It’s no secret that the 3DS has been absolutely killing it this year so far, with more announcements coming out seemingly every week. Truth be told, I thought I was going to be retiring my beautiful Hyrule Edition New 3DS XL as I shifted my focus to the shiny new Switch, yet the Switch has been doing nothing but cycling air as it installs stability updates and plays zero games. Kind of sad, actually. The fact that the Switch itself kind of looks like a depressed dog face makes it even worse!

But what’s not sad or depressing is the support that the 3DS has been receiving. To call it life support would be a gross underestimation of the hard work that’s been going into it, and is continuing to go into it for the foreseeable future. The Switch is also finally about to see the retail love it deserves later this year in the form of Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade 2, and of course if you’re into multiplayer games, I’m sure you’ve been logging plenty of hours in ARMS and Splatoon 2. The eShop continues to see indie love.

There are some great retail titles planned for the 3DS however, and as much as I’d love to tote my Switch around everywhere, my 3DS has held the responsibility of keeping me properly entertained, and by the looks of it, it will continue to do so for quite some time.

Here at official Nostalgia Trigger headquarters (a dimly lit office with too much track shelving and a way-too-large television), we have received official word from Shigeru Miyamoto himself (random NeoGAF posts) that release dates have been confirmed for the west for both Monster Hunter Stories as well as Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters, arriving on September 8th and 29th, respectively.

 

While I don’t plan on personally diving into Yo-Kai Watch 2, ‘Stories is one that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. I really enjoyed my time spent with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and while I understand that this game is a spin-off RPG, the elements I’ve read about have really put Monster Hunter Stories on my radar. I love the art style and the universe of Monster Hunter, and think it would make a great monster-catching RPG!

So, add another one to the pile. I love it.

Of course, time is quite limited with the plethora of other games coming out, so unfortunately it might get back-burnered for a while. For example, I’m currently wrapping up Ever Oasis and I’m looking at both Miitopia and Hey! Pikmin on my shelf, still wrapped in the cellophane. Ah, the classic adult problem of having the money to buy games, and never the time to play them all!

I just finished Ever Oasis earlier today after about 27 hours of amazing gameplay, and I’m going to miss it! I wrote a massive review for it over at The Well-Red Mage, so go check it out if you haven’t! Ever Oasis was the first 3DS game released this year that I played, but looking forward, I could trade my Switch and Vita back in and still have enough great stuff to play until next year.

I mentioned Miitopia and Hey! Pikmin above, released on the same day last Friday to accompany the release of the New 2DS XL, a system of which I am not personally interested in purchasing, but one which will undoubtedly bring in a handful of new members into the 2DS/3DS family.

Looking to September, we now have three flippin’ games to look forward to:

• Monster Hunter Stories (September 8th)
• Metroid: Samus Returns (September 15th)
• Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters (September 29th)

Of course, if you’re into re-playing the older Pokemon games, you’ll have Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver at your disposal on the 3DS Virtual console. And if that’s not enough pocket monster collecting for you, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are releasing November 17th!

Nestled in the midst of the aforementioned games is the often ignored Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions. Personally I’ve never played anything from the Mario & Luigi series, but it’s out there for those who are interested!

If you’re one of those masochistic types who enjoys torturing yourself with difficult games, and maybe has a side hobby of cartography, I’m sure you’re looking forward to the release of Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth, as well as Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux, which look to be a great finales to their respective series on the 3DS, before Atlus presumably moves their focus to the Nintendo Switch.

Even looking forward to first quarter 2018, we have Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology as well as the strange and incredible looking Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido that I kinda think I need to own.

By the way, if you haven’t been keeping count, excluding the VC games, that is 12 big retail titles coming to the 3DS in less than a year span, this late in its life. That is simply incredible. And I’m sure there’s at least one or two more that flew under my radar.

It’s undoubtedly going to be yet another huge year for the 3DS – when Nintendo claimed they would be supporting the 3DS throughout 2018, I admittedly rolled my eyes, as if to say “yeah, sure you are! You have a brand new fancy Switch device!” Yet here we are, and I’m happy to say I’ve gotten over “missing” the Switch. Its time to shine will come soon enough!

It’s a funny thing – from a business perspective, it does make sense to target the device that has millions upon millions of units already out in the wild, but looking to the future and getting third-party developers onboard for your new device is also good business sense. I foresee a shift to the Switch occurring in mid-2018 for many of these developers, once they’ve cashed out on the proverbial cash cow that is the Nintendo 3DS.

The way I see it, they are certainly setting their sights for an extremely successful last couple of years before fully moving on to the new hardware, and contrary to how I felt about it months ago when I bought my Switch, I think it’s a great plan, both for fans and stockholders.

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Do you have a big line-up for your 3DS throughout the next calendar year? What games are you looking forward to? Have you taken a break from your Switch like I have, or has it sat at the forefront of your gaming time? Is Nintendo’s continued support for the 3DS a good idea, or should they transition more to the Switch? Do you dunk things in coffee? Let me know how you feel about every single one of these things in the comments!