For the mentions of it in this thread... I'm not sure I'd count things like Super Mario RPG when Paper Mario is basically a spiritual sequel to that with all the same core gameplay.
Anyway, for me personally it was the gap between Pikmin 2 and 3. It's my favourite Nintendo franchise and 9 years was a painful wait. I'm glad it looks less likely to repeat itself at the moment.
If I were counting anything at all (I'm not), I'd say Baten Kaitos. I suppose it's always possible for the series to get a reboot but it's been 10 years and I'm not optimistic.
Kind of surprised to see Zelda leading the poll when the wait between home console releases has been 4-5 years for most of them. Between A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time it was about 7 years, with only one handheld release (Link's Awakening) between them, while in the 5 years between Skyward Sword and Zelda U we've ended up with SIX other releases (A Link Between Worlds, Tri Force Heroes and re-releases of Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask).
