Nintendo Terminating Online Service For DS and Wii in May
Nintendo has officially revealed that as of May 20th of this year “certain online functionality” offered through Nintendo Wii and DS will no longer be accessible for use.
The discontinued services include online play, matchmaking and leaderboards for many Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi games. For a comprehensive list of games and services that are affected, please check http://support.nintendo.com/servicesupdate. Users can still play the games in offline mode, which continues to offer a rich game-play experience.
Online play for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games will be unaffected (aside from the Wii mode on Wii U and Nintendo DS games on Nintendo 3DS family systems). Other online functionality, such as access to the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop and video-on-demand services, are also not affected at this time.
We at Nintendo sincerely thank our fans for their continued support of our company’s legacy systems. Your enthusiasm for games made for these systems speaks to their longevity, and the passion of Nintendo fans.
While it has been reported that the Wii’s other online functionality and online services like Netflix, Hulu+, and Amazon Prime will not be turned off at that time (but rumors point that they could potentially cut that functionality out by the end of the year), the the announcement that Nintendo is pretty much turning off all online functionality for their devices (except the Wii U and 3DS) is a huge deal.
At this point, its no surprise that Nintendo is cutting their losses. With the huge fiscal drop that had over this past year, Nintendo is now forced to cut out things potentially as a means of saving money.
Below is the list of affected Nintendo software titles:
Nintendo DS
100 Classic Books
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Clubhouse Games
Custom Robo Arena
Diddy Kong Racing DS
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Fossil Fighters: Champions
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Mario Kart DS
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem
Metroid Prime Hunters
Personal Trainer: Walking
Picross 3D
Picross DS
Planet Puzzle League
Pokémon Black Version
Pokémon Black Version 2
Pokémon Diamond Version
Pokémon HeartGold Version
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
Pokémon Pearl Version
Pokémon Platinum Version
Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
Pokémon SoulSilver Version
Pokémon White Version
Pokémon White Version 2
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Professor Layton and the Last Specter
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Star Fox Command
Style Savvy
Tenchu: Dark Secret
Tetris DS
WarioWare DIYNintendo DSiWare
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
Metal Torrent
Number BattleWii
Animal Crossing: City Life
Battalion Wars 2
Endless Ocean
Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep
Excitebots: Trick Racing
Fortune Street
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Sports Mix
Mario Strikers Charged
Pokémon Battle Revolution
Samurai Warriors 3
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Wii Music*WiiWare
Dr. Mario Online RX
Excitebike: World Rally
LONPOS
Maboshi’s Arcade
My Pokémon Ranch
ThruSpace
WarioWare DIY
Other
Wii Speak**
Wii Speak Channel**(*) Services that require Internet communication ended on June 28, 2013.
(**) As Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is required to use this title, it is no longer functional
