Right now, Nintendo is the laughing stock and punching bag of gaming critics.

The Wii U's hardware has been criticized from the onset and the original Wii labelled as a fad. The Gamecube and N64 though profitable, are widely labelled as failures. Nintendo's strict online policies and slothfulness with digital distribution caused them to be viewed as old fashioned and stubborn, and one must agree that many of these criticisms are justified.

But...

Nintendo is a wily old dog, and Nintendo must never be underestimated. 

All of the top five first party games of this generation(as of April 20th 2015) are Nintendo games. That's right, every single one of the top five. This console war could have been a very different picture if Nintendo's console had hardware on the same level as the PS4 and Xbox One. How much of a different picture you may ask? It may sound outrageous, but either Sony or Microsoft could have very well been out of the console business.

How did I come to that conclusion? 

It's simple. When one looks at gaming history, the industry can only support two "major" consoles at one time (SNES+Genesis, PS1+N64, PS2+Xbox, PS3+360, PS4+X1). "Major" consoles are consoles which have the hardware and tech to support all the relevant first and third party games of that generation. The only reason Nintendo survives is because Nintendo has unique, top tier first party games which grants them the rare ability to function as a minor console. Sony and Microsoft do not have this ability and must rely on third party games to stay afloat thereby necessitating that they operate as "major" consoles.

If Nintendo had all the big third party games as well as their cream of the crop first party support, they would pick up one of the two "major" console slots. This would push either Sony or Microsoft into third place and by necessity out of the console business.

Makes you wonder what the NX brings to the table and how it could shake things up...

Agree or disagree? Make your opinions known below.

Yes, as we saw last generation. All three did great, even when Sony shot themselves in the foot with their reveal.

Not everyone wants to play games like mario or zelda, a lot of people rather look for more mature looking exclusives. So nintendo getting third parties doesnt gurrentee dominance, see the gamecube.

"If Nintendo had all the big third party games as well as their cream of the crop first party support, they would pick up one of the two "major" console slots. This would push either Sony or Microsoft into third place and by necessity out of the console business" thats a gargantuan "if" you got there.
Simple isnt going to happen, and if being third place with wiiu despite a years head start didnt push them out if the market, being third place wouldnt push xbox or playstation out either.

As far as the US in concerned, they haven't won since the NES which was like, 30 years ago. I seriously doubt they will ever win again either. I just don't see it happening. Things come, things go. It's just the order of life.

Having said that, if some how they did? No one would drop out because of it. Microsoft could drop out, but it wouldn't be because of Nintendo. There is room for three players.

Yes

Dunno man, even snes with all the strong 3rd support, still lose a lot for market share for sega.

The advantage taht both sony and microsoft have are that they have business outside of game, so this they can sustains the business no matter what. Wii had a dominace from ninntedo, but yet the other consoles sold pretty well.

In the handheld space, tougth, they are truly unbeatable.

Yes

Yes they will

I did not notice you double posted the topic, so I answered in the other one. Here it is again:

Nintendo will never make a comeback, because the two "major" consoles are now PS and XBox, and third party publishers will never be inclined to return to Nintendo, as it has shown that it cannot sell consoles just based on its first-party games.
Nintendo is a company stuck in the 20th century, making games stuck in the 20th century, and people are not interested in those games anymore, as can be seen by the WiiU results.
Its next console, the announced NX will probably sell even worse, and will mark Nintendo's exit from home console market. That is why it was very wise of them to make a push towards mobile games, as that is where they should seek their fortune in the future.
I truly believe their home console existence is approaching the end very soon.