I think you're off, GBA did not sell that incredibly, total was like 80 m, I don't think the 3DS is that far behind in terms of pacing of sales. now the DS or original Gameboy, maybe those are different stories..... 

The only reason it's total is 80 million only is because it was prematurely cut off by the DS. It would've sold 100+ million easily otherwise, maybe even 120 million. 3DS isn't going to come close to that. 

I agree

the touchscreen gamepad was a mistake- too expensive. Nintendo could have sold a tonnnnn more Wii U's if they simply had used a less expensive controller, something more traditional, and priced at like 200$ out of the gates. would have been very do-able

a lot of casual gamers out there who prefer, say, Sony, enjoy SOME Nintendo games and might pick up the system for a cheaper price simply to have an extra activity. 

3DS is doing fine, obviously we can say that when Sony would love for the Vita to have the same success

the Wii U had a lot of hiccups in terms of design and marketing, but the good thing is its very in your face and obvious where things went wrong. much better situation for Nintendo to be in knowing problems they can fix rather than totally being at a loss and confused to why they didn't succeed

Nintendo knows that to succeed next generation they either need a home console that has competitive graphics/hardware or something that has worse features/specs BUT is much more affordable. either one of those routes should garner them success, but having a fairly pricey system with a gimmick would not be a smart move again

but it doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things, because the system is a flop regardless and Ninty fans are going to support Ninty casue there...fans. Which we know dont even represent most gamers it seems. Do we have  break down how many of those 9mil plus consoles were basic?

but i see your point about demand. but Wii was kinda cheap to begin with, we cant really know how well it would have sold if it was 350 like Wii U was

I don't think Nintendo can reliably have a hit selling console without a controller gimmick. 

Fact is every single one of their consoles outside of the Wii, which temporarily attracted a ton of casual non-gamers before they got hooked on smartphone apps, from the NES onwards has had a fairly consisent down trend in sales from generation to generation. 

the DS was released because GBA sales were drastically slowing down after like 2 years. you can spin it your way, but the reality is it can easily be spun the other way- it was not a great handheld at the time in comparison to some of the competition of the mid 2000s (PSP being so graphically superior that the DS update/release was totally necessary)

the 3DS does pretty well, it could potentially sell over 70 million

people have to be realistic, when we're talking about a handheld system that costs a couple hundred $$$ and the fact that a set of games and accessories are going to cost a couple $$$, something like 70 million sales in 5 years potentially is fantastic

bear in mind that a GBA cost 100$ or less practically throughout its ENTIRE run. even when inflation is adjusted, the 3DS is way more expensive. the point I'm indicating is that price indicators do matter. if the 3DS was price at or was capable of being priced at a GBA price who knows how many it would sell

even the DS was much cheaper, at 150$ at the start and then 130$ for the majority of its life. 

the 3DS is extremely expensive compared to comparable Nintendo handhelds in the past, every single one, regardless of inflation. it's something that needs to be kept in mind, because obviously the question of quantity vs price shows up and if you sell 50 systems at 200$ rather than 100 systems at 100$ it's a very similar situation in terms of pure hardware revenue

I don't think it's the main reason. Plus frequent price drops didn't help the gamecube so I don't think they would help the Wii U that much. It is a little surprising that the Wii U still costs $300 though.

I disagree

if anything I think the gimmick things are confusing the consumers. the reality is we don't HAVE an example of a Nintendo system in the last few decades that used the most popular formats and went the most streamlined safe route. we have a lot of strange decisions, sometimes cool, sometimes not, that often made it difficult for third parties or the public to get behind

the Nintendo 64 (as much as I love it) used cartridges and third parties didn't get behind it and opted for disks instead. obviously consumers simply went to the system with the most software options

the Gamecube used mini disks to battle piracy and, again, third parties didn't have much choice but to opt to develop for the easier systems

the Wii succeeded BECAUSE of a gimmick, sure

the Wii U confused consumers due to its fairly limited use of gimmicks despite being named as a successor to a purely motion control prior system. also argubly its marketing and price point didn't help

in all of these examples never has Nintendo made an extremely competitive high spec system that ALSO was streamlined in terms of design and access to third parties

we don't really know what would happen if Nintendo attempted to make a 'Playstation'esque system that relied more on its graphics and games then unique function or ability 

I know that Nintendo every generation automatically pulls a lot of fans who are nostalgic, but obvs the difficulty they have is getting some of the casuals AND hardcore gamers to go their way

certainly its conceiveable that if Nintendo released a truly current gen system with a comfortable traditional controller that they could have massive success. third parties will always release for your system if a port is easy to do, and if Nintendo would make a system more similar to their competitors that would be the case

I have enjoyed Nintendo's unique hardware, but in the end personally I love their games and IP's more than anything else. I think the general public is that way too. people are most likely turned away BY an uncomfortable new thing. whether its the weird N64 controller (which I like), motion controls, a big screen on a controller- whatever

I think its certainly worth a try to do a streamlined 3rd party friendly console with great specs for once. what Nintendo needs is to make a console that consumers WANT, not something that's a total dice roll and has unknown factors in terms of how the public will respond. I will reiterate, I like Nintendo making consoles, but in my eyes what they do best is make games. they are fully capable of making a great spec system with a regular controller and a fantastic library of games

in fact, despite it being so long ago, possibly the reason that the SNES and NES were so successful is because they were just that- straight forward systems with easy to use controllers and good specs for their time. maybe Nintendo should go back to their roots in that way

Actually I think you're selling the GBA fairly short. 

Do you know what the fastest selling game platform in US history is from launch? It's not the SNES, Playstation, Playstation 2, DS, Game Boy, or even the Wii. It's the GBA. Its sales were monstrous here out of the gate. GBA would've easily crushed 100 million LTD if it had been given a normal life cycle, I don't think you will deny this because it's plainly obvious. 

Also inflation adjusted the GBA is $133, which is about the price of a 2DS and not so far off from the regular 3DS price of $169.99. 

The 3DS is not "extremely expensive" compared to past Nintendo handhelds. Like I said a Game Boy in 1989/90 is $190 with inflation, that's a whopping 10 bucks shy of a 3DS XL and more expensive than the 2DS and vanilla 3DS. 

Aside from like 2-3 months early in its product cycle where it was $250, the 3DS at $169.99 is basically in the same price category as every other Nintendo portable price adjusted. Cheaper than the original Game Boy actually if you take inflation into account. 

Has Nintendo released numbers for it? I wonder because in my personal experience, I've seen more 2ds owners. They all have little bags for them too.