Personally, I think I enjoyed my N64 the most. Sure, I had a NES and SNES, but the N64 was just... everything was new and utterly never-seen-before since Nintendo was taking almost all their stuff into 3D. *sighs happily* Also, I love that controller.
Frankly, yeah, Nintendo HAS to sell the world on that tablet controller. They put so much effort into it, and it's such an expensive piece of the kit, if it doesn't pay off that's wasted money, effort, opportunity.... sort of bust. I mean, I'm excited for the potential it embodies, but I want there to be some games using it that actually frazzle my brain with how much the tablet adds to the experience... Or maybe it might just add to the experience because I'll NEVER have to fight for the TV again, or because I can play games from anywhere in my house, like my bed or the bathroom. That might be frazzle-worthy in and of itself for me personally.
And in all honesty, I can't argue against the logic of waiting for one or more years to buy. Getting stuff at launch is too exciting for me to miss out on, but you hands down save time, money, and effort if you can hold off on buying a console until you get a year or two of hindsight with which to evaluate it.