Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Losing Even More Features Soon

Soon, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U owners will have access to one less feature on both platforms. Nintendo has announced that the image share feature for the two systems will cease to function on October 25th. At this point, it's unclear how many users were still taking advantage of the feature, but fans still have a little bit of time left to use it. Given the fact that Switch has been available for more than five years now, it's not surprising that Nintendo is scaling back support for the platform's predecessors. The company revealed the following details on its official website:

  • After the service discontinuation, it will no longer be possible to share images from the Nintendo 3DS family of systems or Wii U consoles.
  • Images and comments already posted on Facebook and Twitter will remain available even after the service discontinuation.

Nintendo has been slowly scaling back support for both the Wii U and 3DS. As of this writing, users can still download software for both systems, but that particular feature is set to end March 27, 2023. While several Wii U and 3DS games have been ported to the Nintendo Switch over the last few years, there are many games that remain exclusive to one or the other. Most notably, Switch users have no option to download or play titles released for the Game Boy family of systems. Rumors have suggested for years that Nintendo will be adding that option as part of Nintendo Switch Online, but nothing has been confirmed.

While it's always sad to see support end for an older video game console, companies can only maintain services for these platforms for so long. The 3DS found a large and passionate audience of users during its time on the market, though the Wii U was somewhat underappreciated. Hopefully, users will continue to have fun with these games and systems, even as some of their features are removed by Nintendo.

Were you a fan of the image share feature on 3DS and Wii U? Are you disappointed that Nintendo plans to remove the feature? Let us know in the comments or share directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!