The tragedy isn't just that you can't buy Citizens of Earth anymore. The tragedy is that the context is gone. The StreetPass plaza. The blinking green notification light. The pedometer coins you earned by actually walking to a real coffee shop to meet a stranger for a local multiplayer match of Mario Kart 7 . The eShop was the brain of that ecosystem. It was the promise that tomorrow, there would be something new for this weird little clamshell you loved.
*Now, tap the home button. Close the lid. Hear the little pop of the sleep mode. Nintendo 3ds Ghost Eshop
You own it. The license exists. But the act of acquiring —the thrill of the transaction, the 3D pop of the receipt, the chime of blocks falling into your SD card—is a fossil. The tragedy isn't just that you can't buy
Then, you open the eShop.