Boot up Your Nintendo Wii U and 3DS for an eShop-Killing Firmware Update!

Last Updated on September 5, 2022

The Nintendo Wii U and 3DS have both been issued with new firmware updates. Switching on the devices and going online will prompt you to run the updates, ostensibly to improve the user experience.

However, with the imminent shutdown of the Nintendo eShop for these devices, it seems likely that Nintendo’s cited reasoning is linked to detaching the devices from their digital storefronts.

Wii U and 3DS just got firmware updates pic.twitter.com/5fmiR4L7yF

— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 30, 2022

Nintendo Wii U Update Ver. 5.5.6 U (August 29th, 2022)

Details for the Version 5.5.6 U update (for Nintendo Wii U Deluxe and Basic models) lists simply:

Improvements to system stability and usability

– Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience.

As Twitter users @OatmealDome established, this update affects the Wii U menu and user settings menu.

[Wii U Firmware Update]

A system update was released for the Wii U in North America. This may be related to the upcoming shut down of adding funds in the eShop.

Updated:
– Wii U menu
– User Settings menu

Details are currently scarce. Awaiting more information. https://t.co/e9KQ91Hw0t

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) August 30, 2022

Nintendo 3DS Ver. 11.16.0-48U (August 29th, 2022)

Meanwhile, the Nintendo 3DS firmware update patch notes are listed on Nintendo’s support page as:

Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience.

Again, OatmealDome has investigated, observing updtes to the eShop, web browser, and more:

[3DS Firmware Update]

Firmware 11.16.0-48 was released for all 3DS models. This may be related to the upcoming shut down of adding funds in the eShop.

Updated:
– eShop
– Web Browser
– friends system module
– NATIVE_FIRM

Details are currently scarce. Awaiting more information. https://t.co/jXm3h3kruM

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) August 30, 2022

Should you update your Nintendo Wii U or 3DS?

If you own either system, it may seem like a good idea to avoid processing these updates. After all, you don’t want the lose functionality of your classic Nintendo system, do you?

However, as the changes related to remote servers that are slowly being decommissioned, it makes sense to run the updates. Without doing so, the devices will one day start polling servers that are not there. This can have some unfortunate side effects, avoided by running the updates.

These are sad times — don’t make them worse by running updates that will improve error-free longevity for your Nintendo console.