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The 3DS originally launched back in 2011 as Nintendo's eighth generation handheld and a successor to the vastly popular DS. It sold relatively well with a total of 75 million units worldwide, surpassing by far its home console counterpart, the ill-fated WIi U, and its competitor, the PlayStation Vita. Despite the immense success of the Nintendo Switch, the 3DS continued to hold up pretty well thanks to its huge list of available titles appealing to a wide audience of people, with games such as Mario Kart 7 (the system's top-seller), Super Smash Bros for 3DS, Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon and many others, which helped to ramp up its sales and stay alive for over two years after the Switch's release.

But as with every product out there; no matter how popular, well-known or successful, a console has a limited timespan that must eventually come to an end. Yesterday marked the western release date of Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, a dungeon crawler RPG spinoff of the highly esteemed Persona 5 game, and pretty much nothing else noteworthy has been released or announced aside from some titles such as Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn (a remake of the original classic on the Wii) and a few Indies here and there.

The time is nigh for the 3DS, as many developers, along with their respective resources, are shifting their attention towards the Switch, thus dropping third-party support for Nintendo's previous handheld console significantly. Not to mention how the general user base has migrated towards the latter too, mainly due to the various upcoming/released games or for its hardware-related innovations and features. As a result, Nintendo of Japan's website reports that there are no more games scheduled on the upcoming releases list for the 3DS, hence leaving its lineup of games completely empty for the time being, which might upset hardcore 3DS fans.

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[pedro702]

3ds = Home of pokemon games from gen 1 up to gen 7 (I include ORAS in gen3)

there is no gen 1 or 2 on 3ds

1 was gb/gba
2 was gbc/ds

 

[Bladexdsl]

the 3ds having a great games library you must be joking when i had it i ended up playing under 10 games on it before i got tired of it having nothing of interest on it and sold it. the ds had way more better games.

glad it's finally dead i'm tired of it stealing games that should have been on the switch (cough metroid cough)

 

[wownmnpare]

there is no gen 1 or 2 on 3ds

1 was gb/gba
2 was gbc/ds

But there's Virtual Console for gen 1 and 2

 

[THYPLEX]

Shakedown Hawaii is supposedly still coming and is being finished.

When will it come out ?!
:'(

 

[DarthDub]

You had a good run old friend.

 

[duwen]

Hopefully it won't be the last true handheld system they produce... when the 3ds/2ds ceases production we'll be at a unique point in gaming history where not since the first handheld systems were released no major console manufacturer will be producing a dedicated, truly portable, handheld device.

I'm very much looking forward to the future of homebrew on the 3ds - I know there were certain things planned for when the system reached it's EoL, such as the VirtualBoy emulator that's in the works which will utilise the 3d aspect of the system.

 

[mesakagi]

3DS is my most favorite handheld system, it has so many good games and so many unique hardware models. I still havent gotten around to beating many of its games yet

 

[chrisman02]

This makes me sad. I was super late to the 3DS party, but the app store and virtual console library is so much more massive and has much more quality than the Switch. And you don't need to subscribe to Nintendo Online just to play old NES games. They're available for everyone.

Not to mention the 3D. I know a lot of people say it was overhyped but I absolutely love it. Look into the Japan Train Sim games, for example, just download the demos. The 3D effect is so freaking cool and is an experience you cannot get on the Switch or any other console.

I really wish there was another console that tried 3D but in higher resolution. I'm surprised it was such a short lived fad.

Also, I wouldn't really call the switch very portable. You need to carry it around in its own case and pray you don't get any dirt or anything in the case to rub against the screen. The 3DS and 2DS - not counting the XLs - fold into a tiny package anyone can carry in a pocket and not worry about the screens getting scuffed up. No controllers to worry about twisting and breaking or getting lost if you don't properly store it. A battery that lasts twice as long. Etc.

Love my switch but find myself playing my 3DS and modded DSi *far* more often.

 

[FAST6191]

Born into this world with nothing, and with nothing it departs. The 3ds library is a pale imitation of the magnificence of the GBA and DS, I would say even the GB/GBC did better in the end but for the ageing of it all. All those that made the GBA and DS great had since fucked off by the time the 3ds came around, and those that did stay were not on their a-game.

I can't even be bothered to say good riddance as it occupied so little mindshare that Nokia's phones during that period probably had a greater impact and neither I nor anybody I know has had one since they came with snake.

People say it did better than the Vita. Except I reckon the vita will have titles people seek out and play for years to come. Not many but some.

That's not how cancer works. People like you are sickening.

I would say people that trot out a thing that essentially all the world will experience or have someone close to them experience ( https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer ) for sympathy points when faced with a turn of phrase are sickening.

 

[SSG Vegeta]

I don't want this to be the end of dedicated handhelds one route is always boring. In any case I will continue to buy 3DS games come on Nintendo give us the 4DS & Switch Mini.

 

[WiikeyHacker]

I think this might be the chance for third party devs to put their games on the system if nintendo isn't bothering with it now. Plus as various other users have said it opens the doors for modders to put games they made on the system or even translations of games my country hasn't released for overseas localization. Mainly due to fans doing a better job than the official companies.

 

[Paulsar99]

It has a good long life and its also great that their focus now is more on the switch.

 

[pedro702]

But there's Virtual Console for gen 1 and 2

still VC is just emulation wich doesnt count imo since teh games arent native to it and the remakes are better and arent on 3ds VC.

 

[150ccToEasy]

damn what a sad day for 3ds everywhere it did has a good run tho

 

[Redhorse]

I can hear the taps playing on my 3ds now...

 

[Teletron1]

3DS game sales must have took a huge dip

With the end of and era wonder if they do a Switch Mini /2DS combo would feel weird no? Isn't that the Nintendo way
GB/GBC
GB/GBC/GBA
GBA/DS
DS/3DS

 

[CeeDee]

When will it come out ?!
:'(

Soon - dev submitted it to Nintendo.

It and Shovel Knight: King of Cards are still coming - once both are out that'll truly be the end as far as we know.

 

[HEADBOY]

Even if Ninty says "nyoooo moar gyames farr ewe", I bet there'll be a country somewhere in the world releasing games until 2025.

Like with the PS2 and Wii?

 

[H1B1Esquire]

Like with the PS2 and Wii?

I was thinking, like NES-∞ (and beyond).

 

[FAST6191]

I find there are four types of late stage release

1) Things that devs have been working on and don't fancy punting to the successor system, or have a build basically done already so it is whatever effort required to get things pressed and ship it. I will include late stage region dupes in this.
2) Film/tv show/comic book cash in games that they still reckon there is a big enough install base to be worth it for. These things seem to have died off though and few mourned their passing.
3) Sports games popular in a given region. So usually football or American football in much of the world and the US respectively.
4) Things like we see on the dreamcast and whatnot where some fans essentially make a piece of homebrew and release it as a commercial effort.

All can yield some surprisingly quality efforts --
For 1) you obviously have devs that have got to know the system over the last however many years and are usually pretty good at getting all they can from it.
For 2) you can find the small teams are basically given free reign and the results (especially with the "we know this system" thing can be surprisingly good; I frequently bring up the GBA Pirates of the Caribbean game, but you can also look at some of the rarer and more expensive games for older systems and quite often you find such titles and a note of their surprisingly high quality. That said just as many are clueless (grand)parent fodder.
On 3) then sports games are never good as far as I am concerned but if you do like such things then again quality coders doing quality work, even more so when the games have arguably had the same codebase for several years at this point and thus it is pretty polished and refined.
4) obviously has devs up to speed with current dev practices and gameplay styles (UI design has moved on since any console that is not current and still has a long way to go, understanding of game theory has moved on but has even further to go) all doing their own thing with their own modern tools on their own time as it were (no particular deadlines other than those they set themselves).

Some combo of the lot is also seen if the platform in question enjoys a second life in another country -- South America has its own thing going on a lot of the time (see the story of the Genesis/Megadrive there, especially Brazil), Eastern Europe or one of the non multi5 countries occasional gloms onto something and keeps it going for a few more years, South Korea and Thailand have done some things in the past, China not so much other than a bit of ique stuff, I am expecting India to do something at some point (though it might be in mobile phones), the middle east might be having something happen (they certainly enjoy a vibrant ROM hacking scene) and there is enough wealth in Africa these days that you get some similarities with the first two locations on this list as they were 20 years ago.