Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was Nintendo's designated online service for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS games.
About
While past Nintendo systems had some variations of online connectivity, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection marked Nintendo's first true attempt at a dedicated online service for their systems. It launched in November 2005 with the release of Mario Kart DS. Players could only connect online through a wireless router. A Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector was made for those lacking a router, but it was ultimately discontinued.
Instead of using designated usernames like other platforms, players could only add each other to the Friends Lists by trading a 12 or 16 digit Friend Code. The Friend Code, much to the chagrin of players, was only tied to the game or system it was generated from. Even coming from the same friend, the Friend Code must be entered again for each individual game. While players can set up random matches with strangers, interaction was typically more limited, and trying to obtain strangers' friend codes was near impossible. Nintendo stood by its Friend Code mantra as a means to keep children safe from dangerous stranger.
It was succeeded by the Nintendo Network service in 2012, which covered the 3DS and Wii U. On May 20, 2014, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was shut down for all games except for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play branded games. The DSi Shop also continued running until March 2017 and the Wii Shop until January 2019.
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Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play
To support the rising trend of Downloadable Content, Nintendo introduced the Pay & Play Logo, a red version of the Wi-Fi Connection Logo. This was intended for games where the user must pay for additional content online. Initially, only Wii games took advantage of it. Because there was no way to access Downloadable Content through the Wii Shop, it could only be downloaded in the supported game. Although Nintendo introduced the option, the only game under their name that used it was Lonpos, which was released as WiiWare.