Nintendo cut off multiplayer servers for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U at the beginning of April, but a group of dedicated Splatoon players have steadfastly remained online, and in the process beaten a record set by fellow fans of Halo 2 more than a decade ago.
To recap: Nintendo announced back in January that online multiplayer for Nintendo-published games on both platforms would end on April 8, as the Wii U (which launched in 2012) and 3DS (2011) are no longer supported. Both are effectively obsolete, now seven years into the lifespan of the mobile-console hybrid Nintendo Switch, which is due for a successor console soon.
But the shutdown, for now at least, didn’t kick everyone off the servers, it just meant new players couldn’t log in if they weren’t already there. Anyone who has remained online has been able to stay.
And stay there, apparently, as long as they kept their consoles on and the game running. Over the weekend, one such fan trumpeted that players of Pokemon XY, Mario Kart 7, Mario Maker, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Splatoon were still connected, breaking an unofficial but no less significant record set in 2010.
WE DID IT! EVERYONE ON THIS LIST HAS STAYED ONLINE ON NINTENDO NETWORK FOR LONGER AFTER ITS SHUT DOWN THAN @APACHE_N4SIR DID AFTER THE ORIGINAL XBOX LIVE SHUT DOWN ON HALO 2! pic.twitter.com/5BF8sRp74f
— Gaffs (@GaffsNotLaffs) May 4, 2024
Halo 2 fans hung in for 25 days in 2010
That’s when two Halo 2 fans, Apache N4SIR and Agent Windex, members of the Noble 14 clan, held on for 25 days after Microsoft announced it was closing down access to Xbox Live on the original Xbox. (Halo 2 has since been re-released as part of 2014’s Halo: The Master Chief Collection, currently supported on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X via backward compatibility).
Microsoft tried to lure fans to log off with beta codes (for Halo: Reach) but these two stayed in, Apache N4SIR hanging on the longest, for 25 days, before Microsoft finally kicked everyone off the servers and pulled the plug.
One of the Wii U players, Lcd101, has been all alone in Splatoon for nearly a month, sitting in an empty lobby, unable to play any multiplayer game because there’s no one else to be matchmade with. Their sit-in reached almost absurd heights last week when Lcd101 reported the game’s final map rotation had been announced (by the game’s stars, the Squid Sisters Callie and Marie), and it was scheduled to last for the next 10 years.
Today, 30 April 2024 @ 2:30 P.M. EST, marks the final map rotation in Splatoon 1 on the Nintendo Network. These maps are set to be in rotation for the next ten years.
Here is the final Squid Sisters broadcast from the Nintendo Network. pic.twitter.com/2syLXgqlmp— Lcd101 (@Lcd101) April 30, 2024
Nintendo fans are a passionate bunch, and Splatoon was a fan favorite, even if the Wii U was a sales disappointment over the four years it was Nintendo’s lead piece of hardware. Remaining online past the servers’ closure isn’t so much protest as much as it is a unique statement of fandom and loyalty, much like it was for Apache N4SIR in 2010.
But at some point, Nintendo will have to draw the curtain. Let’s hope they thank these fans for their dedication when they do so.
Featured image via Nintendo.com
