Again, the market has changed drastically since the GC days. People often buy more than 1 System a gen now which will be very beneficial to Nintendo due to its exclusives. Orbis + Wii U and Durango + Wii U will happen a lot IMO. Especially if Nintendo can continue to get exclusives such as Bayonetta 2. 

Also, the GC & N64 both had a lot going against it that had nothing to do with Nintendo's games. The N64 still used cartridges and that limited the 3rd Party games. The cartridges also made the games cost $60 to $70 each which was insane! If you adjust for inflation it would be about $85 to $100 a game today...yeah, that's gonna attract the average consumer.

As for the GC, for one, it used mini discs. This again limited 3rd party support. Not only did it limit support, it also looked dumb to many people. The GC also looked dumb to many core. It was purple. Also, doesn't look attractive to the average guy over 15. Also, quite frankly, back then everyone and their mom wanted a PS2. The PS brand was extremely strong and sucked up every game possible and made it exclusive. Add the fact that GC had very limited online capabilities and you can see why it wasn't the biggest success the world has ever seen.

I really enjoyed the GC and the N64 is my favorite System ever released but let's not pretend that the games and lack of Core Nintendo fans were the issue.

As for Nintendo Land not being a Wii Sports? I never thought it would be. It isn't casual enough and I can't see the average 60 year old playing it. I don't think it has anything to do with the Gamepad itself. Wii Fit U won't be as big as the previous Wii Fits but it will get some attention. Same with Wii Sports U once released. Nintendo is likely working on a peripheral or add on that will be its secret weapon though.

Lastly, Nintendo doesn't need their expanded audience any more than Sony or Microsoft. They all need Casual support to sell huge #'s. Microsoft without casual support = XB. Nintendo without casual support = GC. Sony without casual support = PSV. The PS2 sold so well because it was the obvious choice. This gen, Wii & 360 both took many PS2 casuals because PS3 was no longer the obvious choice.

Do not group handheld buyers with console buyers. And 3ds has a dual appeal to casual and core, not primarily core.

Of course handhelds don't have the exact same audience as home consoles, but there is a lot of overlap.  Nintendo's popularity has grown since the days of the GameCube and GBA.  Mario games sell better now than they did back then, and Animal Crossing and Mario Kart are now hugely successful with casual gamers.

Little hint Sony due to business model didn't make anywhere near the amount of money with the playstation brand as many seem to think.

Exactly right, something like that would destroy Nintendo.  That entire company is operated on the assumption that their games are only possible and can only ever be played on Nintendo hardware.  I think better part of 70% of the staff would depart if something occured where they were forced to make games for other platforms.  It's just not gonna happen.

You do realize that those figures also include Nintendo's profits from their handheld division, right?

The GBA profits are embedded in this data, so it doesn't say a lot about GC. But it's impossible for GC to give more money than PS2, it didn't sell less, it sold abysmally less than PS2. And almost 50 million PS2 units were sold after the start of this gen, all sold at a profit. GC stopped selling quick, so it didn't had teh advantage of selling when it was cheaper to manufacture. Besides that, the software sales are completely different. PS2 was a monster in that regard. The top selling PS2 game almost outsells the GC lifetime hardware sales. It's not even a fair comparison in this case. Even with the model of selling it above cost price, PS2 simply sold too much to not being profitable. It's a difference of more than 6 times the installed base.

Yes and it also includes the PSP.

And yet Sony didn't profit from it. They made a loss each fiscal year after the PS3 launch, the PS2 could have sold 200Mil and they would not have seen a single cent of profits.