On March 3, Nintendo took down the online multiplayer modes for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon in order to address some outstanding issues with their servers. The servers for these Nintendo games were not given a timetable for when they would return online at the time of writing.The news of the online multiplayer servers for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon comes as the Nintendo eShop clients for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U will cease functioning later this month. On March 27, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U players can no longer access the Nintendo eShop. However players will have until 2024 to transfer leftover funds from 3DS and Wii U to a Nintendo Account, which can be used for Switch titles instead. But, the reason why Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon were taken offline in particular may seem a bit scary for some users.RELATED: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 4 Coming Next Week With New Tracks and Playable Character On Twitter, known dataminer OatmealDome stated that the reason that these two Wii U titles are currently in maintenance was due to a potential exploit that can hijack a user's console. Dubbed the ENLBufferPwn exploit, this hack can take over the console just by connecting it online to the Mario Kart 8 or Splatoon servers. This exploit was also prevalent in other Nintendo first-party titles, such as Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS, but has been subsequently fixed at the time of writing. However, both Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon for the Wii U have yet to be patched, oddly enough. The maintenance does not extend to other titles at this time.

Nintendo has not posted a definitive time for when these games will have online functionality restored, but the extended maintenance should give players some peace of mind that the problem is being addressed. But, with the 3DS and Wii U losing online functionality by the day, it is only a matter of when the online server for these titles will go dark for the last time. Until then, once the servers for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon return online, players will have just a little longer to enjoy playing and racing together in those games.

However, players that want to return to Inkopolis on their Switch are in luck. The recent Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass takes players back to the hub city from the first game, which has seen some significant changes since it first debuted in May 2015. Between continued updates to Splatoon 3 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, players that want to keep playing the games they enjoyed online from the Wii U can do so on the Switch in the meantime.

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Source: IGN