We have a Wii-U. It's actually a very nice machine - if anyone wants a another way of playing Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon I'd highly recommend it. It also has the virtual console, which plays lots of NES/SNES/N64 titles. The machine is also compatible with Wii games, and they look a lot better through the HDMI output.
The Wii-U's mistake was more of a marketing one. People didn't even realise the existence of the product. The gamepad looked like a new 3DS or something, and games didn't take advantage of the touchscreen - like games did for the 3DS.
The other thing that has propelled the Switch were other console companies intended restrictive DRM practices. The kind of market that loved the NES, SNES & Wii were families who just wanted to have a laugh playing games together, and don't take it too seriously.
It was more than marketing. The fact that they made the gamepad drastically increased the price compared to if it was TV only. At the same time they needed the TV side of things because they couldn’t put enough horse power in a portable cancel.
And of course a 480p resistive touch screen didn’t look very good.
The end result was the system was too expensive to be competitive because the graphics were too poor, even if people actually understood what it was.
You’re right that much like some of the stuff on the feeder it ended up being a pointless costs in case people didn’t even really use it to its capability. It was so different from the other consoles that no one was going to put the time into it since the box never sold enough in the first place.
That said? It was a great system, and you’re right that all those games were fantastic. I LOVED super Mario 3-D world, it was one of the best games I’ve played in years.
The Wii-U's mistake was more of a marketing one. People didn't even realise the existence of the product. The gamepad looked like a new 3DS or something, and games didn't take advantage of the touchscreen - like games did for the 3DS.
The other thing that has propelled the Switch were other console companies intended restrictive DRM practices. The kind of market that loved the NES, SNES & Wii were families who just wanted to have a laugh playing games together, and don't take it too seriously.