The Nintendo Network, which powered online play for the Wii U and 3DS consoles, officially shut down in April 2024 after years of service. However, a few dedicated players managed to keep the network alive for several more months through various workarounds and exploits.
The last remaining player on the Nintendo Network was a user known as Fishguy6564, who had been maintaining an active Mario Kart 7 lobby on the 3DS console. Fishguy6564 and another player, Marioiscool246, had implemented a patch that "supposedly prevented the death of a lobby" and deployed bots to race each other endlessly, keeping the online services alive.
After Marioiscool246's 3DS crashed in May 2024, Fishguy6564 continued playing alone for almost 7 more months. However, on November 4th, 2024, Fishguy6564's 3DS system finally crashed as well, marking the true and final end of the Nintendo Network. In a tweet, Fishguy6564 wrote "It's over. Rest in peace, Nintendo Network."
So after an impressive 7-month run as the last player on the Nintendo Network, the servers have now officially and permanently shut down, bringing an end to an era of online gaming on the Wii U and 3DS platforms.
