Smash Bros Melee and Mario Kart, in our opinion, are the best games on the Nintendo Wii. They are easy to jump in and play but still take time to master, fun on single player but really come into their own in multiplayer. In fact, multiplayer is something that Nintendo consoles tend to do well – the Nintendo N64 allowed four players when the Sony PlayStation could only cope with two, and the Wii is the console to bring out when everyone is around your house and willing to embarrass themselves with their bowling skills. For those times when your home is not full of friends you can play in large groups online just like you can with the DS… or rather, could. Regrettably, Nintendo has announced that it will be terminating the Wii and DS online services.
This is not good news. This means no more leaderboards, content sharing or (more importantly) multiplayer online. And it’s not like they’ve given us a massive forewarning either – the connection will be cut on May the 20th – What!? You can, of course, still play the games in the confines of your own home restricted to local multiplayer but if you want to ever play Mario Kart online or any number of the 60+ titles affected by this you will have to purchase the newer versions that are available on the Wii U or the current family of Nintendo DS models, along with a new console. The full list of games that are affected can be found on the Nintendo site.
This alteration of online services will affect the Wii U but only when using the console in Wii mode; it will also affect the playing of DS games when played on any one of the Nintendo 3DS or 2DS consoles. Some online features will still remain for the Wii and DS and other consoles when used in Wii mode or when playing older DS games and will not be affected until further notice, including the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop and video-on-demand services.
It’s certainly a shame to see this service go and I would urge anyone to make the most of it while it is still running. Are you a Wii owner and feeling let down by the impending removal of this service? Will you be looking to move to the Wii U in hindsight of this?