That, right there, is missed potential if I’ve ever seen it. Nintendo should hire you for this idea alone.

I think people overlook just how bad the software lineup was especially at for the first year or two.

The gamepad was a problem but there were so many problems that its hard to say how much each contributed.

They didnt want to bring back memories of all I want for Christmas is a psp.

The first iPad was released in April 2010, so I guess Nintendo thought that tablet computers are the next big thing. They were confident that developers wanna use this new feature as much as they used motion controls in their games on Wii. In the end it wasn't useful to look at a second screen, which is so far away from the main screen, compared with the DS.

I think it says all how difficult it was to implement the Gamepad in a video game, if there exist first party games where the Gamepad screen is just turned off or is completely useless like in Mario Kart 8, DKC Tropical Freeze or NSMBU.

Though, the main problem why Wii U became a flop was the name and how the console was presented. In their first presentation/reveal they only showed the Gamepad and not the console itself, so many thought it's just an accessory for Wii. I believe a lot of people thought that the whole lifetime of Wii U.

For me gamepad was just a step back after motion controls in Wii.

The Wii U did so much wrong that most disagreements devolve into which mistake was the worst.

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that they could make a successful console with the Wii U gamepad.  Here are a couple of changes I would make:

1) Launch with a better "killer app" for the gamepad.  Super Mario Maker, Minecraft, and Hyrule Warriors all made good use of the game pad.  I also think any of these games would have been a better bundle with the Wii U than Nintendoland.  The Wii was bundled with Wii Sports, which showed off the Wii remote perfectly.  The Wii U wasn't bundled with a game that could anywhere compare to how good Wii Sports was.  If the Wii U was bundled with Super Mario Maker at launch, then it would have faired a lot better.

2)  Have more motion control games to bring over the Wii fans.  The game that we call "Switch Sports" should have actually been on the Wii U.

I actually think if the Wii U had better sales the first couple of years, that third parties would have also supported it more during it's life, which would solve another major issue the Wii U had.  Basically the horrible launch put it in such a bad position that it never really recovered.  I don't think the Wii U would have done as well as the Wii even following my above suggestions, but it wouldn't have been a total flop either.

The gamepad was an issue for the hardcore gamers who didn't buy the Wii either.

The gaming n00bs who bought their first videogame system to play Wii sports weren't going to spend so much money on what they thought was an add-on to what they already had.

If a game like Super Mario Maker had been there at launch to showcase what the Gamepad was possible of, I think the Wii U could have done better. Maybe it could have at least reached 30 million consoles sold. Nintendo Land and Game & Wario were among the early Wii U games to use the Gamepad well, but they weren't really system sellers.

I agree with you guys that Super Mario Maker and Minecraft not arriving until the second half of 2015 was a big issue. Those absolutely would've helped the console if both were out by the end of 2013 and one of them at least was there at launch.
If those games came out earlier, we're looking at GameCube to Xbox total units for Wii U. Possibly even as high as N64. The concept was too flawed with many of its executions to secure 50 million units or more, but 20-35 million units could've happened with some seemingly simple steps. And all that would mean we get Switch between November 2017-November 2018 which wouldn't be so bad if Wii U was better.

The problem for third parties wasn't the gamepad. It was a combination of a ridiculously weak CPU that made ports of the CPU-heavy 360 and PS3 games often run worse than 6 and 7-year-old consoles, and a lack of effort to play to the strengths of the GPU or having significantly more usable RAM than the previous gen consoles. Need For Speed Most Wanted is one of the few third party games where that effort was put in, and it had significantly better textures than the other console versions as a result, but that kind of effort was rare. A CPU that didn't struggle with 360 ports would have made a big difference in the initial launch period and could have kept third parties around longer. The launch tarred the Wii U with the reputation as the place where third party games don't run well, so they didn't sell, and the third parties quickly left.

The gamepad was a problem for Nintendo, because they needlessly added a new hurdle into the development process right at the worst possible time - when they were finally making the transition to HD development. The last thing they needed was another factor making development take even longer than their first HD games were already taking, either because the needed to take more time to come up with ideas for how to use the gamepad or to implement those ideas. That is how the gamepad contributed to those software droughts.

The 2 big problems with the gamepad were the price and how Nintendo's focus on it caused a lot of people to think the Wii U was just a tablet add-on to the Wii. People won't buy a console if your marketing is so bad they don't even know there is a console in the first place. And even among those who did know, a tablet would never have the same appeal as something like the Wii's motion controls. A 'Wii 2,' even with the same specs, would have sold several times more than the Wii U, and if the resources wasted on the gamepad went into making the system more powerful instead, those sales would have increased even further.