Aside from DLCs, the closure of the 3DS and WiiU eshop will also mean that players will not be able to purchase or download any full games from there after the shutdown date of March 2023.

This news is particularly devastating for “digital only” games, which are titles that do not have any official physical versions available. According to a census by VGC, the WiiU and 3DS eshops combined hold an estimated 1,000 games that are digital only, all of which will be lost for good once their associated stores close. Adding in games from the Virtual Console that are currently absent from the Switch Online service, the total may be closer to around 2,000 games.

Around 2,000 games will become unavailable digitally when Nintendo closes its eShops, including:

🔸Around 450 digital-only Wii U games
🔸Around 600 digital-only 3DS games
🔸Nearly 530 Virtual Console games, around 350 not currently on Switch Online

— VGC (@VGC_News) February 16, 2022

Thankfully, there is still some time for game enthusiasts to rescue these games before they are eventually lost forever. If you’re interested in more details about exactly what games are at risk, you can find VGC’s full analysis here.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.