I dunno if you needed to put "potential" in there. :P

Pokemon is one of the biggest killer apps in the industry.

I think it is clear that the Switch is not on a path to fail. Just take a look at some of these numbers (through July)

The Switch system is at 4.7 million

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 3.54 million

Zelda BotW Switch - 3.92 million

ARMS - 1.18 million

The attach rate on Zelda and Mario Kart are absolutely insane. And that is a solid debut for ARMS. Anybody who wants to argue that it is going to fail isn't paying much attention.

The interesting thing will be to see how well Nintendo can reach demand for the system this Christmas.

I wonder if Nintendo will ever have the potential again to make Mario kart sell consoles as well or better than Pokemon? Mario Kart Wii was such a big system seller and it's one of Nintendo's most successful games ever. Mario Kart is already one of the best system sellers but if a completely original Mario Kart game comes out on a high performing platform like Switch that is far more successful than Wii U and far better than 3ds ... maybe they'll be able to make it work like a Pokemon game in and of itself? iirc Mario Kart 7 was also a big system seller like Pokemon, just perhaps not quite there. 

You need to consider that Switch is hybrid, that means in same time handheld, and Switch will have multiple versions with different price points similar like 3DS that will continue pushing sales similar we seeing with 3DS, only difference is that Switch has better start than 3DS, and that this time with Switch, Switch will be only platform for Nintendo.

With in the last year or so on 3DS outside of the games you claim are the only games being released on 3DS we've had games like Final Fantasy Explorers, PXZ 2, Bravely Second, Lego Series, Zero Time Dilema, Etrian Odyssey, Etrain 2, Etrian MD, Phoenix Wright, Sonic Fire and Ice, Gunvolt 2, Harvest Moon, Moon Chronicles, Ace Combat, Binding of Isaac, Stella Glow, Terraria etc...

What you're claiming is simply untrue as 3DS support never fizzled out it has remained consistent even with the platform in its 6th to 7th year, many of the games I' even mentioned released withing the last 2-3 years as well.

RE:R2 skipped 3DS but is now being released on NS in a double pack if sales were a problem for 3DS as you claim then RE:R2 on other platforms was a disaster, for reference on sales RE:R 2 on 6 platforms combined barely outsold RE:R on 3DS alone.

Yes, it is obviously going to fail.

Basically, for the Switch to fail now, Nintendo would have to hit Sony 2006/Microsoft 2013/Mid 90s Sega levels of sheer clusterfuckery.

The path to success is laid out before them; they'd have to go out of their way to stray from it.

In my opinion I think Mario Kart is a bigger system seller than Pokemon as it is. Think of Pokemon like a club, it has an established and loyal fanbase that will buy the game regardless of whether it looks promising or not hence the large debuts, but it will always pull the same numbers and not much past that. Mario Kart is a different beast that has mass casual appeal. If I remember correctly MK7 boosted 3DS sales more than X/Y boosted sales for 3DS, and MK8 boosted Wii U sales by like 600%. The fact that MK8D is selling well despite being a port says quite a lot as well. 

I just feel that a promising Mario Kart 9 with something gamechanging like MKW will pull in way more additional sales than whatever GameFreak can come up with for the 8th gen of Pokemon.

Just checked; X/Y gave a 113% hardware boost when it released, Mario Kart 7 gave a 38% hardware boost. The latter did have a staggered launch, coming out in Japan a week before the West, but even so Pokemon seems to have pushed more systems.

The one thing about Pokemon that I do recall is so many people on this board were hyping up Pokemon X/Y as something that would send 3DS sales sky high, but I believe 3DS actually sold fewer systems that fiscal year than the year previous.

I think that and the 2DS launch really baffled Nintendo, they were anticipating bigger sales and didn't get them.