Nintendo should just embrace the future and change the way their hardware functions. The way its been in the past is
1.) Portable - Cheap, low-cost, low-tech. Marketed mainly at kids.
2.) Console - Affordable, used to be fairly high-tech, but in the last 10 years Nintendo switched to low tech. Marketed mainly at kids/families.
Both require seperate game libraries which causes large droughts on each platform. This paradigm doesn't work in the year 2016, it's time to change it to a more modern three pillar strategy IMO:
1.) Mobile - Cheap/free. Allows Nintendo to serve casual/cheap/kids gamers easily so the console/portable don't have to *fixate* on this audience. Nintendo will make a ton of money from smartphone games. If you're making money from casuals here, then who cares. There's no shame in bowing to Apple/Google and admitting they have more reach to this audience than you ever will if you're taking home $$$. And if you're making $$$ then targetting the exact same audience with dedicated hardware becomes redundant.
2.) Dedicated Handheld - Should go upmarket. In a sense I see the handheld actually replacing the traditional Nintendo console. It becomes what that used to be, I would even allow it to stream to the TV so it can function as a console too (this is good value addition, tablets can't do this). It should be able to display Wii U-level graphics and run all the main Nintendo IP (which can then be shared with the system below with upgraded visuals).
3.) Home Console - Should reflect the modern reality of the home console market ... needs to be powerful and aimed at adults first and foremost. Japan is not buying consoles anymore. Stop making consoles designed for Japanese tastes. A console doesn't need to be the size of a 3 DVD cases and consume 30 watts of electricity ... in America we don't live in hobbit holes. This plays the same Nintendo games as the dedicated handheld, but can run them at higher resolution/better effects and it has high-end third party ports that can't run on the dedicated handeld. This product is for pro players, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Allow Android apps to run on both Nintendo devices too. This makes the decision for a parent to choose an Android tablet over a Nintendo handheld harder ... the Android tablet may be cheaper, but the Nintendo one runs the same apps plus can function as a home console plus has Nintendo games ... now you have a fair fight where Nintendo can logically lay out a case to choose Nintendo over "crap Android tablet".
