Pining for the Fjords (and an announcement!)

Nintendo hasn't made it official yet, but it seems the Nintendo 3DS has reached the end of its life after eight mostly successful but occasionally tumultuous years. Kotaku reports that there are no first party games in development for the system, and almost nothing from licensees. (Oh dear me, how will I ever go on without a steady flow of classics from RCMADIAX?)

This is where I'd grumble about the system getting axed before reaching its full potential, but honestly, it's been eight years. Now that we've got the Switch, and now that Miiverse is history, what else is left for the 3DS? I rarely crack open mine these days, and when I do, it's to play games for systems like the Super NES and Genesis which have been cold in the ground for decades. I'm ready for the 3DS to follow them to the grave.

(I'm not ready to buy a Switch, though. Nuts to that.)

There was one other thing I wanted to mention before I go...

There was an advertisement many years ago which proclaimed that the Neo-Geo was a premium game system, with specs far above those of the competing Super NES, Genesis, and Turbografx-16. Those machines were dismissed as "squirrel burgers" next to the Neo-Geo's sumptuous Prime Rib... yet SNK wasn't above farming out their biggest arcade hits to its rivals.

Some of these home ports were surprisingly good, and others less so, but I thought they would all make a great subject for an eBook. I've already written one chapter, with fourteen more to go. Systems from the 16-bit era of gaming would be the focus, particularly the aforementioned Super NES, Genesis, and Turbografx-16, along with the CD add-ons for the latter two machines.

I'd also like to add a bonus chapter about the Nettou series; Neo-Geo games ported to the original Game Boy. Yes, that seemed like a good idea to someone, and yes, I'm masochistic enough to actually cover them.

The book is tentatively titled "Squirrel Burger Cookout," and I'll be offering updates on its progress and perhaps a few excerpts right here over the next six months. With any luck the book will be published in time for the Neo-Geo's thirtieth anniversary, and oh lord I just realized I really am that old. Anyway, I hope you'll be looking forward to it!