12. Virtual Boy: could cause brain damage and was on the market for less than a year. Still had a couple games that were pretty good.
11. Wii U: Every hardware issue, slow OS, bulky design... Using this console was a bad experience, but had amazing games, luckily Nintendo is hell bent on moving them all to Switch.
10. Gameboy/GBC: First off, GBC is just an extension of the gameboy platform, like DSi or N3DS for those platforms. Gameboy has some true classics and pokemon really makes it a special device, except that every future handheld from Nintendo was better.
9. Wii: Some really special games, but the marketing lied to the customers early on and until Wii Motion Plus, we were being told the device was capable of things it clearly wasn't. There is also some real black spots on motion controls here, swinging your sword in Twilight Princess, makes it a real chore to play, though the pinpoint aiming almost makes up for it.
8. Nintendo 64: A lot of really awesome multiplayer experiences existed here, some amazing classics as well. It was also the system that lost Nintendo the market, the drive of the generation was RPGs, something the Nintendo 64's predecessor had no problem accruing. Nintendo's stance at this time was that 'RPGs were for kids playing in dark rooms'
7. NES: The industry has heavy ties to the NES, most of our favorite long running IPs come from this era, and graced this platform with amazing titles, the system itself is iconic. A lot of these games still feel great to play today, but people don't think it's worth paying $20 a year to gain access to them, so it will not be higher on this list.
6. 3DS: Great collection of games, some good idea for hardware too, but it borrows too much from the superior design of the DS and lacks the larger 3rd party catalog that system had. It's screen is also too low resolution when compared to it's contemporaries. It still has a solid library of classics.
5. Gameboy Advance: This portable was a revolution of portability and gaming. It had classic 16bit style games, in a time when people really wanted that (they still do) a great list of RPGs, a strong series of NES and SNES ports. The Gameboy Advance SP is still one of the most compelling designs for a gaming device I've ever seen. My only knock against the SP is that it doesn't have a standard audio jack.
4. Gamecube: This system really surprised from a performance standpoint, it had an amazing edge on the PS2, and some heavy hitters, the controller was weird, but it is still a favorite of many today. There is still a lack of RPGs, but it massively improved over the N64, while keeping the multiplayer and having access to a special disc gave you the 2 Zelda games from the N64 as well. The system also probably still runs without problems if you own one.
3. Nintendo DS: This device cut the GBA short, but at the end of the day, it gave us everything we loved about that system, and with the DSlite, it could still play GBA games, while giving us the best design a handheld has ever had IMO. Though I do admit the Playstation handhelds make a strong argument, the DSlite is a sleek, folding device that screams premium electronic. The games are amazing, building on GBA, adding Chrono Trigger, a remake of FF4, and bought back 2D Mario. The only knock against it is it's Zelda outings.
2. SNES: The original Playstation, this device is the predecessor to the Playstation, most of what people think of when they think of the PSX, those were in large part series that started on the SNES. Combine that with Nintendo's first party games and a controller design that has remained relevant to today, it's a perfect console for it's time in history.
1. Switch: It's magic. Nintendo has never gotten this much right about a device, Nvidia's software and hardware here is snappy, and all about getting you from game experience to game experience, it is both a handheld and a home console, it doesn't leave any part of Nintendo's history behind and it's library is already bigger than any other device on this list with some of the best entries in these IPs we have seen ever. There is a reason it's doing so well... Anyways, Handheld + Console, it can't really be anywhere else on this list. I also think Zelda was the perfect title to launch this system with, and I know it's a bit early to call it, but this is the best Nintendo has ever looked.