Shutting down the Wii Shop Channel Music browser extension (Patreon)

I released a browser extension in 2020 that played the Wii Shop Channel music in the background when you visited Amazon, Best Buy, and other online stores. I released a major update in 2022, and I’ve been working on a rewritten version, but I have now decided to discontinue the browser extension.

The Wii Shop browser extension needed to be significantly rewritten to comply with Google’s Manifest V3 extension policies, which will go into effect in a few months. On top of that, Firefox has not implemented the same changes, so the extension would need a much more complex codebase to handle both web browsers.

More importantly, Nintendo has been increasingly litigious against unauthorized use of its intellectual property. I believe the browser extension’s use of Nintendo’s images and music falls under fair use, but I don’t have lawyer money to defend that, and I’m no longer comfortable with one of my side projects being a potential target for Nintendo (potentially taking out my other work as collateral damage).

The Wii Shop Channel Music browser extension is now discontinued, and I have deleted the GitHub repository containing the code. I am aware there are forks and other mirrors of the project online, but I will not be working on them. The browser extensions are still available, and they will soon be updated to turn off all functionality and include a link to this blog post.

The list of shopping sites used by the extension will remain available, and nothing is changing with my ImageShare web app or other projects. I had fun working on it, and I especially enjoyed the occasional reviews from users saying it was the greatest invention of all time, but I think now is a great time to say farewell.

“But a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.” - Vision