People are willing to pay $199.99 for the 3DS, in fact we know the more expensive 3DS XL model sells better than the cheaper 3DS models.

People weren't hot on a $250 3DS at launch because Nintendo launched it with Nintendogs as the main game for like the first 5 months, not understanding that the casual audience had sold them out for the iPhone.

So it's not really a surprise that they didn't have a good post launch with the 3DS.

3DS was also fairly outdated even at launch it looked like a souped up PSP with a 3D screen gimmick that was kind of a love it or hate it type thing. Some people liked the 3D, others didn't, and even if you liked it after 5 minutes your eyes adjust to the effect so that it doesn't seem like anything special anyway.

I think Nintendo could sell the next handheld at $229-$249 if they really want to *if* they have a good software library at launch and post launch and the value proposition is there for the consumer -- ie: the hardware is relatively of good tech. If it's a big deal dropping down to $199.99 wouldn't be the end of the world. 

Rather have the OS and stuff the same on both consoles.
But power will decide if

For small games especially, it would be very easy to port the handheld one to the home console version for cross-buy.
Would make the VC games much easier to make.

I think the consumer should choose what games they want to play.

If I want to play Pokemon Z on my TV in 1080P with added graphical effects ... I should be able to. I prefered playing MH3 on the Wii U rather than the 3DS. That's just my preference. I would be first in line to buy Kid Icarus: Uprising on Wii U if Nintendo offered it. 

By the same token I have no problem playing games that were initially designed for consoles like Zelda: MM, Xenoblade, Final Fantasy X, etc. on my handheld either.

Let the player choose, stop dictating what they can and can't play. A good game is a good game, it's not like a good console game becomes unplayable on a portable or console. As long as there's a sleep mode, I can manage with any type of game on a handheld just fine. 

What major games did 3DS have when it was $250? Nintendogs+Cats at launch and Ocarina of Time 3D in June, is it really surprising people weren't spending $250 for it? If 3DS came out of the gate at that price with those 2 games along with Monster Hunter 3G, Mario Kart 7 & Super Mario 3D Land in the first 6 months than it wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

U make it seem like their are alot of people currently buying both devices, Gamecube sold 1/4 the amount of GBA and Wii U is currently less than 1/5 the number of 3DS, Gameboy sold 2x as much as N64 from 1996-2003, outside of Wii/DS, the last time Nintendo's handheld and console sold similar numbers was in the late 80's/early 90's. With them being the same price and offering the same library, perhaps we will see more similar sales between the 2, I think something like 20-30 million consoles and 50-70 million handhelds is an attainable goal, that gives Nintendo a total install base of 70-100 million to sell to.

Throwing some could cash to get exclusive rights to the movie IPs in questin is not impossible and could work well.  Licenced IPs have gone exclusive in the past, it just has to make sense to the property owner.  Avengers exclusive on the Nintendo NX platforms could be big.

I also don't think it's out of the question to develop a new adult IP.  I think they would be better off hiring or buying an outside studio to do it, however.  Destiny is a great example, Titanfall a good but less successful example.  Nintendo needed a new IP to go with Wii U to show they were doing something different and trying to re-focus on core gamers.  Something like those title would have worked magic (ignoring the flaws with the Wii U hardware concept).  If Wii U was launched with Destiny and an upgraded/delayed Last Story, it would have looked like a very different system.  Mistwalker should be making RPG's for Nintendo on years Monolithsoft doesn't, and there should be a AAA western studio making something fresh like Destiny.

Didn't the Vita launch at $250?  It had one of the best launch lineups of all time and look how that turned out.  People are not willing to pay console prices for a handheld.  They should be aiming for $150-200, closer to $150 so that entry point is low like with the DS.

That doesn't show anything, all that shows is that their handhelds sell more than their consoles.  That doesn't show the crossover between conoles and handheld.  There is no way they are launching a console and handheld at the same price.

Exactly, if ur a person who really enjoys Nintendo games but prefers playing at home, on a TV than ur kinda screwed because ur missing out on a ton of their games. Same thing if u own a 3DS and loved games like 3D Land, MK7, Returns 3D but don't want to spend an extra $300 to play their bigger/better sequels than once again ur kinda screwed. Make all games available on a single ecosystem where u can choose the form factor u prefer to play them on (portable, tablet, console)

Well people haven't purchased the Vita at any price ... so really that just shows that a Sony portable doesn't sell well in this day and age. PSP sold well at $250 though. 

And one of the "best launch lineups of all time" is hyperbolic ... it had a watered down version of Uncharted as a launch game and not much else along with a poor post launch to boot and mediocre third party support all along. 

If anything the move to mobile takes pressure off Nintendo, they don't need to neccessarily have a bargain basement priced handheld right from day 1 ... because their games on mobile will let them reach kids and casuals, so the dedicated portable if anything then becomes more of an upmarket product. 

Yep and what big IP does Vita have? It's pretty much late ports of PS3/360 games, niche Japanese games and indie support. I'm not saying those are bad types of games but they aren't exactly system sellers, they are mostly support titles, the types of games that compliment the big hitters. Nintendo has big 10+ million selling franchises like 2D/3D Mario, Smash Bros, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, it's not at all comparable to Vita.

The game seemed well received to me and it did its job at the time, Sony was trying to show near console graphics on a handheld.

Their mobile games are meant to entice people to buy their handheld, I remember Nintendo saying something like this, which means they are still trying to chase the casual so the handheld won't have a high pay wall like $250, they'd be smart to keep it low like the DS.