Yes the 3D was gimmicky, you could tell that the devs lost interest after the first few years, much like the DS's touch screen, but overall it still ended up with an amazing library of games. I also miss going out and seeing the green light for StreetPass hits, I think I have 2000+ at the moment.
I hope they have a sale for the first party titles on the eShop, because there's still a few games I wanna get. I've been buying niche Atlus games, they're dirt cheap when they're on sale.