Super Smash Bros 4 Trends Ahead of Nintendo Wii U and 3DS Server Shutdown

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, colloquially known as Smash 4, are trending online ahead of Nintendo shutting down servers for both consoles on April 8, 2024.

Fans of Smash 4, which paved the way for Nintendo Switch successor Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, have returned to the beloved brawler in its final few days of online play and taken to X/Twitter to share their favorite memories of that era.

Every game has its flaws and Smash 4 is no exception, but damn was it fun to play. The Mario clip where I used Link’s collision to move the bomb is still one of my favorite interactions

Also I had to shorten the original video, because of Twitter’s upload limit pic.twitter.com/NJ1CuOzfFh

— Sillintor (@sillintor) April 3, 2024

“Every game has its flaws and Smash 4 is no exception, but damn was it fun to play,” wrote Sillintor on X/Twitter, one of many users with similar comments which caused it to trend on the social media platform.

“Smash 4 coming back from the grave for one final send-off before servers close brought tears to my eyes today, especially seeing so many old names on my friends list playing,” said TDude. “Truly is that journey’s end now, isn’t it? It’s been fun.”

maybe we were too harsh on Smash 4… pic.twitter.com/HKmRs5JtkC

— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) April 4, 2024

Other users are posting their favourite clips from the game, half of which seem to be hotly contested battles and half of which are brutal beatdowns. “You know, with all these Smash 4 clips on my timeline, it made me reflect on this one clip I have,” wrote SmashMarioPro2000. “This was one of the harshest beatdowns I’ve ever gotten in Smash history, like I got brutalized.”

The shutdown of online functionality for the Wii U and 3DS, which were launched in 2012 and 2011 respectfully, comes one year after Nintendo shut down each systems’ eShops. It announced this next step in their sunsetting in January 2024, revealing the likes of online play, internet rankings, and data distribution would all cease to function.

You know, with all these Smash 4 clips on my TL, it made me reflect on this one clip I have had, this was one of the harshest beatdowns I’ve ever gotten in Smash history, like I got BRUTALIZED pic.twitter.com/diaL3gOwup

— SmashMarioPro2000 (@SmashMarioPro) April 4, 2024

Nintendo is now deep into the following console generation with the Switch, of course, with even conversations about its successor becoming more and more frequent. Fans are growing more and more eager for an upgrade to the console considering it was released in 2017, but the next generation of Nintendo hardware is reportedly still a year away.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.