Nintendo has reportedly removed a number of DSiWare titles from the Nintendo 3DS eShop, without warning fans that the games would disappear.
The deletions were first noticed by a Twitter user @Royal house, which reports that “all DSiWare games released before mid-May 2011 have been deactivated.” Games that are no longer available for purchase include Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, Asphalt 4: Elite Racing, Aura-Aura Climber, Dr. Mario Express, Mr. Driller: Drill Till You Drop and much more.
At the time of writing, the takedowns seem to hit North America the hardest; Broadcast games reports that most of the titles removed in that region are still for sale in Europe.
When players view any of the affected games in the eShop, players will see a message that reads “This software is currently unavailable.” Given that Nintendo hasn’t made a statement about the disappearing games yet, it’s possible that this is a temporary bug that will be fixed – we’ll make sure to update this story with more information as soon as we get it.
In the meantime, it probably wouldn’t hurt to download DSiWare games from the 3DS eShop while you still can, just in case. This digital age is scary!