Little backstory before I get into what's going on with me and Nintendo's customer service. About 5 years ago or so I hacked my Wii. My son had just broken half of my Wii games by using them to skate on the floor (DVD's are slick don't you know?), and I got super frustrated and wasn't interested in coughing up several hundred dollars to replace it all. Despite having a hacked Wii, I never really went overboard with playing downloaded games. I didn't have an external harddrive so I used burned discs, but I found they never performed as well as a real copy. Longer loading times, FMV's wouldn't run as well, etc. None of that's really important though. The point I'm trying to make is I kept buying games, including a lot of Wiiware and VC games.

That brings us to December of 2012 shortly after the Wii U launched. I was having internet issues with the Wii so I was unable to do the game transfer. I called customer support and explained the error message I was receiving. In a very polite non-accustory way the customer service rep asked me if I had ever heard of the Homebrew Channel. Apparently my error code was an indication that my Wii had been flagged and had it's internet bricked. The Wii still worked mind you, but they had essentially prevented from me getting online with it. I played dumb of course, and he said there was a chance it was something else and I could send it in to have it looked at, but knowing the truth I declined.

Not really a huge deal, but it did prevent me from accessing most of the Wii Shop games I had purchased over the years. I bought well over 40 games, and there was no way that would have ever fit on the harddive, or even one SD card. So, most of that library was lost to me. Fair enough, I hacked it, I will take the punishment. The only real regret was losing the Magic Obliesk which has been since taken off the market and is pretty hard to come by.

Now we come to today. I've decided to make one last attempt to get access to my library of Wii Shop games. It's a total of 46 games and over $300 was spent on it. Why not try right? I called customer service and they took the serial number of my Wii and Wii U and said they could do the transfer themselves, but it would have to go through the proper channels and it would take 5 to 7 business days. So it's likely they're going to look at my Wii's serial number and see that it was flagged. The question is, will they enforce the terms and conditions and tell me to fuck off or will they do it anyway?

I'm crossing my fingers that they push it through. One thing I've learned about Nintendo over the years, is generally they will kiss their customers' ass if they know you spend money and they can verify it. On my Club Nintendo account I looked at all the digital games I've bought over the past few years, and its not a small amount. Between the Wii, DSi, 3DS, and Wii U I've made nearly $1,000 in digital purchases. I'm the kind of customer they like. And we won't bother going into all the other physical copies of games I've bought and registered with Club Nintendo. Enough to get platinum status 5 out of the last 6 years. Anyway, wish me luck. I wouldn't mind having what would essentially be a "new to me" library again since I haven't touched most of those games in many years.

Posted by robio Sun, 08 Jun 2014 16:50:05 (comments: 35)
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Sun, 08 Jun 2014 17:41:04
I would guess they would do it. Who knows if they really flagged your serial number and keep records of all cheaters forever.
 
Sun, 08 Jun 2014 17:49:32

They should reinstate all of your purchases, unless they really want to be dicks about your use of the Homebrew Channel. Nintendo has been dicks lately, though, so who knows? I hope they help you out. Spending $1000 on digital games is no joke.

 
Sun, 08 Jun 2014 17:52:31

Heh, I had spent around $250 on VC/Wiiware, but lost it all when I sold my launch Wii. That loss still makes me feel a little sick, even though I wouldn't replay most of those games anyway.

 
Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:03:23
Ravenprose said:

Heh, I had spent around $250 on VC/Wiiware, but lost it all when I sold my launch Wii. That loss still makes me feel a little sick, even though I wouldn't replay most of those games anyway.

I did that with my first 3DS though not to that extent. I had around $100 in digital games on that. Then again, those game are why I was able to sell the system for as much as I did.

 
Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:07:25

Oh and just since I pulled up the list, I figured I would share the games that I might be able to get back. Most of the ones for the NES and SNES aren't too much of a priority. The ones that I really want I've already gotten back through Club Nintendo or just rebought. But there's a few N64, WiiWare, and TG16 titles that I'd be happy to spend a few hours with again.


Super Fantasy ZoneGenesis
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly CaliberN64
Super Mario 64N64
Yoshi's StoryN64
Castlevania IIINES
Dig DugNES
Donkey Kong Jr.NES
Donkey Kong 3NES
Elevator ActionNES
Milon's Secret CastleNES
Pac-ManNES
River City RansomNES
SMB: Lost LevelsNES
Solomon's KeyNES
Super Mario Bros.NES
Alex Kidd in Miracle WorldSMS
Fantasy ZoneSMS
Space HarrierSMS
DoReMi FantasySNES
Harvest MoonSNES
Sim CitySNES
Super Castlevania IVSNES
Super Street Fighter IISNES
Uncharted Waters: New HorizonsSNES
Lords of ThunderTG16
OrdyneTG16
Ys Book I & IITG16
RygarWii Arcade
ShinobiWii Arcade
Art Style: Light TraxWiiWare
Art Style: OrbiantWiiWare
Bit.Trip BeatWiiWare
Bomberman BlastWiiWare
Defend Your CastleWiiWare
Dr. Mario RxWiiWare
Final Fantasy IV: The After YearsWiiWare
Final Fantasy: My Life as a KingWiiWare
Harvest Moon: My Little ShopWiiWare
Jett RocketWiiWare
Learning with the PooYoosWiiWare
Learning with the PooYoos 3WiiWare
Lost WindsWiiWare
My AquariumWiiWare
NyxQuest: Kindred SpiritsWiiWare
Rage of the GladiatorWiiWare
The Magic OblieskWiiWare
World of GooWiiWare
 
Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:30:35

Some amazing games, but what if the FBI comes a knockin'? Nyaa. Y's books 1 and 2any good?

 
Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:49:50

Not even one C64 game, robio? Hrm

 
Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:02:38

Oh yeah I forgot about the Commodore 64 games. No. I never had interest in the handful of games they put out there. I do wonder why it was never really followed up on after the initial few games were released. Guess no one else bought them either.

 
Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:04:04
travo said:

Some amazing games, but what if the FBI comes a knockin'? Nyaa. Y's books 1 and 2any good?

I've already got the IRS knocking on my door. Bring on the FBI too.

And I wasn't really that impressed with Y's. I don't remember much about it, though I do remember not being interested enough to play it after a while.

 
Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:04:59

It seems like it was a huge reason to own a Master System back in the day.

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