Two more Wii U games will reportedly be ported to Nintendo Switch

By Aaron Mamiit January 5, 2020

Two more games for the Wii U are reportedly coming to the Nintendo Switch, and while they remain unnamed, it may be relatively easy to narrow down the possible titles.

Reliable Nintendo insider Emily Rogers, who correctly reported that the Nintendo Switch would be unveiled in October 2016, said in a post on the ResetEra forums that, in addition to the pending releases of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, there are at least two more unannounced ports of Wii U games that are in the works for the hybrid console.

“They are not difficult to guess because there aren’t many Wii U games left to port,” Rogers said. Looking at the top-rated Wii U games on Metacritic and our own list of best Wii U games, the choices for the ports are apparently between Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, and a pair of The Legend of Zelda titles, namely Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The two The Legend of Zelda games were already remastered from their GameCube versions, so it may be unlikely that Nintendo will work on them again to bring them to the Nintendo Switch.

Rogers also wrote about her concern that Nintendo may be leaning “a little too hard on re-releases of older stuff” for this year. While the top-selling Nintendo Switch game in its nearly three-year history is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a re-release of the Wii U’s Mario Kart 8, it remains to be seen how much player interest the upcoming Wii U ports will draw.

Nintendo Switch sales, including the Nintendo Switch Lite, reached 15 million units sold in North America in October 2019, surpassing the Wii U’s global sales of 13.56 million units in its entire lifetime. In fact, it took less than a year for the Nintendo Switch’s global sales to surpass the lifetime sales of the Wii U. Nintendo has been porting Wii U games to the Nintendo Switch to give them a wider audience.

Rogers also said that Nintendo will dedicate the first three to four months of 2020 to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with the company expected to reserve the bigger releases for the second half of the year.

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Play these 3DS and Wii U games before Nintendo shutters their online features

Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

In April 2024, Nintendo will discontinue online services across its Wii U and 3DS consoles. While the eShops for both systems were shut down in March 2023, this will remove the online functionality of many apps and games, making gaming on either of these platforms an almost entirely offline experience. As a result, many games on those systems will lose important features and never be quite the same to play afterward. So, you'll need to get some gaming time in by next April if you want to refresh and preserve the memories of playing online on these two underdog Nintendo platforms.
While the aforementioned eShop closures make it impossible to buy new games digitally, plenty of games that you likely already own physical copies of or already had downloaded have online features that won't work properly come April 2024. As such, we recommend you play the following games online before the discontinuation of those services next year.
Kid Icarus Uprising

Kid Icarus Uprising is mostly remembered for its entertaining story, charismatic characters, and odd controls, but it also features a surprisingly fun multiplayer experience in Together Mode. In multiplayer, up to six players can use powerful weapons and abilities from the main adventure in one of two modes. Free-for-all lets players loose on a map, tasking them with racking up the most kills within a set time limit. Light vs. Dark is more complex, as two teams of three face off until enough players are defeated that one respawns as an angel; when that powered-up angel is killed, the match is over.
While far from balanced, Kid Icarus Uprising's Together Mode is one of the most entertaining competitive multiplayer experiences exclusive to 3DS. It can be played locally, using bots to fill in empty spots, so thankfully it won't stop working entirely. Still, it's not easy in 2023 to come across multiple people near you who have copies of Kid Icarus Uprising and want to play. As such, check out this cult classic 3DS game's hidden gem of a mode before praying that the rumors of a remaster eventually become true.
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Nintendo is shutting down online services for 3DS and Wii U next April

Mega Man and Mario fight in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U,

Nintendo confirmed it will widely shut down online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games in April 2024, which will be just over a year after it discontinued the Nintendo eShop on those systems.
This deactivation of most of the online services for those platforms was revealed on X (formerly Twitter) and Nintendo's support site early Wednesday. "In early April 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. This also includes online co-operative play, internet rankings, and data distribution," the message says. "We will announce a specific end date and time at a later date. Please note that if an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software, we may have to discontinue services earlier than planned. We sincerely thank players for using the online services of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software over a long period of time and apologize for any inconvenience."
Essentially, this means that after April 2024, you won't be able to use any online features in things like 3DS Pokémon games or Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U anymore. Nintendo does say in the Q&A section of its support article that people will still be able to play games offline and redownload updates and games from the Nintendo eShop for the foreseeable future. Pokémon Bank will remain unaffected, so it'll still be possible to transfer Pokémon from Ruby and Sapphire all of the way to Pokémon Home. However, SpotPass support and other online-focused applications like Nintendo Badge Arcade will stop working entirely.

Just like the Wii U and 3DS eShop closure that caused a ruckus earlier this year, this move is a blow to game preservation and will forever harm some games not available anywhere else. While it's understandable that Nintendo might want to move on from these systems' dated online infrastructure, it's still a disappointing move for those of us who spent a lot of time playing games offline and online on these systems.

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The best games on Nintendo Switch Online

Ness from Earthbound.

Each major gaming platform has its own subscription service, giving players added bonuses such as access to certain games and other perks for a monthly fee. Xbox has Game Pass, PlayStation has PlayStation Plus, and Nintendo Switch offers the Nintendo Switch Online program.

While Nintendo's service isn't on the same level as the other two across PlayStation and Xbox, it does give subscribers access to some of the best retro games of all time -- and even more if you have the Expansion Pack upgrade, which includes N64, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy Advance games, along with DLC packs for certain Switch titles. Included with the basic version of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription is the ability to play online, plus access to NES and SNES games.