Goodbye, Gamepad: A Farewell To The Wii U eShop

On December 25, 2013, I was finally able to get my hands on the Wii U. This special edition came with code for Wind Waker HD, and a gaming pad with a Triforce golden Triforce. For my brother and I, 11 and 13 at the time, respectively, this was a massive deal; we’d spent the last year seeing Wii Us at friends’ houses, yearning for our own, and struggling to explain the difference between it and our current Wii to our parents.

But while it was valuable to us, the Wii U struggled to sell and has ultimately gone down as one of Nintendo’s most disappointing consoles. Today, the system’s eShop shuts down forever, permanently closing a chapter of Nintendo’s history.

I’ll be the first to admit that the rosy lenses of nostalgia heavily tint my memory of the Wii U. This was an important time in my gaming history. Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 were mainstays at many of our social events. Despite this, I believe that some defense of Wii U should still be made. The worst aspects of the Wii U have been forgotten by gamers, and the good parts are also lost. Although I love my Switch immensely, it has a lot to learn from its elder brother, the clumsier eShop.

Wii U had personality. Miis were linked to profile profiles, which allowed them to pose and dance. The home screen featured floating synth pads and bells that played arpeggios, echoing harmonies, and a tinkling background. Miis sat in groups by the (now obsolete) Miiverse icons and chatted about their games. These icons could also be turned around so that the Miis beneath would have to sprint to their games. Functionally, that rotation serves no purpose, but that’s not the point: it’s all about a fun, inviting atmosphere.

This vibe was maintained in the eShop. Even the loading screen is a minigame where your console’s software icons become a puzzle you have to piece together. Once you’re in, you can listen to a whole lineup of bouncy bossa bops while you browse. The music in these menus never reached the iconic status of the Wii’s Mii Channel or Wii Shop Channel, but the influence is clear. It’s an energetic, childlike aura that feels distinctly Nintendo.

By comparison, the Switch’s menus are bland. There’s no music anywhere, and while the “themes” section in the settings seemed to imply a return of the 3DS’ visual themes, six years later our only options are still “black” and “white.” It’s much less charming, something I considered essential to a Nintendo product before its release.

While I’ll certainly miss the Wii U eShop’s fantastic vibes, the real despair I feel is from losing access to its games library. The Wii U’s two-screen setup allows it to run a ton of virtual console games, and to people used to buying these games on the secondhand market, the prices were shockingly affordable. Metroid Prime Trilogy can sell for more than $100 on Amazon, but was $20. It was also the only place you could digitally buy DS games, like Pokémon Ranger and Kirby: Squeak Squad.

Older Nintendo fans likely see this as an opportunity to revisit games from their past, but for someone my age, it’s how I experienced many of Nintendo’s classics. Paper Mario, Earthbound, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Super Mario 64 are all games I would never have experienced without the eShop’s virtual console.

In theory, those games exist on the Switch, but because they’re locked behind Nintendo Switch Online’s classics library, you lose access if your subscription ends. They are not yours, which has made it difficult for me to play them. One day, like the Wii U, Nintendo will shut down the Switch’s online features. It’s unclear what happens to the classics library when that happens. While the Wii U’s eShop might be shutting down, I can at least find comfort in the fact that I own the classics I bought, and I always will.

Andre, my brother (left), and me (right), on the day that we received our Wii U.

There are many things the Switch does better than the Wii U; at the end of the day, it’s certainly the better console. But the Wii U was a valuable window to Nintendo’s past, both with its charm and its virtual console, and the closing of its eShop is the final nail in its coffin. Nintendo is removing something it doesn’t have a real replacement for. I understand that the Wii U wasn’t the console for everyone, but it was the console for me. And while some people are unbothered by the ending of its final chapter, laughing at its clunky design and mocking the gamepad, I don’t mind. At the end of the day, it’ll always be my childhood Christmas treasure – and for now, the only console that can play Wind Waker HD.