Update: 9/4/2020 – Nintendo has returned Pikmin 3 and its DLC to the Wii U eShop, at least in North America. Pikmin 3 and all its DLC can be purchased on the Wii U eShop again.
Following this morning’s announcement of Pikmin 3 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has delisted Pikmin 3 from the Wii U eShop along with all its downloadable content.
While Pikmin 3 for the Wii U can still be purchased physically, the removal of the DLC on the Wii U eShop makes it impossible to purchase anywhere.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo has delisted a Wii U game following an announcement of a Switch port — Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta, and Bayonetta 2 were all removed from the Wii U eShop after arriving on Nintendo Switch.
Pikmin 3, however, is the first game with DLC on the Wii U to be completely removed after the announcement of a port.
Pikmin 3 on Wii U received three DLC packs in late 2013, each containing a handful of stages for the game’s “Mission Mode.”
What’re your thoughts on the delisting of both Pikmin 3 and all its DLC from the Wii U?
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Written by Daniel Dell-Cornejo
Daniel is an editor at Nintendo Wire. Always with his head in the clouds, he is never apart from his creative thoughts – a blessing for an aspiring fiction writer. As a journalist and lifelong gamer, he aims to provide readers with the very best in Nintendo coverage.
I don’t understand why they have to keep having separate “shops” for all their consoles. Why can’t I just browse through everything in one shop and access one game on all available platforms. Other than greed, why can’t I play Breath of the Wild, which I bought on Wii U, via my Switch without buying a new copy? It’s a digital copy either way.
Nintendo is giving the Wii U players the
F-U. While I don’t own a Wii U, it bothers me as a Switch owner that they will do something like this on the Switch in the future.
Emi
The difference between Wii U and Switch would be like getting a Standard Definition movie and wanting the 4k version upgrade for free…they are different platforms so they are separate
Mark that’s entirely incorrect. The Wii U was a HD console capable of 720p and 1080p graphics similar to the switch. The only real difference is the Wii U wasn’t completely portable. The Wii itself is capable of SD only. No Nintendo console is capable of 4k. This Pikmin game is simply a port of the Wii U game.
They probably did this so people couldn’t buy the cheaper versions of these games.
It makes me realize how mishandled the Wii U is getting. I take it that this is all related to pulling resources and focusing on the main switch and 3ds consoles, but it’s disheartening.
I think that it’s pretty shady to remove any software that was originally available!!!
Terrible. This permanently neuters the Wii U version for anyone that doesn’t already have the DLC.
This is a terrible decision! Paid for pikmin 3 and note can’t even expand.