A gamer and content creator took on a daunting and expensive task by buying every available Nintendo eShop game for the 3DS and Wii U before the end of the month. The gamer was not alone in their task, as they and their colleagues pooled together as many resources as possible to ensure they could accomplish their mission before the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop closure on March 27.
The news of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop closure was first announced last summer, despite many efforts from gamers to convince Nintendo to reconsider the measure. However, given that the Wii Shop Channel was closed years before, Nintendo chose to double down on its decision, with maintenance periods taking place to wind down the eShops. As a result, the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops are now hosting fire sales for gamers that want one last chance to pick up some games digitally. One gamer and their friends decided to pick up every single game they could on the eShops, and posted their efforts and reasons why such a mission was undertaken in a video.
Former G4 personality Jirard Khalil, also known as The Completionist on Twitch and YouTube, posted a YouTube video on March 18 after a months-long operation that saw him and his colleagues collect 464 Nintendo eShop gift cards as a way to get around their banks stalling the effort. The total amount that Khalil and his colleagues spent on these cards was $22,791 USD, and Khalil said that the efforts were funded by sponsorships in his videos and streams as well as any revenue he earned from them via ads and Twitch subscriptions. In total, Khalil and his crew purchased 1,547 3DS games and 866 Wii U games, which respectively took up 267 GB and 1.2 TB of data.
Khalil said that the effort was hindered by Nintendo on multiple occasions, between Nintendo's discontinuation of traditional payment methods for the 3DS and Wii U eShops, as well as the limits of what the eShop's wallet can hold at any given time. Last August, Nintendo also discontinued the redemption of eShop codes, which put Khalil and his colleagues in a race against time. Khalil was also stymied by the technical limitations of downloading every single eShop game on both platforms, as the eShop clients on these consoles were slow compared to the Nintendo Switch eShop. Khalil also purchased multiple microSD cards for storing 3DS games, and a 2 TB external drive to store the Wii U games.
Khalil said the main reason for this massive undertaking was to ensure each game was preserved, and that he would donate these consoles and associated storage methods to the Video Game History Foundation. With Nintendo turning its back on fans' requests to preserve as many games as possible, it remains up to gamers like Khalil to ensure these games are not forgotten, no matter the cost.