Fact is 90% of the console market now is the Western gamer. A large chunk of Nintendo's handheld losses are coming in the West too.

Nintendo can't fix this just by throwing Mario, Pikachu, etc. continually at the problem. They need something that can be relevant to Western consumers and they need it fast. 

My advice to them would be to cut a deal with Disney/Marvel. There aren't good games for a lot of their big IP like Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, Spider-Man/X-Men, etc. 

Not only are there not good games for these hugely popular IP, they are the golden demographic ticket for Nintendo -- they appeal to kids AND teenagers AND even adults pretty much equally across the board. If the quality of the games was high they would sell, no doubt. 

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Third party is the problem. Most people follow the third party.

That's why a big deal with Disney could help even the scales a lot. 

A system with just Nintendo IP on it? Appeals to some people.

But add Iron Man, Captain America, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, etc. to back up Mario? 

Suddenly now I think people would start to pay attention, as long as Nintendo could ensure the games are good (just treat the Marvel IP the same as they would their internal IP). 

Third party situation is so bad that I don't think it will be fixed anytime soon, that's a dysfunctional relationship between a guy and his ex, at some point it just gets so bad that they just need to be away from each other. 

Get 3rd party support. Some crappy Marvel licensed game isn't going to do anything. Design a machine built for 3rd party support. Then do everything you can to convince 3rd parties to come on board. And when that fails just throw money at them. Then keep throwing money until the problem goes away. This is how the industry works.

No but seriously, get 3rd parties on board. You can't do that then you're fucked.

When was the last Marvel licensed game that sold really well? Like Spider-man 2 from a decade ago? 

Because all the games are crappy. Make them high quality and they would be very, very valuable IP IMO. 

Look at Batman, he had crappy games for years, now Arkham is one of the biggest IP in the industry, but people were game for a good Batman game for ages.  

Iron Man sh*ts all over any game character in terms of "cool" anyway (sorry Chief, sit down Drake). 

I think it could almost be a deal exclusively between Nintendo and Disney/Marvel where they basically support Nintendo's next platform (Fusion) basically on their own and control all the profits. 

Struggle it out, launch great games that makes the fans happy and learn all the mistakes they have made with this generation and make sure not to make them with the next. It really doesnt matter what they do at this point, the wiiU will be at 3rd place no matter what but if they look at the mistakes they have made this generation and improve up on them, then they can at least have a strong shot at winning the next gen (like third parties and x86 and marketing)

They won't do any of those things, especially not throw money at them.

They won't even make their next console for the western 3rd party, they build their consoles for themselves first and foremost. They're going to absorb the WiiU into the next hardware itteration, either with a die shrunk new chip (doubtful, costly and not really worth while if they stick with RISC) or through an updated RISC chipset like ARM (Qual, nVidia) or PPC (AMD recently started a new contract on PPC development, I can only think of Nintendo...). They won't do x86 nor will they homogenize, as that will really kill them.

With the unified architecture they will be the largest producer of software all on their own, so the hardware will be built for themselves.

Yup. But they'll still have a problem in the West, just because they have a steady flow of Japanese IP games doesn't mean all their problems are solved. 

They need a partner from the West to help them. I think Disney/Marvel could be that ideal partner. They have ready made IP that could turn quickly into blockbusters and appeal to Western teenagers/adults (a demo Nintendo struggles with).

Heck, Disney even owns ESPN, they could use that to bring back Nintendo Sports titles if they decide to give EA the middle finger. 

I honestly don't think third parties want to support Nintendo. MS and Sony already occupy the "big two" options that third parties want. PC occupies that the third spot. Third parties already have a full docket, there's just no need for another console manufacturer from their POV. 

Nintendo will always be the odd man out in this equation, even if they made a system exactly like third parties liked, there's still the issue that their games would sell less on such a platform because Nintendo games provide more competition that isn't there on MS/Sony's platforms.

So it's a zero sum game for Nintendo there.

Cutting a big deal with Disney and basically letting the two carry the platform with some Japanese third party support would be an OK solution IMO.