Wii U was aimed at the hardcore pawn crowd.

But the controller and most of the games were really unappealing to the "hardcore", how does that fit?

I still say they tried to aim at everyone, and ended up missing them all.

Hardcore Nintendo fans

lol i said pawn.

people who like to pawn in stuff for cash lol

they probably cant. This will sound harsh but i think the whole "Ninty can get 3rd party support back" ship saild YEARS ago. PS and Xbox cemented themselves as the go to for 3rd party games. Sony as soon as the original PS, that was like nearly 2 decades? Two DECADES of Ninty home consoles having poor to meh 3rd party...but not having stuff like GTA and COD on the system, people just arent going to take the system seriously. Personally i dont care if they ever get it back because I already have a system that plays those games and plays them alright, i imagine most people feel this way judging by sales. 1st party aint going to push much so i hope Ninty has something cool with NX that people will be interested in

This is exactly why the whole merge and acquire thing needed to be real, but unfortunately wasn't. I completely agree with you though as far as Nintendo getting the same support as the Xbox/Playstation is a little late (and I'm a Nintendo diehard). There really is just no need for it. They had one job to do this gen, and that was to simply deliver games to draw some of the hardcore back this gen. It seemed all too increadibly easy and they half did their part by delivering some amazing games..... For about two years. Unfortunately after that point they put their hands over their ears and didn't give two shits what the fans were BEGGING Nintendo to release (Zelda and Metroid). There were easy ways to pick up new fans too. They know they could have gotten around 10,000 people on board with Xenosaga HD (and it would also allow them to play Xenoblade for VC, and Xenoblade X). It's not a ton, but it's a start. It's a step in the right direction they DIDN'T take. Plus it would have allowed for Wii U owners to play Xenosaga, and with a game that simply needed remastered (they could get away with that game cheap). 

Now they won't be showing ANYTHING at E3 except Zelda..... WHAT ARE THEY THINKING..... It's been so freaking hard to be a Nintendo fan this gen. Exhausting really. They really need to get their head out of... well, you know where.

"Hardcore" gamers don't really care about Metroid, and Zelda isn't anything all that special to them either.

That's just appealing to the same group of Nintendo fans, most of whom bought the Wii U anyway.

Honestly if it were possible an merging/alliance with Microsoft would be the best way to actually get credibility with modern core gamers, but Nintendo would never agree to it willingly.

No one really wants three consoles and historically its never been supported that well outside of the Wii which again largely rode a controller fad to entice unloyal casuals before they got bored of it and moved on (an audience isn't worth spit if you can't maintain it).

is the idea of Ninty no longer making home consoles seem so crazy now? serious question.

three is too much cause two consoles are going to be a least identical. I doubt alot of people had all three last gen and they REALLY dont have all three this gen judging by sales.

But the question is, are their people who loved the Metroid series who haven't gotten a Wii U yet? I know there are Zelda fans who haven't bought a Wii U, and with both the series you are pretty much showing them that every gen is not guarenteed two major franchises exclusive to a console. 

Essentially you are pissing off around 3 million Metroid fans, and 7 million LoZ fans, that's more than half the entire Wii U userbase (a lot more). It isn't a good move, nor is it smart on any level. 

Kids and casuals of course.