It’s a dark day for Nintendo fans everywhere, as yet another nail has been driven into the coffin of the company’s underrated previous-gen console, the Wii U.
You might have thought the Wii U was already dead, and yeah, in many ways it’s safe to say it was. After all, online services for it and the 3DS were shut down earlier this year, and while many players managed to cling to them for way longer than Nintendo intended (Nintended?), it’s impossible to boot your Wii U up right now and connect to an online Splatoon match on those classic servers. Today though, it’s been confirmed that repairs are no longer being accepted for the console in Japan, as the company is out of parts.
In a tweet posted by the Japanese Nintendo customer support account earlier today (translated using Google and DeepL), it’s stated that there’s no stock left of the “necessary parts” required for repairs of Wii U consoles and their peripherals, so effective immediately, Japanese customers will be unable to get theirs fixed by the company. To be fair, we knew this day was coming – in May 2023, it was confirmed that as soon as Nintendo was out of parts, repairs would no longer be offered, so it seems there was enough stock to last for over a year.
Obviously though, it’s far from ideal – some consoles will be approaching their 12th birthdays this year, and as time passes, it’ll become even more likely that they’ll need fixing in one way or another. On top of that, there’s the fact that the system is so reliant on its unique GamePad controller – many games actively require you to use it rather than other controllers, and you can’t even change your system settings without it. Unfortunately, that means that even if it’s just your GamePad that stops working, you’re going to lose a massive part of the console’s functionality.
While many of the best Wii U games like Mario Kart 8, Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and Bayonetta 2 have been ported to the Nintendo Switch for an alternative way to play, there are still many stuck on the previous-gen console, with no indication that they’ll be brought over to the current generation any time soon. Here’s hoping that Xenoblade Chronicles X, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and the HD versions of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess might make it to the Switch or its successor eventually.
Be sure to check out our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch games for some top titles to dive into on Nintendo’s current console.