In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun (translation via NeoGAF user GSR), Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima explained that the upcoming NX is not going to follow the same traditions and platforms such as the Wii U or 3DS and will introduce something new.

"It's something very new. The hardware, the software lineup, all of it is something I'd like to play for the first time myself," explained Kimishima. "When the NX is released, the Wii U business will slow. However, the NX is neither the successor to the Wii U nor to the 3DS. It's a new way of playing games."

Kimishima continued to explained that this will guarantee the NX has a larger impact than the Wii U did on the market and stated that he does not consider the NX as a mere replacement for the Wii-U. 

As stated in a report from IGN, this echoes the statement of the late Satoru Iwata who explained that merely updating the hardware was not good enough and was considered a dull endeavor. Iwata had stated that the goal was to always surprise the player and to alter their video gaming life in new and innovative ways.

These statements may be Nintendo's answers to the criticisms many gamers have thrown at Nintendo for their most recent endeavors.

The 3DS is often considered as a follow-up to the DS and the Wii U is merely an update to the Wii and yet neither the 3DS nor the Wii-U have brought any major innovation to the gaming industry other than the implementation of stereoscopic 3D and a touch-screen gamepad, both of which are viewed by many as gimmicks. 

Nintendo is scheduled to launch the NX in March 2017, with the long-awaited "The Legend of Zelda" for the Wii U now being updated as an NX launch title.