See the moment 3DS and Wii U online servers shut down forever

Yesterday, 8th April, saw the end of an era. Nintendo closed down the online services for its 3DS and Wii U consoles.

As the time drew closer to this closure, many Nintendo fans took to social media to share their last online moments in games such as Mario Kart 7, Splatoon, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and more. This includes several clips showing the exact moment the servers closed down for good.

Prolific Nintendo dataminer OatmealDome was streaming Splatoon on the Wii U when the servers shut down. As with many others online at the time, they were met with an error code and a message that read: “This online service is no longer available.”

Meanwhile, in a rather wholesome moment, two Kirbys met up in For Glory – an online mode in Super Smash Bros. 4 – and rather than ferociously battling it out, they bopped up and down on the spot together.

“We said goodbye in the most beautiful way possible,” @Kirb0Kirb wrote on X.

Alas, some Mario Kart 7 races were cut short by the end of these online services, with many users unable to finish their final lap before they too were presented with a communication error.

Others were in Super Mario Maker when online service came to an end. “Course World is now completely inaccessible – it simply displays a maintenance message when attempting to access,” Eurogamer alum Matt Reynolds noted on X with a short clip showing the alert.

But while this really is the end of an era, please note 3DS and Wii U users will still be able to play games on their devices offline. Nintendo also said it will remain possible for users to “download update data, and redownload purchased software and downloadable content from Nintendo eShop” for the foreseeable future. StreetPass will remain available as well.

This week's shutdown follows the closure of the eShop on Wii U and 3DS in March last year. As for future hardware, the current suggestion is Nintendo's next device – dubbed Switch 2 – will release next year.