Also: Yeah I mean I can’t disagree with OP. We’re comparing a system with nearly a decade of support against a system with a successor announced within two-and-a-half years lol. Wii U saw a drought in its first year, lots of big hits in its second, less hits in its third, and was dead in its fourth. The system really only saw one year of support.

Honestly I don't think so.

I don't think any Nintendo handheld has been better than any of their consoles ever (when they did have the handheld/console split).

Breath of the Wild, Splatoon, Mario Maker, NSMBU + NSLU, Mario 3D World, Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Smash Bros, DKC: Tropical Freeze, Zombi U, COD: Black Ops 2, Rayman Legends, Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD >>> the 3DS best.

Wii U gets a bad rap because it got abandoned by the fad loving Wii Sports/Fit crowd that moved on to smartphones/tablets as the hot new thing circa 2012/13 ... and thus had poor sales in part due to that, but that doesn't mean it didn't have some absolute whoppers software wise. Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 alone probably top anything on the Wii, DS, or GameCube barring Super Mario Galaxy. 

As others have pointed out, when directly comparing the like software of both machines the WiiU easily beats the 3DS. Normally, 3DS having more "good" games might trump WiiU relying on having more "great" games, but when most of the "good" games aren't really that good to begin with, that advantage doesn't fare as well.

The WiiU was dated for its time but it still had some nice, eye pleasing and modern feeling experiences whereas the 3DS was so hugely disappointing even back in 2011. Seriously, over six years after the original DS and we still don't get a handheld from Nintendo with higher than 240 resolution? Not to mention that the launch model 3DS was a complete turd, feeling like a regression from the bright screens and sleek design of the DS Lite/iXL. The New 2DSXL model is what should have been the concept in the first place.

But the biggest disagreement I have with the OP is when comparing gimmicks. While the Gamepad concept was largely flawed and painfully underused (or sometimes misused), it still trounces the completely useless 3D effect. The Gamepad could be used for local off-screen play, added to games like WWHD and Pikmin 3 and at least allowed for some kind of gameplay innovation. Mario Maker gave you your design palette in your hands while you created levels on the TV, something that even the Switch can't do. Meanwhile, the 3DS' 3D gimmick was so disliked and headache inducing that the feature was eventually completely removed from the system altogether, lol.

Both systems rank at the very bottom of my list of Nintendo systems (not counting VB) and at the time I would have agreed the 3DS was better because it had more support, didn't have the record long drought after launch (although it was pretty bad too) and was better received by the public. But going back to them today, the WiiU and its top games make it the better system overall.

It's 2026. Does it even fucking matter anymore?

I like playing games on a bigger screen with full stereo speakers. It gives me more immersion. So being a handheld is not an advantage to me. And like you said, the best games on Wii-U are better than the best games on the 3DS, so that's why I choose the former. The latter can have more games, but I'm a quality over quantity type of guy. You give me BOTW, Splatoon, and HD versions of Nintendo franchises over their technologically-inferior 3DS versions any day of the week.

People still fight over SNES and Genesis. In the gaming world, it always matters lol

To put it bluntly, the Wii U is a great console, though it didn't get the attention it deserved from Nintendo itself; at one point, it was relegated to being a platform for kids' games and trivial titles. It was already in steep decline after 2014, and its failure represents a significant loss. Although *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* gave the console a worthy send-off... it’s just a shame it happened the way it did... The GameCube had a better lifecycle...