2018 is a lot farther than I was expecting - based on this year's output I thought 2015 was the last year Nintendo put out a variety of big games for the format, and by the time 2018 rolls over New 3DS will be almost four years old, making it a true mid-generation refresh for a handheld that ultimately lasts around 7-8 years on the market.This begs the question: What's in store for 3DS over the next two years? Will the handheld receive spinoffs developed by third parties, like Pokémon Conquest? Or will it be like the GBA's late life where Nintendo experiments more with new ideas, like Rhythm Tengoku, Bit Generations and Calciobit (Nintendo Pocket Football Club)? Or will we see some more ports by Monster Games after Xenoblade 3D last year and DKC Returns 3D three years ago? Or will Nintendo publish more Japan-only games, much like how GBA had Tales of Phantasia and Final Fantasy IV-VI Advance? Lady Layton is probably a given.I'm guessing it'll probably be a mixture of spinoff titles using Nintendo IP, and maybe some more experimental games like BOXBOY and (arguably) Ever Oasis. And maybe some more localisations of titles which were previously Japan-only. The rumour might also be referring to NoA, which would make the localisations of titles more likely: Monster Hunter Stories is another title that's likely to make it to the west, like Lady Layton. NCL will probably help bring over some bigger 3DS indie games to Japan, like they did Shovel Knight this year, too.Outside of Nintendo's own support, there are signs that Nintendo is setting up 3DS for a longer-than-expected lifespan. They recently lowered barriers to entry for independent developers in Japan, and Nindies is becoming a bigger initiative in Japan after success elsewhere, with the Puyo Puyo creator's next puzzle game debuting on 3DS first. Likewise, NoA/NoE have been ahead of the game by supporting the IARC ratings systems to make publishing worldwide as easy as possible. Third party publishers will probably still keep releasing the odd new game, but bigger efforts like Puyo Puyo Chronicle and Monster Hunter Stories will probably decline.Either way, it'll be interesting to see what happens. My favourite generational transition is still probably GBA to DS. The two pieces of hardware were fundamentally different in principle, yet it was great how the GBA market continued to do well, with quality games releasing after DS's launch, and the DS was finding its feet with new and exciting software. These two worlds came together with the ability to play GBA games on the DS itself, even nonstandard cartridges like Boktai 2 and WarioWare Twisted.What do you think will happen?