The Splatoon 1 community is devastated by the news that Nintendo will be shutting down the online services for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. This means that the beloved game will no longer have official servers for players to enjoy, just before its ninth anniversary in May 2024. Some fans even suggest that Nintendo should have waited until 2025, the game’s 10-year anniversary, to pull the plug. Unfortunately, the online servers will go down permanently in early April 2024, leaving only Pokémon Bank as the remaining title with online service on the 3DS/Wii U.
The announcement of the Wii U’s service shutdown has hit Splatoon 1 players particularly hard. They had already experienced a nearly five-month server outage in 2023, which only resumed in August. This raises questions as to why Nintendo bothered to fix the servers at all, only to shut them down again the following year.
Many players are heartbroken by this news, especially considering it comes just before the game’s ninth anniversary. While some may transition to Splatoon 3 on the Nintendo Switch, others refuse to abandon Splatoon 1. For those dedicated players, their only option will be to turn to third-party services like Pretendo Network, an open-source alternative to Nintendo Network that provides custom servers for Wii U and 3DS games. The Mario Kart Wii community has successfully kept their game alive through similar means, and one player has already suggested doing the same for Splatoon 1.
Although this news is devastating for Splatoon 1 players, it was inevitable after Nintendo closed down the eShops for the 3DS and Wii U in March. Fortunately, players will have six months to organize and prepare for the transition to custom servers before the official servers shut down.
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Source: DOTESPORTS
