Nintendo’s 3DS and Wii U game consoles changed the gaming industry forever. Their success was highly dependent on the creation of the eShop, the company’s digital store. This allowed for players to purchase additional content and games.
On March 27, the consoles’ digital stores, known as the eShop, shut down, ending a pivotal point in the company’s history. After the success of the company’s previous consoles, the Wii and the DS, many in the industry expected big things from Nintendo. While the systems were initially failures due to a variety of factors, both of them went on to achieve some sort of success in the industry. None of this success, however, would have been achieved without the eShop, and its closure means parting ways with the 3Ds and Wii U.
The 3DS
The 3DS was launched in March 2011, with a price of $250. While it sold well initially — with almost 400,000 units sold in the first week — it was a relative failure in subsequent months, with 710,000 units sold during Q2 2011, a period ranging from April to June. As a result, the company announced a price cut in August 2011, lowering the price to $170. 3DS sales improved, with a total of 4.5 million sales in the first year. It would go on to have 75.94 million sales throughout its lifetime.
A factor for the 3DS’ success was its games. A variety of properties made appearances on the console, such as Mario and Zelda. But these games were not just the same old games with a few minor enhancements. Instead, they worked to evolve each franchise in a unique way.
For instance, the Mario series’ first installment on the system, “Super Mario 3D Land” combined the short levels and power ups of the series’ 2D installments, with the expanded space of its 3D games to create a simpler experience that any gamer could enjoy. They also added more challenging levels. This idea of contrasting simplified gameplay and challenging levels would be expanded in the franchises’ future installments.
“Super Mario Odyssey,” for instance, features a variety of challenges of varying difficulties, meaning that players can pick and choose which trials to complete based on their ability. Meanwhile, its other game on the system, “New Super Mario Bros. 2,” also made an impact. While it was significantly more standardized when compared to “3D Land,” as it was a side-scrolling game with cartoony graphics in line with the other “New Super Mario Bros.” games, it was the first Nintendo-published game in North America to offer paid Downloadable Content (DLC), which could be purchased via the eShop.
In this way, Nintendo gamers, like users of Sony and Microsoft consoles, could enjoy content beyond what was included on the initial disc or cartridge, significantly extending the length of the game. The tradition of Nintendo DLC began here, and it impacted the course of the company forever.
Zelda also received several important changes for its 3DS installments. “The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds,” for instance, offered more freedom to its players by granting them access to a shop at the beginning of the game. It contained a variety of weapons that players could buy or rent and an open world where they could play any dungeon in any order. This was a stark contrast to most other games in the franchise, which were more structured and had the player look for most weapons in dungeons.
The Wii U
The Wii U was released in November 2012. While a combination of bad advertising, game droughts and confusion about its status as a new console made it a failure at less than 14 million consoles sold, it contributed several key aspects to what would become the Nintendo Switch.
It had two major differences from its predecessor, the Wii. The first was its graphics, as it was the first Nintendo console to display in HD, allowing for greater graphical fidelity compared to the Wii, which could only display in standard definition. The second was its controller, which was a tablet-like device known as the Gamepad. It was essentially a standard game controller with a giant touchscreen in the center. The gamepad could be used to interact with the gameplay on the TV.
Much like the 3DS, the Wii U platform also included games from Nintendo’s hallmark franchises. Some of these were remakes, such as “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.” These games helped to influence the Switch, as they demonstrated just how much a new home console could enhance a game. These games, despite being remakes, helped to demonstrate just how amazing a Zelda game would look like in HD. They also added new features that made the game less tedious, such as seamless climbing and sailing.
Nintendo would exploit this in later years, remaking other installments, such as “Skyward Sword,” on the Switch. Like “Wind Waker,” this game added more features, such as an option to attack through button presses instead of motion controls.
On the fighting game front, “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U” was an impactful fighting game for the console. While it contained many elements of standard “Super Smash Bros.,” with environments that contained 2D and 3D elements and percentage-based damage, it introduced many aspects to the franchise, including DLC. Players could vote in polls known as “Smash Ballots” to let Nintendo know which characters they wanted the most. This resulted in characters such as Square Enix’s Cloud and Sega/PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta being added to the game. Both of these characters soon found use in competitive play. Later, the “Fighter’s Pass” of Super Smash Bros Ultimate would add several new characters, including fan-requested ones like Sora, who, incidentally, won a “Smash Ballot” poll, but Nintendo could not obtain the rights at the time.
The Console’s Legacy
The Wii U and 3DS brought many franchises to prominence. For instance, the Wii U had Mario Kart 8 as its best-selling game, a franchise that has always been successful, but never becoming a console’s best-selling game until then. It would go on to repeat the achievement on the Switch, outselling the Wii U console.
In addition, the Wii U introduced the Splatoon series, a shooter involving squid-human hybrids. It went on to become one of Nintendo’s most successful series, with competitive play, adaptations, and two sequels on the Switch.
Meanwhile, the 3DS brought Fire Emblem, Kirby and Animal Crossing to prominence, with each franchise achieving higher sales compared to most previous installments. Nintendo, in particular, had threatened to end Fire Emblem if sales did not reach 250,000. But the 3DS installments were successful, selling millions of copies and ensuring the series’ continuation on both the 3DS and Switch.
Animal Crossing’s 3DS installment, New Leaf, is notable for introducing Isabelle, a character who grew extremely popular. She would go on to appear in the Switch installment, as well as a host of merchandise.
The Kirby games also made an impact on the series, with installments selling well and introducing new copy abilities, such as Beetle, that would be used in future installments.
Overall, the eShop was an important aspect of both consoles, and helped contribute to the DLC revolution introduced on both consoles. Through the shop, players were able to download retail games, digital games, and retro games.
The shop gave players easy access to rare games that had not been released in years, such as “Earthbound” and “Metroid Prime Trilogy” on Wii U and the Pokemon Generation 1 games and Zelda Oracle games on 3DS, introducing them to a new generation. The eShop also featured consistent pricing, as games always stayed at the MSRP in spite of a game’s rarity in its physical form. While the eShop may be gone on the 3DS and Wii U, its legacy lives on with the Nintendo Switch.
Bailey Kanthatham is an Arts & Entertainment Contributing Writer. He can be reached at bkanthat@uci.edu.
