The only thing Minato failed to do was live up to the hype. Prodigy, World Saviour, Prophet, Genius, flee on sight order. While incredible, kishi made it seem like Minato was unique, a genius amongst geniuses. Mabey he would have been, if he lived longer but as it is Minato is comfortable in the normal "genius range" right next to pacifist itachi.
Characters labled as prodigies itachi,Nagato, Minato in a sense let me down because of their potential. I feel that each one could have been a "hashirama or madara" of their time. But, because of circumstances, they were nerfed (died early, anti-war, crippled- which is no excuse in the ninja world look at danzo, nagato not being able to fix his legs seems like a real stretch to me. Instead, we are stuck with ninja's like Naruto and Sasuke inheriting all the power. Which is a shame, becuase even though in the end it's obvious that the main protagonist will be the strongest, making Naruto so much more powerfull at only 17 really dampens alot of the other characters prestige. Even, Madara and hashirama, were not as powerfull as Naruto and Sasuke at 17.
In my book Minato will always be the great ninja that should have been legendary.
