Farewell, Nintendo WiFi Connection

As of today, Nintendo WiFi Connection is being shut down forever. It's been fun, but as the old saying goes, "all good things must eventually be shut down because they no longer make financial sense". Let's take a look back at some of the classic moments we I experienced.

The first game to use Nintendo WiFi Connection was Mario Kart DS. When I purchased the game, I spent a number of hours that night playing against people from all over the world. I even went 4-0 to start. Sadly, I was using my friend's Apple router, and Mario Kart would freeze every time I'd try to connect after that. I eventually had to erase the game's data to be able to go online again. Life lesson: don't use Apple products because they are stupid and terrible.

Later that year when Animal Crossing was released, it included the ability to play online with up to three friends. I still remember going to a friend's town and moving all of their flowers to a remote corner of the map. They thought I ruined their town. But I hadn't. Yet.

Later, games like StarFox, Zelda, Professor Layton, and various Mario games had WiFi features like item trades and leaderboard. This continues with the Wii. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games had worldwide rankings. Boom Blox had online level trading. And Mario Strikers Charged had full-on online battles.

Of course, Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are some of the highlights of the Nintendo WiFi days. Worldwide online races were very entertaining, especially if you were using an offensive Mii character and using all your items on a specific person. Oh, those were good days.

Online in Smash Bros. Brawl was ok, but unless you had corporate-grade internet, it was laggy. That being said, good times could still be had.

Well, for the past couple of weeks, I've been getting in a few parting shots at Nintendo WiFi. I made sure all the Professor Layton games had all the downloadable puzzles and I downloaded some final levels on the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games. Then, last night, I played my final online matches for a few games.

I started with Mario Kart Wii. It went surprisingly well. Out of five matches, I won four, and got second in one, and that's only because I tried to jump a huge impossible gap in Mushroom Gorge. The final race was on my favorite course, Toad's Factory, with twelve people, and I somehow managed to beat everyone. What a great way to end it all.

I then tried to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl online, but I was never matched up with anyone. I guess the few people left playing were all friends. But it's all good. I went back and watched some classic replays from online matches. For example, this video is from an online battle between my sister and myself. It's a very close match, so prepare to be on the edge of your seat the entire time.



Ah, the memories.

Once that was done, I decided to finish where I started: Mario Kart DS. Amazingly, I was able to go 4-0, just like I did when Nintendo WiFi Connection first started. I figured that's as good a place as any to stop.

Well, Nintendo WiFi Connection, it's been fun. I enjoyed many online matches, and I got angry at some others. But all in all, it was a good time. Have fun arranging matches and tracking statistics in the big virtual internet in the sky.

Ok, this is getting weird. Bye!