According to what's listed on VGC:

PS1 - 36.91m
PS2 - 55.28m
PS3 - 34.55m
PS4 - 26.07m, still going

GB+GBC - 40.05m
GBA - 21.31m
DS - 52.07m
3DS - 18.81m, still going

Important points:

1. Breadth of game library and amount of quality titles has always heavily favored PS home consoles in this comparison, because American and European publishers tend to treat handhelds as an afterthought.

2. Nintendo doesn't officially distribute their consoles themselves in many European countries, so Sony has held a clear advantage in distribution of products outside of the five major European countries. Such expansion is something that Nintendo can work on.

3. The DS demonstrates that Nintendo is capable of competing with the heights of PS consoles. So if a console's lifecycle isn't cut short (happened to the GBA because Nintendo reacted to Sony's entry in the handheld market) and the console is properly executed (doesn't hold true for the 3DS which carried the burden of the rejected 3D), then it is anybody's game.

4. The 3DS wasn't the only console with problems. The PS3 had its own struggles.

5. Switch is properly executed and can pick up third party support that goes beyond the norm for handhelds, so its sales potential is right up there with the DS despite the absence of a selling point that can match the Touch Generations games of the DS (Nintendogs, Brain Training etc.).

EDIT: VGC has the DS at ~3.5m for 2005; the handheld launched in March of that year, so that lines up well with Switch for 2017. After the first week of October Switch is at 1.8m for 2017.

I still wonder why Switch's Other sales are so high on VGC, but maybe VGC doesn't only count Australia, but also the whole of South America.

According to what's listed on VGC:

PS1 - 36.91m
PS2 - 55.28m
PS3 - 34.55m
PS4 - 26.07m, still going

GB+GBC - 40.05m
GBA - 21.31m
DS - 52.07m
3DS - 18.81m, still going

Important points:

1. Breadth of game library and amount of quality titles has always heavily favored PS home consoles in this comparison, because American and European publishers tend to treat handhelds as an afterthought.

2. Nintendo doesn't officially distribute their consoles themselves in many European countries, so Sony has held a clear advantage in distribution of products outside of the five major European countries. Such expansion is something that Nintendo can work on.

3. The DS demonstrates that Nintendo is capable of competing with the heights of PS consoles. So if a console's lifecycle isn't cut short (happened to the GBA because Nintendo reacted to Sony's entry in the handheld market) and the console is properly executed (doesn't hold true for the 3DS which carried the burden of the rejected 3D), then it is anybody's game.

4. The 3DS wasn't the only console with problems. The PS3 had its own struggles.

5. Switch is properly executed and can pick up third party support that goes beyond the norm for handhelds, so its sales potential is right up there with the DS despite the absence of a selling point that can match the Touch Generations games of the DS (Nintendogs, Brain Training etc.).

EDIT: VGC has the DS at ~3.5m for 2005; the handheld launched in March of that year, so that lines up well with Switch for 2017. After the first week of October Switch is at 1.8m for 2017.

I still wonder why Switch's Other sales are so high on VGC, but maybe VGC doesn't only count Australia, but also the whole of South America.

Yes, we are in a different market now. All of Nintendo's games will go to a single console in the future: Switch. That will make it common that a few huge Nintendo IPs release every year on a single console, plus third party support will be plentiful as well.

You are very wrong about the number of Nintendo home console gamers, because you assume that Wii U was a perfectly executed system. It would have to be in order to make your claim truthful. But since Wii U was such a big blunder, it's completely irrational to put the number of people interested in a Nintendo home console at only 10-15m.

Similarly, you make the huge assumption that the 3DS was perfectly executed, therefore the mobile market has to be responsible for the decline from DS to 3DS. But the 3DS was a big blunder as well, so the number of people that Switch can reach is far greater than Wii U and 3DS combined.

You can look up numbers here: http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

Nintendo's numbers have to be largely derived from the regional breakdown of their shipment numbers; Nintendo's official breakdown is Japan/Americas/Other which differs from VGC which displays Japan/North America/Europe/Others. Numbers for other console manufacturers have a higher degree of estimates, but most of it should be in the right ballpark.

It won't be you, that's for sure.

That sounds like you assume Switch will have the same sales curve as the 3DS despite Switch not having a significant price cut in its first year that pushed sales that would have normally occured during year 2 into year 1.

Everyone's all hyped up on Switch, but clearly the PS4 is still the true king! As a Nintendo fan I suppose I have to spin the numbers a bit, so while PS4 is the best single selling system, Nintendo is even with Sony for overall hardware sold this week. This thanks to PSVita and PS3 no longer contributing much to Sony while 3DS is still a huge player for Nintendo.