Just with regards to some of the historical Nintendo console discussion, I do think it's fair to note a few things though.
For one there's a tendency to overrate (if you will) "success". Like the thinking that
NES = godlike execution because it sold well
GameCube = terrible because it didn't sell well
Well I mean if you gave the GameCube the same circumstances the NES had .... only Sega really to compete against (so lets remove Sony and MS) and also gave the GameCube a lock out chip that forced third parties to only make GameCube games (so now Final Fantasy X, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, TimeSplitters, etc. etc. are all GameCube exclusive) who doesn't think the GameCube sells at least 65 million with the same circumstances?
Hell, it'd probably sell 150 million like the PS2 did. And vice versa, if Sony and MS were a thing in the console market in the 80s and you remove the NES' monopoly (basically) on third parties and even move it so that Sony has the majority of those games instead of Nintendo, the NES would probably lose and lose royally.
D-Pads and hardware concepts don't change that from happening.
The level of competition and circumstances of the generation make a huge difference to the end result.
