It’s the end of an era. The 3DS eShop is closed, so people can’t buy anymore digital games. I mean, there’s a temporary reprieve for folks who still had download codes to redeem them until April 3, 2023. But it’s largely done. So in that mad rush to take advantage of the storefront while it was still around… what did you get? Let’s talk about our final purchases.
I’m pretty sure the last game that I bought on the 3DS was Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. It had been after a conversation with my friend about how terrible Dual Destinies was compared to the first four games of the series, and then she insisted that Spirit of Justice is actually good. So I bought it and then gave up somewhere in the second case. The story was the level of ridiculous that I couldn’t subscribe to in Dual Destinies and honestly, the new gimmick with the past memories felt like they made the cases a lot more complicated than they needed to be. Until the magic that is The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice killed my interest in the Ace Attorney series in the same way that Nintendo killed the 3DS and Wii U eShops. — Stephanie
The last game I picked up was Liberation Maiden on the US 3DS eShop. While I already owned all of the Level-5 Guild 01 and 02 games, somehow I missed getting that one over the years. Given these were digital exclusives, I figured I couldn’t risk losing access to these pieces of history! Sure, this particular game also appeared on iOS devices, but you can’t get it there anymore either! — Jenni
I, uh, may have been more prepared than most for the 3DS eShop shutdown, but I did grab one last thing: Fragrant Story. One of the last games released for a platform, it’s simultaneously a game about tactical battles and an extended pun. It’s a weird little experiment, and I picked up a physical copy! But $2 was a small price to pay for digital convenience. — Graham
