Family friendly and casual series are losing their appeal on Nintendo platforms, and this trend is especially visible with the need for buyers to upgrade to a new platform.

The most major shock is the waning interest in the New Super Mario Bros. series, a family-friendly series.

As you can see above, the series is struggling not only on the Wii U for explicable factors, but is also struggling on the 3DS for less justifiable reasons.

Sure, the lower sales can be explained by a plethora of justifications, but this trend is not unique to new super mario bros. Here are a few casual series experiencing this down-trend as well.

Nintendogs

Art Academy

Brain Age

For Brain Age, the 3DS follow-up barely appears on the graph.

There seem to be two main exceptions however.

Just Dance

The Just Dance series was gaining popularity with time, each entry selling more than the one before it. With Just Dance 4, that trend was broken.

But could this also explain what's happening above? Look at the next graph, showing just dance series on the Wii only, including Just Dance 4. It seems like people are still buying it on the Wii.

Could it be that the U is dooming these games from seeing a successful trend from one entry to the next? What could explain this, is it there a perception problem with Nintendo's new consoles (3DS/U) as compared to their last consoles (DS/Wii)? Could it be that people are just waiting to upgrade? Were the DS/Wii so successful that people are still holding on to them? This is a very complex question.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Another exception is Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The game is alive, and we know that the Animal Crossing games are addictive in nature, which could explain why the sales bridge well from the DS to the 3DS.

Mario Kart 7

Yet another exception is Mario Kart 7. On the 3DS, it seems to have thrived, in contrast with other 3DS follow-ups.

Why would one franchise keep its relevance on the 3DS, but so many others not? Is Mario Kart just a much more enduring franchise than the others, which people seem to get tired of?

Food for thought.

Anyway.. didn't you guys also noticed that games like movie licensed games are already shifted to Mobile.. Thor 2 just released today.. After Earth the video game was also on Mobile, just like Iron Man 3, Captain America, Good day to Die Hard etc etc.. Mobile gaming is affecting a lot but people won't admit that..

It's true, Nintendo needs to move away from these "casual" series and start delving in other genres!

About Mario:
To get NSMB Wii you had to spend 200$ at the time of release (assuming you had to buy the console, in 2009 a lot of people already owned a Wii), to get NSMB U the price was 400$ (or 350$ if you really wanted the basic bundle), and you had to buy the console anyway since it was a launch game.
About portable Mario, NSMB DS was the 1st 2D Mario game released after 15 years the install base was larger, the console was chaaper by 50$.
Add that the state of the economy in 2012 was worse compared to 2006 or 2009.
Add the fact NSMB2 and NSMBU were released at the same time.

P.S. New Super Mario Bros IS NOT a casual game, neither is Mario Kart.

Saying that the New Super Mario Bros series is selling poor... comparing the sales of platforms that have a very big difference in the install base just doesn´t make much sense.

Let´s compare the attach rate to see how poor they´re performing actually

Wii: 100 million - NSMBWii 27,5 million (27,5 %)
WiiU: 3,9 million - NSMBU 2,11 million ( 54 % )
DS; 153 million - NSMB 2 29,5 million (19,3 %)
3DS: 35 million - NSMB 2 6,41 million retail only (18,31 %)

All games have attach rates above respectable 18 %. Something that even GTA V doesn´t have.

And... I wouldn´t call Super Mario Bros series as "casual". This is a series of games that have been around since the 80´s, way before something like "casual gaming" even existed. A big chunck of Mario games audience is not definetely "casual"

We should take these series of examples of how casual gaming are really losting appeal, since they were launched after the born of this cathegory of games:

Just Dance (2014 is really selling poor)
Rock Band
Wii Party/Fit
Brain Age
Dance Central
Kinect Sports
Nintendogs (still one of the best-seller games on the 3Ds, though)

Oh no!  You are saying all the movie licensed video games which are usually shovelware (and apparently 99% comic action hero) are going to mobile.  Not something to brag about too much considering if the games are anything like the movies then dedicated console owners aren't missing much (almost all the new comic movies suck now (Iron Man 3 sucked, Iron Man 2 sucked compared to 1, Captain America wasn't that good, Thor was pretty shitty (and this from someone who loves anything Viking), last Die Hard movie sucked, etc).  There have been very few video games based on movies that have been good in video game history.

Yes, they seem to be low in sales compared to the success of the Wii but:
1st. 2 millions copies sold for any of those games will generate gigantic profits. Most of them don't cost as much to produce a AAA title.
2nd. Before stoping production, Nintendo needs to carry at least one game in the series on this generation. Why? because you still don't have any proof that a game in that series won't sell. Imagine not developing a Wii Sport Resort for Wii U when it sold 35 millions? that is crazy, you have to have another one at least one more time to see how it goes. You cannot stop developing a million seller game because you feel it won't sell.

You're missing the point: It's not about if the game is good or not..it's about the audience they attract.. those games are a big deal for the "casual" audience.. go check the sales of Avatar, Harry Potter, Iron Man etc.. those are the games they want from a system.. Avatar the game sold like 3 million copies in total, just like the first Iron Man movie game... Without these games  its  lot harder for all 3 console makers to get that part of the market.. which is already taken by Mobile

I see your point.  However, I would be more alarmed if the Lego series went mobile only.  That series seems to generate enough sells though on dedicated consoles (usually selling over 1m).  The 3DS and Wii U versions are just over .5m but they should eventually hit 1m lifetime (I've been planning on getting the Wii U game eventually, never owned a Lego game but the open world type setting of Undercover has me intrigued).  Lego series might be in decline from its heyday last generation and could eventually move to mobile only though.