It's all about software droughts and catalogue,

NES, DS, GBA, and Wii, had very solid releases through their lifespans and did very well.
SNES had minimal software droughts and weirdness with not releasing games in certain markets.
3DS had more droughts, but overall not very bad.
N64, GameCube, and Wii U all had massive software droughts and sold terribly. GameCube and Wii U also didn't have any standout signature games.

So overall it is easy to see why Wii and NES excelled, where SNES and 3DS underachieved, and N64, GameCube, and Wii U fell. N64 probably would have done worst if it weren't for big impressive releases like Mario, GE007, and Ocarina of Time. The GameCube and Wii U have nothing on the scale of those games in terms of their own releases.

Dude, Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Wind Waker, Smash Bros Melee, Twilight Princess, Mario Sunshine, what are you talking about?

"we weren't clear on the concept"

Hope you learned your lesson, seriously, EVERYBODY told you saw at E3 2011. Did you listen? Nope...

Nintendo can be the king of dummies some times

If eurogamer is right which is more flawed NX or wii u? Seems like the NX is also going down the tablet route that no one wants and I don't think haptic feedback with displays built into the pads will solve anything if the hardware power means little or no third party support and reliance on Nintendo's own games. Nintendo seems only interested in hardware that allows huge profits but the concept has to be pretty amazing to get people to pay big money for low spec cheap hardware.

I just wanted the wii u to be reasonably powerful with a decent controller at a good price point. Apart from xenoblade and Zelda U the wii u is a deeply unimpressive console for games with a bulky awkward controller not suitable for young children.

Consumers weren't wrong there are far better game experiences on other hardware. Yes there are a few good games on wii u but nothing compared to ps4, pc and xbone for most genres. One of the most popular game types is first person shooters and you'd struggle to recommend one on wii u. For realistic driving games there is little too. What games it does have run at a low resolution with a lack of anti-aliasing and often horrible frame rates compared to even xbox 360 and ps3. You can't get decent sound out of it unless you have decent audio hardware. The ps3 supports upto 7.1 surround sound for most games.

I much prefer my ps3 to wii u. Not only does it have a better controller, better sound, more 1080p games, wider 3D game support but its library is full of amazing japanese games that never made it to wii u. Not forgetting the ps3 is also a great media centre too and takes a normal hard drive for easier storage and loading of your games.

Call of duty black ops 2 runs at 60fps on xbox 360 but on wii u its often struggling with 25fps and if anything the graphics are weaker on wii u. It's missing some small details here and there to keep the frame rate up.

Ultimately Nintendo still believes hardware performance isn't important and yet many of the newer games require that performance to improve games and create new exciting game experiences. I'ts pretty clear Nintendo doesn't care about that and ultimately this means Nintendo consoles should not be bought if you want such game experiences. Even the latest Tegra chipset is hopeless compared to ps4 and xbone and those consoles have reached a maturity stage where there pricing is getting quite low and newer even more powerful models are about to hit.

"Yeah its kind of hilarious how in order to support that pov you need to completely ignore the most succesful generation that a company has ever had in the industry with 250m of dedicated devices sold. Is also ironic the way they are supossed to be losing branch power since the beggining when all their handhelds have been very succesfull thanks to their own games, even 3DS despite having everything against it."

Your very first post in this thread and you were alreadly trying to deflect and muddy the subject despite the OP clearly talking about home consoles only.

Well the Wii U has the best MK ever released, the best Donkey Kong ever released, Smash considered by many to be the best release, Best Pikmin released, Splatoon, XCX, Bayonetta 2, SM3DW, SMM and a few more all which are praised games so not sure why you only mention those two. The depth really isnt there for the console but it has great tops. As for the controller, my son of 3 soon to be 4 uses it every day. He loves the gamepad, so not really suitable for kids is just a random made up fact.

With that said I do think you have some points even if I dont agree with everything you say.

I don't have kids myself but noticed a 7 year old approx soon after launch struggling with the gamepad in a video game shop and find it unwieldy myself.  3-4 year old handing it is impressive but maybe that depends on the game. If you have a game where you need to react instantly move fast and hit multiple buttons quickly I think most find the gamepad awkward compared to sony and microsoft controllers but as ever individual experience may vary.  Some of the games you mentioned where not successful and personally I think Bayonetta is awful.  I enjoy Mario kart myself on wii u but its got horrible aliasing and although the graphics are bright and colourful and imaginitive technically they are poor and unimpressive. Remember my comment was about the wii u missing out on important genres fo games. Clearly platform games is a strength of Nintendo but the wii u doesn't have a well rounded collection of games it has a limited library that simply doesn't have the type of games many people want.

Again with the NX we have hardware simply not capable of competing and therefore not required by most gamers who may want fps, racing and good versons of the latest multi-format games. Already before even launch we know the NX will be a terrible home console. I personally don't need a tablet size portable console so can't really comment on that but do occasionally need a portable handheld console but that needs to be small almost pocket size. The NX simply isn't a product for me and I suspect for a mass audience either. 

Again going back the wii u library is awful not only are the games technically very weak overall but the library is very limited and the games you mentioned have limited appeal. Many of Nintendo's games are nice but even if they were multi-format they wouldn't sell that well on other formats. Would Pikmin or Splatoon sell well on ps4 or xbone I don't know. Did rare games sell as well on xbox as they did on Nintendo hardware no. Would a ps4 gamer rather play the latest fps game or smash brothers? Comparing the wii u library to ps4 is like comparing the android library to Xbox 360. Yes there are some nice playable games on android but the Xbox 360 game library is on a higher level with far more ambitious games.

1. No, we dont know that. In fact, we know nothing about the hardware.  A rumor by Eurogamer is hardly confirmation. Could be true, but let's not act like it's some sort of confirmation what really is going to be the final product.

2. Just like FPS games dont really sell well on Nintendo hardware you mean? There are a niche on every console.

3. I think you are giving the PS4 library too much credit, this entire generation has been rather lackluster compared to previous generations when it comes to software. 5 of the top 10 games on PS4 are from last gen remastered. There are some gems for sure, but overall it's definately lackluster compared to how the PS3 library looked after 3 years on the market, same for Xbox.

They should have released a entirely new console, not just a tablet controller for the Wii.

That was their biggest mistake

Nintendo fans love to say this, but it's really just a deflection.  The fact is the Wii U embraces the Wii's success.  It's named after it, almost confusingly.  It follows the same exact HW model, underpowered, cheaply priced (compared to the competition) HW with a controller made to appeal to casuals.  Casuals Nintendo knew were moving over to phones and tablets.

Another thing you seem to want to ignore is the fact that the Wii was basically a fad that lasted about 3 years, the it thing casuals had to have.  After that its sales started dropping like a stone and became something people only bought on Xmas for the kids.  That's why it started out higher than the PS2, but failed miserably in passing it (something a lot of Nintendo fans thought it would definitely do early on), selling slightly above 100M units.

So, no, another console that used the Wii controllers (even though the Wii U does for some games and for all multiplayer games) would not have done any better.  Casuals were done with the Wii-mote halfway through last gen.  And core gamers were not going to be satisfied with a console that was barely stronger than their last gen console and didn't use a standard controller.