The 31 Best DSiWare Games You Should Get Before They’re Gone Forever

It’s the final countdown — the 3DS eShop closes for new purchases on Monday and taking the DSiWare store with it, so we’re republishing this guide to highlight some gems for you to consider. You have this weekend to make sure you’ve bought everything you want to play…

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The demise of the 3DS and Wii U eShops has many of us reminiscing about the not-so-long-ago days when those digital stores were at their peak — as well as launching those stores on their respective consoles to make sure we got all the games we wanted before they were gone forever they disappear March 27.

One part of the 3DS store in particular seems to have gotten a little lost in the crowd: the DSiWare store. The handheld counterpart to WiiWare, this was a walled garden of digital-only games that first appeared on the DSi The hardware revision of the original DS is often overlooked, but it’s still currently available via the 3DS eShop in its own little section, and has a lot more worthwhile games than you expected!

A bunch of in-house and published titles appear below, from studios with great pedigree. DSiWare gave developers the space to experiment with smaller ideas unencumbered by the financial risks of a full physical release — and the results were often fascinating. It’s not just a bunch of watch apps, you know! Although there are some.

Below, we’ve rounded up a great selection of DSi hidden gems and interesting classics that — for the most part — simply aren’t available anywhere else. While you might find them on used consoles in the future, there’s currently no other official way to buy and play these games, which is a shame. We have archived reviews for each game below, so check them out if you want to know more.

Just keep in mind that you can’t use credit cards to pay for 3DS eShop games right now, and you can’t add funds via gift cards unless you have your Nintendo Network ID linked to your Nintendo Account, in which case the pooled funds will still be available in stores until are not closed. So now’s the time to load up on gift cards while you still can — and, if you want, get a great 5% off with our eShop gift card discount code. Details below!

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So let’s take a look – in no particular order – at many of the best DSiWare games money can buy. If you’re not hanging around, that is.

Note: We have included prices below where possible. Some games are only available in certain regions, as indicated by the displayed currencies (US or UK) as well as the release dates for each entry. Also, most—but not all—of the DSi catalog was moved to the 3DS eShop before the service was discontinued on DSi consoles in March 2017. Therefore, we didn’t include any unavailable titles (Picdun and Pop Island: Paperfield, for example), or titles readily available in in physical form or on the Nintendo Switch via port (hello, Shantae).