I should add too I think the best way to market to kids is to not market to kids.

Kids don't want the freaking "mommy approved" product in the first place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCekm_LslUE

That's why overall it seems like the 2DS has been basically a market dud. Aimed specifically at the kids market, but most people who are purchasing a 3DS opt to purchase the more expensive 3DS XL. Nobody, I don't think even kids, want the "for kids 2DS".

Nintendo needs to embrace "being cool". That's not just important for teens and adults but for kids too.

Not necessarily, though they should target the mature audience with their consoles.

More proof in the pudding:

Kids age 6-12 choose the Apple brand over Disney, Nickeldeon, McDonalds (presumably Nintendo too):

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/kids-love-apples-ipad-more-than-disney-nickelodeon-youtube-survey-1201322460/

Apple’s iPad is the No. 1 brand among children 6-12, beating out Disney, Nickelodeon, YouTube, Netflix, Toys ‘R’ Us, McDonald’s, and multiple snack-food brands, according to a new survey.

Kids see the iPad as the all-in-one digital tool, according to the three-month survey by Tennessee-based consulting firm Smarty Parts. The 2014 survey results represent the culmination of the “tablet takeover,” according to Smarty Pants president Wynne Tyree.

Apple does not market towards kids. At all. They don't make products that look like toys. Yet there you go. Nintendo needs to recognize what's happening here.

Kids want the same thing their parents/older siblings are using, not the dumbed down "for kids" stuff. By age 10/11 they become obsessed with being cool to boot. 

Marketing to an older demographic simultaneously appeals to kids precisely because it's something not meant for them. Tell a kid they can have anything they want except pasta, and five minutes they're going to be crying that they don't want pizza or hamburgers but they want pasta. 

I have a two hour commute to classes and to home every day. That is 40 hours a month (for 5 days a week) to play video games. 

They should just make the "E" rating justice and target everyone. Make a phone plz.

But their commercials were only on kids channels like Nick or Cartoon Network

With New 3DS, they had commercials air on more adult-based channels

Whenever I commute to work or go on a vacation handhelds come in very handy. So yes, we adults do have time to play handhelds, it's just a matter of convincing adults that it's not uncool to play the 3DS in public. And to do that you need more mature orientated software. Metroid needs to return, it's potentially Nintendo's most mature first party series. The problem is, it keeps being mishandled. Other M and Samus with jet high heels in Smash shows that the Japanese development teams don't know what to do with her so they resort to focusing in on her sexiness, where she used to be about her smarts especially in the Prime titles. What I would like to see is Retro take Metroid side scrolling on the 3DS. They created a wonderful mature atmosphere for the series, and they have proven with Donkey Kong that they can create strong side scrolling titles.

It wouldn't hurt to try.

I agree that overtly targeting kids these days is probably a bad idea, and agree that they should definitely taget adults more. However, if you're trying to say that NIntendo should use their next handheld to try to compete with Microsoft/Sony for the violent/mature crowd, i think you're sadly mistaken.

1. Do you think that the mature, adult gamer, to whom Playstation and Xbox have been almost exclusively geared towards since their inception, have very much interest in moving to, or double-dipping with, a product from a company that typically targets the opposite of what they like?

2. Do you think that the mature, adult gamer, who usually prefers ambitious games on powerful hardware, would buy a device with a tiny display and significantly weaker hardware (although understandably so)?

Well actually if it really doesn't go well then the loss of money would certainly hurt =P. They need to be careful in deciding what they do next because they can't exactly afford to lose money at this point.