I think people will be surprised at how powerful the next Nintendo handheld is. That's just a guess, but the next Nintendo handheld is not really part of the GB-GBA-DS-3DS family IMO.
It's a new family bloodline -- the Fusion line.
The Fusion concept doesn't work if the Fusion handheld can't run the "big boy" games. That means it had to run Mario Galaxy 3. Not Mario Mini-Galaxy Land. Not Zelda w/Retro 2D Graphics. It has to be able to run the real deal 3D Zelda. It has to run the same versions of Mario Kart and Smash Bros. that the console variant has, not watered down/scaled down versions.
Sure the resolution can be lower, some effects can be turned down, AA/texture filtering can be scaled back, but the entire purpose of a Fusion concept is defeated the moment your dev teams have to make two totally different versions of a 3D Mario because the handheld simply can't run any reasonable port of the home version.
See my Tegra Nvidia X1 chip thread ... mobile tech is getting to some pretty amazing places.
Nvidia is releasing a home microconsole in May that has a processor more powerful than the Wii U, that eats less energy than a Wii U (comparable to an iPad), has more RAM than a Wii U and is sold at $200, at a hefty profit at that.
Times they are a changing folkes. Mobile tech is very, very different than it was even 6 years ago when Nintendo was finalizing the 3DS hardware.
