Is this it for the Nintendo 3DS? No new first-party games in the works

By Aaron Mamiit Published April 27, 2019

There is no official announcement that the Nintendo 3DS is winding down, but the contents of a financial briefing by the video game company hinted that the handheld console is nearing the end of its rope.

More specifically, it is the lack of content regarding the Nintendo 3DS in the briefing that signals the decline of the handheld console, according to Kotaku.

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In the same briefing last year, Nintendo said that it would “continue the 3DS business,” and just before the meeting, Nintendo revealed new titles for the console such as Luigi’s Mansion and WarioWare Gold. This was after the 3DS posted U.S. sales of over 750,000 units in December 2017, the highest total for the system since December 2014, as part of an incredibly strong holiday season for Nintendo.

However, in this year’s version of the briefing, Nintendo did not mention the 3DS at all, with no game announcements beforehand.

“We have nothing new to announce regarding first-party software for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems,” a spokesperson said in an email to Kotaku. “We can confirm that new software is coming from third-party publishers.”

The previously announced Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn may turn out to be the final first-party game for the 3DS, and the only third-party game in the works is Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. It appears that Nintendo is moving on from the handheld console, as it turns its focus on the massively successful Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo has supported the 3DS longer than many expected, but with the release of the Nintendo Switch and the company’s push into mobile gaming, the handheld console’s days became numbered.

The Nintendo 3DS, which was released in 2011, has sold about 75 million units. Combined with the Nintendo DS, the second best-selling video game system of all time at 154 million units, just 1 million behind the PlayStation 2, the DS family has sold about 230 million consoles.

It remains to be seen if this is really the end for the Nintendo 3DS, but it appears that the only thing missing is an official announcement to confirm the handheld system’s retirement. Here is a look back at the 25 best 3DS games, for fans who would like to stroll down memory lane.

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Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…

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The best Nintendo DS games of all time

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Nintendo seemed untouchable in the handheld market, but even fans were a little confused when we first saw the DS. This was the start of Nintendo experimenting with weird ideas for its systems, in this case making a handheld that had two screens. Unlike the Wii U, people loved everything about the DS, most of all its games. There are hundreds of hidden gems to discover in this clamshell console, including some we think are the best games of all time. Let's narrow the list down as much as we can and list only the best of the best.

We've also found the best 3DS games, GBA games, and Game Boy Color Games of all time.

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Key art for Metal Slug Attack Reloaded.

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Metal Slug games are typically side-scrollers where players control soldiers blasting their way through stages with a variety of bombastic weapons. It's explosive, fairly fast-paced, and still quite fun today. I still have the Xbox 360 re-release of Metal Slug 3 downloaded on my Xbox Series X and boot it up whenever I'm in the mood for it. In comparison, Metal Slug Attack Reloaded is a slower-paced game that plays quite differently. The core conceit of every level is that players want to protect their own base while destroying their opponent's base. These bases are both attacked and defended by Units, which players customize decks of before a battle in order to determine what will be at their disposal.

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Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD gives a 3DS classic the treatment it deserves

Luigi, scared, closes a door in Luigi's Mansion 2 HD.

I got into Nintendo games during an era that's considered to be the company's weakest. In retrospect, the 3DS and Wii U era was poor for Nintendo, serving as a low point between the successes of the Wii and Switch. Despite that, this is when I went all-in on playing almost every new Nintendo game after getting both a 3DS and Wii U. And looking back, Nintendo was still putting out some great games during this era. One such title was Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, a sequel to a GameCube launch title that took the series to portables and added 3D. It was the flagship game in the now infamous "Year of Luigi" and positioned the series for success with Luigi's Mansion 3.

Ahead of an end-of-generation blowout for Switch, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is getting rereleased as Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. I've been replaying the game on Switch over the past couple of weeks and comparing it to my time with the 3DS version. It's less robust of a refurbishment than the one Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door received last month, but if you skipped out on the 3DS era of Nintendo and never checked Dark Moon out, then Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is worth your attention -- especially now that it's no longer possible to easily get the original.
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Luigi's Mansion 2 HD follows Luigi as he recovers pieces of the Dark Moon that gave the 3DS game its namesake. The McGuffin kept ghosts calm, but that peace ended when King Boo shattered it. Professor E. Gadd recruits Luigi (somewhat against his will) to explore the mansion, capture ghosts with an upgraded Poltergust 5000, and recover pieces of the Dark Moon. While the original Luigi's Mansion was all set in one mansion, this sequel was designed for a handheld platform, so its structure is a lot more segmented.