I really liked this game, especially from the context of being one of the very last 3DS games to ever release on the system. And my what a run it was. Let me elaborate:
I remember picking up this console back in 2013 with a friend from Canada who was visiting the US at the time. We didn’t have much money, but we wanted a 3DS and we wanted to play Fire Emblem Awakening. I spent over $200 of my $400 bank account on the bright, shiny purple version and one game. We stayed up many late nights dicking around with our new systems, checking out our first Fire Emblem game, and making priceless memories. Real bookmark life events.
My experience with the 3DS is very deep, perhaps deeper than even I realized now that the console’s support is officially sunsetting effective March 27th, 2023. It’s where I learned that Nintendo actually has some pretty good games, and that I don’t need to shoot things all the time. It’s where I learned that Monster Hunter can suck up 100s of hours during a lazy summer. It’s what I spent countless hours, evenings, morning, and days off from work playing while getting invested in Game Grumps and the wider world of YouTube.
The 3DS defined very specific, important moments in my life, even if I would throw the console away for months at a time, maybe even years.
And now I’m bookending it with Automaton Lung.
That’s not to say I won’t still be playing this wonderful handheld—hell, I may be playing more than ever in the past 10 years now that I have a proper job and have stocked up more games than I care to count prior to the eshop shutdown. But in terms of raw, new experiences with the handheld I can safely say that this is the kind of game I’m glad took the mantle of “last to release on the 3DS”.
It’s something I’ll likely not forget in my gaming career, ever. I’m not even sure I understood it: why is it called Automaton Lung? Was it going for a 1998 vaporware feel, or was it a development limitation? What was I collecting, and why? What was the goal? Did the end mean anything—was I even supposed to close the game when I “beat” it? What am I killing, what am I flying, who am I, and why can’t I hit pause?
I walked away with more questions than answer, but I think that’s what I needed both as a capital G Gamer and a footnote to this legendary console. Not an expansive RPG, not a soap opera story, no dialogue or tutorials or even a menu to speak of. Just an artist’s raw energy and impeccable release timing.
I remember picking up this console back in 2013 with a friend from Canada who was visiting the US at the time. We didn’t have much money, but we wanted a 3DS and we wanted to play Fire Emblem Awakening. I spent over $200 of my $400 bank account on the bright, shiny purple version and one game. We stayed up many late nights dicking around with our new systems, checking out our first Fire Emblem game, and making priceless memories. Real bookmark life events.
My experience with the 3DS is very deep, perhaps deeper than even I realized now that the console’s support is officially sunsetting effective March 27th, 2023. It’s where I learned that Nintendo actually has some pretty good games, and that I don’t need to shoot things all the time. It’s where I learned that Monster Hunter can suck up 100s of hours during a lazy summer. It’s what I spent countless hours, evenings, morning, and days off from work playing while getting invested in Game Grumps and the wider world of YouTube.
The 3DS defined very specific, important moments in my life, even if I would throw the console away for months at a time, maybe even years.
And now I’m bookending it with Automaton Lung.
That’s not to say I won’t still be playing this wonderful handheld—hell, I may be playing more than ever in the past 10 years now that I have a proper job and have stocked up more games than I care to count prior to the eshop shutdown. But in terms of raw, new experiences with the handheld I can safely say that this is the kind of game I’m glad took the mantle of “last to release on the 3DS”.
It’s something I’ll likely not forget in my gaming career, ever. I’m not even sure I understood it: why is it called Automaton Lung? Was it going for a 1998 vaporware feel, or was it a development limitation? What was I collecting, and why? What was the goal? Did the end mean anything—was I even supposed to close the game when I “beat” it? What am I killing, what am I flying, who am I, and why can’t I hit pause?
I walked away with more questions than answer, but I think that’s what I needed both as a capital G Gamer and a footnote to this legendary console. Not an expansive RPG, not a soap opera story, no dialogue or tutorials or even a menu to speak of. Just an artist’s raw energy and impeccable release timing.