Nintendo Asks Wii U Owners To Refrain From Using “Unauthorised” Online Services – Nintendo Life
GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpUpdate: Pretendo respondsUpdate [Wed 15th Jan 2025, 4:10pm]:The makers of Nintendo Network replacement Pretendo have posted on social media, responding to Nintendo’s warning against using unofficial services.While acknowledging the platform holder’s sensible stance on security, the people behind the fan-made service highlighted a commitment to user safety, noting that they have even released “security patches for games Nintendo themselves no longer supports”.Original Story: Although you would think Nintendo’s focus would be completely on the Switch “successor” right now, it seems the company’s customer support line has found time to issue a notice about unauthorised services for older hardware.In a brief message on social media, the Japanese branch has apparently confirmed the existence of services that replace functions like “online play” for the Wii U. It’s now advising anyone using these services to refrain from doing so, as they may pose a security risk. Here’s the rough translation in full:Nintendo: “[Request] We have confirmed the existence of unauthorized services that replace functions such as online play for the Wii U, which ended service on April 9, 2024. Please refrain from using such services as they may pose unexpected security risks.”As mentioned, the online services for the Wii U (and 3DS) officially ended in April last year. At the time, fan-made network services like ‘Pretendo’ stepped in to keep online up and running for the community. Pretendo had even got to the point where Wii U users were able to access these services without having to hack their system.In other words, if you end up having any problems with your Wii U after using an unauthorised service, don’t expect Nintendo to help you out. You can learn more about all of this as well as the Wii U and 3DS online shutdown in our previous coverage here on Nintendo Life.Just in timeEnd gameThanks for the memoriesWhat are your thoughts about this? Let us know in the comments.[source x.com]About Liam DoolanLiam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.Comments 123Pretendo is awesome! Hopefully nothing bad happens 😭Oh good, Nintendo wants to shut down Pretendo? -_-Dang, I just miss the e-shop, never played online too much, I do miss miiverse with the bottles in wind waker. I’ve never jail broke any of my consoles so I’m good but I will say Pretendo is a classy name and seems to do a lot of good for a generation I’m quite fond of.”Don’t use unofficial online servers!””Well can you bring yours back then?””No.”Well, no one expected them to endorse Pretendo, lol.@Anti-Matter Then why even chime in?@MirrorFate2 Probably not. This is likely just their way of covering their backsides if something went wrong. “We tried to warn you.”Typical, they close the online services for older consoles and then don’t want you to use unofficial sources.No fun for you, please understandToo late now. What did they expect to happen by shutting down 3DS and Wii U servers?”Or enter. I’m a sign, not a cop”As others have already observed above, this is basically a legal hand-washing stance on anything that may hypothetically go south. But then again, I suspect most people tech savvy enough to seek and use unofficial servers for a console already acknowledge as much.I thought they were done with the Wii U. Not to mention Wii U owners know the risks.I adore nintendo but their most loyal supporters are/were wiiu owners, and the company completely betrayed them in many ways, without ever so much as offering a consolation or note of appreciation. I haven’t forgotten that.lol suddenly they “care” about us Wii U users, shut up Nintendo.Wii U is peak, please make a Wii U 2 NintendoMaybe clarify what type of security risk? Someone hacking my personal data? Wedding crashers? A Russian airstrike?There are dozens of us! Dozens!!@YunoboCo Switch 2 will do dual-screen gameplay. I’m calling it nowMy Wii U right now is an emulation beast so of course I’m not gonna refrain from using anything on there.Wii U is the sound you make when someone farts.All I heard was “there are servers that restore online play for the Wii U”. Thanks for the hot tip Nintendo!I definitely wouldn’t know anything about this…Honestly, just stop Nintendo. You don’t have a say in this anymore. You abandoned the Wii U online system. This is YOUR FAULT!They’re legally absolving themselves of any issues should someone decide to use “unofficial” online services. Which are risks anyone who has jailbroken a machine should already be well aware of.What are the security risks of using these services? My Wii U will stop working online?Isn’t that the same thing that will happen if I don’t use them?”Please refrain from using such services as they may pose unexpected security risks.”From their use of “may,” I’m taking this as Nintendo not actually having a problem with people using these services but covering themselves in case anything goes awry as a result. Basically saying “We told you not to do this, so if something goes wrong, it’s all on you.”Nah, Nintendo, you don’t get to tell us what to do. You shut down the services. You did this. This is on you.You have always been a terrible company from the onset with how you treat your competitive communities for Smash, Splatoon, Arms, etc…, or how you tried to remove game ownership by forcing people into a subscription ecosystem, and refusing to endorse preservation.You harass modders who could be fledgling game designers out of pure spite, people who make this content out of love for your IP.You control, harass, sue everyone who may cross your path in a way that isn’t endorsed by your insane standards. You are paranoïd, overbearing, and anticonsummer. If that’s how you want to be, stop hiding behind friendly-looking mascot characters, and as least don’t pretend to be what you aren’t.It’s my Wii U that I bought with my money, and if it’s not getting any further manufacturer support, most countries ensure I have every right to do with it as I please.Honestly, yeah. Much as I’d like a functioning mii plaza and Splatoon 1 matches again, I’m definitely not risking my beloved Wii U by connecting blindly to an unregulated service. It’s out of production, has models prone to the memory failure, has grown very expensive as a result, and it is a unique emulation powerhouse on top of a great library. CFW and a replacement Gamepad battery is all the risk I’m taking on one of my favorite consoles of all time.Completely off topic… But has anyone modded up Nintendo switch hardware into a Wii U Gamepad? I think it would be seriously awesome. Definitely would provide peak handheld comfort.So I am absolutely not tech savvy, is there a legitimate security risk using this thing or is Nintendo just blowing hot air to discourage unofficial shenanigans? They’re gonna hack my internet through my Wii U, right?@dr-ghost Honestly, yeah. When switch came out, I saw this clearly, and was very upset at how they were handling things. When Wii came out in Europe, they ran a promo campaign with a significant reward. When they price dropped 3ds, people who bought it from before the drop were compensated. From Wii U’s collective loss from their mistakes to switch? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, with the added bonus of “oh here, we made most of our library for the immediate future out of Wii U games, but we added extra features that you can’t get on Wii U, so you gotta buy them again.”.@TheBigK it’s Nintendo just blowing hot air to discourage aftermarket use.The security risk: euphemism for ‘custom firmware’, and it’s a security teardown the people want when the platform has become a commercial castoff. Dang these corporations and their anti-recycling..Imagine telling people what to do and what not to do with a console that you don’t provide any support anymore.@Burning_Spear lol at wedding crashersThe fact they want you think this is for your own good, is ridiculous.Maybe they shouldn’t have closed their own official services if they were really worried about that. Give me a break, Nintendo.@Coalescence do what you want but don’t fear monger and slander people without any proof.@Darkri74345 honestly, they’ll be fine. Nintendo put a general disclaimer saying don’t call us if it bricks your unit.Well then maybe they shouldn’t have shutdown their own online then huh.@Maxime Exactly that. People are completely blinded by the sparkles and pink dresses, while they ruin lives all the time.Nintendo will only treat their customers worse and worse if we keep allowing it.One of the best things about the community is the love they pour into projects like Pretendo. The PS2 servers are brilliant too. It’s surely the greatest compliment that people still want to play your games.They cannot add more stability so they ain’t happy.@dr-ghost they thanked you by charging you $60 to buy the games a second time on the SwitchI dont favour piracy or anything related to that, but in this case the Wii U is long gone. The Wii U was a commercial failure so if people have any ideas with what to do with the past console, at least they are still giving it some little of life. I dont think that there are many many players using a Wii U consoles in 2025, Nintendo might have said that in a kind way but they no longer support the Wii U. The only great memory i have of the Wii U is Xenoblade X and Paper Mario Splash, there are others who still want the old feel of the Wii U era so i understand why programs like that are created among users. The online activity will not last forever to maintain. The more years passes the more people will be moving away from obselete consoles, like the Gamecube, N64. The original Switch will replace the Wii U nostalgia after it dies. Its the cycle of the old consoles, i dont think that Nintendo would have to worry much about it.Oh, people getting games Nintendo won’t make money? LolPeople run the risk. If it bricks their WiiU, that’s 100% on them.@dr-ghost yup and our reward is buying every wii u game again on switch! (except the one I really want, wind waker)Wii U is long dead and Nintendo don’t support it anymore. If Nintendo doesn’t provide something that users want, they will get it elsewhere. That’s just how it works.@MrCarlos46 guessing they thought we’d move on to playing the Switch online 8 years later.https://youtu.be/yWULCfJ2PGAYeah people here thinking Nintendo is doing this to stop the small active wii u username 8 years on, like really?It’s Nintendo covering themselves legally by warning people off. It’s a if its bricks we warned you so dont come crying to us, message.Look at the bright side folks. When NSO inevitably shuts down someday you won’t even be able to play classic games on your Switch at all! Thanks Nintendo!It’s just a liability statement, if something happens, you can’t blame Nintendo for not warning you.It’s just nintendo warning people not to complain when their console bricks. That’s it.They don’t care about stopping fanmade services on the WiiU you conspiracy theorists. You do whatever you want with your old console just don’t complain if it goes wrong that’s all they’re saying. The repair service is still active after all I’m sure they’re just annoyed that people are sending WiiUs to repair after bricking their systems themselves with unofficial stuff.Also reacting to some of the comments here, I’m a WiiU owner day 1 and I don’t feel “betrayed” or anything it was a fantastic console we had a great time I had quality service and games and it was well worth my money.@Dee123Or people don’t run the risk. They brick their system and still send it to nintendo. I agree with you that’s not how it should be but that’s more likely.@Coalescence For what it’s worth, Pretendo is ran by very reputable devs. It’s not like some random pirate ring offering a shady service. The people behind it have been in the Nintendo homebrew scene for several years.Might jailbreak my Wii U a bit more. I only have a feature to play games on the gamepad screen that wouldn’t normally use that screen.Imagine having the audacity to ask this after you remove online functionality. Nintendo can be tone deaf ***** sometimes.Ofcourse they can’t legally say you should use illegal modifications.The idiocy in this is that Nintendo continually shuts down and/or discontinues products and services that people are still actively using or interested in buying. And then they have the audacity to police it after the fact. Why not just keep these things going so people can enjoy them. Most notably the 3DS systems, games, and online services. This would all still be profitable today had it not been shut down. Nintendo is a company that makes no sense a lot of the time. And so here we are 8 years into the Switch life and barely a trickle of games coming, and zero announcement on the successor either. And no way to enjoy all the features of the previous systems while we wait. Gamers will still game regardless of what Nintendo says. If they don’t have things to entertain us we find other stuff to do. Things like finding ways to play their older stuff or perhaps just moving on to competing systems. Loyalty and patience can only stretch so far!Nintendo, looking around: “Hmm, this is a nice unauthorized online service. Be a shame if someone sabotaged it…”Or what, you’ll send your lawyers after us? How is Nintendo still on gamers good graces? Youve gotta pick and choose your battles, also, understand you sold consumers their hardware, it’s theirs, they can do whatever they want to do with it. Whether you choose to support the warranty after that point, that’s up to you, but you can’t sell something to someone and then dictate what they can do with it. How about you buy your house and then just whenever the person that sold it to you dictates how you can live in it, you can’t paint it or alter it in any way….. Doesn’t that sound stupid? That’s what you’re doing Nintendo. How you treat everyone under such a dictatorship and still sell as well as you do is beyond meWhy do they even care?😐 Let people enjoy their system however they want. This company can be so weird and demanding sometimes over the most minor things.If you’re going to stop online services and close down the online store then you can’t complain, this is why I fully support Pretendo and the 3DS Hshop etc.@mlt that’s not the correct stance, you’re supposed to be outraged, overreact and shout in the comments like above as if you’re talking to Nintendo. 😀 They don’t give a damn really, they know it’s a flop, I knew it was a flop when I bought it. It’s just a bit of cursory advice saying it’s on you now folks…Translated as “stop playing Mario Kart 8 online for free, buy our Switch, buy the game again and then pay us for our amazing (rubbish) online service”@GMMXX Exactly, it’s literally none of their business what I’m doing with MY devices. Even asking/requesting something like this is nothing but a laugh to me.I might be wrong, but to me, a “security risk” does not (necessarily) result in console bricking.
I’m more concerned Nintendo means “if you use unofficial online services, hackers may use back doors and exploits to gain access to info stored on your WiiU and even find their way to other peripherals and connected elements of your home, such as computers, babyphones, smartphones…”.
Maybe don’t think punishment, think warning.Pretendo doesn’t use anything from Nintendo services, it’s an open-source project, so the chances that N will shut it out are low.@Maxime Truer words have never been spokenAs many others have said, this is only them warning users in case something goes wrong. But people here really love to think that Nintendo is this big evil company. Way to follow the bandwagon.Literally embarrassing.How about I do, anyway? Nintendo shut down the official online services. They’ve no right to dictate how people use the consoles they paid for.Love all the passion on this page. Amazing, I’ll leave now before my phone catches on fire 🔥🧡🎮While I agree with those who mentioned that this is Nintendo’s way to protect themselves legally if something goes wrong and I also advise caution when jailbreaking etc. in general, hearing it from Nintendo when they shut down the official services…@Roibeard64 Yeah I don’t get the backlash here. They don’t care what happens with the Wii U and if people get affected by unofficial servers they won’t care either but at least they can say they warned against it. It’s not like they’re going after people who have set up new servers etc. which would be a whole other thingThis is Furukawa, please stop enjoying your purchase and/or having fun. We hope a lie about a non existent security threat will sway you from playing a video game on an isolated game console. Please purchase as much as possible on Nintendo switch and ask no questions. We appreciate your continued support.@RainbowGazelle N is warning, not dictating right? They warn you for directing your hardware to an online service they have no control over and cannot protect you. This P service exists because of an exploit, which could make you vulnerable if you decide to use the P service. The question is, do you trust P?@Yalloo it’s up there with the Spartacus Slave Revolt….my Wii U is currently sitting in a shopping bag in my friend’s house, and has done for years…I really should get it back and dust it off.@LadyCharlie You could’ve at least answered the guy ( @TheBigK )fully/honestly! While this is just Nintendo doing legal hand washing, unofficial services can absolutely and have formerly been used as attack vectors to one’s network. It is made somewhat easier by the fact Pretendo is open source software, which are often a target for slipping in spurious code.If you are -not- tech savvy, and have misgivings about something tech-related, trust your gut feelings.Well Nintendo, you know how you prevent that? You don’t shut the servers down for said console 🤷♂️Removed – inappropriate@WiltonRoots 🙏🏻 Well … if this page right here doesn’t convince you, I don’t know if anything else will 😅 Just do it, Brother!
I’m playing with my Wii U almost everyday, just not online, and I would certainly not take any risks to break it, especially since I’ve got 3 Switch and can play online on them whenever I want. 🧡🎮@Kiyata Yeah, their Services aren’t reliable, why even bother what they say, they are not trustworthy#Nintentdo the problem with what your saying is that you don’t support online play, eshop, or even supply / store peoples games any longer for those systems.There isn’t any reason that the WiiShop or the DS/3ds eshops couldn’t be open today. …. for God sake there are people still turning in late homework in ways of NES/Famicom games on CARTRIDGES 40 years after support ended!!If there wasn’t a market for it, then people wouldn’t be doing it!You have left us/them no choice!!You gave us consoles you charged us for, let us spend our money on games you took away for hardware that still had plenty of life in it!!!It was your marketing department that messed everything up with the gimmicks and now your upset because people still want to use the objects you charged them money for and told them they couldn’t use them again?Pish!! Good luck trying to win that argument with anyone that claims ownership to your self made obsolescence e-waste!!!@Maxime Understand your reasoning on the competitive communities. As I still play DS games on the WiiU from the eshop. I wished that the subscription ecosystem was already in place back then, so I only had to pay for it once and could play on Switch now.Nintendo can beg and plead all they like, it ain’t gonna stop anyone.@Bulborb Yes, I do trust P. And Nintendo aren’t saying to be careful, they’re saying don’t do it at all. But as they’ve ended the official service, their faux caring rings pretty hollow. If they really cared, there would still be an official service, even if it was now paid for.I don’t understand why this was necessary to do. Obviously, I’m not a lawyer, so maybe somebody else can educate me. But how can Nintendo be held liable for someone hacking their console? That’s a risk the modder assumes. And why only do this for Wii U and not issue a similar warning for Wii, DS, or 3DS? Unless Nintendo knows something we don’t.It’s a shame this is giving Nintendo negative PR, judging by some of these comments. I really don’t think Nintendo has an issue with people using these unofficial services or has any intention of shutting them down. They usually turn a blind eye to stuff like this, or the fan localization of Mother 3. If it doesn’t directly impact their business, they’re usually fine with it. Now, if Nintendo were to ever release Mother 3 officially in the states or if Nintendo were planning to add Wii/Wii U/DS/3DS Wi-Fi services to NSO, then yeah, they might issue a cease and desist. But if that isn’t in the pipeline (i.e., AM2R with Samus Returns), I don’t think Nintendo is gonna go after something like this.Maybe I give them too much credit, I dunno.Sure, just bring the online features back Nintendo. @RainbowGazelle Do you realise what it takes to setup, host and support a service like that? Professionally, with all bells and whistles.I applaud Pretendo for pulling this service out of their sleeves, but it needs funds to survive.@dr-ghost Betrayed them? Because they didn’t support it for longer or what? Should they have released Switch games on the Wii U for a couple years or what?@DoubleDate well my wiiU is my gamecube basically. That’s so grewt about it and the switch can’t replace… Arcadr f zero etc…@Luminous117 There is no begging and pleading going on anywhere here. They’re legally covering themselves from any of the mentioned security issues that may happen with that statement. I imagine pretendo would be easier to hack and steal everyone’s Nintendo account data, than if Nintendo still had their servers running.@UltimateOtaku91 Nobody’s complaining. It’s a warning that there is a higher risk of getting hacked.@Not_Soos Yeah I wouldn’t call it bad PR, outside of a handful of people kicking off in specialist gaming comment sections that they won’t see, and on Twitter over a dead console that flopped, I can’t see them being massively bothered by this. It came across as a throwaway request to me.@TheBigK it’s true that with unofficial services there are risk, from bad code that damage your console to using It as a trojan horse to install malware on every devices connected to your home network but that is not the actual reason for the warning, most likely Nintendo don’t like the existence of those alternative service and has already received many support request for bricked console.Please, understand.@AllBLK Probably covering themselves in case something goes wrong but I agree. Ultimately they only care about themselves.Dear Nintendo,Could you please update the Wii U so that all activity can be accessed with any controller, not just the gamepad, especially the settings menu? Then we can talk about what I do with a system I spent my own money on. Franky if you are going to remove services and no longer provide them then it’s none of your business what I do with it afterwards.There’s a good chap.Nintendo trying to save us all from “Willy drawings” showing up on our ‘mii verse”… Bless ‘em!Fans doing, what Nintendon’t, as usual.
If their so worried about our security (lol), then they should just have kept their online service going. If fans can afford it, they sure as h*ll should as well.Don’t expect Nintendo to help anyway as they no longer fix old systems!@Tyranexx It’s not like they were going to help if you had issues one way or another.I am not the kind of person who mods my consoles. However, I modded my Wii U for Pretendo and backing up the system NAND. Pretendo has worked very well the couple of times I’ve used it and I am confident the devs will keep the service safe to use.@Mistclan Exactly! Not since they sunsetted support.One of the most tone deaf statement ever made by Nintendo. And that’s saying a lot coming from them.Nintendo: We’re ending the online services.Fans make own because no official options exist.Nintendo: Please stop using the fan-created online services.Nintendo offers no alternative services.”…going so far as to release security patches for games Nintendo themselves no longer supports”Haha! Suck on that, Ninty.What a joke. 😂 After being so kind to the Wii U fanbase and canceling everything so quick, they really dare to tell this to us.The Homebrew community is awesome and does so much good stuff for us gamers.They can ask all they want to but it aint happening lol.Nintendo ABANDONED all of us. We bought their products, and they gave us the big middle finger by shutting down necessary components for our purchased hardware.Quite frankly, Nintendo does not deserve to have any say so in what we do with hardware that WE paid for and THEY abandoned.I am tired of companies selling products and then choosing to abandon it later. I think when a company abandons a product line, they should give up all rights to it. It should become the rights of the people that PAID for their products. Either that, or give us a full refund for all hardware and software purchased for it with interest to cover inflation.Stop selling us products and then ripping it out from under us later!Good day sir.!@Maulbert Let me guess, Anti Matter said he hates stuff like that?@Groovz he say didnt play Wii U online game and doesnt concern on it. ( some stuff like that )Nintendo really can’t help themselves when it comes to paradoxes like this.
“Don’t use hardware we abandoned as you like”
“Don’t pirate legacy software we refuse to provide”
“Don’t use software that improves your gaming experience”
Like ***** off Nintendo, seriously
You don’t have to be the villain every week y’knoToday I learned that there are people who still play the Wii U, and they’re all very, very angry for some reason.Y’know, We can see you over there. We KNOW what you’re doing, and it’s WRONG. STOP HAVING FUN. RIGHT NOW.God I truly hate Nintendo. I mean, I get killing off the Wii U stuff since those 14 people probably forgot they even owned one but the 3DS? I still see people playing 3DS on the train all the time.The Wii U has already been abandoned and left in the dust, and years later Nintendo comes back to see the owners of the system still using it for custom online activities?NO! The No-Fun-Allowed Police has ordered you to stop playing the Wii U at once! … Please purchase the Nintendo Switch instead to help us reach our sales goals!What if Nintendo’s next system somehow interfaces with Wii U and 3DS and this is a “read-between-the-lines” kind of thing where they’re really just telling you maybe don’t mod your system just yet.….HA!!! ain’t that a load of wishful thinking…Nintendo seem to be getting awfully concerned about abandoned hardware all of a sudden. I can’t see why, unless those titles are suddenly going to start making money again… Like, in around May-ish?for a company that pretends to be all about “fun”, nintendo sure does enjoy sucking all the fun out of community projects. i think we all know by now that internally, this isn’t a “fun” company at all and it is more concerned about throwing people in prison for emulating 30 year old, often forgotten and commercially unnavailable roms. nintendo could take a few lessons from sega and be more friendly with its fans when it makes sense to do so.@Groovz Close enough. He said he never used online play, so he didn’t care when it was shut off. Show CommentsLeave A CommentHold on there, you need to login to post a comment…Nintendo Asks Wii U Owners To Refrain From Using “Unauthorised” Online ServicesUpdate: Pretendo respondsNintendo Breaks Silence On ‘Switch 2’ Image And Video LeaksThe “official” announcement will take place this fiscal yearRandom: Geez, PS5 Game ‘Anime Life Sim’ Sure Looks FamiliarUpdate: More details emergeRetro Staff Credits Removed From Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Forever Entertainment Confirmed As DevsMonkey businessRumour: ‘Switch 2’ Will Reportedly Be Officially Revealed This ThursdayThough software won’t be the focus 29News Nintendo Is “Very Upset” About The Switch 2 Leaks, It’s Claimed 4News Switch Online’s Missions & Rewards Adds Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Icons 24Video Digital Foundry’s Technical Analysis Of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD 13Exclusive Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma Gets Gorgeous New Trailer Ahead Of May Release 4News Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind Adds Online Play In Latest UpdateNews Nintendo Asks Wii U Owners To Refrain From Using “Unauthorised”…News Nintendo Breaks Silence On ‘Switch 2’ Image And Video LeaksRandom Geez, PS5 Game ‘Anime Life Sim’ Sure Looks FamiliarNews Retro Staff Credits Removed From Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Forever…Rumour ‘Switch 2’ Will Reportedly Be Officially Revealed This ThursdayReview Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch) – Aping A Retro ClassicNews Is This Our Best Look Yet At ‘Switch 2’?Rumour Switch Virtual Console Was Apparently Nintendo’s “Original Plan”Round Up The Reviews Are In For Donkey Kong Country Returns HDFeature 8 Games That Defined The Switch GenerationPopular Right NowShow More Join 1,469,349 people following Nintendo Life:© 2025 Hookshot Media, partner of IGN Entertainment | Hosted by 44 Bytes | AdChoices | Do Not Sell My Personal Information
