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A devout fan known as “Amanda” was the last person to have remained on the 3DS’ Pokémon servers, and they had finally logged off after 28 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes.
As of April 8th, the servers for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U were officially shut down. While a few services such as Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter have been kept online, this information has also been followed by a harrowing message that they too will be subject to closure, eventually. Shortly after the servers had their engines cut, players on 3DS noticed that online connectivity was still partially functional in X/Y and OR/AS, and they begun documenting the last few hours.
This sparked a very small movement of fans who refused to disconnect from the Nintendo Network for the last time, with a Twitter user known as Joziken (Elite Four of the Nintendo Network) documenting the last few embers of Pokémon on the 3DS.
Despite having lasted over 196 hours, their 3DS lost power overnight, which was documented on-stream by hundreds who had tuned in. In that time, they had visited the monuments of Kalos while interacting with the few players still connected.
Despite being asleep, the moment connection was lost was captured on video, which you can see on their account, and they followed it up with a short eulogy: “I am finally free from this limbo, but I am distraught that I am gone.”
Their final goodbye was not the end of Pokémon’s journey on the 3DS, as there were still others out there who had a functioning connection, Amanda being one of them. Communication was limited to the e-motes available in-game, though a poem was also written by them.
Having lasted 28 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes of connection, Amanda finally disconnected with a farewell message sure to tug on the heartstrings of anyone who grew up skating around Kalos’ Parisian streets, the re-imagined world of Hoenn in OR/AS, or any of the online worlds in the Nintendo Network on 3DS and Wii-U:
“Hello, Amanda here.
Amanda, via Joziken
I just wanted to say thank you to all those who were rooting for me over the past month as I held on to remain online, I never thought I’d end up being the final Pokémon player on the Nintendo Network, but it happened anyway. If it hadn’t been from the support of people online and the support of the Nintendo Network After Hours server, I don’t know if I could have lasted, as there were many times where I almost disconnected out of fear of damaging my 3DS. I also thank Docturo for inviting me and recording my Poem, Gaff for hosting the server, Quane for their support, Amby for hanging on to be the last ORAS player and supporting me, and Joziken for keeping track of the state of the Pokémon Servers when they were online, and for posting this for me. If anyone has any questions, feel free to respond.
It’s the end of an era and for everyone who was there for the last day I thank you, and for those who spent that first day afterwards wonder trading, may you treasure those last trades like I will. With the last MK7 player being unable to race, the 3DS era of the Nintendo Online is now officially over. Rest in Peace Nintendo Network, you will be missed. Let’s hope for the day that someday in some form or fasion it returns. Until that day comes, the fun doesn’t have to end just because the online did, so enjoy yourselves.
3DS Fans Forever”
Amanda disconnected on May 8th, over two weeks ago, though their final farewell only came yesterday. It followed an emotional time for Nintendo players who had to come to terms with the fact that Generation 6 and 7 games were now inaccessible online, though the games continue to be playable on your own.
I’ve got my 3DS on my desk right now. Up until the last month, I’d never viewed it as a retro console. It always felt like it was the same as my Nintendo Switch, just with much less powerful internals. Now though, with Pokémon finally having been disconnected, things have changed. After I finish work today I’m going to load up my copy of Pokémon X and relive much of the experiences I cherished when I was young. Hopefully there are others who do the same.
