I just don't have faith in Nintendo anymore, they have a track record now of so many failed consoles and disappointments, lack of third party support, even the new Zelda doesn't get me that excited (and I've been a die hard fan for years, playing Ocarina of Time as a kid made me want to learn how to make games). We'll see how this one turns out.
So, the Wii U is so many failed consoles now? The Wii was a raging success. The 3DS is a wonderful mobile gaming platform that I have poured hundreds of hours into. The Wii U wasn't great and was more of a half iteration than a full one. Yes, Nintendo made a mis-step there. But the Wii, DS, and 3DS were far from failures.
Meanwhile, their software game was pitch perfect during the Wii U and they released mostly excellent first party and arguably best in the franchise games, like Mario Maker, Splatoon, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Yoshi's Wooly World, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, and Pikmin 3.
They even managed to get 3 new IP on the system, where in previous consoles they were berated for never coming up with new IP and simply rehashing things over and over again. Splatoon in particular looks like it will stick around for a long time, Mario Maker probably as well (they even mentioned possibly doing a Zelda Maker in the future...I really hope that comes true).
The Wii was very successful. But was very underpowered when compared to the 360 and PS3. As a result it did not get many popular AAA multi-platform games such as Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Assassins Creed, etc.. and when it did get games from those franchises it was a simplified or less feature filled version of the game.
It meant that the Wii was not really viable as your "only" system if you were interested in those games. While the NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube were either competitive or the leaders technically in their gen.
There's no need to be the tech leader if you're making a great product that people love. The Wii reached out to customers that didn't previously play video games. It was quite amazing.
People who don't know about other franchises, and perhaps don't want the more mature subject matter of the three big franchises you mention, were more than happy with the fun a Wii gave them.
The Wii was a success the way the pet rock was. They sold a huge number of them but it didn't take long before they were mostly just used as paper weights. It was under powered, had almost no 3rd party support, and wasn't even HD. The OS design was crazy and the store was virtually unusable.
The Wii was a huge opportunity for Nintendo but they couldn't adapt to modern game play or sales to take full advantage of it. So perhaps it wasn't a failure but it was a huge disappointment.
The DS is the second most successful console of all time (the PS2 being #1).
But still, Nintendo just hasn't been "king" ever since the SNES. The N64, GameCube, Wii and Wii U all disappointed a lot of people and each stumbled in significant ways.
Every one of Nintendo's consoles has had "must have" games that simply don't exist anywhere else. WiiU has games like Bayonetta, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Xenoblade, Splatoon, Mario Maker (which is simply amazing, and nothing like it anywhere else). Wii was even better - Mario Galaxy being the best Mario series ever and a must play. I don't think you can consider yourself a serious gamer if you don't like Nintendo consoles. With a PC you pretty much have the whole gamut covered (PC=FPS,RPG, Nintendo=Everything Else). I'm looking forward to getting my Switch - N has never let me down :).
