I doubt Nintendo has any plans on making an ultra powered console. The Wii U successor will likely be just a moderate jump, something that is capable of playing PS4/Xone multiplats. There is really no need for Nintendo franchises to look much better than they currently do. Would games like Super Mario 3D World or Mario Kart 8 really benefit that much by having vastly more powerful hardware?

Im guessing the next Nintendo platforms will be unified with the same architecture, similar specs and able to play the same games. The handheld version will be somewhere between Vita & Wii U in terms of power and the home console version will be somewhere between Wii U & PS4 in terms of power. Devices that can be sold at a relatively low price with a slight profit, 2-3 years from now.

That's what Iwata said at an investor meeting earlier this year. They're going to try to make it like iPad and iPhone, the first one will be more powerful, the second will be portable. And they'll have the same architecture so both consoles gets lots of games. 

Source: one IR article on nintendo.co.jp. Don't remember the exact page. 

What on earth are you talking about?  MK8 looks vastly superior to MKWii thanks to the vastly more powerful Wii U.  SM3DW is pretty good looking, but could be much better if Nintendo put in more effort.  And we won't even talk about the visual benetfits for franchises like Zelda, Metroid or Xenoblade.  With Nintendo's sales lagging behind last gen by a very significant margain and a common complaint from the general populace being that Nintendo is just up-rezzing titles like NSMB to HD and not doing anything new, clearly there is a need for Nintendo's games to look better.  In the past, titles like SMB3, DKC or SM64 were considered visual stunners.  They need to be this way again, and the benefits have been shown by MK8, whose graphics are very good, surprised many and has been a runaway hit.

Your idea that Nintendo hardware should only be a little bit better than the previous gen is based soley on Wii and now Wii U.  Nintendo tried it the first time with Wii and had a runaway hit.  They did it again with Wii U because of Wii and it failed.  I would expect Nintendo to do something very different for the Thwii.

I actually think they are going to do something powerful with Thwii.  PS4 has proven that customers will pay for a powerful system as long as you hide the cost in a subscription.  High-cost systems were avoided by Nintendo before because they didn't want to lose money.  But now they can sell a Nintendo Network + and build a pricey system and not lose money.

There are rumors that Nintendo is actually looking at something very powerful with multiple secondary screen support.  I think this is very likely.  A titan+ level graphics card with Gamepad-like devices as the main input for all players.  The next handheld could also sub in and interact with the home system.  I think this is more likely than a high-powered portable being the home system replacement.

I more meant insanely powerful compared to previous handhelds. I think this will be the biggest jump in handhelds ever (I hope), but yes it won't be as good as the ps5 or the xboxFourever.

Apparently you want it to cost $700, too.

tagging for later if i decide to comment.

"Insanely Powerful Handheld?" Sounds like an insanely expensive device, talking $599 US dollars or more. Even being less powerful than PS5/XBwhatever, it has to be much more capable than Wii U (unless you expect a downgrade from their console for some strange reason), and a handheld that's a generational leap from Wii U in 2016 at an affordable price is not happening. Nintendo has probably already started to research on their combined architecture, there's nothing out there right now that's affordable enough to be considered "insanely powerful" even for handhelds. At best, I'd say that the Wii U successor will have 2015/2016 technology in it, as will the handheld. There's no way a handheld, launching with 2015/2016 technology, with more power than Wii U, will be affordable to the masses.

There won't be a " Thrii", there may even be an increase of form factors, as Iwata has mentioned clearly, there might not be just one handheld and one console. Why should they go the route of one hardware? How will they compensate for the loss of revenue they will experience? Not even a Wii-like phenomenon will be enough to compensate for both console and handheld revenue streams. Increasing output of software isn't going to compensate for their loss of hardware revenue streams, youre placing them in a worser position than they are now. Think about this for a second, this "insanely powerful handheld" will need to sell enough to compensate for both handheld and console hardware streams, we've seen firsthand how well expensive Nintendo hardware sells, this will NOT be cheap, it won't sell well.

Mario Kart 8 looks so much better because its the series first time in HD, how much better do u think the game would look on PS4 compared to Wii U? There would be some minor tweaks/improvements here and there but for the most part the game would look and play the same.

My idea that Nintendo doesnt need extremely powerful hardware is because it doesnt really benefit them in any way. Most people will agree that Nintendo's next console will release in 2-3 years, so 2016-2017. PS4/Xone will be in thier primes and have the hardcore multiplat playing crowd on lock down while likely being $299. If Nintendo were to release a high powered console that is a sizeable leap over PS4 in that time there is no way they will be able to match it in price, probably $399. The millions upon millions of hardcore gamers on the competitors consoles arent going to upgrade to a new console that soon. Even if this console does happen to have the best versions of multiplats, it wont matter since the fanbases of those games will be happy on consoles they just bought in the last few years.

In this scenario, Nintendo will once again have an expensive console with poor 3rd party sales which will once again lead to poor 3rd party support and will once again be a console for Nintendo fans with long droughts between big releases. Due to its high price, even big Nintendo fans will be reluctant to purchase it and there will be cries for a price cut which if they comply will lead to the console being sold at a loss.

Also ur idea that they can just sell it at a loss and make up for it with a subscription service is flawed as well. What would this service provide that will ensure enough people subscribe to the point it makes up for the consoles losses? Im all for Nintendo releasing a subscription service, maybe something like $50-60 per year for unlimited access to the Virtual Console but its too big of a risk for Nintendo to assume that it will be such a smash hit to make up for a loss leading console.

I never said they would replace the console with a powerful handheld, I said they would release two seperate devices, a handheld and a home console with the same architecture, similar specs and that can run all the same software. The handheld will be between Vita & Wii U with the console being between Wii U & PS4 in terms of power. Nintendo has a hard time supporting two devices with seperate games especially now when dev time and costs have increased on both fronts but they can easily give excellent support to two devices if they play all the same games as one another. On top of excellent first party output we can also assume that the devices will recieve all the Japanese 3rd party support that Nintendo handhelds are known for.

All Nintendo ever needs to do to be successful as a hardware manufacturer is to release affordable hardware sold at a profit with a steady release schedule of high quality software that cant be found on competitors devices. Lets say the console sells 15-20 million and the handheld sells 60-70 million, basically Wii U & 3DS numbers, its fine because they are making a profit and will still have multimillion selling software.

That sounds like a much better and overall more practical idea. A literal fusion of both platforms would be way too expensive and it will alienate those who just want a handheld or just want a home console.

Ya too many people take the whole "fusion" term too literally and think it means one device that combines both elements. Thats why I like the term "unified" instead, two seperate yet very similar devices.