Nintendo’s eShop closure has Smash players furious as DLC left “inaccessible”

Smash fans are furious after the closure of the Nintendo eShop for the Wii U and 3DS consoles has made DLC bought for Super Smash Bros inaccessible for those who purchased it.

On March 27 Nintendo officially closed eShop services for both the Wii U and 3DS and ended all support for online services for both consoles on April 8. The loss of online play heavily affects games like Pokemon and Super Smash Bros.

And, according to the official statement, “For the foreseeable future, it is still possible to download update data and redownload purchased software and downloadable content from Nintendo eShop.”

But things aren’t so simple for owners of Super Smash Bros on the Wii U & 3DS. The changes mean they’ll lose access to the ability to re-download any DLC. The snafu is thanks to the game’s requirement players connect to its online servers first, before re-downloading any DLC.

With online services officially shut down, it means owners of Super Smash Bros for Wii U or 3DS could lose access to characters, stages, and music they’ve already paid for.

And according to some console owners, it isn’t just Super Smash Bros that’s been affected by the change either.

“Gunvolt 2 and Smash have those paid DLCs completely inaccessible,” said the OP of a thread on Reddit, highlighting the issue.

While some fans in the replies were frustrated by the discovery, others were resigned to cynicism.

“This is the end game for all digital-only services,” read the thread’s top comment.

There’s been no update from Nintendo about any alternative options for players to re-download any of the now inaccessible DLCs.