As done as the Vita.

Sounds like you're just hating for the sake of it.

3d world will be remembered as the first 3d mario with cooperative 2-4 person local multiplayer. Mario kart 8 is the best MK of it's time. Smash for wii u and 3ds dethroned melle as the best smash, also the first one to include so many unexpected 3rd party characters.

Bayonetta 2 might as well be the best action game of the 8th gen and the meltdowns it caused/causes are unforgetable. Xenoblade Chornicles X for it's amazing open world/gameplay/mechanics. Splatoon as nintendo making for shooters what they did to racing and fighting games with MK and smash.

Mario maker allows fans to create any mario course they want in 4 different 2d mario styles. Star Fox Zero as the long awaited return of Star Fox. And of course, Zelda U as the first open world 3d Zelda, with the same freedon as the first legend of zelda.

I don't think Nintendo has much of a choice.

Some times fans can live in kind of a dream land where they think you can just write off 2-3 fiscal years like it's nothing. Business does not work like this. Nintendo does not have the luxury of just sitting around until 2018 and watching their yearly shipments grow lower and lower. 

The Wii U and the declining 3DS are not hitting the sales targets Nintendo needs, as such they need to be replaced. Nintendo needs to be able to grow their business in the next few fiscal years.

There's nothing more complicated about it. We'll see if NX does any better, for Nintendo's sake it better. 

Depending on the grow of Splatoon in the coming months, years or gens, I would say that game is the defining game of the console. Although, I can understand where you are coming from.

The three games I see defining the Wii U are Splatoon, Mario Maker and Zelda U (even if it becomes a multi-generational title).  I can also see Xenoblade X getting some fond mentions.

Of course the system will have memorable moments ... because Nintendo makes good games.

It's not like they supported the damn thing for 12 months either, it will be 4 years minimum.

People still look back at the GBA fondly and that was only supported for 3 1/2 years.

Really for most people in the West, the NES was only a thing from about 1988 onwards, which means it was "replaced" by the SNES by 1991 too. Some of my best memories gaming are on the NES and that will never be replaced. 

I've skipped the N64 and GC era, but I've really played a ton on my FamiCom (NES) even though SNES was already there. and skipped SNES altogether, and bought PS1 around 1999. I've played a ton on my NES and regardless what happened on consoles new or not, I would play on the consoles if they have the games I loved to play.

Maybe it is more for me than some people who always wanted the latest consoles but really a small library. I really haven't played a lot on my PS4 compared to the WiiU even though the PS4 is a day 1 buy.

They gave it a good shot but the market's not responding. At the end of the day for Nintendo to be relevant and profitable they need to have a platform with a high adoption rate, otherwise their IPs deteriorate and are open themselves up to a shareholder revolt. So long as the successor is a good bet, regardless of success, they are justified imho.

Third parties like Capcom, (Resident Evil, Monster Hunter) Sega, (Sonic) Activision, (Call of Duty, Guitar Hero) and Ubisoft (Just Dance) have been able to sell well on Nintendo systems over the years.

COD and Resident Evil were profitable and crossed the million mark multiple times on Wii.

Bottom line, they have been third parties who have found success on Nintendo hardware.