For a while it seemed like Metal Gear Solid 3D could be a killer app on the Nintendo 3DS. Not only is Snake Eater one of the most beloved games in the series, but the release would mark the first time the series has hit a Nintendo handheld since Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel in 2000. But all that seems to be crumbling around Konami, a company on the brink of making their first major 3DS game completely obsolete.

I'll admit to being excited about Metal Gear Solid 3D. Snake Eater is still one of my favorite installments and it's been awhile since I've revisited the PlayStation 2 original. I wasn't a fan of there being yet another console game port announced for the Nintendo 3DS, but that's the kind of support you expect in the early days of a console launch. Even if it was full price ($40), I was ready to shell over my hard earned cash for the opportunity to take out The Boss once again.

Unfortunately Konami missed the Nintendo 3DS launch, leaving me with very few options to choose from. To make matters worse, Snake Eater 3D missed the artificially lengthened "launch window" that Nintendo talked about, which took us all the way to the end of June. Konami kept saying that the game would ship in November, making its existence even more wobbly.

Still, even with the Q4 release date, I was still excited for the product. That's how much I love Metal Gear Solid 3. But all that changed at E3, which Konami announced the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. This budget title offered three of the best Metal Gear Solid games: Sons of Liberty, Peace Walker and, you guessed it, Snake Eater. All three of these games are given the up-res treatment, plus exclusive online play for at least one title. In a year when Konami had very few original projects to announce, this HD collection was considered a big deal.

It wasn't until the excitement wore off that people remembered the Snake Eater 3DS port coming out in November. On one hand you can buy three games for the price of one, each with HD graphics and improved dual-stick support. Or you could buy a single game with gimmicky 3D effects and a second screen. To make matters even more calamitous for the Nintendo 3DS version, both versions are expected to retail at the same price point.

Who in their right mind is going to pay $40 for a portable game when they could spend the same amount on three games with HD graphics and online play? Even with the 3D effects, it's hard to justify picking up the 3DS game over the HD collection. This is Konami shooting themselves in the foot and cannibalizing their own products.

Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, it looks like Konami is set to hammer the final nail into Snake Eater 3D's coffin. If current reporting is correct, the company plans on pushing the release back to "sometime in 2012." At this point it feels like Naked Snake is being sent out to die.

If the game comes out in 2012 who will still want to buy it? Most fans of the series will have already bought the HD Collection. Furthermore, how many gamers will still be excited about more 3DS ports a year after launch? By the time this game is released the market will have completely dried up.

This must be tremendously frustrating to the Nintendo loyalists who have been waiting more than a decade for another portable Metal Gear Solid game. PSP owners have more Metal Gear games than they know what to do with, a whopping seven (if you include the two interactive comics and Portable Ops expansion pack) by my count. All seven of these games are original products created specifically for the PSP, yet the best Konami can do for the 3DS is an eight year old port of a PlayStation 2 game.

At this point it's hard to imagine a scenario where Metal Gear Solid 3D becomes a smash hit. I can only hope that Konami is delaying the product in order to add a 3D remix of the original Metal Gear Solid release (something that is absent from the upcoming HD Collection). But I wouldn't hold my breath for that to happen. As it stands, Metal Gear Solid 3D is doomed!