Perception of Nintendo Handhelds vs. Home Consoles pre-Switch

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Jumpin said:

During the Gamecube/GBA era, handhelds were about 80% of the revenue, but the home consoles were about 80% of the expenditure. I think you're right, that during the Gamecube and Wii U eras particularly, Nintendo did feel more like a handheld company. But (and this is me personally), I still considered the N64 to be the main platform during its time, even though GB was booming and bringing Nintendo popularity to new heights - a lot of that was the Pokemon crowd. But that's only my personal feeling about the N64. Objectively speaking, the handheld sector was bigger during the N64 era with few exceptions (mainly the Goldeneye 007 period).

The Wii and DS were a different story, the Wii sold fewer units but likely had a lot more people playing it from the heavy multiplayer focus of the console, they were probably somewhere around 50/50, but the Wii generally felt like the lead platform that generation. With the Wii U, I found it really difficult to find anyone who wanted to play anything on it unless it was Just Dance and copious amounts of alcohol were involved.

That is an interesting way to think about it.  When I think about how much success Nintendo has had with home and handheld systems (roughly in revenue and profit), it is probably something like this:

NES: 100%
SNES/GB: 75/25%
N64/GB: 50/50%
GCN/GBA: 25/75%
Wii/DS: 60/40%
Wii U/3DS: 25/75%
Switch 100%

Nintendo started out extremely dominant and on one platform.  Then they gradually transformed from a primarily home console company to a primarily handheld console company.  Now they are back on one platform again, and they're the most profitable they've ever been.  It makes you wonder if spitting their resources between home and handheld systems was ever a good idea.