16 ms·
Nintendo's Wii U and 3DS stores closing means game over for digital archives
- PaulHoule 4y agoI am somewhat amused that a rather mainstream "archive" site seems to have all the ROMs for the Nintendo 3DS already (... and not archive.today, arxiv.org, or archive of our own)
- whateveracct 4y agoI hoard roms and isos of old games. In my usual backup scheme. Especially for less popular games. They aren't going anywhere!
- asdff 4y agoIts easy to maintain your own full rom library when these games are so small too.
- whateveracct 4y agoExactly - it's nothing to me! I have every N64 game ever made on an SD card in my Everdrive. Same for GB/GBC.
- entropicdrifter 4y agoLikewise, every GBA game totals around 6GB on my backup drive. Every SNES game is ~1.1GB
- devnullbrain 4y agoSome modern games use more VRAM than that
- whateveracct 4y agoA GBA Everdrive is next up for me. I've been a little less motivated for that since I have so many original carts + they don't have the same battery issues old GB games do.
- asdff 4y agoIt probably is better for your hardware long term keeping those contacts intact and using them at a minimum, at least.
- scruple 4y agoSame, and it was born out of past experience with Nintendo, actually.
- atribecalledqst 4y agoYes, this article definitely reads like the writer watched that "The Completionist" video on YouTube and then concocted the story without doing any further research. The archival problem for 3DS and Wii U games is basically solved.
- ranger_danger 4y agoFair warning though, just because they're there doesn't mean it is legal for you to download them, depending on what country you live in.
- kotaKat 4y agoThe only good thing is the WiiU and 3DS were blown so wide open by developers that the eShop is almost practically archived as it is.
- qrio2 4y agolol yeah, there was a period of time where you could download the files directly from the official nintendo eShop CDN directly without paying
- asdff 4y agoWhat a shame the article spreads some fud about roms and diminishes the community, making it seem like a futile individual effort: "In order to play a game on an emulator, you need a copy of the original title, commonly saved as a ROM (or read-only memory) file. Depending on how the title is copied, what the condition of the cartridge or game disc is in, or the geographic region the game is locked to, you can find yourself with a buggy version of Pokémon Crystal or Super Mario Bros. 3 that can hardly run. Creating and distributing ROMs is also fraught with legal issues." Meanwhile, people have been distributing roms for 25 years, and the strength of the community ensures you don't get burned. Every game for every region has a rom already, for each game a few roms of "analytical grade" at this point, and its not hard to be pointed in the right direction these days. Sometimes the community even fixes bugs nintendo left in. Here is a handy key for the identifiers the community often annotates for their roms: https://gist.github.com/ramiabraham/ff41ba74f2b7104ecece https://gist.github.com/ramiabraham/ff41ba74f2b7104ecece
- boomboomsubban 4y ago>Meanwhile, people have been distributing roms for 25 years Almost exclusively illegally, hence the "fraught with legal issues." Downloading a ROM for a game you own on a cartridge violates US law. You need to create your own copy, where you very likely will face the issues they raise. Or you technically violate the law, which NPR likely doesn't want to condone for a puff piece.
- asveikau 4y ago> You need to create your own copy, It's funny because custom electronics are way more cheap and accessible than they used to be. In the 90s, I wished I could dump my game carts and saves. I saw someone posted PCBs to do it over ISA bus but I didn't have the skills or ability to do it myself. Recently, I found this open project that can dump that era: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader https://github.com/sanni/cartreader
- actionablefiber 4y agoOne issue with dumping, even if you have the equipment for it, is that in some cases you will still need to patch it to defeat the copy protection.
- tracker1 4y agoAnd this is why hardware/software hackers breaking these devices are a very good thing.
- Pfhortune 4y agoExactly this. Nintento et al. are unwaveringly adversarial in their insistence around locking down games and aggressively pursuing archivists (who they claim are pirates), even after said games are no longer available for sale. It is our moral imperative to preserve this software despite the interests of these companies, lest it be lost forever. Due to the unique form factors of the DS, 3DS and Wii U, it is very unlikely that the majority of these games will be ported to newer, single-display systems like the Switch, so the argument for them selling them again on a newer system is largely moot at best and disingenuous at worst.
- ticviking 4y agoMy question in the face of these kinds of actions is what can a non-technical person do in the face of having access to their “purchases” taken away? My younger brother deals with autism and is worried that he won’t be able to play his games anymore if something happens. What’s the first place to go to to actually own what you bought on these platforms?
- ThrowawayTestr 4y agoGet a flash cart. You can now play any game forever. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_cartridge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_cartridge
- bakugo 4y agoGood idea for older systems, but 3DS flashcarts are basically obsolete and pure software methods are better.
- ticviking 4y agoHow is the ease of use Though? If I can set up a flash cart and send it to him that’s much better than walking him through jailbreaks I would rather spend money than time and the limited patience of a young man who is struggling :)
- bakugo 4y agoFlashcarts on the 3DS aren't the same as flashcarts on older systems, where you just put in the cart and it acts like a normal game. It requires special software on the console itself to accept the fake cart, and they fell out of use so many years ago that I don't think the software is even compatible with any recent 3DS firmware. The pure software approach available nowadays is much easier and more convenient, as long as whoever uses it after it's hacked can follow some basic instructions (how to install games, how to not update the firmware if nintendo releases an update without first updating the hack, etc)
- 4y ago
- widowlark 4y agoFortunately with homebrew, there are a multitude of on-device tools for backing up DS and 3DS titles using a 3ds. I have spent the last 6 months doing exactly this for my physical cart collection! Shout out to AuroraWright, TuxSH, d0k3, Bernardo Giordano and RocketRobz for building such incredible programs.
- bentley 4y agoIt doesn’t have to be this way. I’ve been buying games on Steam for 15 years. Even my earliest purchases are still downloadable and playable, and have been on every PC I’ve owned, including most recently the Steam Deck. The same is true for my GOG library. Even more so, since I can (and do) save the DRM‐free installers of the games I buy. Don’t reward hostile media platforms with your money or your attention!
- roywiggins 4y agoThe whole idea of an archive is to archive stuff. "Just memory-hole the stuff that's hostile to archival" is not a solution.
- bentley 4y agoYou misrepresent my suggestion. By all means, archive. But Nintendo’s hostile practices succeed because ordinary people with no interest in archival are willing to buy the same game rereleased for console after console. Long‐term carrying over of purchases is perfectly doable, as evidenced by the fact that this is the norm in the PC market. It is possible that market pressure can cause Nintendo to budge in its practices.
- giobox 4y agoSteam has benefited from a long period of good quality stable leadership, but as Gabe gets older I get more and more concerned for Steam. I love the service, I've used it since launch alongside Half-Life 2 etc on PC, but I am extremely worried how it looks 15 years after Gabe Newell dies or sells. I would not be shocked to see Microsoft buy them in the end. There's no public plans for what Valve looks like in the post Gabe-era, and as a privately held company there's not much need to explain/disclose either. I agree its been run great until now, but the future is unclear.
- la_oveja 4y agoValve is full of good people, like minded with Gabes ideas. I dont fear for Valve.
- ecliptik 4y agoArs has a good article on this too with focus on preservation and the Video Game History Foundation [1]. A youtuber also went through and purchased every game on the Wii U and 3DS eShops and donated them [2]. 1. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/03/why-game-archivists-are-dreading-this-months-3ds-wii-u-eshop-shutdown/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/03/why-game-archivists-a... 2. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ujHUMG0Uovs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ujHUMG0Uovs
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- nicolas_t 4y agoAre every single games ever released for Wii, Wii U and 3DS available in those famous rompacks or are there some missing?
- rektide 4y agoI'm shocked a company with as good of a track record as a reliable gaming company to have in your living room & backpack would make such an incredibly shortsighted & negative a frackas as this. This is such a huge unforced error. Nintendo has such a huge cash reserve, & can easily own this for another couple decades, at minimal cost. However they failed to materialize the internal will to do the obviously right & easy thing, to let their own past works burn, is a huge error that will greatly injure Nintendo's name for decades.
- mrguyorama 4y agoNintendo's openly stated position, since like the 80s, is that current american law is wrong and you don't have a right to a backup copy of games you buy. If Nintendo could suck memories of super mario out of the brains of people who didn't pay a yearly licensing fee, none of us would remember the 90s and Nintendo fans would STILL preorder everything they touch.
- jamesgeck0 4y agoDo you have a reference for this?
- mrguyorama 4y agohttps://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/55888/kw/roms#s2q7 https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/... They say that video games should not be covered under the exemption for backup copies and that they are not "software only".
- widowlark 4y agoThat is an aggressively hostile interpretation of fair use on their part. For shame.
- toast0 4y agoThey already shut down the Wii shop, I think with about $4 of my credit on it too. If I had a Wii U, I think there was a way to migrate content and credit, but I don't have a Wii U; thankfully, they've moved away from the Flooz model of buy credits in fixed amounts before you buy content with the credits that many of the consoles were doing. That they're keeping the store online for redownloads is a nice touch though, but for how long?
- ClassyJacket 4y agoDoes anyone have any 3DS Eshop game recommendations I need to buy before the closure? Unique stuff that can't be obtained on other platforms?
- haunter 4y agoThere is a general masterlist https://old.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/su4w7k/with_the_eshop_shutting_down_here_is_a_quick/ https://old.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/su4w7k/with_the_e... There are also some free tools and games worth getting - Bravely Second Demo (story that's not avaialable in the full release + exclusives you can transfer over) - Pokémon Sun & Moon - Special Demo Version (Ash-Greninja pokémon that you can only get here and transfer over to the full game) - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Special Demo (Glalie pokémon that you can only get here and transfer over to the full game) - Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter. Pokémon Bank will be free (currently $5/year) BUT the Poké Transporter app can be only downloaded from INSIDE the Bank app which only works if you have a sub... All NEW downloads will be impossible after the date so you better get the Transporter app now (pay the $5 for the remaining days) or else > doesn't bother and just pirate it. But honestly the writing is on the wall for the Pokémon Bank... - Save Data Transfer Tool (permanently move, not copy, save data files from a physical cartridge to the 3DS - 3DS F2P digital Pokémon games (Pokémon Picross, Pokémon Rumble World, Pokémon Shuffle) - Flipnote Studio 3D and Picross Zelda (Nintendo My Rewards games but you can still get them)
- ClassyJacket 4y agoThanks! Don't think I'll ever care that much about Pokemon but good to know, and I'll take a look at that list!
- deergomoo 4y agoAttack of the Friday Monsters has shown up in a lot of recent “cool stuff on the 3DS eShop that isn’t available anywhere else” retrospectives. It’s worth noting though that it’s trivially easy to softmod a 3DS and install any game you like from archive.org, as well as a bunch of cool homebrew. I’m torn, personally—I of course want to support the developer, but buying something in the knowledge that I’ll lose the ability to re-download it almost immediately feels like it’s just encouraging the apathy the commercial games industry has towards preservation.
- lawn 4y agoI recently bought a console and was considering a Nintendo Switch but went for the much more open Steam Deck instead. And I can now play almost any released Nintendo game, even a lot of the Switch games can be emulated well (my kids love Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros!). Honestly, if you're fine with tinkering a little bit it's a much superior platform. And I haven't even mentioned access to the amazing Steam store, which makes Nintendo's stores seem like a joke.
- htag 4y agoI own both the Switch and the Steam Deck and use neither regularly. I use my PSP Vita and Gameboy Micro much more frequently because they are easier to carry around, and both system are hacked wide open. I have friends with keychains larger than the GB Micro. I wish we would go back to more portable systems, and I feel like the Steam Deck is a step in the wrong direction because of it's bulk.
- WillAdams 4y agoIt also kills the value of used machines --- I've always regretted not getting a Wii U, and actually have two games for it which have not yet been ported to the Switch: (Twilight Princess HD and Xenoblade Chronicles X). XCX has a datapack on the Wii U shop which when downloaded allows the game to play much faster, with much less time spent on loading screens --- there's no way I'm buying a Wii U now without the ability to download that.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ace2358 4y agoThere is emulation of WiiU titles which might save you the cost. I can honestly say that the WiiU is worth it. It’s nice playing games that don’t have all the boring and time wasting tactics that modern games have. But that’s just me. I play my WiiU once a week at least!
- moepstar 4y agoBut especially in the case of the aforementioned Xenoblade Chronicles X (i love that game, i think i put in about 300hrs back then) the second screen on the controller is not just a gimmick but actually useful - is this emulated as well? (sorry, a bit out of the loop in the whole emulation game)
- WillAdams 4y agoI'm kicking myself twice over for not buying a Wii U --- could have bought one for short money when I was working part-time for Amazon but didn't, then couldn't bring myself to buy one of the XCX bundled units which were available in Japan and the UK. At this point, I just want Nintendo to port it to the Switch (or more likely the switch's successor) --- I've also given up on getting Xenogears and Xenosaga chapters II and III. Emulation is something I just don't have time for --- I've seen at least one report that it's possible to download the packs manually onto a Wii U --- maybe that's what I'll do.
- zaius 4y agoMy old 3DS is broken, and I've been trying to find a 2DS XL for months now. I am floored with how much they are selling for on ebay. Regularly $100 more than a Switch Lite retails for. I'm guessing the volume is low, but I'm surprised to see Nintendo continuously take moves to stop supporting old consoles when there's clearly still demand.
- Wowfunhappy 4y ago> I'm guessing the volume is low, but I'm surprised to see Nintendo continuously take moves to stop supporting old consoles when there's clearly still demand. I'm surprised too, but I would point out that the Switch came out six years ago! Nintendo did keep supporting the 3DS, with new games even, for a long time after it was succeeded.
- NHQ 4y agoBack up your networks, folks!
- bsder 4y agoBuy physical media. When will people wake up to the fact that "online only" means "will disappear arbitrarily". I would very much like to play the Metroid Prime remake, but I'll be damned if I'm going to buy a digital-only version that will go away.