the importance of 3d mario will play a huge role for Wii U

[Gamerace]

Obviously a good 3D Mario (and Smash Bros, and Zelda and Kart) will help boost sales. But I'm not sure what you're hoping for here. Gamecube and N64 had all those as well. So it's reasonable to expect they'll help WiiU climb to 10m-30m lifetime sales.