Following Nintendo all this time has made it clear that it's actual target market is young and single consumers who are not burdened by too many responsibilities and have more disposable income than other types of consumers. From children to young adults (5-24) is Nintendo's main focus.
Nintendo products are also widely available across most of the 1st world, with several game specialty shops, electronic stores such as Best Buy and even some department stores like Target and Walmart. Add on top of its widely available product line is the fact that Nintendo products are cheaper in price than it's competitors Sony and Microsoft, making them more appealing to young consumers who may not have the means to afford the others.
That's not to say that Nintendo has been entirely 100% focused on young and single consumers however. Within recent memory, Nintendo has been going for a more family oriented approach to marketing. Beginning with its Wii system, Nintendo has been aiming to get all members of the family involved in some form of gaming using the gimmick of motion controls using an easy to navigate set of controllers. In this regards it has been highly successful as the Wii has even been used in elderly homes as a form of therapy.
With that said,Nintendo's newest system, the Wii U seems to only be targeting the young market again. The Wii U has ditched the motion controllers in exchange for a tablet/controller hybrid and the games available are more focused on hobbyist gamers(as in consumers who play games more often and of different varieties than others). The gimmick of motion controls of course like all gimmicks became tiresome and so Nintendo had to go in another direction. The good part about this is that it gave Nintendo a fresh new direction to focus on game development. The bad part however is that it has put it in direct competition with Sony and Microsoft's newer consoles as well which is turning out to not go well in Nintendo's favor.
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