My original goal was only to get Tetris DS working, but it eventually turned into a general DS and then also a Wii server project due to the way the online features work on those consoles.' 'When I heard the news that the DS and Wii servers would be shutting down I figured it was now or never, so gave it a shot during my spring break. 'I'd been kicking around the idea of writing a server emulator for Tetris DS as a way to learn more about network programming,' he said. 'I didn't want that to happen to literally every DS and Wii game so I went to work recording data from as many games as I could, and trying to get others to help,' he added.īrenton, a full-time computer programming student, was already looking to build his own server emulator as a way to self-teach network programming tricks. version will probably never be supported. versions of those games use a different network that never got analyzed in time before shutdown, the people running that server admitted that the U.S. 'I've been following another online service revival for the Resident Evil: Outbreak games and a lot of work was done for those,' Lelli explained to Polygon.

The day Nintendo announced the shutdown, he immediately went heads-down on finding a way to keep the service alive. Programmer Michael Lelli, a full-time software engineer for an automotive company, is one of the people spearheading the effort to save Nintendo Wi-Fi for the Wii and DS. However, a dedicated group has stepped up to create a space for DS and Wii game-lovers to keep playing their favorite games online: a homebrew server. This termination also affects Nintendo DS games played on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii games played in the Wii U's Wii Mode. However, the Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop remain unaffected, as do browsers on the DS and DSi, the Wii's Delivery Channel, Internet Channel and the YouTube and Hulu apps. Nintendo DS, DSi and Wii can no longer access online features including gameplay modes, matchmaking and leaderboards. The global termination affected 20 Nintendo-published Wii and WiiWare games as well as 40 DS games. Shortly after revealing plans to bring Nintendo DS games to the Wii U Virtual Console in January, Nintendo announced it would pull the plug on the DS and Wii Wi-Fi Connection services on May 20.

Fans of Nintendo Wii and DS games may still have a haven for their online favorites.

How to get my games back