Today is the day that Nintendo is closing down the Wii Shop Channel for good. It’s been on life-support since last year as you couldn’t buy Wii Points anymore, but it’s still an end to Nintendo’s first stab at the online marketplace.
I never much cared for the Virtual Console games because I already owned most of them (I still bought a bunch anyways because I’m a sucker), but the WiiWare section of the store was really nice.
I can still remember buying Lost Winds and really understanding the potential digital stores could reach, especially with smaller titles from teams that probably could never afford a disc-based release.
Add in Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth and Contra Rebirth and you had for some really slick games that still hold up today, even if finding component cables for a Wii is a pain. And don’t even get me started on those cheap Wii to HDMI converters.
But what I think most of us will miss about the Wii Shop Channel is the groovy music that is still stuck in my head all these years later. And while the channel and games are gone, if you manage to mod a Wii you can still snag everything if you know where to look.
I’m no piracy advocate but for so many of these games there are no other options if you want to buy and play them. In this case I consider it preservation because some of those WiiWare titles were fantastic and deserve to be played still.
About Author
