It's time to say goodbye to the Nintendo 3DS, as the last player to still be online finally loses connection more than 200 days after servers went down
Gone but not forgotten.
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It's finally happened, folks: the last surviving online Nintendo 3DS player has lost connection, meaning it's done for good.
The last couple of years haven't been very good for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U fans. Last year, both consoles' eShops shut down, and earlier this year online services for the platforms were shuttered too. Except, not entirely, as there were a few stragglers that managed to hang on, in particular a couple of users by the name of Fishguy6564 and Marioiscool246 (thanks, GamesRadar). Using a patch that supposedly prevented a lobby from being switched off, the two setup a couple of bots that in theory could have raced each other endlessly, but earlier this year Marioiscool246's 3DS crashed, leaving Fishguy6564's bot to play by itself.
Unfortunately though, today that came to an end, as 210 days after the servers were shut down, Fishguy6564's 3DS finally crashed. "It's over," they wrote on their personal Twitter account, accompanied with a picture of their 3DS showing an error message. "Rest in peace, Nintendo Network." It's obviously impressive that anyone was able to keep connected for so long after the servers were officially shut down, and a bit sad too knowing that the end of an era is done for good.
The owner of the Nintendo Network After Hours Discord GaffsNotLaffs shared that Fishguy6564's 3DS simply "crashed", but to be honest the fact it's lasted this long without crashing sooner is surprising enough. With this 3DS now offline, there's no official way of playing any of the console's games online anymore, leaving many games with features and modes that are completely unplayable.
It's a real shame, especially with no sign that Nintendo has any intention to make these titles playable on the Switch in any capacity right now, but it's not like the developer is known for its great preservation practices in the first place. RIP, 3DS, you'll be missed.