Digital Nintendo 3DS, Wii U games now up for grabs at Amazon

By Danny Cowan September 1, 2015

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Nintendo has launched an Amazon storefront offering download codes for a large number of its published games on the Wii U, 3DS, and legacy platforms via the Virtual Console service.

The move marks the first time that many games in Nintendo’s digital catalog have been available for purchase outside of the publisher’s own eShop service. Previously, players needed an eShop account and a linked credit card or pre-paid balance in order to download games for Nintendo’s platforms.

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Amazon’s Nintendo Digital Downloads storefront sells digital versions of several recent retail games for the Wii U, including Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The service also offers digital code pre-orders for upcoming games like Super Mario Maker, along with DLC add-ons for Mario Kart 8 and other featured titles.

Nintendo 3DS owners, meanwhile, can pick up download codes for games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Pokemon Art Academy, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Tomodachi Life, and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby.

Nintendo additionally offers digital codes for games originally released on older platforms. Amazon customers who purchase codes for these games can then play them on the Wii and Wii U via the Virtual Console service.

Featured games from Nintendo’s back catalog include a batch of Super NES classics (Super Metroid, Super Mario World), NES titles (The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros 3), and Nintendo 64 games (Sin & Punishment, Mario Kart 64), along with a selection of releases for the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.

Prices at Amazon’s Nintendo Digital Downloads storefront align with most current eShop rates. Many Wii U retail games are priced between $50 and $60, while 3DS games typically range from $30 to $40. Featured DLC and Virtual Console games can cost as little as $5.

Codes purchased at Amazon can be redeemed on Nintendo’s consoles via the Nintendo eShop.

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Nintendo last week announced its intentions to shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, the systems' digital storefronts, in March 2023. This decision was disappointing for hardcore fans who stuck with Nintendo during that rocky era and extremely worrying as many of the games available on the platforms won't be preserved.
More significant Wii U games and a handful of 3DS titles were ported to Switch, but many titles are still stuck on those systems and can’t be ported. Once the digital storefront shutdowns, digital-only titles will be gone forever, and physical copies of these titles will get more expensive and harder to experience. Fans and game preservationists have not been pleased by this decision, with the Video Game History Foundation giving the most candid response.
https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/1494398068346654720
Following this announcement, Digital Trends spoke to an industry analyst and game preservationists to get a better idea of what exactly caused Nintendo to shut down these stores and to learn how it could do a better job at preserving its legacy.
Why is Nintendo shutting down the 3DS and Wii eShops?
Officially, Nintendo’s FAQ on the eShop closures says “this is part of the natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." The answer doesn’t get into specifics and might confuse those still playing games on the system or fans of games only available on Wii U or 3DS. Omdia Principal Analyst Matthew Bailey explains Nintendo’s user base argument in more detail, highlighting the massive gap between the number of people playing the Switch as opposed to the Wii U.
“While Omdia expects the number of Switch consoles in active use to exceed 90 million on a global basis this year, the Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022,” he explains. “Even when you include the more enduring 3DS family of consoles into the equation, the Switch still comfortably accounts for over 90% of Nintendo’s total active console install base.”
If one is going off just the numbers, it’s sensible that Nintendo would want to focus on the majority of its players. Bailey admits that “Switch users are already reaping the benefits of Nintendo’s singular first-party development focus on one platform.” Still, one might argue that Nintendo should just let the eShops remain up even if it isn’t actively updating or maintaining them.

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t see that as possible due to cost and security issues. Game Over Thrity, a Twitter user with over 20 years of experience working on IT projects and infrastructure, shed some light on what might have influenced Nintendo’s decision-making in a thread.
“As these systems age, they require patches, security, special contracts, updates, and personnel that know how they were built (and maintained),” his Twitter thread explains. “As time goes on, there are security holes, servers, code, infrastructure, etc., that can’t be brought up to modern standards. It becomes a constant struggle between maintaining legacy systems, paying people to do so, and trying to keep up with global regulations. It’s not cheap by any means. They can’t just ‘leave the lights on’ and stop supporting them. What if someone hacked the payment processor?”
With every passing year, the Wii U and 3DS eShops likely became more expensive to maintain and an increased security risk for the video game publisher. Instead of investing the time and resources into pleasing a smaller amount of players, the easier option is to turn everything off entirely. While he isn’t affiliated with Nintendo, Game Over Thirty’s assessment aligns with what we’ve heard from Nintendo and Omdia.
"The Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022."