The original only sold well because Rare's DKC trilogy is legendary. But the newer ones not so much. They're all Retro has done in the last 10 years, which is sad. They're not a productive studio.

DKTF is a fine game though. Retro should be proud. And with sales confirmed in 2015 as over 1.12 million I'm sure by now has made a nice profit.

Retro pitched TF to Nintendo though? Nintendo just green lighted it, TF is the game retto wanted to make

Splatoon moved more consoles than many other games imo as good as MK8 - SSB and SM3DW

Yes, because It's a new IP

Unlike DK, an iconic and estabilished Nintendo character

DKTF did underwhlmingly because it was strategically a bad choice to release (another) 2D plaftform at that time. I agree a game like Metroid would have sold more in that moment - because that was the kind of game the crowd who early bought the WiiU was waiting for. That said I don't belive making a good platform game with 3D graphics and the amount of content DKTF has is anything less ambitious than making a good jrpg game.

Xenobleade has benefited from the fact no one (on any platform) has tried to really push the genre in years - it has literally no competiton - DK on the other hand stands in a quite crowded competitive space, and at the end it will still very likely sell more. Add the fact Xenoblade was a 5 years project against the 3 years of DKTF.

As for why they released another 2D DK game on WiiU, I believe they were originally willing to make a sequel on Wii (to implement some of the ideas they couldn't fit on DKCR) - after all Wii sales in 2010 were still stellar - but at some point the project was moved by Nintendo to push the WiiU. It wouldn't be surprising since Wonderfull 101 and Pikmin 3 were released in the same time frame and were both confirmed to be origially intended for Wii. This would also explain why the game is visually and artistically very similar to the previous one.

Lastly, the Splatoon comparison it doesn't really make much sense. Last gen, Wii Sports obviously moved more consoles than Zelda, so they should have stopped making Zelda games?

Couldn't it simply be that Splatoon became a HW seller because bbesides being a very good game it's also a shooter different from usual and something not only competitors, but also Ninty in its 1st party offer previously lacked?

Well the Wii U in Japan had been struggling for a while. Splatoon kept the Wii U having great weekly numbers for a long time after its release. And while I didn't poll everyone in Japan who bought a Wii U in those weeks there's a good chunk of people who bought it to get their hands on Splatoon.

It's not. At least Metroid would have been an impressive game. DK is not an impressive game and not a system seller. It failed on both camps. Also, do I have to remember how people were saying that because of DKCR sales on Wii, TF was the right decision? It was proved to be wrong.

We know the limits of Zelda. On top of that, the problem was that some people were bragging about DKCR sales and guaranteed that doing TF was the best decision, and well, we know now how that it ended. Let's also remember that people not only asked Retro for a new Metroid, but also a new IP, which is Splatoon. Nobody is asking Zelda team to do a new IP or mad because they are doing Zelda. Or it is?

Really? Who were? I remember DKTF reveal was mostly met with resentment from the beginning. Maybe I don't remember correctly though.

Again I agree timing was wrong, but if Retro can't be allowed to make a DK game in order to make room for new IPs or Metroid, maybe someone should ask if EAD3 should be allowed to continue making mainline Zelda games (considering how much time and resources go into those games). After all, that small group of developers who made Splatoon have not only beaten DK (on WiiU), they're also on track to beat Skyward Sword (on Wii).