People like us probably make up not even 10% of the fanbase though. While the majority of Wii U owners aren't hardcore either, the ratio is definitely greater.

Wii U is not the system I would have designed. The PS4 would basically be the system I would have made. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, many people would have done the same. I always adovocate for solid technology with sensible decisions. 

Nintendo's been making weird/stupid hardware decisions for a long time, it's not like you need to be a genius to figure out some of them would blow up in their face. 

That said I will say that I did not forsee mobile taking off so quickly, like a cancer spreading basically. I thought at least a good chunk of the Wii casuals would be willing to come back for Wii U, basically none have which is a fairly shocking abandonment. I knew they would lose some marketshare, but I didn't think it would be quite this sudden. 

I remember waaaaaay back in the day reading that the N64/Ultra 64 wasn't going to support CD-ROM but use cartridges only and I got that sinking "oh no" feeling in my stomach immediately because I knew that decision would fuck them hard, and in a lot of ways that decision haunts them to this day. I still really clearly remember that moment. 

Because it's widely accepted that there won't be any dedicated 3DS successor.

He's right though. 

Nintendo's decision making over the last five years has been so utterly terrible that your average forum going gamer probably could have done a better job. For one thing, we're not as completely out of touch with today's gaming market as Nintendo seems to be.

ya know, I thought initially thought (and still sorta stand by it) that NX would be a handheld successor...

Everything is true.  Never leave the box to go for portable.

I agree that the focus for Nintendo first and foremost needs to be on preserving the moderate success that they had with the 3DS and then growing from there back into home consoles. The Wii U is a failure and it's basic business sense that if you want to grow your business then you need to start with what your company is already good at and then grow from there. Nintendo is not going to be able to create another Wii and trying to take back core home console gamers as the core plank of the NX while ignoring their handheld user base would be a disaster since Nintendo hasn't had core home console gamers since the N64 days. On the other hand, Nintendo probably has 30-40 million dedicated 3DS owners who are, as of today, favorable towards going another round with Nintendo. If the NX is first and foremost based around retaining the 3DS owners by creating a successful portable platform and then bringing the portable platform into the home console realm, then this could be a successful business strategy.

For example, one way Nintendo can do this is by securing key Japanese 3rd party support on the NX handheld that they currently have for the 3DS. If they can get Square Enix, CAPCOM, ATLUS, etc to support the NX portable in same way that they have supported the 3DS then it will be a very easy step to get those same developers to optimize their games for the NX home console (since porting will hopefully be ridiculously easy to do between the two NX devices). Pretty soon you'll be seeing Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest and Etrian Odyssey show up on the NX home console and then it is only a small step before you might see the Final Fantasy VII remake getting ported straight from the PS4 as Square Enix will now be very comfortable developing for the NX home console platform.  Now if games like FFVII catch on, then western developers will have no choice but to start taking a look at developing for Nintendo home consoles again and before you know it, Nintendo is now a medium-weight contender again in the home console world. That said, this all starts with their handheld.

Dedicated handheld gaming is pretty much dead outside of Japan.

3DS's weekly sales in Europe and North America aren't much better than Wii U's. 

There's no future in it.

People focus on the console side because there is so much interest in Nintendo's poor performance in that space.

While I am personally more interested in the handheld than anything else, I understand why it makes for less enticing speculation, especially when we know so little.

Because everyone (should) knows that the NX is the 3DS successor too.