GAMER LOUNGE 20XX (NO CASUALS!!)

[MrYoshbert]

That said, whenever an already somewhat niche series jumps the shark, there's always the possibility that it might not return to its older form for a very long time, e.g. Wario Land -> Wario Ware

This isn't necessarily bad, but it does leave that series' fans behind potentially without something else to fill its place.

It's less "series jumps the shark and replaces its older form" and more "character gets another series with its own separate style and identity".  

For example, the last Wario Land game (Shake It) and WarioWare: Smooth Moves) were released nearly two years within each other on the same console (the Wii).  Both of them co-exist in Nintendo's eyes and the newer series was never meant to "replace" the older series.  It's like how both Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi are still going strong (even with both series ending up on the same system at one point) despite them both filing under the "RPGs starring Mario characters" tag.

That being said, if they announce a new Wii U Chibi-Robo that returns to the format of the original Gamecube game in the distant future, freaking out over this game will have been pretty silly in hindsight.