The Nintendo 3DS eShop may have closed in March, but loyal 3DS fans are helping to preserve the handheld’s social features with events on Discord.
From March 31 to April 2, 3DS owners gathered around the world to revive StreetPass, a feature that allowed multiple Nintendo 3DS systems to connect simply by being near each other or visiting relay points. from StreetPass.
If you encountered another 3DS player on your travels who also had StreetPass enabled, you’d encounter their Mii in your StreetPass plaza, allowing you to interact, share in-game achievements, and earn badges.
StreetPass relaunch events have taken place in New York, Australia, Ireland, Tokyo, Belgium, Florida, London, Nottingham and Hawaii, to name a few. These events were timed with various conventions and fan events to attract as many gamers as possible and took place in the same month that Nintendo would follow through with its “no plans” online store closure plans to preserve its library of games.
“I kept seeing people leaving comments or making videos about wanting to get StreetPass back, but no one was working with the others, so everyone’s voice got lost in the crowd,” said said Shane Kressley, who has been instrumental in organizing various meetings.
“I reached out to various community members, YouTubers, and 3DS enthusiasts to find out how to get something working and found this,” he said.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Preserving gaming hardware is tough at the best of times, and especially when a manufacturer starts dismantling online services like the eShop for 3DS, it can become a real uphill battle. In addition to emulators that can help preserve a platform’s software library, preserving the hardware itself is becoming more difficult as more owners see no reason to keep it. Fortunately, Shane has received a lot of support from other enthusiasts, adding: “I’m lucky to have made friends who support the event for me by going to conventions and exhibitions with your system. .
“We want to make sure no one is left behind, so I have tried to cover many different countries both in promotions and in finding local reps to bring their 3DS there.
“The 3DS is in an awkward position as a handheld device over ten years old, but its software and community are still alive and well now. If it wasn’t for the Switch we’d still have the eShop, but now that the hype has died down you’re seeing more people returning to the 3DS and trying to preserve their high quality library.
“We hope this brings more love to the handheld and inspires more care to preserve it as parts dry up and online services shut down.”
When asked if these events will continue in the future, Shane said that with the release of the Super Mario movie this week, thousands of 3DS owners will be bringing their handheld devices to the cinema in an effort to get in on the action. network and find tags.
If you want to get involved in future 3DS conservation efforts, you can join Discord which hosts meetups and follow StreetPassLike Twitter for larger announcements and plans.
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