reminds me. They released Mother from the Famicom for this thing back in 2015, fully translated into English as Earthbound Beginnings. The Wii U is the only place it's ever been released. SNES Earthbound is on it as well, also the only place that's ever been re-released in English.

You can get snes Earthbound on the New 3ds category of the eShop. Only shows up if you have a New model, I think.

[Atariboy]

SNES Earthbound also made the cut for the Super Nintendo Classic Edition.

[Sumez]

emulation is not perfect. Most titles play just fine, including the shmups, but I did find a couple of others like Zelda II & NES Punch Out!!

It might be less noticeable to you in the other games, but I refuse to believe their NES emulation is more laggy in some games than others.
Unless they are straight up using completely different emulator software for different games, which I doubt.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Speaking of NES, that reminds me. They released Mother from the Famicom for this thing back in 2015, fully translated into English as Earthbound Beginnings.

Unfortunately, this isn't what they did. There is still, as of yet, no way to play the original Mother in English. Nobody's bothered to translate it, as the general community feels the unreleased prototype's improvements (run button, expanded ending sequence, simpler dungeon layouts), which made it into the official M1+2 GBA release with an additional convenience item, are the better game. As much as I'd like to experience the original Mother in English with its rough edges, there is currently no way to do so.

The release on the Wii U is the unreleased, localized in English prototype of Mother 1 (which has graphical censorship in some places) which was snagged by a translation group and released ages ago as "Earthbound Zero". I have no idea how much of the text is accurately translated or not, hence my interest in seeing the original Famicom version of Mother receive a separate translation. They basically just slapped the word "Beginnings" on it and released it, despite sitting on the game for decades, and we've still yet to see an official Mother 3 English release (which is unlikely to ever happen given the work involved, and the relative lack of interest now that a competent translation patch exists).

[Jonpachi]

Mother 3 was always more about the content than the translation work. I love the game, but it is inarguably transphobic in its humor and there's no way to get around that without reworking a major part of the game.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Ah yes, silly me, I forgot we're the generation that takes offense to everything. Gender stereotype non-conformity is hereby offensive. Glam rockers that bucked stereotypes like David Bowie basically wouldn't be allowed to exist nowadays. Do not upset the established orthodoxy of what is Acceptable.

I feel like a large part of Mother 3's message was lost on you.

[Sima Tuna]

I would rather games exist in their original form even if it is blatantly offensive or obnoxious. I mean, Crime Fighters 2 has some obviously homophobic shit in there, but I want the original japanese version to exist even if players are offended by the gay leather bikers humping them. It's more about preservation of art. The art exists as itself. Whether for good or for bad, we should preserve it and experience it as much as possible as intended. Art speaks to the times and to the audience. It isn't just about what we find palatable. I make some allowance for features like autofire, which I personally find to be medically necessary for me to enjoy arcade games at all. But speaking of content, yes it should be left intact. Perhaps with an additional alternate arrange for players who do not wish to see the offensive OG content? That would also be acceptable to me.

[Jonpachi]

Ah yes, silly me, I forgot we're the generation that takes offense to everything. Gender stereotype non-conformity is hereby offensive. Glam rockers that bucked stereotypes like David Bowie basically wouldn't be allowed to exist nowadays. Do not upset the established orthodoxy of what is Acceptable.

I feel like a large part of Mother 3's message was lost on you.

Like I said, I personally love the game, but it's not hard for me to imagine why Nintendo of America would get stuck trying to figure out how to localize the game. I run game design departments, and I've often considered using Mother 3 as a bit of a design challenge. How do you take what's brilliant in here and translate it in such a way that you could get it onto North American store shelves? It's a really complicated thought exercise in managing some of the prickly cultural differences you're alluding to, vs keeping true to Itoi's vision.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I don't think there's any real offensive intent behind the Magypsy stuff in Mother 3. Even if the (reasonably heavy-handed) scene where the game beats it into your head that it's unreasonable to hate the Magypsies just because they look different didn't exist, there's also that interview with Itoi where he goes on about how he based the characters off people he knew in real life that he thought deserved representation.

But it is true that the particular subject they tackle has always been a sensitive one in American culture. At the time of Mother 3's release, the image of men in drag in a game that otherwise seems child-friendly on the surface would have been viewed as transgressive, and these days it would instead be viewed as insensitive for the opposite reasons. There might have been a sweet spot a decade or so ago where the game could have been released as-is without controversy, but I think, unfortunately, people in the US would take issue with the Magypsies' portrayal and Nintendo probably wouldn't want any amount of bad press.

Having said that, though I think it's unfortunate people would take offense with the Magypsies - speaking as someone from the outside looking in, I think they're a well-intentioned character concept that happens to not line up with modern-day thought, which is a shame - it would be pretty reasonable of Nintendo to write out the joke in the hot springs scene with one of them. That joke is pretty off-color given the rest of the game's content and actually does rely on some offensive assumptions. I could feasibly see the characters as a whole making it into an official localization intact but that joke would never fly here.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

it would be pretty reasonable of Nintendo to write out the joke in the hot springs scene with one of them. That joke is pretty off-color given the rest of the game's content and actually does rely on some offensive assumptions.

I am neither Japanese nor am I fluent in written Japanese enough to know the quality of the translation vs the original script, however I know enough to pin this on a cultural misunderstanding. It's actually pretty common for parents to teach their kids when they're in the bath to put the water up to their shoulders or chin and count to 10. Literally the exact same scene (minus learning PSI) happens in Usagi Drop ep5 where dad's in the tub with his daughter and nobody bats an eye. The only off-color elements are what you, as a non-Japanese adult, are adding to it, which is exactly why the only people who'd be offended by it wouldn't need to have anything about it censored. Not to mention Japan has plenty of far more overt "adult joke" references in far more mainstream kids' media anyways.

Spoiler

Ladies talking about having sex. With each other.

The fact that anyone is suggesting localizing it to make it fit with what they believe would be palatable for their commercial audience market rather than directly translating it as close as possible to maintain the original art and attempting to understand the background behind it is exactly why I've come to loathe "localizations" and always prefer a translation as close to its original form as Sima Tuna suggests.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I am neither Japanese nor am I fluent in written Japanese enough to know the quality of the translation vs the original script, however I know enough to pin this on a cultural misunderstanding. It's actually pretty common for parents to teach their kids when they're in the bath to put the water up to their shoulders or chin and count to 10. Literally the exact same scene (minus learning PSI) happens in Usagi Drop ep5 where dad's in the tub with his daughter and nobody bats an eye. The only off-color elements are what you, as a non-Japanese adult, are adding to it, which is exactly why the only people who'd be offended by it wouldn't need to have anything about it censored. Not to mention Japan has plenty of far more overt "adult joke" references in far more mainstream kids' media anyways.

Spoiler

Ladies talking about having sex. With each other.

The fact that anyone is suggesting localizing it to make it fit with what they believe would be palatable for their commercial audience market rather than directly translating it as close as possible to maintain the original art and attempting to understand the background behind it is exactly why I've come to loathe "localizations" and always prefer a translation as close to its original form as Sima Tuna suggests.

I agree that the Japanese-specific view of bathing and how it contrasts with the American perception colors how that scene is seen here, but I think the intention of the scene is to play on your dirty-minded assumptions, only for the game to then pull the rug out from under you and reveal that the scene was actually innocent. That Itoi interview that was translated alongside the release of the original patch confirms this as being the directorial intent, too.

In the future, if I happen to live to be 90 years old, I want one of those kids to come to me as a grownup and say, "A long time ago, in third grade, I played MOTHER 3. I was really nervous and confused about what was going on in the hot spring in that tunnel... And that's what led me to the place I am today."

Both: (laugh)

- What place would that be? Oh, man, this is getting iffy... (laughs)

Playing on the idea that an adult is molesting a child - even if the game immediately shows this not to be the case after - is kind of dicey to begin with. But put under a modern American cultural lens, it reads even worse - given the sensitive nature of the Magypsies' depictions, it comes across as if the joke is playing on stereotypical perceptions of what a queer person would be expected to do when alone with a child in a bath. I don't think that's necessarily the intention behind the joke (though I can't say it definitively isn't, either), but the scene is still undeniably meant to suggest molestation on the part of a character who would already likely become a hot-button topic in America despite their otherwise overwhelmingly positive and sympathetic portrayal in-game. It's a harsh enough adult joke that it doesn't feel like it fits with the rest of the game, and given the circumstances around it I can't imagine expecting Nintendo to keep it.

Having said all that, I would definitely rather see the game make it over wholly uncensored. Preserving original intent is more valuable to me than sanitizing rough elements, even if I think that joke is a bit of a misstep, so I'm in agreement with you on that. I'm glad the translation patch exists.

[copy-paster]

From preserving eShop shmups to discussing about child molesters and racial slurs.

Classic shmupsfarm.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

given the circumstances around it I can't imagine expecting Nintendo to keep it.

I suppose I can't either. Cutting the fade to black and keeping the dialogue intact would be a compromise or something. Ionia turns Lucas around, backs away at a distance, and also Boney's, the protective family dog, is there the whole time so I don't buy it as being that risqué. Suggestive, but not wildly so.

[UD2]

Back to the original topic of this thread, I just want to say that the Recca port sucks, at least on 3DS. The sounds emulation is terrible and a few of the stages have the DPCM samples repeatedly triggering, rendering the music unlistenable. I'd recommend staying away from that release.

[Sengoku Strider]

Bumping the thread, as Nintendo have now put forward a statement with concrete details of how things will be winding down (added to OP).

[pablumatic]

Its a shame Nintendo keeps doing this and its unlikely bad press will get them to reverse that decision like it did for Sony (at least partially).

This will likely be the last opportunity to have any digital "ownership" of most of these games, ever. So save up your pennies for the next year.

[Sima Tuna]

I got some of the Camelot sports games, namely mario golf and tennis for GBC.