Its an unfortunate but expected end to an era for many Nintendo fans. Despite the official announcement to discontinue the older systems like 3Ds in 2020, Nintendo had kept certain services running long after its decision in similar vein to the Wii. Unfortunately, like the Wii, none of these services last forever. Earlier today, Nintendo announced that the image-sharing services for Nintendo 3Ds and Wii U systems will discontinue on October 25, 2022. This comes as the latest stepping stone in Nintendo’s efforts to officially end support for its older systems. Nintendo had previously announced that the 3DS and Wii U eShop would be shutting down next spring, so this latest development was far from surprising.
According to Nintendo, shutting down the image share features in the 3DS and Wii U will prohibit users from posting images on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. It will also be impossible for users to share images in general from any of the 3DS and Wii U consoles, which include: Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL, New Nintendo 2DS XL, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS, Wii U Deluxe, Wii U Basic. That being said, images and comments that were already posted on social media sites from these consoles will remain on these sites, even after the services are discontinued.
While the Wii U is considered by many to be a critical failure of a console, for others it holds a hefty amount of nostalgia like the 3Ds. The 3Ds and Wii U introduced many people to franchises that gained mainstream popularity today, like Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. It is unfortunate that these systems will eventually be fully discontinued, but that is simply the way the gaming industry flows.