The Gamecube sold abysmally. Sitting just around 20 million, it's Nintendo's biggest failure sans Virtual boy. Yet I would argue that it was Nintendo's greatest system. Sporting a comfortable controller, the best Nintendo first party since the SNES, some great third party, and all of these games looked amazing because of the powerful hardware. The Gamecube was without a doubt a "Core" gamers console.
I think that the reason it failed wasn't because of what it was, but simply becuase of the PS2. I don't think we will ever see a force as dominant as that console out of the big three again. I think the market is much bigger now, and more open minded to owning two or more consoles.
So here is my scenario. The Wii lifecycle is completed, Nintendo announces a console with specs on par, or slightly better than PS4 Nextbox, normal controller, updated Wii mote, great online services, and a bevvy of First party and third party support.
How would it sell? Would it recieve third party support? How would it be viewed.
I think that in a market where there is no PS2 equivilent, the GCN2 could outsell it's competitors. Nintendo already has a lot of families buying the system for Mario, regardless of what control scheme/power. So they have that crowd locked up. Then let's se they gain 10-15 million core gamers that are open minded, their typical 20-25 million core fanbase, and another 10 or so million for the casuals.
I think that a GCN2 would succeed.
