In yet another surprising turn of events, the Nintendo DSi library of games that were delisted a few days ago on the 3DS eShop has been returned. Nintendo suddenly removed a bunch of games earlier this week, most of which could only be played using the Nintendo 3DS.
This situation is reminiscent of when Nintendo pulled the plug on the Wii and DSi eShops, but the difference this time around is that the company didn’t make any prior announcements. This caught many gamers by surprise, especially those who are aiming to preserve as many old games as possible before they’re lost in the void forever.
The games that were removed were all similar in the sense that they were all DSi titles released before May 2011. If you take a quick look at Nintendo’s timeline, this is more or less around the time when the Nintendo 3DS became the company’s main handheld console.
Naturally, many didn’t believe that this was just a coincidence and that Nintendo probably wanted to remove games that it didn’t want to be released to the public anymore. The DSiWare titles available on the 3DS eShop has a wide range—from indie titles that not a lot of people know about, to highly popular ones such as Shantae: Risky’s Revenge. There are strange licensed titles too, including Chuck E. Cheese’s Arcade Room.
It’s important that these titles, no matter how obscure, get preserved, especially if you think about how dire times have become and franchises such as Chuck E. Cheese have resorted to streaming popular titles like Fall Guys in order to stay afloat.
Even better news today! Now the majority of DSi titles are back on the 3DS eShop in North America. I updated our post again with the small list of games that AREN'T back up yet https://t.co/lbdCwhGp4y https://t.co/lvVTT7Ogoe
— Delisted Games (@DelistedGames) January 8, 2021
Fortunately, most of the delisted titles are now back on the 3DS eShop, except for only a few that didn’t seem to have made the cut. The removal of the DSiWare titles was initially discovered by contributors of Delisted Games, which is a preservation hub for digital games. Now, only 13 of the initial 250+ titles didn’t return to the 3DS marketplace.
Interestingly, some of the games within the 13 that got removed are fairly well-known, including titles such as Face Pilot and Dr. Mario Express. As such, it’s possible that Nintendo is still working to relist the remaining titles. That being said, the missing titles at the moment are the following:
- 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection
- 5 in 1 Solitaire
- Bird & Beans
- Digger Dan & Kaboom
- Dr. Mario Express
- Face Pilot: Fly With Your Nintendo DSi Camera!
- Looksley’s Line Up
- Match Up!
- Peg Solitaire
- Petz Catz Family
- Petz Dogz Family
- Petz Hamsterz Family
- Word Searcher 3
Sadly, this pardon probably won’t last for very long. Given how the Nintendo 3DS has been discontinued and more and more gamers have moved on to using the Nintendo Switch, it would be highly unlikely that Nintendo will keep on paying for server space just to accommodate old titles.
Since Nintendo is constantly adding new and updated games to its server, it won’t be long before a majority of the classic titles will no longer be available on its digital storefront. It’s a sad reality, one that we have no power over. As such, it may be best if you play or purchase as many classic titles now while you still can.
