Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo that formerly provided free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download services. It also ran other features for the Wii and Nintendo DS systems.
Games designed to take advantage of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection offered internet play integrated into the game. When promoting this service, Nintendo emphasized the simplicity and speed of starting an online game. For example, in Mario Kart DS, an online game was initiated by selecting the online multiplayer option from the main menu, then choosing whether to play with friends, or to play with other players at about the same skill level. After a selection was made, the game started searching for an available player.
On January 26, 2012, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was succeeded by the Nintendo Network. This online system unified the 3DS and Wii U platforms and replaced Friend Codes, while providing paid downloadable content, an online community style multiplayer system, and personal accounts. On May 20, 2014, Nintendo shut down Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, except for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play branded games for the Nintendo DSi Shop and Wii Shop Channel services, both of which were shut down separately in 2017 and 2019. After the service's closure, there have been various fan-made services to restore online functionality to games that Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection supported that remain operational, most notably Wiimmfi.
Launch
On November 14, 2005, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was deployed with the release of Mario Kart DS. Having been developed under the direct supervision of president Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's Takao Ohara lamented that Nintendo's long history of online strategies had each quit due to unexpectedly insufficient userbases, but that Nintendo WFC had in four months garnered 2.9 million connections from over one million unique users. To achieve the goal of a truly sustainable online userbase with the most-used network service in the world, Ohara described a new strategy for identifying and relieving four main barriers. The proposed four barriers are difficult setup procedures, the psychological barrier preventing newcomers from joining in games, the unpleasantness of receiving abuse from other players, and the cost barrier. The company's proposed online strategy at this point was called "simple, safe, free". Nintendo believed that the online platform's success directly propelled the commercial success of the entire Nintendo DS platform. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection then served as part of the basis of what would become the Wii.Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection architecture
Services and apps discontinued prior to May 20, 2014:- Wii no Ma - ceased operations on April 30, 2012.
- Kirby TV Channel - ceased operations in October 2012.
- As Nintendo terminated the WiiConnect24 service worldwide on June 28, 2013, the following Wii Channels were consequently closed:
- * Nintendo Channel
- * Forecast Channel
- * News Channel
- * Check Mii Out Channel
- * Everybody Votes Channel
- * Digicam Print Channel
- Flipnote Studio was replaced by Flipnote Studio 3D on June 1, 2013, and its online services for both Flipnote Studio and Flipnote Studio 3D shutdown following the secession of Hatena Co. Ltd.
- The Pokémon Global Link for fifth generation Pokémon games - phased out between October 1, 2013, and January 14, 2014.
General features
Friend Codes
Each game that used Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection generated a unique twelve-digit Friend Code that could be exchanged with friends and be used to maintain individual friend lists in each game. Though certain games could be played online without a Friend Code, a Friend Code was required to play with a specific person. Friend Codes were generated from an identifier unique to a copy of a game and the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ID of a DS or Wii system. Using a different copy of a game or loading the same copy in a different system generated a new Friend Code. If users wanted to become "Friends", they had to mutually add Friend Codes and be authenticated as Friends once both of them were online. Nintendo introduced these features as conscious steps to preserve users' privacy. If a DS or Wii game was sold, but not the system, there was no risk of the purchaser impersonating the seller. If a user needed to replace his or her DS system, then the old system's Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ID could be transferred wirelessly, in order to maintain the user's original Friend Codes on the new machine. Some games required that the user had to use Friend Codes to use any online functionality.Many games have additional features that are enabled between registered friends. These may include customized matchmaking options, cooperative play, friend lists, text chat, and voice chat. Certain Wii games use the 16-digit Wii Number to share some data passively between mutually registered users via WiiConnect24 instead of using independent Friend Codes. Although, some of these games may use both the 16-digit Wii Number and its own 12-digit Friend Code, depending on whether the online connectivity requires either passive data-sharing or active multiplaying respectively.
Through internal design documents inadvertently leaked in May 2020, Nintendo had chosen to use the 12 digit Friend Codes over more common screen names as the company feared that there could be conflict with people with the same screen name, and it would be potentially easy to guess at a person's screen name which created issues with privacy concerns.
System features
While the DS's firmware predated Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the Wii and DSi featured more robust internet connectivity, in addition to software patches.Pay & Play
In 2008, Nintendo announced a new feature for the Wi-Fi Connection called Pay & Play. Games that used the Pay & Play feature had additional downloadable content or services that required extra fees. These fees were paid for using Nintendo Points. A special red Wi-Fi Connection logo with the words "Pay & Play" was used to distinguish these games from the regular Wi-Fi assessable games.The first games to feature Pay & Play were released in Japan as part of WiiWare on the March 25, 2008. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan Wii and Lonpos each had downloadable content available for 100 to 800 Wii Points. The first retail Wii titles to feature Pay & Play functionality are Samba de Amigo, Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2.