You can still buy digital Wii U and 3DS games, but not for long
polygon.comThere isn’t much time left to buy games and digital content for Nintendo’s 3DS/2DS and Wii U. Nintendo will close the digital storefronts for both platforms on March 27, which means that you need to act quickly if you want new digital games at their retail prices, and to pick up some Virtual Console titles.
If you haven’t used either console in a while, or if you’re buying a used model right as they’re about to slip further into obscurity (I fully support this decision), it can be confusing to know exactly how to give Nintendo your money in exchange for digital games.
No, you can no longer add your credit card to these systems to buy a game. That functionality was removed in May 2022. Slightly later in the year, Nintendo made it so you can’t redeem eShop gift cards via these consoles. As of now, you have two options for adding funds to purchase eShop games for 3DS and Wii U. One is through My Nintendo Store, the Nintendo website where you can redeem an eShop gift card to put funds on your account, or purchase the exact game that you want with said funds, or with a credit card.
Alternatively, you can redeem an eShop gift card or digitally add funds through your Nintendo Switch via its eShop. This assumes that your old Nintendo Network ID and your Nintendo Account have been merged (more on the merging process below).
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Wait. There’s one more hurdle that you might have to jump over, unless you’ve done it already. That is the merging of your Nintendo Network ID with a Nintendo Account, the latter of which is what Nintendo introduced in 2017 with the Switch and continues to use (both the 3DS family of systems and the Wii U use NNID accounts). Your shared eShop balance, if you have a
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