Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service on Wii and DS ending on May 20

Nintendo will end its Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for Wii and Nintendo DS owners on May 20, according to a post on Nintendo's website.

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Nintendo will end its Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for Wii and Nintendo DS owners on May 20, according to a post on Nintendo's website. This means Wii and DS owners will no longer be able to use online play, matchmaking, or leaderboards across any of the two platforms' titles.

"As of May 20, 2014, certain online functionality offered through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection will no longer be accessible," states the announcement, which also features the full list of games affected. "The discontinued services include online play, matchmaking and leaderboards for many Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi games."

While there weren't too many Wii and DS titles that utilized online play, arguably the biggest ones did. That includes Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and a whole lot of Pokemon games. Playing these games on your Wii U and 3DS using their backwards compatibility features won't work, either.

The discontinuation of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service will not affect the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop, both of which will continue to offer games and services. The Internet Channel, video-on-demand services, and DS/DSi Browsers will continue to function past the May 20 cutoff date, as well.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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  • reply
    February 26, 2014 10:05 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service on Wii and DS ending on May 20.

    Nintendo will end its Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for Wii and Nintendo DS owners on May 20, according to a post on Nintendo's website.

    • reply
      February 26, 2014 11:58 PM

      That's not cool for kart an smash bros wii players. Wii U has only been out for one year. This feels like a nudge to get people to buy a Wii U. Sony PS3 will have online play for years while PS4 is out. Or does no one play their Wii anymore?

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        February 27, 2014 7:46 AM

        They already shut down the weather and news feed. If there isn't much traffic it's not that surprising.

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        February 27, 2014 8:03 AM

        I still really enjoyed playing Mario Kart & Dr. Mario on the Wii network :( :( :(

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      February 27, 2014 4:43 AM

      wait a second...the Wii had online play?

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        February 27, 2014 6:53 AM

        i remember playing smash bros with a few shackers when it came out

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          February 27, 2014 10:23 AM

          I still like to get a few games in, despite the awful netcode.

          And won't somebody PLEASE think of my Tetris DS???

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        February 27, 2014 7:06 AM

        If you call a thirty digit random friend-code you have to exchange with everyone for each game online play, then yea.

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      February 27, 2014 8:20 AM

      What is this? They're removing Wifi capability on the devices? I don't get it.

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        February 27, 2014 8:50 AM

        They are shutting down the network on their end, ala Xbox Live on the original Xbox.

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        February 27, 2014 8:58 AM

        No, they're just shutting down the servers that connect people together for online play. It's kind of like Microsoft shutting down Xbox Live for the original Xbox after the 360 came out.

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        February 27, 2014 9:26 AM

        They did remove WiFi on the Wii Mini

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      February 27, 2014 10:45 AM

      Disappointing they cut the cord this soon, even if they weren't the best multiplayer experiences.

      I just wonder if they ever plan to shut down the Wii shop. It still has a great selection of games, and I want to have a way to re-download games in case my memory gets corrupted or something.

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      February 27, 2014 11:07 AM

      Mario Kart online was incredible. I guess the new Mario Kart will have to do!!!

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      February 27, 2014 11:23 AM

      My Wii was stolen so I guess I cant complain but something we did use it for was online mariokart, seems kind of soon to shut it down.

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      February 28, 2014 1:52 AM

      The wiiu has only been out for a year, don't you think its a bit soon to stop the WiFi connect ion to the Wii and ds. Personally I think you have dug your own grave and you are going to loose a lot of customers. Because a lot of my friends are talking about getting a 360 cos they are a lot cheaper than a wiiu

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