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Aug 2, 2024, 10:19:37 AM8/2/24

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The Nintendo Wii was a revolutionary console when it launched on November 19th, 2006. Aside from introducing motion control to home consoles, the Wii also included the Virtual Console, accessible via the system's Wii Shop Channel. After 12 years, the Wii Shop Channel is closing, along with access to the video-on-demand services like Netflix and Hulu on the console. Nintendo reminds everyone with any leftover Wii Points to use them before January 30th. Also, if you have any games you want to re-download in the shop, do so before that date.

The Wii Shop Channel was known for its charming music (it lives on in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) and the Virtual Console. The VC was monumental at the time because it was the first service to allow players to download retro Nintendo games. If you wanted to play Super Mario 64 or Pokmon Snap, but did not have a Nintendo 64, you could download them on Wii. It's a great concept that lives on in the Wii U and 3DS. The Wii Shop Channel also enabled players to download various channels for the Wii console, such as the Internet Channel and Everybody Votes Channel. Many players probably have fond memories watching videos on the Nintendo Channel.

Although some may have criticized the Wii for focusing more on the casual audience over the core gamer, the console nonetheless proved to be one of Nintendo's biggest successes. According to the company's sales data as of September 2018, the Wii has sold 101.63 million units. That's almost as much as the combined sales for the SNES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube. The Wii was the hot item in late 2006, selling out everywhere. Motion control was a new thing for home consoles, and it was something the Wii mostly excelled at. Nintendo's competitors would later attempt to emulate Nintendo's success with their own versions of motion control, but to far less success.

The Wii was home to a number of notable games. Two Wii titles are in Metacritic's top 10 highest rated games of all time. These two games are of course Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. We also got The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Kirby's Return to Dreamland. Super Smash Bros. Brawl also released and brought all the big Nintendo franchises together in a story-based adventure. Mario Kart Wii launched on the platform as well, and it is the highest selling racing game of all time, according to Guinness World Records.

With the Wii Shop Channel coming to a close, it appears the Wii will officially be looked at as a "classic" console in the near future. Love or hate it, one thing can't be denied: the Wii was a very important console throughout its run.

The Wii Shop Channel is a discontinued digital distribution service for the Wii video game console. The service allowed users to purchase and play additional software for the Wii (called Channels), including exclusive games (branded WiiWare), and games from prior generations of video games (marketed with the Virtual Console brand).[2] The Wii Shop Channel launched on November 19, 2006, and ceased operations on January 30, 2019.[3]

Succeeded by the Nintendo eShop, the Wii Shop Channel was accessible on the original Wii and on the Wii U console via Wii Mode, supporting the download of WiiWare titles, as well as legacy Virtual Console titles that are not available via the Nintendo eShop.[4][5]

Wii Points were the currency used in transactions on the Wii Shop Channel, with an equivalent worth of US$0.01 per point. Wii Points were purchased by either redeeming Wii Points Cards purchased from retail outlets[9] or directly through the Wii Shop Channel using a Mastercard or Visa credit card.[10] In 2008, Club Nintendo in Europe began offering Wii Points in exchange for "stars" received from registering games and consoles on the website. On March 26, 2018, the functionality to purchase and add Wii Points was permanently removed following a temporary maintenance notice; preventing users from purchasing WiiWare or Virtual Console games unless they had enough Wii Points in their account balance. Already purchased software can still be downloaded, and any Wii Points remaining in an account's balance were redeemable until January 30, 2019.[11]

Virtual Console was a brand that included games from past video game consoles, which ran under emulation. There were over 300 games available in North America[12] and, as of December 31, 2007, over 10 million games have been downloaded worldwide.[13][needs update] All games are exact replicas of the originals with no updated features or graphics, with the exception of Pokmon Snap, which was updated to allow in-game pictures to be posted to the Wii Message Board. New games were added weekly at 9 A.M. Pacific Time every Thursday (previously every Monday) in North America, Tuesdays in Japan and South Korea, and Fridays in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Consoles included both Nintendo systems, such as the NES, SNES and N64, and non-Nintendo systems, such as the Sega Genesis, Master System, TurboGrafx-16, MSX, Neo Geo and Commodore 64 (Europe and North America only). Each system had a base starting price for games on that system. All titles ranged from 500 to 1200 Wii Points.

If a person using the now defunct Connection Ambassador Programme reached Gold status (Helped 10 people to connect), they would be able to download any Nintendo-published NES game free of charge. Additionally, if they reached Platinum (helped 20 people to connect), they would be able to download any NES, SNES and N64 game in the Virtual console free of charge.[14]

The WiiWare section featured original games specifically designed for Wii. Games were priced between 500 and 1500 points. To decrease the size of the games, instruction manuals were hosted on each game's Wii Shop Channel page. Some titles featured additional downloadable content, priced from 100 to 800 points, that could be purchased using Wii Points in game or from the game's page.

Before the WiiConnect24 service was discontinued, there were three free Channels offered worldwide: the Everybody Votes Channel, the Check Mii Out Channel (Mii Contest Channel in Europe), and the Nintendo Channel. An update to the Photo Channel (Photo Channel 1.1) is also available, if not preinstalled. A fourth Channel, the Internet Channel, a web browser based on Opera, was available worldwide originally for 500 Wii Points but was free as of September 1, 2009. Anyone who paid the 500 Wii Points for the Internet Channel has been refunded. There were also two exclusive free Japanese channels: the Television Friend Channel, which provides channel listing and recording reminder features, and the Digicam Print Channel, which allows users to order business cards and photo albums using photos stored on SD cards or the Photo Channel. Previously, a preview channel for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was available for free in the fall of 2007 for North America and PAL regions before it was removed from the Wii Shop Channel several months after the game's launch. In North America and Europe, the Netflix channel was available in the Wii Channels section, along with Crunchyroll.

The Wii Channels section in the Wii Shop Channel was originally under the name of WiiWare in North America and Wii Software in Europe, before moving to its own dedicated space when WiiWare launched. These Wii Channels were unavailable on the Wii U console.

Software downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel is saved onto the Wii console's internal memory. After a download is complete, the new software appears on the Wii Menu as a channel. Software can be copied to SD cards or re-downloaded for free. Wii consoles with system software version 4.0 can download software directly to SD cards.[18]

On December 10, 2007, a gift feature was added to the Wii Shop Channel, allowing users to purchase and send games and channels to others as gifts. The receiving user was given the option to download or reject the gift upon opening the Wii Shop Channel, with a notification being sent out to the sender if it was accepted.[19] If a user already had the game or if the user did not choose to accept the gift within 45 days, then the gift expired and the Wii Points are returned to the sender.[19] The feature was region locked and incompatible with the Wii U's Nintendo eShop.

Downloaded games can receive updates from the Wii Shop Channel. This has been done four times so far to update Military Madness,[20] Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (in North America and Europe), and Mario Kart 64 (in Europe and Australia). Several NES and SNES games released before March 30, 2007 have also been given updates in Europe and Australia to fix previous problems with the Wii component cables. These updates are free of charge to those who have downloaded a previous version of the game. Some WiiWare games have also featured free updates for the purposes of fixing bugs. These games include Dr. Mario Online Rx and Alien Crush Returns.[citation needed]

Both the Ambassador and the user who was assisted to get their console online received a reward of 500 Wii Points. If the ambassador assisted 20 people, the ambassador would have accumulated 10,000 Wii Points from the programme while attaining Platinum status and be able to download all NES, SNES and N64 titles from the Virtual Console section of the Wii Shop Channel free of charge. The service was also launched in European counties,[22] New Zealand, and Australia. The scheme had proved hugely popular with many sites appearing online dedicated to helping connect users and share system codes.[23]

On September 29, 2017, Nintendo announced that the Wii Shop Channel would be discontinued on January 30, 2019.[24] To prepare for the closure, they announced that the ability to purchase and add Wii Points with a credit card or a Wii Points card would be removed on March 26, 2018.

On March 26, 2018, the ability to purchase and add Wii Points with a credit card or Wii Points card was permanently removed. As a result, Wii Shop Channel users were no longer able to purchase and play additional software unless they had enough Wii Points in their account balance. Afterwards, the Wii Shop Channel remained functional until January 29, 2019.