A long time ago (November 2008) in a Nintendo galaxy far away, gamers stepped into the handheld online gaming world with a half-step upgrade to the Nintendo DS. This new device, simply called the Nintendo DSi, made some slight improvements to the DS. Among those enhancements was an online store for purchasing and downloading DSiWare, which was a play off of WiiWare, already available on the Wii online store.
There were several great games and applications on DSiWare. Some of my favorite third-party games were AiRace, Airport Mania, Bloons, Chronos Twins, Cut the Rope, DodoGo!, Scrabble Slam, and Zuma’s Revenge. Two of the best DSiWare games, though, were Nintendo’s own Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure Anniversary Edition. As far as applications go, where would we be without Flipnote Studio?
Last year, Nintendo announced they plan on closing the Nintendo DSi Shop in 2017. Well, that time is now upon us. If you have DSi Points you have yet to spend or transfer to your 3DS, you need to do that before March 31, 2017. At that point, the DSi Shop will officially stop allowing you to buy new games. You can still re-download previous purchases for now, but that will also close at some point in the future. Have no fear, though, as the majority of DSiWare games are still available in the 3DS eShop.
What are some of your favorite Nintendo DSiWare games? Let us know in the comments. Feel free to also pay your respects to the DSi Shop, the handheld digital store that launched Nintendo into the 21st century of game distribution and connecting with independent developers.
Steve is the Senior Editor of NintendoFuse and co-host of the NintendoFuse Podcast. He’s been a Nintendo gamer since age 6 and has been on staff with NintendoFuse since 2008.