Option 1 is not early at all. 2018 would be a 6 year long generation and therefore a long generation and late. 2015/2016 would be early, and 2017 would be a regular 5 year generation.
Nintendo should put their resources into having a very strong 2015/2016 with the Wii U and then launch the successor in late 2016. Nintendo's biggest problem with the Wii U is that there was no momentum going into it. They waited until the Wii had been dead for a year before launching the next console. Then launched the Wii U with no AAA titles, and very little marketing or hype.
Wii U should have come out in 2011 with a least two AAA games. Mario Galaxy 2 could have been a Wii U launch title.
Nintendo's next console should come out with two or three AAA titles, guns blazing with the hype machine, and proper compatibility with VC, eShop, and WiiWare titles that people already bought. Let people know that their investment counts towards the future.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
