Make a Gamecube Controller that was compatible with PC. I would have bought one just for my PC.

The problem with the WiiU was a mix between power and lack of 3rd party. They are not the same problem, even if other companies use the lack of power to justify their apathy towards the U. Nintendo should have tried to get more multiplats at the start of the gen, when crossgen games were still pretty common. Bring popular multiplats, support popular remakes and let other people use your licenses (like they are doing now).

Good aditions for their first two years line-up would have been:

-Red Dead Redemption.
-TES. Skyrim.
-GTA IV
-Minecraft (they should have got it when Microsoft wasn't in charge, now it's impossible)
-Metal Gear Solid Collection 1-3
-Sonic Generations
-Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. (Nintendo platforms are the only place where Sonic can still compete, really)
-Valkyria Chronicles
-Mass Effect COLLECTION (not just the third. There was a point where the collection on PS360 was cheaper than just 3 on the WiiU).
-The Sims 3 (you could control the Sims with the gamepad, something like in the mobile version)
-Devil May Cry HD collection.
-Remake of a Dragon Quest game
-Remake of that Digimon Adventure game on PSP (there were no big Pokemon games on the WiiU to compete against, and there still aren't. I suppose it could have gone to the 3DS better, though)
-Remake of a Tales of x game.
-Any Dragon Ball game

Most of them would have sold poorly, but a port is always cheaper than a complete game, and it would have helped during that fatal first year drought. Combined with the Nintendo games and the few 3rd and 2nd party they got, nobody would have complained about drought. Maybe a bit of rehashing old games, but Nintendo gamers never played those before, so they would have had a perfect excuse.

In terms of power, make it similar to the XBone. It doesn't need to be the most powerful one (because most of third parties would ignore the system regardless of it), but it could at least prolong the lifespam of the system and attract those massive multiplats, like Destiny or GTAV.

Improve the eShop. Put Gamecube-Wii titles from the beginning, and create a virtual console for DS games (the 3DS also should have a eShop with DS games, by the way).

Also, I would have made the Gamepad with a smaller screen, to save money on its production.

There are TWO things I'm missing:

On the hardware side

- Gigabit Ethernet and the ability to use an iSCSI volume as storage.

This way all USB ports could be used by two GameCube Controller adapters.

At the moment I use a USB-Ethernet adapter and an USB Flash-Drive at the back ports.


At the software side

- easy backups. Even Nintendo network "cloud" based for the saves files only would be sufficient. Or tapping a button and those files go onto another medium...

Of course this wouldn't be necessary if an iSCSI volume could be used

Name: Nintendo Wii Revolution (Wii 2)
more powerful nearly identical with X1 and PS4
under a x86 architecture
so no direct backwards compatibility (most people have the Wii anyway)
but still try to push for the eShop for downloadable old games from SNES, NES and N64 (GC to follow in a year)
controller: Pro Controller with better analog
gamepad is optional
would have the sensor bar and a nunchuck too


$299
with gamepad $369

I'd have called it the New Nintendo Entertainment System (New Nintendo Famicom in Asia). Or something like Nintendo Neo. Simple. Wii brand would spun off into its own fitness/lifestyle brand, something separate. Console would look bad ass with subtle but cool LED lighting. 

I'd have gone with a customized 4850 GPU (AMD) shrunk down to the 40nm level and a decently powerful CPU. No Wii backwards compatibility. 4GB RAM.

Upgradable system architecture. (simple like sliding in a battery or like the N64 RAM Pak). 

No standard tablet controller, but I'd have it as an optional accessorie with Nintendo Land bundled for $99.99.

$399.99 launch MSRP, November 2012.

I'd have invested some cash in securing more 2nd party exclusives upfront. Nintendo was cash rich circa 2008, there's no reason to release a console that's starved for software. I'd make sure there was AAA Western developed killer app ready for launch day 1. Maybe a Zelda spin-off. And I'd also push the NSMB to make a more imaginative, awespiring Mario platformer with better graphics, music, etc. 

I'd purchase the rights to the James Bond franchise from Activision and make Bond the "Mario" for older players. 

4GB of Ram
Gamepad having GOOD rumble not crap phone rumble.
Analog triggers
Better battery
Better analog sticks (like the gamecube ones/Wii ones) that dont make "smack/munch" sounds when you touch them,
Bundle Nintendoland AND that Wario game that was once supposed to be included anyway
Name Wii 2 instead of WiiU / or New Nintendo Entertainment System or whatever

Other than that I am pretty okay with it. Just add that little bit of extra power so all the games it has right now also have anti aliasing.

Put a minimum 320gb harddrive in it. 32gb? What a joke.

Nintendo's online infrastructure is a joke. Dreamcast over 15 years ago had on par online with WiiU.

32GB could be the entry level model, aimed to people basically not wanting digital download, but just physical supports (either for their tastes or forced by slow connections).

As for the model with a proper HDD, I'd say better 500GB minimum, as it's the most common size currently available together with 1TB and followed by 2TB, so it offers the lowest possible price per unit.

Anyhow, my first suggestions for Wii U would have been:

- At least 4GB main RAM + 1GB graphics RAM, if Ninty absolutely refused to make it 8GB like competitors, as it would have made the port of most multiplats easy, and not excessively difficult for the largest games able to run on PS4 and XBOne.
- For the same portability concerns, a still cheap, but less vintage and more modern and powerful CPU, a 4-core scaled-down POWER7.

- GPU would have been OK without any changes if Ninty doesn't want to push graphics power, but while scaling down res and graphics FX, GPU, unless really too old and slow, doesn't become a bottleneck if the game's engine is scalable, if a game requires a given CPU power and RAM size due to world size and complexity, some memory space can be saved shortening visibility and interactivity radii, simplifying some object models and increasing granularity of dynamic loading, but beyond a given limit this would affect not only graphics, but also gameplay and excessive granularity of dynamic loading, saving RAM size, but at the cost of putting under heavier load RAM bandwidth, HDD, possibly optical drive too and a little heavier CPU load too, could eventually trigger a vicious circle and make the game clunky.
Sure, 1st parties and 3rd party exclusives don't suffer from all this, but a console that wants to have a broader hardcore appeal can't do without the most important multiplats, so making ports more difficult just to save 2GB RAM, 1GB graphics RAM and some CPU power isn't a good idea.
Some costs could have been recovered on another front, making an entry-level gamepad with a very common and cheap 5" screen and offering a premium 6.5" or more one as optional and on premium SKUs and bundles.

I would have discarded the gamepad from the beginning because it makes the machine more expensive and included the pro controller as the main controller. With the money they would have saved from not making the gamepad they could have made Wii U's processor more powerful (and if x86 better) because WiiU's CPU is really really slow and it even makes de console's OS to work slow while using apps like the eShop. It's a bottleneck.

Also developers would have appreciated some extra power and an x86 architecture to make easy porting games to the console.

Super Mario 64 2 is a pretty silly name too, if you ask me. :P

I would have named it Super Nintendo Wii and the controller would be an evolved wii mote and nunchuck (with all the buttons from the pro controller). the specs would only be slightly upgraded since wii u already has all the specs it needs.