Rest in Peace, Wii U: Nintendo bids an even more-final farewell to its dead console after finally running out of the parts needed to fix them

It's a dark day for Nintendo fans everywhere, as yet another nail has been driven into the coffin of the company's underrated previous-gen console, the Wii U.

You might have thought the Wii U was already dead, and yeah, in many ways it's safe to say it was. After all, online services for it and the 3DS were shut down earlier this year, and while many players managed to cling to them for way longer than Nintendo intended (Nintended?), it's impossible to boot your Wii U up right now and connect to an online Splatoon match on those classic servers. Today though, it's been confirmed that repairs are no longer being accepted for the console in Japan, as the company is out of parts.

In a tweet posted by the Japanese Nintendo customer support account earlier today (translated using Google and DeepL), it's stated that there's no stock left of the "necessary parts" required for repairs of Wii U consoles and their peripherals, so effective immediately, Japanese customers will be unable to get theirs fixed by the company. To be fair, we knew this day was coming – in May 2023, it was confirmed that as soon as Nintendo was out of parts, repairs would no longer be offered, so it seems there was enough stock to last for over a year.

Obviously though, it's far from ideal – some consoles will be approaching their 12th birthdays this year, and as time passes, it'll become even more likely that they'll need fixing in one way or another. On top of that, there's the fact that the system is so reliant on its unique GamePad controller – many games actively require you to use it rather than other controllers, and you can't even change your system settings without it. Unfortunately, that means that even if it's just your GamePad that stops working, you're going to lose a massive part of the console's functionality.

While many of the best Wii U games like Mario Kart 8, Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and Bayonetta 2 have been ported to the Nintendo Switch for an alternative way to play, there are still many stuck on the previous-gen console, with no indication that they'll be brought over to the current generation any time soon. Here's hoping that Xenoblade Chronicles X, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and the HD versions of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess might make it to the Switch or its successor eventually.

Be sure to check out our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch games for some top titles to dive into on Nintendo's current console.

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I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.