...will launch with the fabled 'proper' console Pokemon.

Regardless of what the machine looks like, it's power or what kind of controller it has, I think Nintendo will kick off with an open world, main canon, Pokemon RPG. Essentially to give it the biggest killer app in Nintendo's arsenal.

Side prediction: other launch games will include new FPS Metroid and either Smash or Mario Kary

You don't know Nintendo very well, do you?

I said bold!

I don't think they like money enough to actively engage with their fan's wishes to make even more money.
Sometimes I think they just do things and then wonder where all the money comes from.

The reason I'm predicting this is because the Wii U stumbled so catastrophically out of the gate, when Nintendo expected it do well off the Wii branding.

Pokémon is, in a sense, their last true killer app. And I think they know it.

A Pokémon game on the scale of Skyrim or Dragon Age would sell a console like nothing else. They know it does too, they can see it in their 3DS sales when a Pokémon launches.

Gamefreak wouldn't let a big game be released, not yet at least.

Most peoples reaction when you say pokemon.

Oh that 90s cartoon with the yellow squirrel!!!
It will just be fan service.

Which is why it sold over 3 million retail in 2 days? Just in NA and Japan.

And you're right, most people do know it from the anime, which is why the game should be sold as Pokémon 2, and set in Kanto 25 years after the events of Red/Blue.

I think this is as true as it gets. I haven't bought a Pokémon game since Soul Silver but I would without a doubt in my mind buy this fully fledged home console Pokémon Adventure! All the Pokémon fans + all the people who's ever been a fan of Pokémon + all the fans of a fully fledged RPG... That's like 100+ mill happy customers right there.

That's the boldest prediction I've seen in a while sadly...