What the recent string of cancellations and delays mean for Nintendo’s newest handheld.

It’s really not that great to be a Nintendo fan this summer. From the not-yet-very-effective Project Rainfall (if you live in the U.S.) to the numerous delays and cancellations of many 3DS games, Wii and 3DS owners have found that they no longer have anything to play.

For the Wii, it’s actually quite simple: Nintendo is moving on to the Wii U. But what is up with the 3DS?

In case you haven’t heard the recent news, both Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy and Capcom’s Megaman Legends 3 were cancelled, adding to the list of the now 5 cancelled 3DS games. Along with that news, SEGA’s Crush 3D and Shinobi titles were delayed by several months, claiming that they are waiting for 3DS sales to rise before releasing their games. And what better way to bring more games onto the 3DS by… not putting games on the 3DS?

Ironically, the success of the system now lies in Nintendo’s first party. With some third party developers bailing out on the currently not-so-hot 3DS craze, Nintendo needs to bring out their own IP’s fast. And it doesn’t seem like Star Fox is going to bring the system any closer (though it would expand existing owners’ libraries of, maybe one or two games…).

Yes, Mr. Armadillo Man. We mean you.

But the future isn’t looking all that bad. Konami’s Dr. Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights, Ubisoft’s Driver: Renegade, and Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked are all coming before summer’s end, closely followed by Bit.Trip Saga and Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, both coming in September along with Star Fox.

Nothing really exciting is coming in October (as of right now), but the number of games coming before then will be more than enough to fill that void. And then comes November and the Holiday season, which seems to be where the 3DS will thrive and perhaps eat you alive (or at least your wallet) with Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, Cave Story 3D, Need for Speed: The Run, Shinobi, Sonic Generations, and Nintendo’s very own Mario Kart and Super Mario (and possibly even Kid Icarus). And once 2011 is over, we still have a ton of games that are coming our way.

So what does this all mean? It seems like Nintendo isn’t doing such a good job at marketing right now, but they won’t have any problems in the months prior to Christmas, when an avalanche of games comes crashing down your chimney. That is probably when the 3DS will start thriving. For now... just watch some Netflix before their rates go up...