I don't think either the 3DS or Wii U will have traditional successors. They are the end of the line just like Game Boy Advance was. 

The next Nintendo hardware will be the start of a new line which will integrate the worlds of handheld/console together. They will likely both have fresh new branding entirely, which I think is smart. The "DS" and "Wii" brands taken on their own don't have the same catchet anymore. That's really not even my prediction. Iwata has said that himself, so I don't even see that as much of a debate. 

No. You're misunderstanding what he was trying to say and leaving out other things he's said which paints a contradictory picture to what you're saying.

The Wii U won't have traditional successors. True.

The next Nintendo hardware will be the start of a new line which will integrate the worlds of handheld/console together. True.

They will likely both have fresh new branding entirely. True.

The "DS" and "Wii" brands taken on their own don't have the same catchet anymore. True.

But I wasn't arguing any of that. The 3DS successor will still have dual screens and the Wii U successor will still have a gamepad and Zelda Wii U will not be a launch title for either. It will still be a new line with a new branding not called the Wii or DS anymore. Those Nintendo Fusion rumors did get something right. The new branding will integrate each other rather than their predicessors. In other words, Fusion Terminal and Fusion DS are more likely names than Wii U2 and 4DS. You abandon dual screens and you abandon backwards compatibility with those systems, which completely contradicts the entire point of making a common OS. Those things are staying. Just the names/branding and the OS are changing. Not the hardware direction.

I don't think the next Nintendo handheld will have dual screens. It's a redundant cost and often the bottom screen is just a meaningless battery suck to display a map or something.

The 2DS really being a single screen illustrates that even Nintendo is backing out of that. It was an idea that made sense 10 years ago because one large touch panel back then would've been incredibly cost prohibitive. Not today.

I don't think DS will be any part of the next Nintendo handheld branding. The next one is going to be designed specifically to integrate with a new Nintendo ecosystem and also be Nintendo's "answer" to the rise of tablet/smartphone gaming (DS/3DS is the past). It will be something entirely new and more in line with what consumers want today (no one uses the 2 screen solution Nintendo does -- for good reason ... there's little benefit to it). 

DS and Wii as brands had great runs, but all good things come to an end and the world has changed so much in the last 8-10 years, Nintendo can't rest on outdated hardware legacies anymore, unless they want to continue year after year losing money. 

I predict that you will be wrong.

you could easily tell who the thread maker was :P
what is it with you and systems coming out too early?


you are wrong about this just like you are about Nintendo making a hybrid system

I don't see the 3DS successor (or whatever next hardware that qualifies as Nintendo's 9th gen entry) being released so soon. So, no, not happening. It wouldn't be such a bad idea for the Zelda after the next Zelda; the one that'll be on the Nintendo 7. Same goes for a Mario game.

The GBA was selling faster than the 3DS and was replaced after 3 1/2 years.

The 3DS is already showing year over year declines too (fairly major ones in Japan from the looks of it).

Nintendo's portable market is under siege from kids getting indoctrinated by iOS/Android gaming every day.

But yeah, sure. They can't possibly be thinking about a new handheld that would still be almost 2 years out from today.

Lol, Nintendo fans, so adorably out of touch with reality (the Wii U is going to bounce back any day now too, right?). In two years this thread will be funny to read.

I'll go even further and say the next 3D Mario and Animal Crossing are also likely being developed with cross-platform sales in mind. Nintendo is not going to leave those efforts to rot on a dwindling Wii U userbase when their handhelds sell so much more and could open up those games to a much larger audience. 

GBA wasn't replaced.  A 3rd pillar was added to the portfolio of devices which became so popular that it overtook the portable space from the GBA.  Don't forget, it had a GBA built in making the GBA obsolete.

Don't forget that the 2DS has not been released in Japan yet.

And finally, 3DS is up year on year 2013 over 2012.  If the decline is this year, 2 years is way too early.  DS peaked in 2008.  We didn't get the 3DS until 2011.

It's trending down in 2014 over 2013 and figures to stay that way as Nintendo's already brought over the Pokemon audience. 

Also THANK YOU for being able to comprehend that you can actually launch a new pillar/product and the previous one not becoming entirely obsolete (seems like for whatever reason a lot of Nintendo fans can't grasp this concept, if a new hardware is released it must automatically mean the previous one is completely irrelevant in Nintendoland for some reason).