Aquamarine
Member
WiiU isn't comparable to the Virtual Boy at all. They had the N64 coming and the SNES was still alive. The Wii is dead and Nintendo doesn't have a system coming out in the near-term. Unless they intend to bow out of the market, they have to have something out there.
If you want to consider the VB more of a portable, there is still the fact the Gameboy never had a meaningful competitor and was still doing okay during those years. Another incomparable situation.
Just take a look at the STARK comparison between Virtual Boy and Wii U sales in the USA:
You can add this to the OP if you like. Here is a more nuanced comparison between Nintendo systems (all NPD data):
Launch Period:
Virtual Boy (August 1995 - December 1995)
0.15 million
Nintendo 64 (September 1996 - December 1996)
1.97 million
GameCube (November 2001 - December 2001)
1.24 million
Wii (November 2006 - December 2006)
1.08 million (MASSIVE shortages)
Wii U (November 2012 - December 2012)
0.88 million
2nd Year on the Market:
Virtual Boy (January 1996 - December 1996)
0.05 million (it sold much more in 1997)
Nintendo 64 (January 1997 - December 1997)
4.49 million
GameCube (January 2002 - December 2002)
2.26 million
Wii (January 2007 - December 2007)
6.29 million
Wii U (January 2013 - December 2013)
1.21 million
3rd Year on the Market (1st three months)
Nintendo 64 (January 1998 - March 1998)
0.53 million
GameCube (January 2003 - March 2003)
0.41 million
Wii (January 2008 - March 2008)
1.43 million
Wii U (January 2014 - March 2014)
0.20 million
Enjoy.
And another tidbit:
Final NPD sales for Virtual Boy: 0.50 million
Current LTD for Wii U: 2.30 million
It's clear that the Virtual Boy was dead on arrival, and there is a distinct difference between how hard Nintendo pushed Virtual Boy...and how hard they're pushing the Wii U.
The reason they discontinued the Virtual Boy so quickly is because it just wasn't taking off...and they had the N64 about to release. They had a decent rental program partnership, but the poor design of the console meant that the rentals weren't translating into sales.
It seems like Virtual Boy was more of an ill-fated experiment that Yamauchi quickly shut down once it became clear that the console didn't have much interest.
But they don't have something to instantly replace Wii U. There may be another handheld coming in 2016, but Nintendo expected much more out of Wii U longevity-wise.