Yeah you've neglected third party games if you just have four real physical games as there are great offerings. Sure the magnitude of releases has slowed compared to the GBA and DS period but that's to be expected against the larger market that exists now. They've making overall great profit on it and that ultimately is what matters because if they don't then the game offerings vanish.

You're right the New3DS was a blindside to the press. As much as they love to think they're connected, the truth of the matter is they're often intentionally left in the dark and or under NDA because they have big stupid gaping traps they can't shut the hell up short of a legal threat. Systems can be known a good year or more at times before the press is allowed to know something exists and even then existence and demonstration or tech jargon come at different points too. People said the same thing about the GBC since the 'beautiful' looking smaller GB Pocket was still pretty new too yet we saw how that went. You had a nice spread of GBC hybrid and exclusive stuff and that should continue on the New 3DS too. I think if anything it will end up a 4 year system too where the sales start large and stay large for a time with certain lulls and boosts due to some train of great games or a really stellar release but will fall off as other media clouds it over again being a stand alone. I still believe the dual console/handheld box is the way to differentiate and make themselves relevant to gamers again both 'core' and casual.