Recently, Nintendo made the decision to pull the plug on online services for the last-generation 3DS and Wii U game catalogues. The E-Shops have been long gone for these two systems, but they’re set to be entirely disconnected for good in early April of 2024.

Both of these systems definitely went through tumultuous times, but to ignore the countless hours of fun they provided would be disingenuous. Today’s piece aims to highlight fifteen games from the two devices collectively that really stood tall during their prime on the gaming market.

15. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

This faithful, old school remake put Samus back on the map. With excellent graphical fidelity for a handheld game, it was a rousing success.

14. Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby (3DS)

Released in late 2014, “ORAS” captivated the hearts of Pokemon fans worldwide. It streamlined many quality of life changes and was a generally faithful remake of the classic third generation games.

13. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

In 2013, this title dropped. It finally revived a series that had gone over twelve years without an entry. It was a massive success, to the point of it recently earning an HD remaster for the Switch that will launch in the near future.

12. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Wii U)

This game hit the market in early 2014. It was a direct sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii. Similarly to Luigi’s Dark Moon, this game was also brought to the Nintendo Switch, and earned glorious reviews from esteemed sources such as IGN and IMDb.

11. Fire Emblem: Fates (3DS)

This game was an excellent blend of tactical roleplay and slice of life character development. It launched in 2015 and won plenty of hardware, most notably Best Sim/Strategy Game at the 2015 Game Awards.

10. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

A game that ended up being somewhat of a late bloomer with waves of Switch DLC, Mario Kart 8 graced store shelves in 2014. With some third party support, it has blossomed into an excellent source of online entertainment.

9. Super Mario Maker (Wii U)

This was an excellent showcase of innovation, while not getting too complicated about it. Super Mario Maker, hitting shelves in 2015, actually seemed to work better on the Wii U’s Gamepad than on the Nintendo Switch to boot.

8. Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon (3DS)

A rivetting story with interesting, creative and classic RPG gameplay, this 2015 piece feels like it released yesterday.

7. Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)

While the first game that launched on the Wii was impressive, this game was the one which really put Bayonetta on the map. It was a large source of fans begging and pleading for the eventual third iteration several years later.

6. Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS)

One of the most well known Zelda games of all time, this did a flawless job of remaining faithful to the original while introducing many changes to speed gameplay up and enhance quality of life. Like many of the games discussed today, it launched back in 2015

5. Splatoon (Wii U)

Taking up the mantle of a family friendly Call of Duty, Splatoon went on to attain international recognition at Nintendo World Championship events. It started up in 2015 before two sequels and an expansion pack to one of them would later come out.

4. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)

One of the very first games ever released for the 3DS, this one showed that Mario could still produce entertaining gameplay outside of the umpteenth Mario Kart or Party game. This was a late 2011 release, yet exhibits traits that were well ahead of its time.

3. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U)

The long awaited spiritual successor of the well-known Kirby Canvas Curse, one of the first games to launch for the classic DS system. Rainbow Curse features an amazing soundtrack, quality gameplay and the opportunity for pretty incredible couch co-op for the family. It released in early 2015.

2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)

One of the most well known video games, at this point in all of gaming, this list would feel weird without the affectionately known BOTW. This open world classic provided endless hours of fun. It was released later on in the Wii U’s lifetime, coming out in early 2017 and eventually making its way to the Switch as well.

1. Super Smash Bros for the Wii U/3DS

There has never quite been a game that’s adept at bringing together people with dramatically different personalities or playstyles quite like Smash. It is the classic amalgamation of countless video game franchises, with progressively more and more third party characters coming together for the ultimate fighting game. It is difficult to argue that there was a better, more influential and well rounded game for the Wii U than Smash 4. Even the lesser 3DS version was quite the hit, uniquely allowing players to finally play Smash on the go for the first time. In late 2014, this game graced storefronts worldwide and went on to be a major player in international gaming events for the next four and a half years.