I don't think VR is the right thing for Nintendo. It's expensive and it doesn't fit their "play-with-friends" marketing. I'm just hoping they keep physical media...

Having a weird gimmick can also be a benefit if the gimmick is good. Wii, DS, and Switch come to mind. The only Nintendo console that succeeded while being simply a more powerful version of its predecessor was arguably the GBA. Of course, Nintendo hasn't really tried that strategy in a while, so maybe it would work this time.

Sony's strategy is different. They have an audience that cares more about visuals. Nintendo's visuals have been a generation or more behind for nearly two decades at this point. So, I don't see that as a compelling selling point. There are some Switch owners who are going to buy the next system regardless, but there are some who got caught up in the hype, and Nintendo has to keep them excited.

I don't think a more powerful Swtich would guarantee 100 million. There are few guarantees in life. Even if it could, that is not a good strategy imo. I think you always need to be trying to grow and innovate. That sometimes leads to failures, and you can point to the Wii U and the 3DS, but if Nintendo had simply kept making more powerful hardware, I don't think there's any way they'd still be around as a hardware manufacturer. There is the cliche if you're not growing you're dying, and I think there's some truth to that.

I can think of a few things off the top of my head

Realistic Stuff I’d Like
Fitness Tech - I think there’s a lot of potential in fitness technology and Nintendo has some inter utilized properties in that field. Two relatively recent titles, Ring Fit Adventure and Switch Sports alone have sold about 25 million units. Considering a lot of the appeal of the Switch is that it’s a console for more active and fit people than Playstation and Xbox, I think this would be a good direction. Nintendo was serious about this a few years ago, and then went silent on developments.

More Scalability and Form Factors - I’m a big fan of more frequent hardware upgrades, so I wouldn’t mind something like Switch 2 Lite, Switch 2 TV, Switch 2i, etc… The OLED Switch was a nice upgrade, but they could have done better with a more powerful chipset. We’re also years into a tech period where RISC SOCs have different tiers - a major example is M2 base, Max, and Ultra - and software is compatible across all M-series chips. This is kind of a power thing, but it’s also a form factor thing.

True compatibility - enough with emulation modes, I want Switch 1 software to work the same as on all future Switch hardware, none of this “we’ll emulate it for a few years, you have to use your old controllers, then drop it altogether” bullshit. It’s 2023, and I’ve been sick of this for at least 20 years. If Nintendo does this, I’ll have absolute confidence in buying stuff from them - as of now, I’m done buying Switch games (aside from Suikoden) until they confirm this to be the case. The convenience in playing old software is a major thing for me.

Streaming/Capture Upgrade - I like the idea of recording my stuff to video. Switch has a half-assed version of this, I want the full ass!

TV and Cloud access - more of a software thing, but I want Netflix, Prime, Apple TV+, HBO, Disney+ and all that stuff accessible on Switch 2. Additionally, I’d love to have access to Dropbox and iCloud, at least from the docked station. If I’m doing media, I want to be able to get it directly to my editing software.

Voice Command Interface - simple: like Siri, Google, Alexa. When I’m searching for stuff in console mode, I don’t want to select characters with a D-pad or analog stick, touchscreens and voice commands are how this should be done.

Better navigation hardware - I’ve never used a PS5 (or was it 4) controller, but I like the idea of a trackpad on controllers. Also, bring back point and click like the Wii. These are features I think I’d like when navigating.

Unrealistic Stuff I’d Like
Basically, stuff I want, but I see good reasons why it probably shouldn’t happen:

AR/VR - is kind of out of the price range for a Nintendo console. I’d say leave that to Apple and Google. Unless Nintendo can figure out a way to make it feature competitive and a hell of a lot cheaper than the competition.

I can think of a few things off the top of my head

Realistic Stuff I’d Like
Fitness Tech - I think there’s a lot of potential in fitness technology and Nintendo has some inter utilized properties in that field. Two relatively recent titles, Ring Fit Adventure and Switch Sports alone have sold about 25 million units. Considering a lot of the appeal of the Switch is that it’s a console for more active and fit people than Playstation and Xbox, I think this would be a good direction. Nintendo was serious about this a few years ago, and then went silent on developments.

More Scalability and Form Factors - I’m a big fan of more frequent hardware upgrades, so I wouldn’t mind something like Switch 2 Lite, Switch 2 TV, Switch 2i, etc… The OLED Switch was a nice upgrade, but they could have done better with a more powerful chipset. We’re also years into a tech period where RISC SOCs have different tiers - a major example is M2 base, Max, and Ultra - and software is compatible across all M-series chips. This is kind of a power thing, but it’s also a form factor thing.

True compatibility - enough with emulation modes, I want Switch 1 software to work the same as on all future Switch hardware, none of this “we’ll emulate it for a few years, you have to use your old controllers, then drop it altogether” bullshit. It’s 2023, and I’ve been sick of this for at least 20 years. If Nintendo does this, I’ll have absolute confidence in buying stuff from them - as of now, I’m done buying Switch games (aside from Suikoden) until they confirm this to be the case. The convenience in playing old software is a major thing for me.

Streaming/Capture Upgrade - I like the idea of recording my stuff to video. Switch has a half-assed version of this, I want the full ass!

TV and Cloud access - more of a software thing, but I want Netflix, Prime, Apple TV+, HBO, Disney+ and all that stuff accessible on Switch 2. Additionally, I’d love to have access to Dropbox and iCloud, at least from the docked station. If I’m doing media, I want to be able to get it directly to my editing software.

Voice Command Interface - simple: like Siri, Google, Alexa. When I’m searching for stuff in console mode, I don’t want to select characters with a D-pad or analog stick, touchscreens and voice commands are how this should be done.

Better navigation hardware - I’ve never used a PS5 (or was it 4) controller, but I like the idea of a trackpad on controllers. Also, bring back point and click like the Wii. These are features I think I’d like when navigating.

Unrealistic Stuff I’d Like
Basically, stuff I want, but I see good reasons why it probably shouldn’t happen:

AR/VR - is kind of out of the price range for a Nintendo console. I’d say leave that to Apple and Google. Unless Nintendo can figure out a way to make it feature competitive and a hell of a lot cheaper than the competition.

The Switch is not a gimmick, it's a new form of shipping hardware. It's something closer to Game Boy than closer to motion controls of the Wii. 

Imo, their innovation was only required when their hardware was unappealing compared to Sony. That's not the case here, no one else is releasing hybrids (not even releasing handhelds actually). Nintendo has the monopoly of the handheld market and the monopoly of Japan market. This alone can confirm 60 million plus sales regardless of what Nintendo does

Sometimes a good product just need to get upgraded to keep selling. Switch is a good product. Nintendo found their Playstation. They just need to release new powerful versions every 6-7 years and high sales will be guaranteed. 

Switch 2 selling 100 million is less likely to happen if they include some weird gimmick to piss off an otherwise very satisfied userbase. There is no need for it. Good software pipeline and incremental upgrades should be the norm for Nintendo now for as long console game still existing 

PS: Sony having an audience who cares for graphics is overstated. The average Sony player buy Playstation because they simply have the best software library every generation. If you take the top 20/30 of the highest scored games every generation you will be lucky to find 4 or 5 missing the Playstation. The average console gamer don't need to think twice before buying a Playstation. 

I know it's very unlikely to happen, it is more a wishful thinking than anything. I really would a like a way to use a gamepad controller like Wii U did.

It's really not that difficult to accomplish, since it's only to keep the screen functional while in home console mode, the only difficulty here is if they're willing to take the risk and give Wii U type of games a second chance 

I think they will do SOMETHING. I just can't imagine what that'll be. VR is I guess the "obvious" thing, though since you can't have good VR just by sliding a screen into a headset I don't think there's much reason to try to do VR. In general I just want a next gen Switch, don't need any major changes, though of course if Nintendo comes up with some really cool thing I'll be excited about it.

Give me a PS4/XB1 spec'd portable hybrid direct successor to the Switch. Full backwards compatibility, NSO on the system from day 1 (maybe even add DC or GC to the Expansion Pack), improved joycon design, 256gb storage so that we still have to buy an SD card but at least there won't be single games that take up the whole system storage, improved physical contacts between the joycons and system, at very least the same screen that the OLED has, if not a bit higher res version of it, that DLSS res-boost when docked so people can play 4k games without taxing the system, MUCH better online specifically the ability to actually be able to communicate with friends.

Really just a normal generational power upgrade and take all the things they learned from designing the various Switch models to iterate over the design to perfect it, and give us a modern upgrade to the way they do online play. If they can come up with some cool hardware feature that is fun and used in more than a handful of games that's just a nice extra on top.

I'd like to see more form factors as well. Or more specifically, I'd like to see them build out a Switch2 family more quickly. I'd love to see a portable-only Lite and a TV-only 'Home' come out by the system's second holiday season so that people could choose any type of system they want from the family from very early on. And then of course later on perhaps put out a premium version of all three models.

Streaming built in would be nice for the streamers and makes sense with how popular streaming is. I know for the Switch you had to buy like a whole extra streaming gadget which I believe is not the case with the other systems.

Could care less about TV/Cloud. It's a video game system, not a computer or multimedia box. I don't want Nintendo wasting time and money (and perhaps passing on that cost to us). I want them to keep their focus totally on gaming not on other stuff that everyone probably already has two or three other devices that already do those other things.

Speech to text would be nice for typing. You don't need to type much but its a tiny bit annoying when you have to type stuff. And a huge needed upgrade is the ability to communicate with friends through the system, and speech to text would be crucial for that. Feel no need for a Voice assistant though, like what do you need that for in a video game system?

No, they learned with 3DS/Wii U that new=/=good. The ideas behind DS & Wii weren’t just new for the sake of being new, they served an actual purpose.

With each generation, from NES to PS2, controllers and gameplay mechanics became more and more complex so if you were someone who didn’t start gaming at a young age or were a lapsed gamer than the ability to get into/back into gaming was difficult.

Touch/motion controls reduced that barrier and made gaming accessible to everyone, 3D screen and Wii U gamepad however served no practical function, they were added features for the sake of adding new features.

Like DS & Wii, Switch also makes gaming more accessible, this time by offering a unified ecosystem that allows you to play wherever, whenever, however you want.

Switch 2 should absolutely be a standard upgrade with some QoL improvements just like 3DS & Wii U should have been to DS & Wii.

They can add new features as long as they aren’t the primary focus of the console and don’t lower the appeal or jack up the price, something like HD rumble rather than 3D screen/Wii U gamepad.