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With the release and production of new Nintendo consoles and new games to be played on them, there are a lot of older and nostalgic consoles that are slowly becoming obsolete. That doesn't always mean that gamers aren't still holding on to their older Nintendo consoles and games they love to play on them, though.
After the announcement of the closure of the 3DS and Wii U shops, Nintendo also shut down the Wii and DSi shops without as much warning. Nintendo has since made comments on the shutdown of the Wii and DSi shops saying it was due to maintenance. Nintendo has recently reopened access to the Wii and DSi shop channels to players, but with an unclear window as to how long they will be open.
YouTube channel GameXplain posted a video going into the details surrounding the Nintendo Wii and DSi shops becoming accessible yet again. The video mentions that even though the shops are open and able to be accessed on Wii and DSi consoles, purchases cannot be made on either shop since that feature had been discontinued for years now. That being said, players will still be able to access the shop to download any purchases they had already made when the shop was still fully functional.
It's understandable to see Nintendo putting its primary focus on the Switch and moving away from older consoles. It only makes sense to move forward instead of dwelling on the past, but not all players are ready to let the older things go quite yet. Many gamers still own a 3DS, DSi, Wii, or Wii U despite the introduction and release of the Switch to the library of Nintendo consoles.
The decision to keep the Wii and DSi shops running at least for downloading previously purchased content is a nice gesture from Nintendo to the fans. There are still physical copies of games available in retro stores, but adding Wii games to Nintendo Switch Online could be a great way to rectify the digital hole gamers might be seeing.
Nintendo's best games, as well as its consoles, tend to have this staying power that makes them almost timeless. Some newer fans want to experience the retro NES days they weren't alive to see or simply relive their childhoods in a DS game on their aging handheld. Even though newer things come onto the scene, the older ones are still out there being well-loved by fans.