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YouTuber Buys Every Wii U and 3DS Digital Game Before Store Shutdown

Credit: Unsplash

Jirard “The Completionist” Khalil spent over $23,000 in the name of software preservation.

Next Monday, March 27, the digital storefronts for the retired Nintendo 3DS and Wii U consoles will officially be shutting down, rendering any digital-only games that were sold through them officially inaccessible through legal purchase. As concerns of software preservation in the digital age have become prevalent, some brave individuals have stepped up to ensure these games aren’t completely lost to the ages.

YouTuber Jirard Khalil, better known as The Completionist, released a new video this week revealing that he had successfully purchased every single piece of software on both platforms’ eShops in order to preserve them. This monumental undertaking included the purchase of 866 Wii U games, 1,547 3DS games, and scores of retro Virtual Console titles and DLC content. Altogether, this endeavor cost Khalil over $23,000, which he paid for both out of his own pocket and with the assistance of several sponsors.

“When a digital storefront shuts down or games get delisted, countless titles run that risk of being lost forever,” Khalil said in his video. “What would it take to save all those Nintendo Wii U and 3DS games from being lost? Step one of many was to determine necessary costs and storage. Unfortunately, none of the comprehensive lists online that we found included prices or even file sizes, so we spent three days compiling all that data into a big spreadsheet. Once we had all that information, we were able to more easily march forward with our noble cause of preservation.”

Khalil will be donating the collections to the non-profit software preservation organization, the Video Game History Foundation.

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