As tributes flood in for the 3DS and Wii U servers, some tireless Nintendo survivors stay connected and refuse to let their beloved online modes die

Earlier this week, the servers supporting online services for all 3DS and Wii U games met their end. Although it's a sad time for anyone who has a place in their heart for the games affected, the community efforts that have followed since are so wholesome that it almost makes the whole thing worth it. Tributes have been flooding in to honor the fallen online modes, and a dedicated subsection of fans are somehow still holding on as the last survivors of the official servers.

As you'd expect, countless nostalgic players flooded the online modes of their favorite games on the final day, making their last Pokemon trades, fighting their last battles in Super Smash Bros. 4, and visiting their friends' 3DS Animal Crossing towns while they still could. Social media posts of these goodbyes flooded the internet, and since then, we've also seen a flurry of fan art based on the experience. 

One particular Super Smash Bros. for 3DS clip depicting two random Kirby players clinging to each other in their final match has been one of the most adorable sources of inspiration. Those orange and blue Kirbies, dubbed as the Kirbies "at the end of it all," have been drawn holding each others' blobby hands as the world behind them phases out of existence, and best of all, the original post became so popular that the other player eventually saw it, causing a very wholesome reunion in the replies.

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Otherwise, in a fan art trend so sad it genuinely made me cry, numerous talented artists have been re-drawing the vibrant room seen in the splash screen shown when you load up Splatoon from the Wii U menu. Rather than being filled with decorations and items on the shelves, people have been drawing it totally barren, as though the Inkling who lived there has moved out. Was not personally prepared for this level of emotion from Splatoon fan art, but here we are. 

Of course though, there's also the case of those server survivors who've somehow managed to avoid getting kicked out of the online modes, and there's a surprising amount of them still standing. Over on Discord, a small community known as Nintendo Network After Hours has been keeping count of how many people they know are still alive and kicking. At the time of writing, the group is aware of at least 23 survivors, with six known Pokemon players remaining on X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, two on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and a surprising 11 in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, to name a few.

While there's still a chance that there's more people out there that the community hasn't been able to account for, many are doing their best to document their time from beyond the void. Server owner LAFFS managed to stream around 40 hours of Pokemon X online after the servers were meant to go down, before tragically getting a connection error. 

Meanwhile, Twitter user Joziken has been continually updating a thread to prove that they're still active on the Pokemon servers. Surprisingly, they found that trades with other players still worked for over 24 hours after the supposed shutdown, but now, it's just the Player Search System (PSS) that's still working, allowing the last players to send out messages to each other.

Others are keeping track of the status of the rest of the games too, with one user who goes by JLdude showing a handy comparison of Smash 3DS's global map on the day of the shutdown, VS two days later on April 10. At that point, it's clear that the vast majority of players had disappeared, but you can still see a few tiny specks on the map. 

It's truly bizarre that things have been able to keep working so long for this select few, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why. For now, it's a waiting game – the goal is obviously to keep going for as long as possible, but with the threat of connection errors constantly looming, no one can know for sure how long they'll be able to hang in there. 

You can still rely on the Nintendo Switch servers for online fun - if you're looking for some recommendations, be sure to check out our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch games.