The Wii Shop Channel is a discontinued

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital ...

service for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

video game console. The service allowed users to purchase and play additional software for the Wii (called Channels), including exclusive games (branded

WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...

), and games from prior generations of video game consoles (marketed with the

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

brand). The Wii Shop Channel launched on November 19, 2006 and was the place to buy additional

Wii channels The Wii system software is a set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii, a home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a Nintendo optical discs#Wii Optical Disc, game dis ...

. Most of the Wii Shop Channel's functions were discontinued on January 30, 2019. Succeeded by the

Nintendo eShop The is a digital distribution service for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, and formerly available via the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo eShop served ...

on the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

, the Wii Shop Channel was also accessible on the Wii U console though Wii Mode, supporting the download of WiiWare titles, as well as legacy Virtual Console titles that were not available on the Nintendo eShop. The Channel's

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

has become popular and well-received on the internet, and is often used in

internet memes An Internet meme, or meme (, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through social media platforms. Internet memes manifest in a variety of formats, including images, v ...

Wii Points

Wii Points were the currency used in transactions on the Wii Shop Channel. Wii Points were purchased by either redeeming Wii Points Cards purchased from retail outlets or directly through the Wii Shop Channel using a Mastercard or

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

credit card. In 2008,

Club Nintendo Club Nintendo was a customer loyalty program and magazine that was provided by Nintendo. The loyalty program was free to join and provided rewards in exchange for consumer feedback and loyalty to purchasing official Nintendo products. Members o ...

in Europe began offering Wii Points in exchange for "stars" received from registering games and consoles on the website. On March 26, 2018, the ability to purchase and add Wii Points was permanently removed following a temporary maintenance notice; preventing users from purchasing WiiWare or Virtual Console games unless they had enough Wii Points in their account balance. Already purchased software can still be downloaded, and any Wii Points remaining in an account's balance were redeemable until January 30, 2019.

Virtual Console

Virtual Console was a brand that included games from older video game consoles, which ran under emulation. There were over 300 games available in North America and, as of December 31, 2007, over 10 million games had been downloaded worldwide. All games are exact replicas of the originals with no updated features or graphics, with the exception of ''

Pokémon Snap is a 1999 photography video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan in March 1999 and was later released in July 1999 in North America and in September 2000 for PAL regions. ...

'', which was updated to allow in-game pictures to be posted to the Wii Message Board. New games were added weekly at 9 A.M. Pacific Time every Thursday (previously every Monday) in North America, Tuesdays in Japan and South Korea, and Fridays in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In Europe and North America, the Virtual Console featured several import titles which were not previously made available in those respective territories, such as ''

Mario's Super Picross is a Super Famicom sequel to '' Mario's Picross''. The game is compatible with the Super Famicom Mouse. It is developed by Jupiter and Ape and published by Nintendo. After the failure of '' Mario's Picross'' in North America, Nintendo decide ...

''. These games cost 100–300 more points than the normal price due to their import status and some translation work. Consoles included both Nintendo systems, such as the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...

and N64, and non-Nintendo systems, such as the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

Neo Geo The , stylized as NEO•GEO, is a video game platform released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was initially released in two ROM cartridge-based formats: an arcade system board (Multi Video System; MVS) and a home video gam ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

(Europe and North America only). Each system had a base starting price for games on that system. All titles ranged from 500 to 1200 Wii Points. If a person using the now defunct Connection Ambassador Programme reached Gold status (helped 10 people to connect), they would be able to download any Nintendo-published NES game free of charge. Additionally, if they reached Platinum (helped 20 people to connect), they would be able to download any NES, SNES and N64 game in the Virtual console free of charge.

WiiWare

The WiiWare section featured original games specifically designed for Wii. Games were priced between 500 and 1500 points. To decrease the size of the games, instruction manuals were hosted on each game's Wii Shop Channel page. Some titles featured additional

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

, priced from 100 to 800 points, that could be purchased using Wii Points in game or from the game's page. The first WiiWare games were made available on March 25, 2008, in Japan, on May 12, 2008, in North America, and on May 20, 2008, in Europe.

Wii Channels

The Wii Channels section featured additional non-game channels that can be downloaded and used on Wii. Before the WiiConnect24 service was discontinued, there were three free channels offered worldwide: the

Everybody Votes Channel The Everybody Votes Channel was a Wii Menu channel that allowed users to vote in simple opinion polls and compare and contrast opinions with those of friends, family and voters around the globe. The Everybody Votes Channel was available on Februa ...

, the

Check Mii Out Channel The Check Mii Out Channel, known as the Mii Contest Channel outside of North America, was a channel for the Nintendo Wii that allowed players to share their digital avatars, called Miis, and enter them into popularity contests. Nintendo ended s ...

(Mii Contest Channel in Europe), and the

Nintendo Channel The Wii system software is a set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii, a home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a Nintendo optical discs#Wii Optical Disc, game dis ...

. An update to the Photo Channel (Photo Channel 1.1) was also available, if not preinstalled. A fourth channel, the

Internet Channel The Wii system software is a set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii, a home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a Nintendo optical discs#Wii Optical Disc, game dis ...

, a web browser based on

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, was available worldwide originally for 500 Wii Points but became available for free starting on September 1, 2009. Anyone who paid the 500 Wii Points for the Internet Channel were refunded. There were also two exclusive free Japanese channels: the Television Friend Channel, which provides channel listing and recording reminder features, and the

Digicam Print Channel The Wii system software is a set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii, a home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a game disc, allowed Nintendo to add additional fe ...

, which allows users to order business cards and photo albums using photos stored on SD cards or the Photo Channel. Previously, a preview channel for '' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'' was available for free in the fall of 2007 for North America and PAL regions before it was removed from the Wii Shop Channel several months after the game's launch. In North America and Europe, the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

channel was available in the Wii Channels section, along with the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

, and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channels. The Wii Channels section in the Wii Shop Channel was originally under the name of WiiWare in North America and Wii Software in Europe, before moving to its own dedicated space when WiiWare launched. These Wii Channels were unavailable on the Wii U console.

Downloading

Software downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel is saved onto the Wii console's internal memory. After a download is complete, the new software appears on the

Wii Menu The Wii system software is a set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii, a home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a Nintendo optical discs#Wii Optical Disc, game dis ...

as a channel. Software can be copied to SD cards or re-downloaded for free. Wii consoles with

system software System software is software designed to provide a platform for other software. An example of system software is an operating system (OS) (like macOS, Linux, Android, and Microsoft Windows). Application software is software that allows users to d ...

version 4.0 and higher can download software directly to SD cards. On December 10, 2007, a gift feature was added to the Wii Shop Channel, allowing users to purchase and send games and channels to others as gifts. The receiving user was given the option to download or reject the gift upon opening the Wii Shop Channel, with a notification being sent out to the sender if it was accepted.Wii Official Site - Built-in Entertainment
Nintendo.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23. If a user already had the game or if the user did not choose to accept the gift within 45 days, then the gift expired and the Wii Points are returned to the sender. The feature was region locked and incompatible with the

Game updates

Some downloaded games could receive updates from the Wii Shop Channel. This was done to update ''

Military Madness ''Military Madness'' is a 1989 turn-based strategy video game originally developed and published by Hudson Soft in Japan and NEC in North America for the TurboGrafx-16. It is the first entry in the '' Nectaris'' series. Set in the year 2089 ...

'', ''

Star Fox 64 known as ''Lylat Wars'' in the PAL regions, is a 1997 rail shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the ''Star Fox'' series and a reboot of the original ''Star Fox'' for the Super Nin ...

''/''Lylat Wars'', '' Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards'' (in North America and Europe), and ''

Mario Kart 64 is a 1996 kart racing game for the Nintendo 64 (N64). Developed and published by Nintendo, it is the second installment in the ''Mario Kart'' series after 1992's '' Super Mario Kart''. The game retains the gameplay of its predecessor: the play ...

'' (in Europe and Australia). Several NES and SNES games released before March 30, 2007, have also been given updates in Europe and Australia to fix previous problems with the Wii component cables. These updates are free of charge to those who have downloaded a previous version of the game. Some WiiWare games have also featured free updates for the purposes of fixing bugs. These games include ''

Dr. Mario Online Rx ''Dr. Mario Online Rx'', stylized as ' and released in PAL regions as ''Dr. Mario & Germ Buster'', is a puzzle video game starring Dr. Mario. It was one of the WiiWare launch games in Japan, Europe, and Australia, and was released in 2008 on M ...

'' and ''

Alien Crush Returns ''Alien Crush Returns'' is a WiiWare pinball video game developed by Tamsoft and published by Hudson Soft. It is a sequel/remake to 1988's '' Alien Crush'', and is the fourth installment in the '' Crush Pinball'' series. It was released in Japan ...

''.

Connection Ambassador Promotion

In 2009, Nintendo of Japan launched a scheme designed to reward users for helping other new users get connected online and to the Wii Shop Channel. Both the ambassador and the user who was assisted to get their console online received a reward of 500 Wii Points. If the ambassador assisted 20 people, the ambassador would have accumulated 10,000 Wii Points from the programme while attaining Platinum status and be able to download all NES, SNES and N64 titles from the Virtual Console section of the Wii Shop Channel free of charge. The service was also launched in European countries, New Zealand, and Australia. The scheme had proved hugely popular with many sites appearing online dedicated to helping connect users and share system codes. The programme ended on November 21, 2012.

Discontinuation

On September 29, 2017, Nintendo announced that the Wii Shop Channel would be discontinued on January 30, 2019. To prepare for the closure, the company also announced that the ability to purchase and add Wii Points with a credit card or a Wii Points card would be removed on March 26, 2018. On March 26, 2018, the ability to purchase and add Wii Points with a credit card or Wii Points card was permanently removed. As a result, Wii Shop Channel users were no longer able to purchase and play additional software unless they had enough Wii Points in their account balance. Afterwards, the Wii Shop Channel remained functional until January 29, 2019. On January 30, 2019, Nintendo shut down the Wii Shop Channel and removed all WiiWare, Virtual Console games, and other Wii Channels from sale or initial download. The only exceptions are the save data update channel for '' The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword'', the Wii U Transfer Tool channel (on Wii consoles), and the Wii System Transfer channel (on Wii U consoles). Users can continue re-downloading any games and apps they acquired before the shutdown, and the ability to re-download previously purchased content or transfer data from a Wii to a Wii U will continue for the foreseeable future. On the day of the closure, the shop's main UI was updated to show its original layout as it appeared when it was first launched back on November 19, 2006, removing the WiiWare option entirely. Japanese users were able to transfer or refund any remaining Wii Points after the shutdown date from February 21, 2019 until August 31, 2019. The refunded points could be transferred to a local bank account or received as a refund from a convenience store.

References

{{Spoken Wikipedia, date=2024-04-14, En-Wii_Shop_Channel-article.ogg Online-only retailers of video games Wii Retail companies established in 2006 Internet properties established in 2006 Products and services discontinued in 2019 Retail companies disestablished in 2019 Internet properties disestablished in 2019 Video games scored by Kazumi Totaka sv:Wii Channels#Wii Shop Channel