While the eShop shutdown is a shame, there is a bit of a bright side. Indeed, you can’t buy games anymore from your WiiU or 3DS (unless you have funds stockpiled on your account, of course), but there are other ways you can get a few free titles now that everything is shut down. Many developers, mostly those involved with some small games that went up on the eShop, are now hosting giveaways for free of their games despite the store’s closure. To redeem these games, all you have to do is enter the code the developers offer, and you’re good to go.
While it’s true that you can’t buy any more games from Nintendo itself on the eShop, independent developers don’t count. Until April 3rd, you can redeem codes to redownload or download, for the first time, specific games from the eShop lineup. These giveaways mostly consist of obscure little titles that were pretty close to being free anyway. So if you are hoping for a free version of a bigger title, I wouldn’t keep your hopes stacked too high.
What Games Can I Download From The eShop?
As of writing this article, Ultra Dolphin Revolution and many other developers are giving away codes for the WiiU game Captian U. Astrosaurus Games is giving away a WiiU game called Collateral Thinking. Silver Falls is giving away their own codes for various titles under their production, both for the WiiU and 3DS.
Did you miss out on getting our final #WiiU exclusive title, #CaptainU after the #eShop closed? You're in luck! We are sharing 128 free download codes for both NA and EU! The codes are redeemable until April 3rd, 9:30 PM PT. Good luck & enjoy!#indiegame #indiegamedev pic.twitter.com/pjv00rQL0v
— Ultra Dolphin Revolution (@UltDolRev) March 29, 2023
Captain U is a platforming game quite similar to a mascot plummer’s we know. Despite the similarity, yes, they are different games. The games featured in the threads are similar in nature: pixelated, simple, and fun. If you’re running out of things to play on your eShopless devices already, some of these titles may help make your library a bit more robust.
Now that the #eShop on #WiiU is closed and dead and gone, it means you can no longer buy Collateral Thinking for Wii U… but you CAN download it using one of the 100s of free codes below! The codes are good until April 3rd, so please share and enjoy! pic.twitter.com/jQpw2IpdpF
— Neil “Werewolf Workweek” Armstrosaurus (@astrosaurus123) March 30, 2023
While these games are certainly no replacement for some of the ones we’ve lost due to the eShop shutdown, free is free. We hope you’ll enjoy some of these free titles while you can still get them.
