I keep seeing people say that the 3DS is a failure because it doesn't live up to the success of the DS. Yet I also see the same peole saying not to count the DS because it was an anolamy. What do you think of these people?

I don't listen to people like that at all.

I'd point to the GBA which DOMINATED before the DS even launched.

This won't end well :/

3DS sales have been extremely disappointing in the west without even comparing it to the DS. I'm comparing it to the original Gameboy and the Gameboy Advance. Handheld sales for Nintendo in the west are a shell of it's formerself.

And in general, 3DS sales aren't anywhere near amazing. They are "Okay" at best. It's definitely an underperformer.

Yeah and no one says that ps3 was a failure because it failed to live upto PS1 or ps2 either. But 3DS sales are kinda low.

This.

The 3DS isn't a failure, but there is no way sales have met expectations. As I've pointed out before, its sales are currently the weakest by a fairly substantial margin of any of the Nintendo handheld families. The declining handheld sales combined with the failure console sales are the major reason why the NX as a hybrid console is even plausible. It would be a move to try to capitalize on what's left of the handheld fan base to reinvigorate the home console.

I'll add to that this is despite the fact that multiple revisions have been released already.

I think its sales are disappointing indeed, but even being like that, it's still a success. I mean, the system will be close to 60m by the end of the year. You can't call a system that will sell more than 60m, maybe 70m, a failure. Right?

DS had a slow start then blew up out of nowhere.

And the 3DS is looking like the lowest Nintendo handheld in sales. Vita is also looked on as a failure when compared to its predecessor.