I have a similar theory about the Playstation 2.  Obviously, they sold a ton of both hardware and software.  I just think the hardware totals are pumped up a bit by people rebuying the console a second time.  So many people had problems with the Disc Read Error or some just wanted to upgrade to the slim model.  It is anecdotal, but a lot of people I know ended up buying at least two versions of the PS2.

How much is it pumped up?  No idea.  Maybe 10 or 20% higher than the actuall install base was?  Maybe more?  I just think there were a lot more re-purchases for the PS2 than either the original Xbox or Gamecube.

Was the PSP really hated that much?  It sold 80 million units.  And that was never a complaint I heard about the Vita.  The complaint about the Vita was always that Sony abandoned it.

Most really successful consoles probably had a lot of double dippers.  Gameboy to Gamboy Color.  GBA to GBA SP.  DS to DSLite and DSi.  The same is probably true for all Playstation models exept the Vita, and for the Xbox 360.

Yeah, I think it is an even bigger problem for handhelds.  Those seem to get tons of revisions, and it is much more likely for there to be more than one in a single household.

If I had to guess, I think it is the PS2 that has the most re-purchases for any home console though.

I'm perfectly happy with Mario being used as a protagonist in every single Nintendo game, I love their focus on gameplay and not having to waste months of that dev time on creating a new human shape to be my avatar is another month going into the games development to make what matters better.

Sure sometimes it turns out cool with the creation of things like the inklings and such for Splatoon but for the most part if I see Mario paragliding/surfing/skateboarding/dogging or whatever I know that when the game launches they'll have spent less time paying for facial modeling of some actor or doing months of R&D from the gameplay to make a relatable character, I know that game has had a more time on the gameplay because of that.

New game idea? Put Mario on the driving seat and get on with making the gameplay glorious, anyone who doesn't understand the benefit of this practice in game developement isn't really looking at the big picture of just how pointless and time wasting crafting something like Aiden Pearce .... wondering how many people even know the character I'm talking about with that due to his game being a pile of boring fetch quests.

I like only games that I like and I don't like the rest of them.

Hmmmm 7th gen was the worst console gen for all 3 Nintendo, Sony and MS.

Wind Waker is a great game. It is a "9/10", or an "A-", whatever you would prefer. It is also the worst 3D Zelda game.

A common complaint against Skyward Sword was the motion controls. I feel sorry for those people. It must have been tough trying to play the game with two broken arms. Because that is about the only reason I can figure they couldn't get the controls to work.

To be honest....this is why I despise threads like this, they go against the very reason for having a forum in the first place. If you feel strongly about something, you should be ready to defend it, otherwise what's the point of having that opinion? I find it obnoxious how the people who are contributing more than just "my opinion deal with it" are the ones being villified.

"Unpopular Opinion threads" are just a fancy name for "Safe zone where I can say unpopular stuff without needing to debate it." It's why I cringe whenever one of these threads pops up. It's even worse than the old "Am I the only one who XXX" threads we used to see.

Not referring to you alone with this rant...but the bolded is certainly an example of it.