The hardcore didn't really abandon Nintendo
The N64 was so late to the market and sparse with games in the early day that of course many people moved onto the playstation platform.
Following the Ps1, the pS2 was simply too good and had all the best exclusives from 3rd parties. In this day and age 3rd parties don't give out exclusivity just because... Thats how the 360 managed to make such big ground last era. A core Nintendo device would have benefitted from that two during that era and although we can only speculate, I strongly believe that a gamecube2 (but with a better name) would have sold better then the original gamecube and probably matched or surpassed the n64. it would have had all the final fanatsy's, RE's, CODs, Elderscrolls, Fallout etc







