Nintendo confirmed on its support page that April 8 is when it’s going to shut down online services for two of its older consoles: the 3DS and Wii U. The Mario company says March 27 is when the eShop for both will be discontinued while March 11 is the last date to transfer any money you might have in those eShops that’s tied to a Nintendo Network ID and move it to your Nintendo account.
The online play functionality such as online cooperative play, internet rankings, and data distribution will end at 1pm PT on April 8 (7am AEST April 9).
Nintendo warns users that they might have to discontinue services earlier than this date if “an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services.”
While online play is done with the 3DS and Wii U, the consoles will still work fine offline. Nintendo says that features and game modes that don’t require online communication will still be available. It also adds that online services for Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter will still work after April 8, but they may also be discontinued at some point in the future.
The eShop for both consoles closes at 5 p.m. PT on March 27 (12pm AEDT, March 28). After that, you can no longer buy anything in the shop or download free content such as game demos.
April 3 is also another date you might want to mark. Starting this day, you’d no longer be able to redeem download codes in the eShop for the Wii U or the 3DS.
These are a lot of dates to remember, but the most important thing that you need to remember is that you have until March 11 at 10 p.m. PT (5pm AEDT, March 12) to link your wallets and transfer your eShop funds before they’re gone forever.