Nintendo eShop

Certain markets originally had official access to a variation of the Nintendo eShop at one point, but Nintendo had discontinued the service in those markets for certain reasons.

Many South American and Caribbean markets[lower-alpha 3] originally had access to the a limited variant of the Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS,[6] whilst Asian markets such as Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates originally had access to a limited variant of the eShop on Nintendo 3DS only.[7] None of the markets listed were ever followed up with any official access to the eShop on succeeding platforms as of present, even if said platforms were officially available.

The Taiwanese market has had a complicated history with Nintendo products in the 2010s.[12] The Nintendo 3DS was officially launched in Taiwan, and one time had access to a Chinese variation of the Nintendo eShop which it shared with Hong Kong. Although the Nintendo Switch was eventually officially launched in Taiwan, Hong Kong had gained official access to the eShop on Nintendo Switch since 2019, whilst Taiwan does not as of 2023. The Wii U was never officially released in either Hong Kong or Taiwan.

In May 2023, Nintendo was obligated to close the eShop on the Nintendo Switch in Russia after more than a year's hiatus due to reasons beyond their control, largely a consequence of the on-going invasion in Ukraine.[13]

Unlike the Wii Shop Channel and the DSi Shop services, which use Nintendo Points for purchases, the Nintendo eShop lists prices in the appropriate regional currencies (e.g. United States dollars and euros).[14] Accounts can be funded using either credit cards or prepaid cards purchased in stores.[15]

In China, the Nintendo eShop was opened on December 10, 2019 via Nintendo Switch units distributed by Tencent. Users can only log in with a WeChat account, and the account can only be funded via WeChat Pay. In addition, purchasing downloadable content from other regions is disabled due to the lack of the ability to sign in with a Nintendo Account and the general region locking of the Nintendo Switch for the Chinese market. Nintendo's mainland Chinese subsidiary iQue originally launched the iQue 3DS XL in December 2012 with two digital games pre-installed, but the eShop itself was never launched for the console in China.

The Nintendo eShop can be accessed any time via the HOME menu screen, even when a game is already running, on Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Background downloading is also possible via SpotPass while using any other application on the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS, and while in Sleep Mode on Nintendo Switch.[16] Currently, 10 downloads can be queued at a time. The status of the downloads can be checked on the HOME menu under the "Download Manager". If notifications are activated, a pop-up message will appear in the top right corner of the screen to notify the user that a download is finished.

The Nintendo eShop supports user reviews of games, applications, and other media. After an eShop title has been acquired and used for at least one hour, users can then submit a review consisting of a crescent range of one to five "stars", representing the title's quality. Users can also categorize games by age and gender, and as being suitable for either hardcore or casual gamers. The Wii U had Miiverse integration for user reviews on the Nintendo eShop.

Nintendo Network Premium logo

On September 13, 2012, during a Japanese Nintendo Direct presentation, Satoru Iwata introduced a new service called Deluxe Digital Promotion (North America)/Nintendo Network Premium (Europe, Australia, and Japan). It was a loyalty program similar to PlayStation Plus offered on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Gold on Xbox Live.

Consumers who purchased the Wii U Deluxe Pack in North America, or the Wii U Premium Pack in Europe and Japan, would receive a free two-year subscription to this service which lets Wii U owners receive points for each digital purchase.

Members who bought games and apps through the Wii U Nintendo eShop would receive ten percent of the price back in the form of Nintendo Points, which could subsequently be put towards future online purchases on both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShop. The promotion was available through March 31, 2015.

The program was discontinued on April 1, 2015, and the URL just leads to a discontinuation message and the reader gets a link to Nintendo's official website. The service was never fully implemented beyond its promotional period.

The My Nintendo program features a similar concept for anyone who links their Nintendo Network ID to their Nintendo Account profile, and users could earn Gold Points via any Nintendo eShop purchase. For a period of time, users were able to redeem Gold Points for download codes or discount coupons available on My Nintendo for specific Wii U and Nintendo 3DS titles. Gold Points themselves can still be used to discount any purchases made on the Nintendo Switch, and if users had enough Gold Points they can potentially redeem games without paying real currency.

The majority of Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, and select Wii retail releases are on the Nintendo eShop. The first is New Super Mario Bros. 2, launched on the Nintendo 3DS eShop alongside its retail release in August 2012.[17] A system update in March 2013 allowed players to transfer save data from a physical version of a game to a download version.[18]

Any video game company, particularly independent video game developers, may publish via the Nintendo eShop as download-only software for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch. Various games, which may be sold as retail games in some regions, might be released as download-only software in others for various reasons, such as cost-effective localization.

3D Classics is a series of NES/Famicom, Arcade, Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and SG-1000 games remade with added 3D visuals and updated features, although the overall graphics retain their original art style and appearance. These are exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS family.

Add-on content includes downloadable content (DLC) or microtransactions to augment existing games with new features, and patches. This content can both be free to download or purchasable. Add-on software can be added to both downloadable and physical games, and be purchased either individually or via in-game stores.

As of December 6, 2011, a system update upgraded the service to feature downloadable demos of retail games and eShop games.[9] Developers have the option to limit access to demos, such as limiting the number of plays available to the user.[9] When the number of plays reaches zero, the demo cannot be opened. The first paid demo was released in Japan on August 4, 2011,[19] and free demos were further released in Japan on December 27, of the same year[20] and in North America on January 19, 2012. As of December 9, 2013, Nintendo Network IDs were implemented onto the Nintendo 3DS, becoming required for downloading free demos from the eShop.

Software updates, more commonly known as patches, have been available on both Nintendo 3DS, since April 25, 2012,[21] and Wii U, since November 18, 2012,[22] via a system update. These system updates gave the ability to patch downloadable and retail releases, through both the Nintendo eShop and HOME Menu. These patches have the main purpose of fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs and improving usability or performance. Patches can also be downloaded while using other applications via the systems' Download Manager.

The Wii U used the Wii U Menu and Nintendo eShop to access and purchase Virtual Console games, respectively. Virtual Console games on the Wii U can be suspended and users can also create save states anytime. The GamePad is only compatible with these games through Off-TV Play.

Select games from the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS libraries were available for purchase on the eShop. Most of the Virtual Console library available on the original Wii was also available on Wii U through the implementation of the console's Wii Mode and Wii Shop Channel, to access and purchase Virtual Console games. Wii Virtual Console games cannot be controlled using the Wii U GamePad, though the current versions of the system software support displaying Wii Virtual Console games on the GamePad screen as if playing any other Wii game.

The Nintendo 3DS used the Home Menu and Nintendo eShop to access and purchase Virtual Console games, respectively. Virtual Console games on the Nintendo 3DS can be suspended and users can also create save states anytime. Functionality is available to display the games at native resolution.

Games for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance (for Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors only) NES, SNES (New Nintendo 3DS exclusive), Sega Game Gear, and Turbografx16 (Japan only) were available on the eShop.

Twenty free NES and GBA games were available to 3DS owners who became eligible in the Ambassador Program (users who logged onto the Nintendo eShop before August 12, 2011, and did not erase their eShop details). Special features in this interpretation of the Virtual Console allowed players to create Restore Points, temporarily saving the game state for use later, and the optional ability to view games in their original resolution accompanied with special borders or templates.

Game Boy Advance games can be displayed at their original screen resolution like other Virtual Console games but they do not support Sleep Mode, Restore Points, and Home Menu functionality while the game is running.

• SpotPass TV – ceased operations on June 20, 2012.[27]
• Eurosport – ceased operations on December 31, 2012.[28]
• Hulu Plus shut down in 2015 for the Wii U and 3DS.[29]

Nintendo Unleashed was a video gaming online magazine published by Future Publishing for Nintendo Network. It is produced by the team behind the Official Nintendo Magazine and features video reviews and previews and footage of upcoming and recently released Nintendo games. Episodes are released monthly on the Nintendo eShop, Nintendo Channel and YouTube where users can watch all the latest news, reviews and previews of Wii, Wii U, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Virtual Console games. The show's original name and format was called Nintendo TV.[30] The show ended sometime in 2014 before the Official Nintendo Magazine ceased publication.

Nintendo Show 3D was a video gaming online show produced by Nintendo and hosted by Jessie Cantrell. It featured video previews and footage of upcoming and recently released Nintendo 3DS retail and downloadable games. Episodes were released every two weeks on the Nintendo eShop free of charge. This series was exclusive to North American Nintendo 3DS consoles.[31] Nintendo Show 3D released its last episode on March 28, 2013,[32] two years after the North American release of the original Nintendo 3DS.

Japan exclusive news video conferences hosted by Satoru Iwata.[33][34]

The Nintendo eShop offers a wide range of downloadable video content for the Nintendo 3DS. These videos are mostly offered in 3D and are downloaded to the system's storage. To produce and distribute these short films, Nintendo partnered with companies such as Breakthru Films, Black Box Productions, Atlantic Productions, Ka-Ching Cartoons and DreamWorks Animation.