Basically the last two years of a console where we already know the existence of the next one. Whether that be a formal unveiling or constant rumors of something already announced. For example, we knew a little about the Wii U in 2011 before it's official reveal via leaks and rumors. And the NX was announced in 2015 by Nintendo, so much of the Wii U's remaining life was just speculating about the NX.

WiiU had Breath of the Wild, one of the highest rated games of all time, so it was a good send off in my opinion.
Nintendo 64 had Conker which was a technical showpiece for the console with full lighting and dynamic shadowing.
Gamecube had Twilight Princess and Paper Mario.


I will have to personally give it to the Wii. The console just fell off a cliff as far as console sales and notable releases were concerned.

WiiU.

With Breath of the Wild also being a Switch launch title as well it wasn’t really WiiU’s game anymore.

Oh we were counting the last two years ?

Then it is definitely the Wii. It was even more starving than the WiiU during that period of time where the WiiU still got classics like Mario Maker, Xenoblade Chronicles X which paved the way for BOTW and the new IP Splatoon. The WiiU paved foundation bricks to what was to come much better than the Wii I'd argue.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Switch will go out with a relatively strong lineup of games as they introduce its successor, and will not suffer the fate that is being questioned.  It has had a storied and remarkable existance.  Hard to believe now, how many predicted it not to hit as much as 30m lifetime.

The WiiU suffered from the start.  Marketing wasn't done well and had many thinking it was a gamepad add on to the once greatly loved, but then passe' Wii.  Sales were initially strong, then dropped sharply and the 3rd party support launch lineup came, went and nothing followed.  As much as I enjoyed the experiences WiiU offered, I don't think it ever gained enough userbase, game library, or active years to claim it suffered unfairly at its end.

Gamecube, while a strong player technically with its internals, had a similar fate as WiiU, albeit not near as bad.

I believe that the console that suffered the worst, and most unfairly, in it's twilight years was in fact the Wii.  For as hugely popular as it had been, and the sales it achieved over its many years in production...Nintendo itself moved on and imo, abandoned the console while trying to prepare for the next machine.  I can't come up with any major releases that stick in my mind, in the consoles last year to year and a half of its life cycle.  It just sat there, with a massive amount of units sold...floundering in silence, with no support from even its own creators.  A sad end for a machine that had remarkable marketing, envious sales and a strong library of games.

It’s a very close battle between the two…but I would say Wii, for the sole purpose of Nintendo was in a far better position during 2016 (Pokémon Go, Mario Run, NES Classic, Nintendo NX reveal, BotW) than 2011/2012.

On one hand, it is very tempting to pick the Wii U. On the other hand, if we're also counting 2015, then we have to take Splatoon and Super Mario Maker, two of the definitive games for the platform, into account. And sure, 2016 was abysmal, but so was the N64 in 2001 and the GameCube in 2006.

A good time to call out the exceptional first party support of the Switch in its twilight years.

We nearly get a first party every month now for the last 2/3 years. It was not always the case. 2018/2019/2020 did not have this kind of quantity. For sure not all of them are mainstream bangers, but still there is something to look forward too on a very regular cadence.

Is this only a consequence of Nintendo merging handheld and console gaming dev teams, or do we see the hand of Furokawa in this? He assumed the topjob in June 2018. Perhaps this was one of the things he pressed on behind the scenes; regular releases.

Actually they did. 2019 especially was one of the Switch's best years. Basically every year of the Switch's life had a game release by Nintendo. Even 2018 at least had Wii U ports to carry it.

And part of the reason for that is because of how Nintendo restructured its game development going into the Switch generation, as well as consolidating it's resources to a single platform.

Gamecube nothing at the start, nothing in the middle and nothing at the end.