Wii U and 3DS Family No Longer Supporting Credit Cards From January 2022 Onward

The official Nintendo Japan website has announced that credit cards will no longer be viable payment methods for the Wii U and 3DS family of platforms. The planned time for this termination of usage is January 18, 2022, at 9 AM Japan time. However, it is worth noting that Nintendo prepaid cards can still be used for purchases on these platforms, but who knows how long this functionality will last before it too is terminated. Additionally, 3DS and Wii U games can still be purchased with credit cards from the Nintendo store on their official website.

Needless to say, this is quite saddening news as there are several titles available on these devices that are not purchasable on modern platforms via convenient means. Moreover, this news now raises the question of whether or not these titles will become available on the Switch somehow since, in the near future, even the prepaid card options for the 3DS and Wii U stores will assuredly cease usability.

The topic of game preservation has been relevant lately, with the fear of the PSP, PS Vita, and PlayStation 3 store closures ringing alarm bells for preservationists. Hopefully, as many of these games as possible become available to play on modern platforms and continue to do so. Losing access to older games feels like a hurdle that should’ve been collectively overcome long, long ago.