Nintendo 3DS fans gather worldwide to revive StreetPass

Nintendo 3DS StreetPass graphic on a white background — (Image credit: Nintendo)

The Nintendo 3DS eShop may have shut down in March, but loyal 3DS fans are helping to preserve the handheld's social features through events organized on Discord.

March 31st through April 2nd saw 3DS owners gather at various points around the globe to revive StreetPass, a feature that allowed multiple Nintendo 3DS consoles to link together just by being within close proximity to one another, or by visiting StreetPass relay points.

"I kept seeing people leave comments or make videos about wanting StreetPass to come back, but nobody was working with each other so everybody's voice got lost in the crowd", said Shane Kressley, who played a pivotal role in organising the various meetups.

Preserving gaming hardware is tough at the best of times, and particularly when a manufacturer starts to decommission online services like the eShop for the 3DS, it can become a real uphill battle. Besides emulators that can help to preserve a platform's software library, preserving the hardware itself becomes more difficult as more owners see no reason to keep it around. Shane has luckily received a lot of support from other enthusiasts, and he added "I'm lucky to have made friends that support the event in my place by going to cons and expos with their system.

"We wanna make sure nobody is left out so I tried to cover many different countries in both promos and finding local reps to carry their 3DS there.

"The 3DS is in an awkward spot as a handheld since it's over a decade old but its software and community are still alive and well now. If it weren't for the Switch, we would still have the eShop, but now that the hype has worn off you see more people return to the 3DS and try to preserve its high-quality library.

"We hope this brings more love to the handheld and inspires more care towards preserving it as parts dry up and online services shut down."

When asked if these events would continue into the future, Shane said that with the release of the Super Mario movie this week, thousands of 3DS owners will be taking their handhelds to cinemas in attempts to bond and find tags.

If you'd like to get involved in future 3DS preservation efforts, you can join the Discord that organizes meetups, and follow StreetPassLove on Twitter for broader announcements and plans.

If you want to deck out your current-gen Nintendo hardware, take a look at the best Nintendo Switch accessories, the best Nintendo Switch headset, and the best case for Nintendo Switch.

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One of my earliest memories is playing SuperMario64 and wondering why the controller I held had three grips, but I only had two hands. Ever since I've been in love with video games and their technology. After graduating from Edinburgh Napier University with a degree in Journalism, I contributed to the Scottish Games Network and completed an Editorial Internship at Expert Reviews. Over the last decade, I’ve been managing my own YouTube channel about my love of games too. These days, I'm one of the resident hardware nerds at GamesRadar+, and I take the lead on our coverage of gaming PCs, VR, controllers, gaming chairs, and content creation gear. Now, I better stop myself here before I get talking about my favourite games like HUNT: Showdown, Dishonored, and Towerfall Ascension.