would be nice.
but i doubt it would sell more than PS4.

I think nintendo should have launched wii U in 2010, exactly how it is, but without gamepad. Just pro controler, and wiimote+. Also, all wii games since half 2010 should be released in wii U too(just an HD version): DKCR, wii sport resort, xenoblade, zelda, etc, and also with the thirdie partys like in 2012, and one or 2 first parties exclusives for wii U per year. Bundles with wii sport resort, other with some thirdie party game.

It would not be seen like just an acessory for wii, it would be seen like wii HD. The people who get wii on 2010 late would get wii U. Also, wii owners who wanted to change wii for x360 could choose the wii U instead. In 2010 wii was yet in a great momentum and X360 and PS3 was growing, the market was very well. I think Wii U would suced.

Also, gamepad would be launched in 2012, sold separly or in the SKU, with zumbi U, and the other wii U games.

Let's look at it simply: what are Wii U's two biggest weaknesses? Price and library (duh). A more powerful console would be more expensive, and would have fewer games because it would take Nintendo yet longer to build the games. It might have some more third party games (key word, might), but given that the unique selling point are the Nintendo exclusives, fewer of them would not lead to good places.

I think its biggest problem is casuals don't want it, they are done with the Wii Sports/Fit/Party fads and showing how fickle they are (Candy Crush, Flappy Bird ... Brownie Poop is probably the next big thing). And it's not satisfying enough for hardcore gamers, to them it's basically Nintendo's XBox 360, just seven years too late. 

The library isn't *that* bad though, with DKC launching this week, it's fairly comparable to the Wii at the same point in terms of overall quality though they've gone a bit overboard with the platformers. 

The price isn't that outrageous either $299.99 is only $50 more than the Wii with NSMBU + NSLU ... many people were willing to pay like $400+ for the Wii in 2006/2007 just to play Wii Sports. 

Nintendo needed to make a core console simply because making a casual console based on what casuals want to today would betray too many of Nintendo's business/design principals -- they'd want a digital only console with $1-$20 games (max) and mindless dumbed down content with some Mario in between and nothing else. 

In a way casuals were a blessing for Nintendo that turned into a curse/nightmare ... now $1 games and cheap/crappy apps are killing Nintendo's bottom line and even taking the kids audience away from them. At least when the Playstation 2 was spanking them, Nintendo was still able to find a stable part of the market to work within, this is much more dire. 

I don't mean specifically on games (it had Killer 7, as an example). It's from a marketing standpoint, how the public sees your product. PS2 was marketed and looked like a high-end eletronic device: sleek, black finish, nice logo. It is something you put in your living room. XBox was marketed as a more powerful device, so it had that appeal. GC looked like a toy. That's my point.

I prefer what they did with GC instead of their Wii approach anyday. Besides that, N64 still is my favorite Nintendo console. And the way it was marketed, was different. It was the powerful 64-bit console, they showed it with Cruis'n USA, Killer Instinct, it simply rocked. I think Nintendo needs to get that spirit back, they were more varied. You had titles for all ages and all styles and they made that clear for everyone. 

Gamecube mainly failed because it was a purple box and to a lesser extent the propriety disc which only had 1gig storage had a negative impact.
Nintendo often make very poor design choices for their consoles N64 was pretty ugly along with the controllers followed up with the purple box GC, then they hit gold with the Wii design and now with the Wii U and it's prototype looking gamepad.
Sales correspond according to the physical appeal each console had/has.

If Nintendo had the business mentality to invest in a successful future rather than protect against furture failures ie the huge reserves of cash they horde they would not be in this situation.

I dont think physical appeal has anything to do with a consoles success, for starters its down to personal preference.

I thought the N64 was very nice and the Mega Drive possibly the best ever, didnt equate to higher sales than the dog ugly SNES.

I think PS2,XB,360,PS3,Xone and PS4 are all horrible, they look more like VHS/DVD players than consoles. The last 'classic' console design was Dreamcast imo.

As far as the GC goes I definitely think the name came before the design, GAME-somthing to link with the GAMEboy brand. Thats why its a cube, if it was half the height it would be a very nice looking machine bit like the DC.

Would've been ignored just as badly by 3rd parties as Wii U currently is.
They went for that approach with GameCube, and it was their worst-selling console ever.
Wii U could've taken off big time, had Nintendo provided the appropriate games that would speak to consumers. Alas, they didn't, so it went downhill fast.

They should have done a console similar to Wii. It wouldn't have guaranteed Wii sales but it would more than likely  have done a lot better than Wii U is doing.

Foolish people can continue to convince themselves that if Nintendo made a MS/Sony clone they would have this awesome console with first party games and tons of third party support support (even though most of those people would still prefer a Sony/MS console despite all their talk), but the more sensible of us know better.

Nintendo need to make themselves as self-sufficient as possible, they need to continue to do the whole third party collaboration/partnership thing (W101, BY2, S:LW, SMTxFE, MH) and continue to make the platform attractive to indies.

It would be the same, maybe even worse. Most 3rd-parties would avoid the system, the ones doing support would sell badly. For generations the 3rd-parties have trained the customers to not expect their games on Nintendo-platforms. Customers have learned that, and even if the game is released, they would prefer buying it on another platform.