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happydolphin on 11 October 2013
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Seece said:

A) I'm saying what helped shift the 3DS, doesn't mean it works for everything else. The gamecube was slashed to $99 in no time. Did nothing.

B) The Wii and MK were able to sell because of the huge Wii audience, just like dun dun duuuh NSMB!! I guarantee if that hadn't released yet you would be putting NSMB in that list thinking it has a new audience. In reality it's no different to MK or Wii series. Another franchise we actually have proof for, Just Dance. Huge on Wii. Big on WiiU? nope.

C) Not even going there, Nintendos history shows the opposite of what you're saying.

D) NSMB didn't sell WiiU's because the WiiU concept is not appealing to casuals or core gamers, that's why, and that's why it'll never take off. I can see it doing alright but it's never going to 'Win'

E) What audience is there for Super Mario 3D? The Nintendo core. That didn't help in past gens, so why is it suddenly a big factor now???

A) It's not a one or the other thing, both conditions (price and games) need to be met at the same time. ;) That's what the cube was missing. The games were few and far between and had absolutely no traction. I'll add that Nintendo is in a far different position nowadays thanks to its own success, largely due to proper marketting and greater failure on the part of its competition. So the U is in a much better position than the cube was in 100 ways.

B) We both understand that, we are just wondering why. Why the Wii made MK huge and not the cube. Well, in an answer to that, we know that the DS had both NSMB and MK. In both cases, the sales were sky high, much greater than during the advance days (for MK). 

http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=mario+kart&publisher=&platform=&genre=&minSales=0&results=200

Mario Kart Super Circuit: 5m

Mario Kart DS: 22m

So even with the DS this changed, it's not unique to the Wii. That's because something changed between those two gens (GC/GBA vs Wii/DS). Nintendo's marketing had drastically improved, went through an image restructuring and reinvented itself basically. Add to that the great product branding, games (e.g. touch generation) and a proper price, and Mario Kart grew termendously. That's the answer. And the U is part of that legacy.

As for Just Dance, it's much like NSMB and Nintendogs. Seems to be one of those series people may need time to get back into. Maybe Mario Kart is the same, time will tell. But ultimately, I think that MK8 will release at a time when the combination of software on the U will make it appealing enough for people to bite, much like was the case when it released for the Wii. That's why I'm saying it's a question of momentum.

C) Nintendo's history shows that it's actually spot on. You'd be right if you said Sony's history, but for that I have another answer. As for Nintendo's history, we know how the NES and GB succeeded on very similar game libraries. There was starting to be a shift in the SNES days, the home console content started to cater to another audience, the core gamers. The NES was not. So no really Nintendo's history is very faithful to that idea that games and price make a console (portable or not) successful.

D) I will try to see where you're coming from here. Are you arguing that due to the games the U doesn't appeal to casuals, or due to marketing/branding?

E) Super Mario Galaxy sold 10m units. Is that again due to the Wii appealing to casuals? 3D Mario has a market, and it's the mainstream, much like NSMB. And even if it were the Nintendo core, Smash has sold decently to the Nintendo core since the cube days, so there is a market for them too.