Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

### Platform(s)

Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo DSi XL, Wii U (formerly), Nintendo 3DS (formerly).

**Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection** (**WFC**) was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download services. It also ran features for the Wii and Nintendo DS systems.

Games designed to take advantage of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection offered Internet play integrated into the game. When promoting this service, Nintendo emphasized the simplicity and speed of starting an online game. For example, in *Mario Kart DS*, an online game was initiated by selecting the online multiplayer option from the main menu, then choosing whether to play with friends, or to play with other gamers (either in the local region or worldwide) at about the same skill level. After a selection was made, the game started searching for an available player.

On January 26, 2012, it was announced by Nintendo during an investors' meeting that the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service would be succeeded by and absorbed into **Nintendo Network**. This new online system would eventually unify the 3DS and Wii U platforms and replace Friend Codes, while providing paid downloadable content, an online community style multiplayer system, and personal accounts. Nintendo Network is fully supported on the Nintendo 3DS and on the Wii U, whilst still continuing providing partial legacy support for both Wii and Nintendo DS under the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection brand. Specifically, the Wii U can boot to Wii mode and then access the Wii Message Board messages which have been recorded by the gameplay progress of compatible local games, but it cannot send Wii Message Board messages remotely between different machines.

The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service was terminated on May 20, 2014 at 10.30 PM (EST) for all Wii and DS games, although some users were able to stay online for several hours after the shutdown; online play features incorporated into these games are no longer available without homebrew. The shutdown is connected to the shutdown of multiplayer services by GameSpy, who was acquired by Glu Mobile in 2012. 3DS and Wii U games are not affected by the shutdown because their multiplayer platform uses Nintendo's own infrastructure instead of a third-party service. The Wii Shop Channel, third-party video services, and the Pay & Play variants have been shut down as of February 1, 2019. However, it is possible to still redownload previously purchased content from the Wii Shop Channel. Users can still continue to redownload previously purchased content and/or buy and use the Wii U Transfer Tool to transfer Wii data from the Wii to a Wii U, and download The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Save Data Update Channel in order to update the game.

The shutdown had an immediate effect on all Nintendo-published Wii and Nintendo DS titles. However, it may not necessarily apply to certain third-party titles, which could have separate servers running their own games' online functions. For example, Electronic Arts revealed that some of the games they published on the Wii and Nintendo DS had their online support terminated on June 30, 2014.

A small selection of online-enabled Wii games, such as newer *FIFA* games as well as *Call of Duty* games (except *World at War*) and *Dragon Quest X*, which are not branded under the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, may continue using their online functions normally. Starting in 2015, various Wii and Nintendo DS games were digitally re-released, including those which formerly supported Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

On June 27, 2013, Nintendo terminated the WiiConnect24 service features globally due to the release of the Wii U and the host, GameSpy shutting down its servers. Consequently, the Wii channels that required it, online data exchange via Wii Message Board, and passive online features for certain games using 16-digit Wii Friend Codes, have all been rendered unusable.

The Wii U hardware itself does not support WiiConnect24, which is the cause for most preloaded and downloadable Wii channels to be unavailable on the Wii U's Wii Mode menu and Wii Shop Channel respectively, even prior to WiiConnect24's termination. Eventually, the defunct downloadable Wii channels were made unavailable on all versions of the Wii Shop Channel.

WiiConnect24 is succeeded by SpotPass, a different trademark name for similar content-pushing functions that the Nintendo Network service can perform for the newer Nintendo 3DS and Wii U consoles.