that LCD game pad alienated other players. I don't think nintendo sold it separately either. Also when I was trading my wii u in for a switch I couldn't believe how much bits, accessories came along it and packing it away was very confusing.

Also since that LCD gamepad was wireless it should have allowed you to play the system in another room or outside in your garden area but nope.. it loses connection and you have to be back in the same room as the main unit.

In this regard the SWITCH is what the wii U should have been.

I think the name and the marketing were important factors, they did a bad job marketing what was an already hard to market product.

Most of that can be said for the early ps3 and XBox One as well.
Perhaps WiiU is proof of how important 3rd party support is or of the inability of Nintendo to 'fix' a console.

Absolutely, Switch scores high on convenience factor for many and the price is somewhat reasonable, especially compared to the Wii U and even though I'm not a huge fan of its design or its hybrid nature since I don't play on handhelds, I can certainly see the allure.

The questions that remain to be answered are still the same though; how big is this pool of consumers and how long can a product of this nature live in more or less the same form in today's fast paced market where revisions and updates are the primary catalyst for market movments? We won't know for some time but I scratch my head at those who by default assume that it will inherit the entire 3DS + Wii U user base in addition to appeal outside of these, the step from the 7th to the 8th gen should have taught us something about assumptions, same goes for 6th to 7th gen. Time will tell, but everyone knows the Wii U was a dud at least...

Wii U the name of the console is the base of most of its problems. It lead to poor marketing and poor awareness. People didnt know of it and if they found out about it then it was already old and a failure.

Nintendo also wanted to capture the "hardcore gamer" first and thought that more casual players would flock to the wii brand, but they failed to understand how little the avarage person knows about gaming and how little they follow gaming news. The fact that many stores had to make signs saying that Wii U games cant be played on the Wii is a clear indicator how bad the situation was. At the beginning great marketing could have saved the Wii U from being a complete failure, but the marketing was confusing and they failed to market Wii U as a new console, as the Wii 2.
As a console Wii U was fine, the price was ok and at first it did seemed to have 3rd party support, which of course quickly faded away as Wii U didnt sell well. So it all really comes down to the bad name.

With the game cube they had similar problems. They made a great console with great games for gamers, but looking like a cheap purple lunch box made it impossible for it to be cool and succesfull. With marketing and an agressive price they managed to sell decently and then at least everyone knew that it was a new console.

Sure, your kids like the WiiU the most out of whatever systems you have in your house. And sure, it did a lot of things right. But for everything it did right, it did 2 things wrong. I won't go into all of that, because everyone else on this thread will say it for me. But I will say that your kids liking the system most may have been the problem.

People with the most disposable money aren't kids. The average game age is said to be 31 years old (via wiki and some advocacy group...other have ranges but everywhere basically states the same thing-adults play video games). Many of those adults grew up on Nintendo so they will continue to support the company and have their children adopt it. But many of those same adults matured their tastes with the Playstation brand and never looked back. They don't want a kid's toy.

The platform, everything from the silly name and the basic tech to the bulky design of the gamepad, was marketed for kids (well, barely marketed at all, but what marketing existed was aimed at kids). With the Switch, you have a slick device that looks like something both children and adults can use. And if the Switch is focused on getting third party on board like it's hyped to be doing, adults won't be ignored in the games department like they were with the WiiU. Can't live on Mario and Zelda alone.

In addition to everything else, including Rol's shpiel, note that Nintendo themselves didn't seem to know what to do with the GamePad.

Look at the early Wii lineup. Wii Sports, Mario Party, WarioWare, Metroid Prime 3, and even Twilight Princess were either dependent or heavy influenced by motion controls. And although some games didn't use them as much, motion controls had a strong connection to many Nintendo titles up through the Wii's death. The motion controls, whether good or bad, had a bunch of games to justify their existence.

Now look at the early Wii U library. Besides Nintendo Land, the major releases barely touched the GamePad. NSMBU, Pikmin 3, 3D World, Tropical Freeze, Smash 4, Mario Kart... all of these could have worked about as well with either traditional controls or the Wiimote. Heck, I remember that at previews for Pikmin, people were encouraged to use the Wiimote/Nunchuck setup.

Comsidering how the GamePad's best justification, Mario Maker, cake out years after launch, I have trouble believing that Nintendo's devs were really enthusiastic about the GamePad.

Well alot of gamers think Power doesnt matter because Scorpio is on the Loose, however if the WiiU launched as the most powerful console you can bet it would have sold alot better than it did. Price and preformance was the WiiUs let down.

It's funny how some people still mention the lack of AAA third party games as a reason for the WiiU's failure. As if the Switch wasn't the perfect proof that Nintendo doesn't need them to sell consoles.

I do believe that the WiiU could have done better with a better name and better marketing. By using the Wii brand Nintendo tried to cater to a casual audience that had already left for mobile devices. For hardcore gamers who didn't grow up with Nintendo the image of the console was too kiddy and the consumer group of loyal Nintendo fans was just too small to make it a success.

Blaming everything on the gamepad is unfair. Most WiiU owners that I know love it, but obviously people who had never tried it needed to be convinced - with system sellers. They were lacking in the beginning due to Nintendo's double burden with the 3DS and some strange corporate decisions (no AAA launch game, multiplayer 3D Mario, too many 2D platformers). When great games like MK8 and Splatoon were finally there the damage was already done and the PS4 was selling like hotcakes. Only a huge price drop could have saved the WiiU at that time.

It didn't fail for me personally.