Random: fan art for closed 3DS and Wii U online stores is a thing, and it’s beautiful
If you haven’t lived offline for the past few days/weeks/months, you no doubt already know that the 3DS and Wii U online stores are now closed to new business. At this time, you can still re-download any previous purchases from online stores, but the window for your last legal opportunity to get many online store exclusives on these consoles is closed, and fans are taking to social media to pay tribute to the closed stores.
Most of the colorful illustrations are of a little orange e-shop bag from the 3DS e-shop peeking out from behind the back of the game icon before those little colored data cubes fall and fill the icon with delicious orange…er, game data juice ? Nothing is as dull as a progress bar for Nintendo!
Great people in press start singled out a few, but there are plenty of brilliant attempts online today. Let’s take a look at some of the best 3DS and Wii U eShop tributes we’ve seen:
First of all, @benmrhallSad Kirby:
@eto2d has a little orange man rising with wings, like @graylure:
@DumbBubbers goes for something a little more fun and also has an amazing big work in progress featuring lots of online store stars:
@oldozoa showcases these juicy little data cubes that look so appetizing:
@bozosart, @datenshiluka, @DingityDingusAnd @Shamaboy11 everyone comes with thanksgiving, celebratory pieces:
And being artfully manipulated by “Nimble” old Joe Capitalism, and mourning the closure of the store, @MicahTheBrave also strikes us with sensations:
There are even some In Memoriam-style music tributes, some from the lovely folks in Woux And @MasterSwordRemix:
While it can be easy to smirk when people get emotional when a store closes, anyone who remembers visiting a particular store as a teenager probably knows the feeling of disappointment when it closes. [Shout out to Our Price and Volume One — one for our maturing British readers, there!] Some stores are associated with memories of the excitement associated with a particular game, or the thrill of anticipation of discovering discounted treasures on the shelves. Ultimately, the feeling is the same, whether you’re in a brick-and-mortar store or a digital store.
Nintendo’s online stores in particular are notorious for having a bit more character than the average digital store (Switch notwithstanding) and many people have great memories of them. We have to admit that we are sad that we will not see this cheerful orange baggy guy again.
Feel free to share any other interesting tributes you see in the comments below – we may well update the article to include them.
