I'm forced to list this one as "unconfirmed but almost certainly the last Sega CD+32X game". Maybe I should put this in a sidebar instead, whatever. This is proof that personal recollection is a bad way to construct a list like this. When I wrote the draft for this entry I had Fahrenheit as the last Sega CD+32X game. When I actually bothered to look into it I found it was likely the first Sega CD+32X game. I made the "it's the last game I personally saw on the shelf" mistake.

After Fahrenheit, the folks at Digital Pictures decided to re-release a number of their Sega CD games in a Sega CD+32X format. Things now become difficult to sort out. Corpse Killer and Supreme Warrior were 1994 releases that received 32X versions late in the same year. An upgraded version of Night Trap came alongside them. Slam City with Scottie Pippen is often lumped in with these previous three releases. However. the other versions of Slam City (PC, 3DO) were early 1995 releases so I have to think that the Sega CD version was also a 1995 release as some sources list. I can't say with confidence that the places listing it in 1994 are wrong though.

So there just aren't enough facts to call this one for sure, however all signs point to Slam City being the final Sega CD+32X release. At worst it's tied with the other Digital Pictures games.

The Sega CD and 32X would each enjoy 1-2 new releases after Slam City, but publishers abandoned the idea of developing games that required both attachments.

The LaserActive was a system with pluggable modules that allowed it to play Sega CD and TurboGrafx-16 CD games. Some developers created games specifically for these modules that didn’t run on the original system. For the purpose of this entry only those games are considered as there are already entries for the Sega CD and TurboGrafx-16 CD.

The LaserActive is one of the more obscure systems on this list and had a very limited distribution. From 1992-1997 I worked at the then largest video game store chain and we never carried it. It was marketed as a “high end” system so I suspect only stores for blowhards carried it.

On a related note, "Stores for Blowhards" would be a wildly successful mall I’m afraid.

Anyway, where was I? Right, so like a couple other systems on this list I’m stretching the "if you couldn't walk into a game store in the US and buy a copy, it's not on the list" criteria a little bit. The LaserActive wasn’t widely available but with some effort it could be found.

Like the system itself the release information is hard to nail down. Most games for it were published in 1994 with support withering by 1995. Each release was given a catalog number so assuming that aligns with release order then the last game was J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues. It was released in 1995 for a number of unsuccessful CD systems. So like Slam City this earns the distinction "unconfirmed but almost certainly the last Pioneer LaserActive game". I'm confident enough to list it here instead of under missing systems for whatever that's worth.

Outside of the catalog numbers there’s little that documents the actual release order or dates for LaserActive games. J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues is likely the final retail release but I can’t say for sure it is.

Like the Lynx, there's not much to say about the Virtual Boy that hasn't been said a thousand times. It will go down as Nintendo's biggest blunder and one of the worst consoles developed.

Tetris 3-D would have been a great pack-in title for the Virtual Boy. Maybe Nintendo wanted to prevent people from thinking "Game Boy = Tetris". Whatever the case, this game didn't hit the stores until the Virtual Boy's final days. By then the system and game library were being cleared out for a fraction of the original price.

The poor 32X was always waiting for that one game that would turn it's fortunes. Should have been Mortal Kombat II, but it was released too late. In it's final months it could only manage ports of Space Harrier and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure that were minimal improvements over the Genesis editions. Spider-man: Web of Fire had the potential to buy the 32X a little time. A popular comic book character starring in a well-reviewed game. However, it saw very limited distribution and was largely forgotten behind the ferocious Saturn vs. PlayStation battle.

As 32X platformers go it's par for the course. It looks slightly better than the average Genesis game but worse than the average Super Nintendo one. The control is a bit wild and you spend a lot of time falling off buildings as a result. I'm a fan of the 32X for some reason but wasn't impressed with Spider-man: Web of Fire.

This game is now a rarity that fetches a hefty sum on auction sites. Although it looks like a bargain compared to the final international 32X release, Darxide.

We're only hitting the halfway mark for 1996, The Saturn and PlayStation were in full-swing, the Nintendo 64 was on its way, the PC game market was reenergized by Windows 95. It's only logical that a great purging of old systems would occur in 1996.

3DO development came to grinding halt when the M2 was announced in 1995. The few companies that still supported the 3DO moved their projects to the eventual vaporware platform. A trickle of games would be finished and released in 1996 for the rapidly fading 3DO with Casper being the last to see daylight. Just what we needed, another mediocre game based on a mediocre movie. Looking back, I'm surprised the 3DO didn't have many more of these bad movie spin-off games.

There are a lot of obvious statements that can be made about the ironic title of this game. By 1996 the Atari Jaguar was by no stretch fighting for life. With consoles slashed to $50 and cleared off store shelves it was dead. Fight for Life was merely a tombstone marker.

There were grand plans for this game, it was to be Atari's answer to Virtua Fighter. Virtua Fighter 2 was selling a lot of Saturn systems, even to gamers left skeptical by the the Sega CD and 32X. Atari hoped this 3D fighter would breathe new life into the system. However, it came out too late to have an impact. Stores had relegated the Jaguar library to the clearance bin and wedged-in a full-price Fight for Life by default.

Fight for Life was a dreadful game and belonged in the clearance bins though. Like every other game Atari made for the Jaguar, it had that weird polygon-abuse look with unbearably slow animation. Atari's thought process must have been "people loved Hard Drivin' in 1988, let's make everything look like that!" Fight for Life suffered the same problems as the majority of the Jaguar library and ultimately is just as forgettable.

In 1999 Hasbro released the rights to the Atari Jaguar making it very accessible to homebrew developers. Every year or so a new fan game pop-ups for Atari's last console.

Here's another case of personal recollection gone wrong. I initially speculated that Highlander was the final Jaguar CD release. I made the same "it's the last game I personally saw on the shelf" mistake. In reality it had a good six-month lead over Brain Dead 13 which was the final Jaguar CD release. By then most stores slashed their Jaguar CD inventory. Over at Electronics Boutique/Waldensoftware, only Dragon's Lair and Space Ace remained. I don't know which chains carried it, but it was out there for those loyal Jaguar CD owners to find.

A year after the Jaguar was canned, Telegames published a pair of shelved games developed by Jaguar licensees. Iron Soldier and World Tour Racing were both made available via mail order in 1997.

Like the Jaguar, a new Jaguar CD game is released by an enthusiast roughly once a year.

In 1996 Sega dropped support for anything that wasn't the Saturn. The Game Gear was a victim of this process. Despite being technically superior, it never kept pace with the Game Boy. Sonic Blast, released in 1996, was Sega's last hurrah for their handheld system. Almost a year later The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released as a tie-in to film. I can only speculate that work on it started before the Game Gear was discontinued.

The Game Gear would be briefly re-released in 2000 but no new games were published.

The Sega Genesis and EA Sports line enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Without the strong sports library the Genesis would have gone the way of the TG-16. Without the Sega Genesis EA Sports may not exist today. In the late 80s Electronic Arts wanted to enter the console game market. However, they found Nintendo's licensing terms too restrictive and opted to develop for the Genesis. Sega conceded to some of EA's requests such as allowing them to manufacture their own cartridges and packaging. The EA Sports division became a game publishing powerhouse. Nintendo would ultimately loosen their licensing policies allowing EA to develop for the SNES. However, without the Genesis there's a good chance EA would have abandoned all thoughts developing for game consoles. How did EA ultimately thank Sega for this? By acquiring exclusive rights to nearly every sports league, thereby destroying the entire Sega Sports division.

It was only fitting in this way that EA published the last three licensed Genesis games. John Madden Football '98, NBA Live '98, and NHL '98 all hit the stores in the early fall of 1997. I'm sure it wasn't a great effort for them. Take the '97 version, update the rosters, add a few bells 'n whistles, bam! '98 version complete. OK, I'm sure I'm oversimplifying the development process but not by much.

My only complaint about these three games is that you have to go through 87 menu screens before you can play. To this day they can't seem to merge "select team" and "select which player controls which team" into a single menu.

Of course none of these were truly the last licensed title for the Genesis, more on that just a little farther down...

The death of the Super Nintendo marked the end of 2D console gaming. Sure, there are some 2D-style platformers and shooters released from time-to-time. Let's face it though, since the Super Nintendo the focus has been almost entirely on cranking-out 3D graphics with wicked shading effects and kewl-@ss textures. You can have your Halo 3; I'll take Zelda: A Link to the Past or Super Metroid over it any day.

It's appropriate that this era ended with Kirby's Dream Land 3, an overly cute side-scroller starring a franchise character. To most gamers this was the last new Super Nintendo game they saw in the stores. To most stores it was in fact was the last Super Nintendo game they carried. However, after most video game stores dumped their remaining 16-bit console games one more title snuck out...

I was introduced to Working Designs by a game called Cosmic Fantasy 2 on the TurboGrafx-16 CD. I was instantly a fan of their games and built a library of their 16-bit CD selections. Unfortunately I couldn't afford a Saturn or PlayStation back in the day so I missed out on their 32-bit games. They now sell for an astounding sum on auction sites.

If there's one thing Working Designs was (in)famous for it was taking forever to develop games. I can respect that. I'd rather wait for a high-quality game than play another uninspired me-too one. The downside of course is that sometimes you can take too long to finish a game. Such was the case for Magic Knight Rayearth. The Saturn collapsed around its third birthday but Working Designs was still working on games for it. Lunar: The Silver Star Story, a potential savior of the system, was scrapped. Magic Knight Rayearth was close enough to completion that Working Designs published it in time for Christmas.

I have no idea what Pokemon is nor do I have any desire to find out. The fact that there are males my age into it leaves me speechless.

In 1999 Nintendo was trying to wean gamers off the B&W Game Boy and onto the backwards compatible Game Boy Color. Pokemon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition was a re-release of Pokemon Yellow with some support for the Game Boy Color built it. Yeah, every classic Game Boy game worked in the Game Boy Color but there were some tricks to make games look better in the newer system. This was a way for Nintendo to support both systems while giving people the hint that they should upgrade, similar to their Twilight Princess strategy.

This was the last game made specifically for the original Game Boy and it's perfectly debatable whether the Game Boy Color games "count". For the sake of completeness, the two Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 titles, released in September 2001, earn the distinction of being the final games compatible with the original Game Boy.

It's almost eerie how close Tiger came to creating the Nintendo DS with the game.com – touchscreen, internet capabilities, inferior graphics to contemporary hand-held systems. Of course the DS has done so many things to compensate for not looking as pretty as the PSP, the game.com could never find a similar way to overcome the Game Boy. The internet capabilities were practically useless as they required an account with their proprietary ISP. The touchscreen turned out to be inadequate for gaming. The only remaining hope was producing a better library.

You can imagine how that turned out.

A total of twenty games were produced, several of them had great titles like "Mortal Kombat Trilogy" or "Duke Nukem 3D" that were poor imitations of the original. The grave for the game.com was already dug when the Game Boy Color arrived to throw on the dirt. Frogger, Centipede, and Scrabble were released for the Christmas season of 1999. By the following Christmas no sign of the game.com could be found in stores.

Dreamcast, we hardly knew you. Although it was technically on the shelves for three years it felt like it was only a few months. Well, maybe I just feel that way because I bought it for $99 when it was cleared out in 2001. I still have troubles understanding why it wasn't competitive. Graphically, I can't see the difference between it and the PS2 or Xbox. I'm sure some PS2/Xbox fanboys will foam at the mouth at this statement. Whatever. I think the Dreamcast more than holds its own against the other systems of its era.

The Dreamcast called it quits like many of the later systems, with a sports game. For a sport that gets lower ratings than poker it's amazing that hockey video games sell like crazy. Of course I doubt 90% of the people who buy hockey games can name a single player in the league. Unless Wayne Gretzky is still playing I'm in the same boat. Anyway, NHL 2K2 was a notable improvement over it's predecessor. The initial NHL 2K was so poorly received that they passed on releasing a 2K1. The result was a more refined 2K2 sequel. Unfortunately it was released more than a year after Sega ceased production of the Dreamcast.

The Dreamcast maintains a very active homebrew community today.

The Nintendo 64 was released a year after the PlayStation and faced an uphill battle. The PlayStation had it's second generation games hitting the shelves while the Nintendo 64 was showcasing launch titles. The technical specifications between the consoles were close enough that it was irrelevant.

Still, the Nintendo 64 managed a six-year run and produced some of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. It's final release, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, is among the top-rated titles.

In an interesting footnote, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam was a launch title for the Nintendo Wii.

The Game Boy color was an unnecessary system in many ways. It was released in 1998 when Nintendo had long vanquished their competitors in the portable market. The Game Boy Advance was presumably in development at the time. For all intents and purposes the Game Boy Advance is a held held Super Nintendo while the Game Boy Color is only a souped-up NES. Certainly Nintendo could have slid by with the black & white Game Boy for a couple more years.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is one of those variety games where you do something different in each level. There's a flying stage, wand shooting stage, exploring stage and so on. Most games of this type can be labeled "jack of all trades, master of none", Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is no exception. That's not a knock on the game, it's meant for kids and serves its purpose.

I'm doing some quick math and the 9-year production run of Sony PlayStation games ties the NES. I think they were equally important systems. The NES rebounded the entire video game industry, the Sony PlayStation expanded it beyond the core market of kids and nerds. Like the NES, the PlayStation had several years of new game releases after its predecessor was out.

The FIFA series began on the Sega Genesis and was an immediate hit. Like Hockey, I think more people buy FIFA soccer than watch it on TV. I'm not going to launch a big "soccer is boring" rant but let's just say FIFA soccer is 1000x more exciting than the real thing (same for hockey). I was a little surprised when I saw Madden 2004 for PlayStation on the shelves in 2003. Given EA's record of releasing updated games for dead consoles it wasn't too big of a shocker though. However, it was quite surprising to learn that FIFA Soccer 2005 was released for the PlayStation in October 2004 while passing on Madden 2005. Of the two I'd expect Madden to greatly outsell FIFA, even to a diminished PlayStation market.

For the sake of thoroughness I'll note that NFL Gameday 2005, released in August 2004, was still available new in stores until late 2006 after FIFA 2005 was generally gone.

Some of the things I said about the Gizmondo apply to the N-Gage. However, it was marketed more as a phone than a gaming system unlike the Gizmondo which was marketed as.. well, I'm not sure what.

The game library for the N-Gage was actually decent though. I'm not planning to seek out an N-Gage out but there are a few games I wouldn't mind having. So I suppose it's ahead of the Gizmondo on the aforementioned list but below many others.

As a cartridge based system (MMC format), the last game released was Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death. I wish there were more RPG and strategy games for mobile phones. They fit the mobile format so much better than action games.

Civilization is listed as the last N-Gage game by some but it came out in February 2006, one month before Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death.

The N-Gage as a gaming platform wasn't completely dead in 2006. If you owned a Nokia phone you can download the N-Gage runtime and enjoy a variety of titles for a couple more years.

I know it's atypical but the Nintendo GameCube is my favorite of the "last generation" systems. It offered a return to the basics, to simplicity, while the others tried to make games more epic and complicated. Looking back, it was preview of Nintendo's direction to come with the DS and Wii.

Unlike Nintendo's previous entries, production of new GameCube games halted almost immediately after the replacement system was available. Porting GameCube projects to the Wii is apparently simple given their similar architecture. Even easier is slapping a new roster on an existing game engine. With little publicity, EA Sports produced a GameCube version of Madden 08 along with all the "next-gen" editions. Some retailers declined to carry it, making it tough to find in stores, but it was there for anyone looking hard enough.

Power Rangers: Super Legends was almost the final GameCube game. It was scheduled for release in November 2007 but quietly cancelled. Adding to the confusion, several online stores continued to accept pre-orders for it well into 2008.

The Game Boy brand almost made it 20 years, it was only a few months shy. Its eulogy was written when the DSi, without a Game Boy Advance (GBA) slot, crossed the ocean in April 2009. This DS upgrade represented a change in direction for Nintendo's handheld strategy. With the exception of the Game Boy Micro, all the Game Boy Advance variants could play the entire back catalog of Game Boy titles. Having missed out on the Game Boy Color, this was a major selling point when I bought the SP. Although the DSi marked the official end of the Game Boy line it was already more than a year removed from having its final new title published.

The last game released in the United States was Samurai Deeper Kyo in February 2008, it had been available in Japan for over five years. However, it was not sold as a standalone game. It was included as a premium in the DVD boxed set for the anime series of the same name. To find the last retail game released you have to go back a couple months to Let's Ride: Friends Forever, which is apparently some kind of horse care simulator.

Let's Ride: Friends Forever was the very epitome of the late GBA selection. In its twilight years the GBA became an inexpensive system for kids. For under $200 a parent could easily buy one with a huge stack of used/clearance games. Publishers spotted this trend and responded by dumping games with titles like Dogz, Catz, Horsez, and Box Jellyfishz.

I suppose I could consider it a shame that a great system like the GBA ended with a flood of shovelware. Instead I'm impressed that the Game Boy line reinvented itself one final time to squeeze out a few more years of existence. Looking at the other systems on this list, most didn't survive for three full years after their replacement hit the shelves. Heck, some didn't make it three years period. The GBA spent its waning days introducing a new generation to video games and probably laying the foundation for another 20 years of handheld success for Nintendo.

Educational game publisher GXB Interactive released a couple games around this time as well. Their specific release dates aren't documented and it is possible they may have come out even later than these two. However, only being available for online purchase removes them from consideration for this list.

When Madden 08 was released for Xbox and GameCube I noted it as being the last release for both systems. It had been months since a new title was released for either and it sure seemed like they were done. I was incredibly surprised when I saw a preview for Madden 09 that listed the Xbox as a system it was being released for. After a full year of no new games it's usually safe to say a system is dead, not the venerable Xbox though. Fans of the system can take some small comfort in knowing they officially outlasted the GameCube. 

In the original Madden 08 entry I noted "I suppose there's still a 1%-5% chance another sports update will be squeezed out for the original Xbox. It's relatively easy for a powerhouse like EA Sports to crank out another annual update. If the install base stays high enough they'll keep doing it. Go into any game store and you'll see that the original Xbox has a greater presence than what's left of the GameCube." OK, the last part of the statement didn't pan out. I still see plenty of used GameCube games commanding $20-$30 but practically nothing for the Xbox breaking $10. The first part was accurate enough though. The additions to the Xbox version of Madden 09 are minute compared to the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It was low-effort for EA and apparently there are enough Xbox holdouts to justify the investment. I figured Xbox owners either had a PS2, or upgraded to a newer console, making this game unnecessary.

I have a strong suspicion that Madden 09 is a sign of how most future consoles will end. It would not shock me in the least if the eventual Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 entries are all Madden sequels as well.

As of June 2012 the last PlayStation 2 game is Major League Baseball 2K12, released on March 6 2012. I’m not going to burn too many calories writing about it because Konami announced that they’ll be making a PlayStation 2 version Pro Evolution Soccer later this year. If that pans out it’s almost certain to be the last retail PlayStation 2 game... until Madden 2013 perhaps.

Nintendo is aggressive about killing off systems once the replacement arrives. Despite many commentators proclaiming its doom, the 3DS is actually selling quite well. Eventually publishers will abandon the original DS with much encouragement from Nintendo.

So what will be the last game? I suspect it will be something like "M&M's Brain University" but hope it goes out on a strong note instead. I hear there's a new Hobbit movie coming out in December 2012. Development on the tie-in game is likely already underway, maybe the DS is one of the systems they're targeting. If so that could be a really nice late adventure release.

This is wild speculation of course. Given the huge install base of the DS it's possible we'll see new games until 2013 so be prepared for a long wait.

While writing this article I learned that "Last Call" games fit into one of four categories:

Franchise Games: Sonic the Hedgehog, Bomberman '93, Wario's Woods, Bonk 3, Super Asteroids and Missile Command, Tetris 3-D, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Pokemon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition, Samurai Shodown V Special. Call it "going out on your own terms". Instead of letting the system die with whimper there's one last game featuring a favorite character or title. Of all four, this is my favorite way to see a system wrap things up. It also seems to be Nintendo's trademark.

Yet Another Sports Update: EA '98 line for Genesis, NHL 2K2, FIFA Soccer 2005, Madden 08, Madden 09. Again, updating an existing sports game with a new roster isn't rocket science. Low production costs + guaranteed sales of established brand = generous profit. They'd be stupid not to do it.

Last Ditch Effort: Intellivision Christmas '87, Secret Quest, Spider-man: Web of Fire, Fight for Life. Sometimes a publisher will try to resuscitate a failing system with a "killer app". They think they can get out that one game that will turn the tide. In the process they may produce a memorable title, but not the desired turn-around. Sometimes, as with Fight for Life, they illustrate exactly why their system failed. Using the bar analogy, they're the guy dumping coins into the jukebox when everyone else is leaving.

We've Come This Far, We Might as Well Finish: Gremlins, Midnight Mutants, Casper, Magic Knight Rayearth, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Game development is an expensive and time-consuming effort. When a new system is released game companies need to take a hard look at ongoing projects. Their options are: port the game to the upcoming console, cancel the project, or finish for the soon-to-be-discontinued platform.

There's a book I'd recommend titled "Collapse". In it the author answers the question "what was the Easter Islander who cut down the last tree thinking when he did it?" The answer is that the deforestation of the island occurred over such a long period that he had no memory of the lush forests once there. Not to trivialize the destruction of an entire population, but an analogy can be made to gaming. When someone saw Wario's Woods in the shelves in 1994 they probably never thought "is this really the last NES game?" Gamers have a short attention span and by December 1994 it already seemed like the NES was ancient history. The days of its dominance were long-forgotten.

I think the bar analogy is still the more apt one though. Some game systems, like the NES and PlayStation, were the club with a line out the door. The really trendy, free-spending, patrons left at the first sign of an even trendier establishment. Everyone else soon followed. Other game systems, like the Jaguar or Turbo-Grafx 16, were the dingy tavern with a dozen depressed drinkers. A few "cool" people would stumble in but leave after seeing the rest of the crowd. When closing time rolled around the few customers left were more depressed than when they entered.

I wrote this article because I thought it would be fun to chronicle these final games. In a way it turned out to be almost sad. These systems gave gamers countless hours of escape from their worries. These final games consumed months of development effort only to be instantly obscure. In the end they couldn't avoid the fate that every video game system will suffer.