Nintendo Removes Wii Points Purchasing for Wii Shop Channel on March 26

Last year, Nintendo has announced that they will be closing the doors of the Wii Shop Channel for the original Wii indefinitely on January 30, 2019. The change comes as the company has moved on to online networks for the 3DS and Switch, and so, after more than twelve years of activity, the Wii Shop Channel and all its services (Wii Virtual Console, WiiWare, and Wii System Transfer Tool) will go offline at the cut-off date early next year.

Before that, March 25, 2018 will be the final day you can buy the Wii Points currency. While you can still redownload previously purchased software after the fact until termination, you have until the 26th of March (that’s this month!) to add funds to your account.

How does this affect you? Well, the Wii has a comparatively massive online library of retro titles to choose from, and while the Wii U also offers a Virtual Console, it is nowhere near as extensive as that of its predecessor. Plus, with Nintendo having dropped first-party support for the Wii U eShop altogether with the launch of the Switch (which still lacks a dedicated Virtual Console at this time), the 2006 system and the backward compatible Wii Channel on the Wii U remain the only way to play certain games that haven’t been properly ported over to the Gamepad-powered system.

That means this is your last chance to buy the original Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64, or pick up the original SNES iteration of Chrono Trigger, or—in our case—download SEGA Master System and SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive titles on a Nintendo system at this time.

UPDATE: Forgot to specify the Import titles that were released outside of Japan, which have an extra 100 Wii Points tacked on. Special thanks to @CrossForte on Twitter for the correction!

From the SEGA Master System, the Wii Shop Channel includes the following at 500 Points each:

• Alex Kidd in Miracle World
• Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
• Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
• Enduro Racer
• Fantasy Zone
• Fantasy Zone II
• Phantasy Star
• Secret Command (Import)
• Sonic Chaos
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Space Harrier
• Wonder Boy
• Wonder Boy III: The Monster’s Trap
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land

And now, among the 16-bit SEGA library up for grabs at 800 points each are:

• Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
• Alien Soldier (Import)
• Alien Storm
• Altered Beast
• Beyond Oasis
• Bio-Hazard Battle
• Bonanza Bros.
• Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure
• Clay Fighter
• Columns
• Columns III: Revenge of Columns
• Comix Zone
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• Dynamite Headdy
• Earthworm Jim
• Earthworm Jim 2
• Ecco Jr.
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Ecco: The Tides of Time
• Eternal Champions
• Forgotten Worlds
• Gain Ground
• Galaxy Force II
• Ghouls n’ Ghosts
• Gley Lancer (Import)
• Golden Axe
• Golden Axe II
• Golden Axe III
• Gunstar Heroes
• Kid Chameleon
• Landstalker
• Light Crusader
• Mega Turrican
• Monster World IV (Import)
• M.U.S.H.A.
• Phantasy Star II
• Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
• Phantasy Star IV
• Powerball
• Pulseman (Import)
• Puyo Puyo 2
• Ristar
• Rolling Thunder 2
• Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
• Shining Force
• Shining Force II
• Shining in the Darkness
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
• Sonic & Knuckles (plus Blue Sphere, Knuckles in Sonic 2, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles via Lock-On)
• Sonic 3D Blast
• Sonic Spinball
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• Space Harrier II
• Splatterhouse 2
• Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition
• Streets of Rage
• Streets of Rage 2
• Streets of Rage 3
• Strider
• Super Fantasy Zone (Import)
• Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
• Super Thunder Blade
• Sword of Vermillion
• The Revenge of Shinobi
• Toejam & Earl
• Toejam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
• Vectorman
• Virtua Fighter 2
• Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS
• Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (Import)
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land

Then there are SEGA’s arcade offerings, available via the Virtual Console Arcade for 500 Points apiece:

• Altered Beast
• Golden Axe
• Space Harrier
• Shinobi
• Super Hang-On
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land
• Zaxxon

Finally, there is also the WiiWare version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, costing 1500 Wii Points.

Now, most of these have seen a handful of other releases since, be it via other online storefronts such as Steam, or on mobile devices via SEGA Forever, or for most of the Sonic offerings—if you own the original Wii with GameCube backward compatibility—there’s Sonic Mega Collection.

However, if you seek to build up your Wii or Wii U’s Wii Channel Virtual Console library with some SEGA gems you missed out on, you can’t go wrong with many of these classics. Sonic had a fantastic home on the Wii with a wide number of releases, and his catalogue of retro entries on the Wii Shop Channel are all must-haves in their own right.

Plus, I said it before in The Spin, but I honestly cannot recommend the Vintage Collection versions of Sonic 3 & Knuckles with game-ruining save states and removal of the original save system. Aside from Steam and any possible rereleases or remasters in the future, the Wii Virtual Console versions of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles might be your best bet.

Once again, you have until March 26 to buy these on Wii. Get to spending!

Source: Nintendo