https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/56457/wii-u-system-update-released-yes-in-2021

Two and a half years after the last update, and with basically zero releases since, we get this. I was bemused enough to share. Did ANYONE notice? As for why, it's unclear, but the article does say:

... the patch comes only four weeks before the day of reckoning where several of their limited-edition games will be delisted from the Switch eShop. Alongside the removal of these titles, the online features for the Wii U version of Super Mario Maker will be reduced on the same day, permanently disabling the ability for players to upload new levels to the game's online collection.

No, I did not, and I usually run my TV Netflix on it. Got to take another look.

It's alive!

I still have it hooked up, so I guess I'll update.

I just unhooked mine a few weeks ago...but now I feel like I want to hook it back up just to install this lol

At this point I'm pretty sure it was just to stop hacking and/or piracy.

List of changes and/or fixes?

This is Nintendo. "Additional stability, subject concluded."

I wouldn't be surprised if they locked down some software modules that were left open for future updates just to make it harder to mod the OS.  Of course, most people who mod the U already have backups of older versions of the OS and have been using them for sometime.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they also did some pre-emptive patching to maintain stability for gamers who will be playing SMM, etc offline.  I could see how the servers shutting down could cause some stability issues for those games.  I wouldn't be surprised if the individual games also get patched when the servers do finally go offline.

Surprised there's a new update. This will probably be the last one.

I actually want to hook up my Wii U again, but who knows when I will.