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Soundwave on 08 March 2017
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wombat123 said:
NightDragon83 said:
Top 10 reasons why Wii U failed...

#10: Bad name.
#9: Inferior online network compared to XBL / PSN.
#8: Lacking key Nintendo franchises; no Metroid, no true 3D Mario a la 64 or Galaxy, and no Zelda until it was dead already.
#7: Terrible name.
#6: Marketing was horse shit.
#5: "Tablet" controller sucked all around, nothing but a desperate gimmick to try to keep the "casual" audience around that had already moved on to actual mobile devices.
#4: God awful name.
#3: Underpowered and overpriced.
#2: Complete lack of 3rd party support; made N64's and GCN's support look amazing by comparison.
#1: Did I mention how horrendous the name of this console is? Whoever gave that name the green light should be buried in a landfill of Wii Us, Ouyas, Pippins, Gizmondos, N-Gages and Game.coms.

you also forgot

#11: Lack of software that made compelling use of the gamepad
#12: The price of the gamepad which prevented desperately needed price-cuts.
#13: Overreliance on the dying Wii brand
#14: Terrible software droughts
#15: Overdependence on 2D and party games.
#16: The actual console looks so much like the Wii that the Wii U was easily mistaken as an add-on

It's a wonder the Wii U even sold 14m when you look at the whole picture.  The only reason it was even able to break 10m was because of the strength of Mario Kart 8, Smash 4, Splatoon, Mario Maker and the promise of BotW.  The Wii U was handled so poorly and was such an uncompelling piece of hardware that I really think the majority of its note-worthy exclusives should eventually be ported over to the Switch to give them a second chance, chief among them Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade X, Tropical Freeze, Mario Maker, Smash 4, Mario Kart 8 and Pokken Tournament.

I think this point is often over looked but the Wii U early year was absolutely flooded with 2D platformers and party/mini-game titles and both of those games had lost their appeal as system sellers, this totally killed the Wii U. 

NSMBU, New Luigi U, Rayman Legends, Nintendo Land, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Game & Wario, Mario & Sonic Olympics, Sing Party, Wii Party U, Wii Fit U, Wii Sports Club ... it was overkill. 

By the time games of more varied genres and larger scope like Splatoon, Bayonetta 2, Smash Brothers, Xenoblade X, etc. arrived the system was dead. 

Same with the 3DS, they thought the Touch Generations audience could carry them again, well launching with Nintendogs + cats as the "big" title was a fucking disaster that almost killed the system. It wasn't until Mario 3D Land + Mario Kart finally showed up that the system finally got going. 

Nintendo needs to understand they cannot launch solely with their more casual titles. Switch would be flopping right now too if 1,2 Switch was the main launch title and we were getting a 2D Mario or Donkey Kong instead of a big, epic 3D Zelda.