Nintendo Video is a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

which streamed hand-picked 3D and 2D video content from external providers. Some of the studios which broadcast content to the service were

CollegeHumor Dropout, incorporated as CH Media and formerly known as CollegeHumor, is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles that produces content for release on its streaming service Dropout (streaming platform), Dropout as well as YouTube. Dropou ...

, Aardman Animations,

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in New York City in 1987. It is known for its stage productions that incorporate many kinds of music and art, both popular and obscure. Its performers, known as Blue Men, have their ...

, Channel Frederator Network, and Mondo Media, among others. The app first launched in July 2011 for Nintendo 3DS owners worlwide, with Nintendo promising new videos to be released weekly for the service. Nintendo Video was officially discontinued in 2014 in most territories, but the service was still available in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

until July 2015. Many of the videos that were featured on Nintendo Video were then carried over to 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 ...

, where they were accessible until its closure in 2023.

History

Previously, the service was available as a separate app that utilized SpotPass, downloading videos to the console's SD card via Wi-Fi Internet access for offline viewing. New content could be automatically downloaded via SpotPass, replacing the old content. The dedicated Nintendo Video app launched in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on the 3DS eShop for free on July 13, 2011, with initial videos including Oscar's Oasis and Magic Tricks for the Nintendo 3DS. The app became available in North America a few days later on July 21, 2011. Some of the other first shorts that were available on the app were CollegeHumor's ''Dinosaur Office'' and a trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger, with plans to add music videos from Jason Derulo, Foster the People, and the

. Additionally, Nintendo announced that the app would receive an exclusive 3D music video from

OK Go OK Go is an American Rock music, rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar, bass, backing vocalist, v ...

, who had previously had a music video released as a downloadable video exclusive to North American 3DS systems before the release of the eShop. In 2012,

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

created a joint venture for Nintendo Video Original Series and distributed their first Original Series for Nintendo Video, ''Threediots''.

Content

Since June 2015, many of the shows listed below can be viewed on-demand via the Nintendo eShop in North America, permanently categorized under Nintendo Video. As of August 2019, a total of 164 videos were available on the eShop. Users had to enter in their date of birth before watching content that was considered too mature.

Shows

Music videos

Movie trailers

Due to the promotional nature of film trailers, it may not be possible for any to return in any form.

Shutdown

On February 27, 2014, Nintendo Australia announced the service would be terminated in the Oceanian region (Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

) as of March 31, 2014. Nintendo of Europe also announced on the same day that they would be terminating the Nintendo Video service on the same date.

also announced the end of service on that date, ending it on March 31, 2014 as well. On June 5, 2015, Nintendo of America sent out a SpotPass notification to all of the app's active users informing them that the app was being phased out in favor of an eponymous category on the Nintendo eShop's main page (already available at the time), where users could watch most past videos as well as future ones. To replace the Nintendo Video feature, a few months after the My Nintendo service released, videos for permanent download became a common reward that could be bought with My Nintendo coins. Videos would commonly make returns due to popularity or stay longer due to positive fan reception. Since June 29, 2015, the app is no longer functional and videos can no longer be downloaded. In the following month, the Nintendo eShop offered most of the videos for streaming on demand, with a total of 164 videos available. The remaining Nintendo Video content and other video on demand content under the Nintendo Video category became permanently unavailable for download when the Nintendo eShop closed on March 27, 2023. Despite the closure, these can still be redownloaded, however, provided that the user has downloaded the content prior to the shop's closure. Most of the content initially released for the service have also been distributed through other means over time, such as being officially uploaded online or included in home media releases, albeit without the stereoscopic 3D effect for the most part. Some of the videos that were shared through Nintendo video have not been recovered and are now considered lost media. Some examples of these include Red Bull BC One and BearShark: Ghost Videos.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Video digital distribution platforms Nintendo Network Products and services discontinued in 2015 Defunct video on demand services