The problem with Zelda is that we are asuming the delay is just for one year, but there's no sign to when is delayed. At least we knew with some of those when to expect them or release dates after only 3-4 months and they decided to polish it. Updates were regulars and some were to fill droughts (like DK).

On the other hand, with Zelda they are changing something big that they can't even show at E3, we don't know how much is delayed but we can at least imagine and it's not just because they need to polish.

Nintendo went to other level. Not just delayed the game, but they delayed the presentation of the game.

Agree with the bolded 

I'm just bummed that there's no Zelda Wii U at this year's E3 when Nintendo had such a great E3 last year! Even Twilight Princess (revealed at 2004) was shown at E3 2005 where they revealed Link's wolf transformation.

3D Zeldas are ALWAYS delayed a year from their originally announced date (I'm not kidding, every single one has been) so Zelda U's delay is pretty much a moot point.  If you didn't expect it, you don't know history. Please don't try and say that 2014 was actually its original release date either, since that was pure fan rumor. Nintendo never gave any indicator of a 2014 release.

So excluding the typical Zelda delay then Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong, and XCX are the only notable delays. The rest were either not that big of games that many people cared about or not that big of delays. Overall, I'd say Wii U has been pretty normal in the delay department, especially for a Nintendo console. It's hardly the king of delays. Besides, Nintendo told us like 2 years ago how surprisingly difficult they found the HD transition to be, so they're still just getting the hang of it all.

Alright, you can blame W101 on Platinum, the Wii series hardly sells anymore, DK and Pikmin didn't exactly set the world on fire, and those Europe delays were more tied to marketing than to development, so I guess that leaves us with just 2 high profile games that have been delayed. Not bad if you ask me.

Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker weren't delayed.

Yeah, Nintendo has been delaying games a lot so that is why I didn't find Zelda U delay surprising at all.

Must keep up the quality, I guess.

Yes they were. MM was originally announced as an OoT expansion called Zelda: Gaiden and planned for '99. TWW's original release date in both Japan and NA was '02, and while it barely made that in Japan it was delayed to '03 for everywhere else. Had Nintendo decided to finish the two dungeons that were still being worked on in TWW and never saw release, it would have been a typical year delay. But that was one of the rare occurences they didn't opt for a big delay to finish a Zelda game.

Games have always been delayed.

The key thing that is missing is 3rd party support, hence the droughts get longer and longer and the delays impact you more so then when in the past it was like meh whatever I'll buy this game now then.

I don't remember this many first party games getting delayed last gen.