Comparison of reason for sales of Wii, WiiU and Switch

[The_Liquid_Laser]

The OP has some very good thoughts.  Here is an additional question I would ask:

"How well do the main games on the system show off the new technology?"

On the Wii, I think, Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Sports Resort and Mario Kart were a grand slam.  They were the most popular games on the system and they all showed off motion controls beautifully.  Other top games include Wii Fit and 2D Mario.  Wii Fit included it's own technology, the balance board, which makes it a category unto itself.  Basically there is probably a big untapped market behind the Wii Fit phenomenon considering they bought a Wii and then a game with another peripheral on top of that.  2D Mario did not use motion controls well, as the OP stated.  It points more to a large untapped market of retro gamers instead I think.

In the case of the Switch, every game shows off the hybrid technology.  I can play 99%+ of the games in either handheld or docked mode, with exceptions being stuff like Labo and Ring Fit adventure where I need to use the joycons in unconventional ways.  But the universality of the hybrid feature is huge and I think that is why Switch is so successful.  Every game shows off the new technology.

How about the Wii U and the gamepad?  Nintendoland just was not a killer app like Wii Sports was.  On top of that I couldn't play games on the toilet.  A lot of games could not be played on the gamepad and the wireless capability did not extend all the way to my toilet.  That limited just how convenient the Wii U could actually be.  It really wasn't.

When I think about the games where I appreciated the gamepad the most it was Hyrule Warriors and Minecraft.  That is because I could play a 2-player game without the annoying split-screen.  One of us would use the TV to explore the map and the other could use the gamepad.  These are games where the gamepad actually shined as a device.

I have to concluded that the gamepad might have been a decent device, but it would have had to have been designed very differently.  1) It would need a longer range so people could play anywhere in their house instead of being tethered to their TV room.  2)  There would need to be more games like Hyrule Warriors where multiplayer benefits greatly from a second screen.  Why didn't Mario Kart 8 have this capability for example?  Why can't I play local multiplayer on Splatoon?  3)  Every game (or at least every first party game) would need to have the capability to be played on the gamepad.  4)  The gamepad itself would have to be cheap enough so that people could buy multiple controllers.  Then you could have, for example, a 4-player Mario Kart game where everyone has their own screen.  But the controllers would need to be priced around $50-$60.  They might have to remove features like the camera and touch capability and such to bring the price down.

All 4 of these points were fixed with the Switch.  1) Range is infinite.  2)  There are plenty of games where two handheld Switches can play together: Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Splatoon 2, etc....  Handhelds have done this all along and so now it is a part of the Switch.  3)  Every game can be played portablely except for the ones that use joy-cons in unconventional ways (i.e. Labo).  4)  This point is addressed more in how popular the Switch is.  Technically it is a lot more expensive than just buying a new controller, but since Switch is seen as such a good value it is very possible to find several friends who have a Switch and just play together in the same room.

So, in the end, what I have mostly said is how the Switch really is the answer to the Wii U.  The Wii U had a decent idea that was executed poorly and the Switch is how to take that idea and do it right.