Virtual Boy is a more important one. We have to remember that some of these mistakes are different than we might recall them
1) Sony was trying to screw over Nintendo with the PlayStation even during the partnership. Under terms of the deal being cast, Nintendo would have had to pay Sony royalties to place Nintendo games on the Super Nintendo PlayStation, and why would they have done that?
2) Nintendo understands that there's no reason to give a game-box multimedia abilities. It's a red-herring to suggest that it has ever helped a console company sell consoles. The MiniDVDs were a holdover from Nintendo's desires of the N64 era: loading times are bad, how do we alleviate them? That and the fact that full-size DVDs in the 6th generation allowed for as much waste as CDs did in the 5th generation and Blu-Ray discs currently. Unnecessary space for the vast majority of games.
3) 3DS Loss. Part of this is on Nintendo for not giving the 3DS enough compelling software early on so that they were unable to successfully employ razor-and-blade model, but much of it was down to the fact that Nintendo burns through expenses in strong Yen and takes up revenue mostly in piddly dollars and Euros. So much of Nintendo's vaunted loss for the year is to do with exchange rates.
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
