Edit: First off, this applies to Nintendo beginning with the Wii only. I agree they had competitive hardware pre-wii.

That's all. In consoles, the Wii was basically smilar to the PS2/Xbox (probably about like Xbox in power). Being a 50% overclocked Gamecube with added RAM. Now the Wii U is basically on par with PS3/360.

Same in handhelds. DS was a gen behind PSP, and I dont follow handhelds but I'd guess 3DS is in PSP's class, where Vita is a gen beyond that.

So yep, not big revelation or statement here. One thing that interests me is if diminishing returns start kicking in, maybe one day Nintendo's strategy might work as the difference would shrink each gen. For now though, it's obviously not working out for Wii u at all.

NES/SNES/N64/GC say hi

Only for the last 2 gens; Gamecube was the most powerful in its generation (Xbox HDD aside), as was the N64 and SNES.

And although lightning struck for the Wii, when they went for the partial upgrade (2x Gamecube, not the same as the Xbox), it clearly hasn't for the Wii U where they tried the same trick.

I suspect that they will go power next gen, but years ahead of the competition, to get a good run in and scoop up easy 3rd party ports from the X1 and PS4 in their twilight years.

I mean the new "underpowered" Nintendo that began with Wii, duh.

Gamecube was the most powerful in its generation (Xbox HDD aside),

Not even close Xbox destroyed Gamecube. But see the Op edit.

the wii u isnt underpowered. its not a PC in a tiny tiny piece of plastic. thats the main problem.

All consoles are "PC's in tiny plastic" technically.

It's pretty reasonable of Nintendo to do so. They can't compete with Sony and Microsoft in terms of technology. Microsoft has a shitload of money and Sony can produce many parts themselves. Nintendo would have to buy everything and increase costs for R&D which would in turn increase the price of the system. Nintendo would not be able to sell a PS4 like console at 399. So why should they bother?

Also, dem grfxx won't get Nintendo any 3rd parties as proven by the Gamecube and the Wii U which doesn't get PS360 ports. They have to think of something else. Until they can't resolve that issue, it is best to count on their massive 1st party titles. And for those, they don't need much power as almost no Nintendo title aims to bring you realistic graphics. It's all about the art design and that's also why Nintendo games age much better than most other games.

The one thing where Nintendo failed recently is to really "wow" people. The 3DS and the Wii U are nice and all but they lack something truly new and unique. But from what I'm hearing lately, Nintendo is right in the middle of finding a new revolution, whatever the hell it will turn out to be.

Nobody needs a third console that is basically the same as the others. So Nintendo is doing everything right in terms of the power of their consoles. It's enough to make the games look not too outdated and it guarantees a small price tag.

I'm a Sony Fan btw. :P

well the wii u isnt a modern x86 pc like the ps4 and xbone and last gens consoles weren`t moderns PCs 2.

Xbox did not "destroy" Gamecube. It was more powerful, but the gap was a lot smaller than most people think.

The Xbox was a beast, really. It had a state of the art Intel Processor clocking in at 733 MHz where the gamecube had nothing more than 485 MHz. 64 MB RAM doubled the PS2 and were still considerably more than the 40 MB of the Gamecube. Then you have more than double memory rate on top of an graphics chip that was almost twice as fast as Nintendo's. A Pixel Fillrate five times faster than the Gamecube speaks for itself. And let's not forget about the faster DVD Drive and the hard drive. 

The Gamecube was a nice piece of hardware, but no match to the then totally overpowered Xbox. 

edit: Or if you want Gigaflops, it's something like 13 for the Xbox vs 10 for the Gamecube. Sounds like nothing today but was a hell of a difference back then.