It finally happened! It only took 209 days as of November 3. Still, the last active user of Nintendo’s previously-shuttered Nintendo Network servers for Wii U and 3DS, Fishguy6564, was finally booted off when his Nintendo 3DS crashed after nearly two-thirds of a year’s constant connection to Mario Kart 7 servers [h/t GamesRadar]. The dream is finally over— though not in every sense.
Fortunately for users of this now-unsupported hardware and their diverse libraries, custom system firmware unlocks the route to Homebrew software and even Pretendo, a service enabling fan-run replacement Nintendo Network servers to be used for otherwise-shuttered Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games. The selection of Pretendo-enabled games is somewhat limited, but still helps preserve the history and playability of these relatively modern systems.
