Nintendo's games were "fully realized" on SNES. What's silly is the idea that there's some ceiling that Nintendo IP can't elevate beyond.
never said it couldn't elevate beyond, I said it wasn't a priority.... it is like trying to pump more horsepower into a car that is only used for driving on roads in the suburbs.... you reach a certain point and then other priorities become more important, like making the car more affordable, offering more storage, safety features, etc.... the car can get faster... but why? you aren't racing it, your driving it to the grocery store.... if you overdo the performance it'll suck up more gas and just create another expense.... instead how about putting in some really nice luxury seats, a good sound system, and/or keep it affordable
it isn't that nintendo cannot use better graphics, but that they DON'T NEED THEM... as I said.. Mario Kart 8 is good enough, Splatoon's graphics want for nothing
I would say that when the wii came out, nintendo's priorities for their next system should have been (and largely were), in THIS order
4. Affordability
3. Improved storage options (for patches, dlc, and downloadable games)
2. Improved performance (graphics, resolution, framerate)
1. standardized toolsets (as in hardware shaders, and support for 3rd party engines)
when the wii u came out it moved to standardized tool sets (largely the same even used in ps4 and xbone to this day, THIS was the biggest issue with wii ports btw, not graphical power, but graphical methodology) the performance bump was good enough for everything Nintendo makes, and also put nintendo ahead of the other platform makers for a year, while 32gb isn't a lot of storage, the ability to use an external hdd or sd cards with no cap on game sizes meant that storage was no longer an issue.... The wii u came in a bit too pricey unfortunately, so affordability wasn't well addressed.
after the wii u some other issues became apparent, mainly in marketing, nintendo failed to convey that the wii u wasn't an add-on to the wii, with mainstream media reporting it as such for about 2 years after the system launched, Nintendo also discovered that all of the 3rd party support they were promised by developers for the wii u just dried up and disapeared, showing that nintendo needed better throughput of their own software. The low throughput meant that the wii u and 3ds traded off droughts, and it hurt both systems, but especially the wii u. Also, the gimick they chose wasn't well understood by consumers, they would have been better off just pushing touchscreen and remoteplay... but the promise of varying 2 screen experiences was confusing and poorly delivered upon.
so I would say that nintendo's current priorities should be
4. an easily understood gimick (simplicity and elegance, they really need to nail this)
3. Affordability (both the wii u and 3ds hurt themselves with pricing)
2. throughput (having a steady flow of NINTENDO games)
1. marketing (creating a clear message of what the system is, and why it is worth it)
as for the old priorities, standardized toolsets is DONE, the wii u had them, the 3ds had them, they are there, this is no logner a concern at all... storage options is easy now, if they give the system itself atleast 32gb that covers patches, OS, and a small number of game downloads, for anything more they need to just open up to higher speed/capacity sd cards... like sd xc... very low priority at this point, they just need to continue from where they already were. Affordability is still an issue, and has moved up in priority... that brings us to performance
performance is just not an issue .... nearly every game on ps3 and xbone can be run on a wii u, it isn't performance that holds it back as those games can run on pc at settings that better match the wii u's output... there really isn't anything that ... more importantly, people buy nintendo systems for nintendo games, and those games are not being criticized for looking ugly like they were on the wii, nobody is criticizing the grphics of nintendo's 1st party games on wii u.... hell nobody is really criticizing the graphics of the wii u on any of its games, aside from games that would have looked bad on anything because of the developers own priorities (that treasure hunting f2p game from namco).... SURE performance COULD be better, and SURE, even Nintendo's games could look better.... but it is now at a point in which any difference is negligible for Nintendo's cartoony style.
performance nowadays is all hype, there is nothing coming out now that demands the power being put into it
THAT BEING SAID.... the tegra x1 is ATLEAST twice as powerful as the wii u when it comes to flop performance, it also supports all of the current standards of direct x, open GL, and even vulkan... it supports unreal engine 4, unity, and nearly every other major middleware option.... I say all of that while also understanding that even if the current rumors are true, it is likely the x1's succesor that will be in the nx, not the x1 itself.... and the x1's succesor will likely be about 3 times more powerful than the x1.... putting it actually pretty close to xbone performance, while AGAIN supporting every major middleware and graphics toolset... the NX will almost assuredly be more powerful than the wii u, while also being completely portable (if the rumors are true).... ALSO, Nitnendo should be able to meet out a price point close to $250, considering the current pricing on mobile hardware, Nintendo's willingness to break even on hardware, and the ares they are likely to be conservative with (for example, plastic body instead of metal, and a 720p screen vs the 4k screens that most phones come with now)