Yes, a certain group slipped through the cracks of Nintendo's shutdown and has been able to remain online for the ensuing days and weeks. Two players, @fishguy6564 and @marioiscool246 (to use their Twitter handles), have been running the final Mario Kart 7 lobby for the past month, programming two bots to race each other endlessly. Well, it was 'endlessly'.
In a dramatic twist usually reserved for episode four of a six-part Netflix drama, @marioiscool246's 3DS froze while speeding around the Luigi's Mansion circuit. After 13,151 races, only @fishguy6564 remains on the Mario Kart 7 servers — albeit trapped in the lobby with nobody to play against.
In total, this means that there are only four known players left on the Nintendo Network as a whole. At least, that's according to @GaffsNotLaffs who has been keeping track of those remaining via the 'Nintendo Network After Hours' Discord server. While fishguy6564 is the last in the 3DS driver's seat, the Wii U servers still have one active player in Super Mario Maker, Splatoon and Xenoblade Chronicles X respectively.
We're hoping that the remaining 'Elite Four' can hold on as long as possible, honestly, though they are dropping fast. Last week, Eeveh-roo-deh (イーヴェルーデ) disconnected from the Xenoblade Chronicles X server while a player by the name of Amanda finally dropped out of the Pokémon X & Y servers, sounding the death knell for Gen VI's online connectivity.
We'll be keeping an eye on those that remain to see just how long the servers can be kept alive.
