Friends, I have sad news to share with you today: Wii Shop Wednesday, the best joke account on gaming Twitter, is coming to an end.
If you've been deprived of Wii Shop Wednesday all this time, you'll get the idea from the video below. Every Wednesday, this Twitter account would post the same comedy sketch featuring two dudes riffing on the Wii Shop Channel's now-famous background music, making up lyrics to the song based on the best retro games available through the service.
pic.twitter.com/mX8QLdx219January 11, 2023
Now, after one last post on January 17 (opens in new tab), Wii Shop Wednesday is coming to an end for unspecified reasons. Folks, I'm not okay. I know I can just watch the video whenever I want on YouTube but it's not going to be the same.
For what I'd wager are most Wii Shop Wednesday enthusiasts, the story of the account begins and ends with a fun little video we all watch whenever we're scrolling Twitter on Wednesday. But there's more context to the thing than that.
The Wii Shop Wednesday sketch was originally produced as part of Nirvana the Band the Show, a late-2000s comedy web series about two aspiring musicians coming up with publicity stunts to promote their non-existent band. After a nearly decade-long hiatus, creators Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol managed to get the series produced as a proper TV show through Viceland, with 16 episodes running across two seasons.
The Wii Shop Wednesday Twitter account launched in 2020, over two years after the end of the TV series. I'm purely speculating here, but I suspect that the account began in hopes of gaining new fans and building support for a third season of the show. Now, the folks behind the account say it "will return under one condition, and one condition only," pointing to Nirvana the Band the Show season three (opens in new tab) as the one way Wii Shop Wednesday may return.
Also, in case you've been confused, Nirvana the Band has no relation to Nirvana, the band.
For now, let's belt out the Wii Shop Wednesday lyrics one last time:
Super Mario RPG
Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong 3
Adventures of Lolo 1 and 2
King's Knight, Dig Dug, Chew Man Fu
Harvest Moon
League Puzzle Pokemon
ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Castlevania, Fatal Fury, Ninja JaJaMaru-kun
ActRaiser, Blazing Lazers, Bases Loaded, Mega Turrican
Cybernator, Rolling Thunder, Dynastic Hero
Bubble Bobble, Double Dribble, Double Dragon, F-Zero
F-Zero X and Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Ninja Gaiden 1
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden 3
Cruisin' USA
Everyone loves to shop for the best Wii games.
