On the 3DS hardware section of the official Japanese Nintendo website, an announcement appeared today stating that the production of the Nintendo 3DS series has been discontinued. Meanwhile, the official U.S. Nintendo website no longer lists the 3DS in its hardware section and no mention of the 3DS line of products can be found. In fact, the nintendo.com/3ds URL redirects to nintendo.com. But unlike the Japanese website, there is no announcement of the handheld's discontinuation.

These news come abruptly as Nintendo has not made any official statement regarding the discontinuation of the 3DS line. The company even held a mini Direct today but made no such statement. With the Wii U long discontinued and the 3DS following suit, Nintendo seems to fully focus on the Nintendo Switch. An upgraded model has even been rumored by multiple sources briefed on Nintendo's strategy for an early 2021 release.

While the 3DS might be discontinued, it will still live on with emulators and homebrews that will give it a second life. In the wake of this news, what's your favorite 3DS game/memory?

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[Xalusc]

Big F for what was probably the best handheld of all time

 

[Coto]

Thank you Ninty. Also thanks Iwata-san! I know you hated the DS concept at first but then you could make true the long-awaited 3D platform Nintendo wanted to do for decades!

 

[USUKDecks]

This not only is the end of 3ds/2ds but it is the end of the "game boy" evolution which is really what all of nintendo's dedicated handheld's have been.

From Gameboy to gameboy color, advanced, DS, DSi, 2ds and 3ds and all the variants of all these systems and everything in between, nintendo since GB's inception has always had a handheld available through every generation and pretty much all of these Gameboy evolved devices sold very well.

The switch doesn't count as it is a console (evolved from the wii U) and the lite is just a stripped down version of it.

But this MORE SO is really the end of the dedicated handheld console in general. Which goes back from the later 70's like with Coleco's Electronic Quarterback for example.

We all knew this was coming as smart devices are capable of more and more especially with gaming, emulation...etc it just didn't/doesn't make sense to have dedicated handhelds anymore. So after 40+yrs, this piece of tech... in all its iterations... from the 3ds, to gameboys, to atari lynx, neo geo portable, psp, vita, sega game gear and countless others ... has finished its run.

Thanks to nitty for this and all their other dedicated handhelds through the decades and to the manufactures of all those other ones through all the years (good and bad )

... an era of gaming tech that now becomes a victim of progress and will live only in history.

 

[raxadian]

.. an era of gaming tech that now becomes a victim of progress and will live only in history.

They used to say the same about games on 2D, time proved them wrong.

While is true the Switch is not the 3DS direct successor, being more of a portable Wii U, is still an amazing portable console that you can also use on TV.

The 3DS/2DS, thanks to hacking, will last a while more even without new games. Is a shame we will lose the online services but save for Pokemon and Animal Crossing I have never used that much.

 

[EvilJagaGenius]

This not only is the end of 3ds/2ds but it is the end of the "game boy" evolution which is really what all of nintendo's dedicated handheld's have been.

From Gameboy to gameboy color, advanced, DS, DSi, 2ds and 3ds and all the variants of all these systems and everything in between, nintendo since GB's inception has always had a handheld available through every generation and pretty much all of these Gameboy evolved devices sold very well.

The switch doesn't count as it is a console (evolved from the wii U) and the lite is just a stripped down version of it.

But this MORE SO is really the end of the dedicated handheld console in general. Which goes back from the later 70's like with Coleco's Electronic Quarterback for example.

We all knew this was coming as smart devices are capable of more and more especially with gaming, emulation...etc it just didn't/doesn't make sense to have dedicated handhelds anymore. So after 40+yrs, this piece of tech... in all its iterations... from the 3ds, to gameboys, to atari lynx, neo geo portable, psp, vita, sega game gear and countless others ... has finished its run.

Thanks to nitty for this and all their other dedicated handhelds through the decades and to the manufactures of all those other ones through all the years (good and bad )

... an era of gaming tech that now becomes a victim of progress and will live only in history.

I think this is what stings for me. I hate the thought that there's no place for handheld consoles anymore, because it seems like the only thing to replace it is the Switch and cellphones. The Switch has shortcomings which have been detailed above. Phones, to be charitable, are riddled with ads, microtransactions, shovelware, and crappy controls. I enjoy a small screen that doesn't broadcast to the world, a pair of headphones, lying in bed with a good game. I don't want to see that legacy die.

I saw in an earlier post that in a few years the 3DS will be considered retro gaming. Maybe the entire concept of handhelds is retro now. It would explain why most new handhelds we see are emulation machines, and it's fitting that a popular use of 3DSs is converting them into homebrew and emulation devices.

Ah, I'm gonna grab one of these before they go extinct.

 

[KimKong]

Had to happen sometime, I guess.. A bit sad though..

Favorite game / 3ds moments?
Hmm..
Monster Hunter games and Inchworm animations..!!
But also, of course, TWiLightMenu++

 

[|<roni&g]

Sad to hear. Had just commented on a video at 4am this morning telling the story of how I played the 3ds on release day in a GAME store and was sold but ordered from Asda (wal mart equivalent) to save £30 thinking I'd be able to go the store same day I ordered and pick up but that wasn't the case and I had to wait a week for delivery to he store even tho they had them in stock.

Great system but could of been better. No call of duty, no GTA, only one wrestling game. Still 1 of the all time greats and thanks to all the hackers that made the 3ds a fun console for me & many others.


Edit: No Nintendo, this isn't a reason to turn either 3DS or WiiU's online off, leave them running.

 

[HEADBOY]

Kid Icarus Uprising was definitely one of the best 3DS games I played, I know this is a bit mixed between Sonic fans but Lost World was actually an overall great game. I'm mad my screw is stripped on my Old 3DS so I couldn't repair the trigger (got it two months after launch).

 

[grey72]

Its a massive stretch now but I hope the 3DS successor that was rumored a while back will see the light of day. There's no replacing handhelds and the switch is just too big.

 

[chrisrlink]

don't fear as the pretendo network is shaping up nicely (still no release but a lot of progress has been made only thing is nintendo's move on that weither or not a C&D will be issued (even though it's clean room RE'ing they could still be a dick and shut it down) which will piss off an entire fanbase and hopefully convert some to anti nintendo side

 

[medoli900]

Best game on 3DS?
Final Fantasy Theatrhythm: Curtain Call, if not the best game period.

 

[goldensun87]

LOL, so much for "continuing to release games for 3DS". Also, is it true that Pokemon X/Y/OR/AS/S/M/US/UM online is shut down?

 

[Naendow]

It's probably time to collect network traffic of online games. Who knows how long the official servers will be online anymore? :/

 

[PrincessLillie]

Also, is it true that Pokemon X/Y/OR/AS/S/M/US/UM online is shut down?

No. Don't know who you heard that from, but that's horribly false. Only thing that's been killed off is the Global Link, online services still work fine.

 

[GuyInDogSuit]

Oof.

Good thing I just bought a refurbished N2DSXL from them. Came in just a couple days before this announcement. At least they're still on the North American store. I heard Europe is SoL though.

 

[FONZD]

The 3DS hack was the main reason I joined this site and his amazing community. I just regret the toxicity of the switch one.
Ahh Good old days...

 

[battlecatsahead]

this is really sad, i have so many great memories with the 3ds.

 

[USUKDecks]

They used to say the same about games on 2D, time proved them wrong.

I've been around since the 70's and never have heard that being said about 2d games. Also, what we are talking about here is NOT the medium its the tech the medium is played on. So making that comparison is apples to oranges. 2D games will never go away and any shred of common sense will tell anybody that. They are like simple low budget movies. With all the tech and big budget movies that exist, we still get simple low budget movies that with good writing, directing and acting can put many of those ridiculous high production movies to shame.

2D games are the same... a simple (or extravagant) well made, interesting, fun 2D game can still be successful and that will always be the case.

But many of the pieces of TECH that play 2D games like: snes, nes, genesis, all the Atari systems....etc etc those are long gone and the occasional "mini" release to cash in on nostalgia, doesn't count. That's what's being discussed here, not the medium.

The dedicated handheld console IS gone, It joins the VCR, the laser disc player, cassette players, 8-track players, the floppy disc drive ...and many more examples of a platform that a medium is played on that has fallen to progress. The video game and or style of video game... that medium itself is something different and it continues of course.

 

[IcedOutBart]

I bought my first red 3ds when i moved to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania back in 2012....I bought mario kart 7 and ocarina of time 3ds never forget playing those 2 games in the winter time after the holidays. Good times man it will be the one of the best handhelds of all time modded or not.

 

[raxadian]

I've been around since the 70's and never have heard that being said about 2d games.

Back on the era when a lot of games tried (and a lot of them failed) the 3D leap that was something that was said. How games on 3D CGI were the future and so on. Time however proved people still wanted and liked games on 2D.

Heck the main reason the Sega Saturn was so hard to program for was because they didn't want to add a 3D video card and so they added a second processor instead.

The Nintendo 64 was made with 3D games in mind, same for the Playstation.

One videogame console generation later and suddenly 2D games were cool again.

Note, on PCs that also happened, hence why Lucas Arts tried to make their point and click games on 3D.