I don't know has any other system had circle pads?
Only ones I can think of right now would be the PSP and the 3DS. And while the PSP one is placed veeeeeery badly on the handheld itself, it feels much better than any ol' analog stick.
From what I understand the Wii U will be more similar to traditional Nintendo systems than the Wii itself, which would bring back gamers who grew up with the Super Nintendo and the 64 that were thrown off by the Wii's unique gameplay style while the Playstation 3 is more or less just another Playstation.