Face it, the Wii U and GameCube are basically the banes to Nintendo's amazing name, but even when you talk about GameCube, people will remember at least a decent amount of profit. So, why are Wii U sales so different? I mean, the point Wii U is at now is roughly where the GameCube was at March 2003 (time aligns with Wii U March 2014) and even with Mario Kart and Smash it hasn't picked up much footing. So what's the difference?

GC was cheaper.

Bad press, bad name, bad marketing and bad price with bad 8gb and bad 32gb.

The price point.

Nintendoooooooom!!

...mainly because of price, bad marketing and lack of 3rd party support

Wii U is too expensive for a nintendo console.

3 things:

1) It was more obvious that the Gamecube was its own thing.

2) The Gamecube wasn't $150 too expensive.

3) Nintendo's name meant a little more back then.

IIRC Gamecube priced dropped quickly and had a better output of games in its earlier years compared to the Wii U.

I'd imagine the GC didn't have the horrible droughts the Wii U had.

Gamecube was $199 at launch, $149 within 6 months and $99 at this point in its life.

Wii U launched at $299/349 depending on bundle and over 2 years later is still $299.