Your Wii U could be bricked without you even knowing

Your Wii U could be bricked without you even knowing
Images via Nintendo

Written by 

Joseph Kime

Published 

7th Mar 2023 11:11

Let's not pretend that you still play your Wii U, but even so, you wouldn't want it broken...would you? The console marked a pretty terrible time for Nintendo - when the iconography of the Wii had faded from the cultural consciousness and its gaming innovations seemed tired.

It culminated in a console that rode the coattails of its predecessor and failed to make a splash along the way. As is the way with Nintendo, some great games appeared, but the Wii U didn't do what the company wanted it to. And now, it's a relic. Unless you fancy playing Star Fox Zero

But, trouble has struck for those who were considering revisiting the console and booting up The Wind Waker HD. Apparently, the Wii U has started bricking itself. 

The Wii U seems to be killing itself

Your Wii U could be bricked without you even knowing
Click to enlarge

A new issue has been discovered over on Reddit, claiming that the Wii U eventually becomes corrupted if it isn't used for a long time. Remember the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death? Now it's Nintendo's turn. 

The error is a NAND corruption that is reportedly unfixable unless a NAND backup isn't made before the console corrupts - as it suffers memory errors that practically brick the system. On top of this, Nintendo isn't offering any kind of fixes on the console because it is no longer its flagship.

This means that if your Wii U succumbs to the problem that cracks its memory, there is no official way of resuscitating it. The problem has been widely reported, suggesting that this isn't simply a one-off for one unlucky Wii U user.

How do I save my Wii U?

If you want to hang onto your Wii U while it's still functioning, the best thing to do is simply boot it up. This will, for lack of a better term, wake it up. So far, it seems like the best solution to keep your console from becoming practically worthless.

Remembering the Wii U is only one generation behind, it's incredibly sad to see that they're already dying after going unused. We don't know what this means for the preservation of the consoles, but it looks like the Wii U remains in need of routine maintenance.

We hope you liked Animal Crossing: Amiibo Party and have kept playing because it might be the only thing standing between your Wii U console and the void.

Joseph Kime
About the author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
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