The Wii did something no other console was able to do before: attract female (I will use "female" as it's easier to type than women and girls) gamers by the millions. Although this is old data, 80% of console gamers last generation were Wii owners. This was before the Kinect, but I doubt this percentage changed much. About 8-10% of PS3 and 360 players were female, while 30% of Wii players were female. Once again, these stats are pre-Kinect, which did attract many non-gamers but probably not enough to be really significant (at the most, 15% of 360 gamers).
The DS is the same way, but surprisingly, the 3DS is also the same. One of the reasons the 3DS has made such a comeback was because it attracted female gamers. 31% of 3DS owners are female. This is evidence that even though mobile games have taken a lot of this demographic, there is still a lot of them who would buy a dedicated gaming system.Animal Crossing: New Leaf, for example, is a HUGE hit with girls - 56% of players are girls. Look up Let's Plays or Unboxing of it on YouTube and many are girls.
If I was the head of the Wii U right now my strategy would change entirely. Male gamers have pretty much rejected the Wii U - it's selling worse than even the Dreamcast did during the same time frame (and the DC was Japan-only for almost a year). Their big franchises aren't doing what they should be doing - selling units. Super Mario 3D World was rejected for looking just like the 3DS game (and rightfully so - with the new HD consoles we should've got something amazing like Mario 64 2 or a Galaxy game at least), the new Zelda art style is once again going to fracture the fanbase, and too few first party titles being released anyway. Donkey Kong Country: TF failed to even register on the radar as well as Pikmin 3. Mario Kart 8 was a little spike but not good enough. I doubt Smash Bros. is gonna do much as well.
So Nintendo should change focus, and try and get female gamers now. The GamePad is actually GREAT for those type of games. Popular games for girls on the 3DS include Disney Magic World, Animal Crossing, Tomadachi Life, Style Savvy, Professor Layton, Nintendogs, Cooking Mama, Imagine series, and then Nintendo could add dance games, fitness games, etc. etc. A lot of these games would be perfect for the GamePad as well, so it could be a major selling point.
The Wii U - like the 3DS - could then make a comeback and start selling more.
And hell if that doesn't work then just do a Pokemon RPG. The Amiibos make NO sense to me... because what are they used for? In Smash Bros., why would I need one? On the other hand, Amiibo Pokemon would be HUGE. And it makes sense (Gotta collect them all!). A Pokemon RPG with amiibos could save the Wii U no doubt. Also, Nintendo should have Retro Studios make the next big FPS game! Nintendo used to be known for being the first person shooter console (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok, Doom 64, Quake 64, etc. etc.) and Retro Studios can obviously make a good first person shooter... so why not have them make a killer app to compete with Destiny, Titanfall, Halo, Gears, etc. etc.?
What do you guys think? What would YOU do if your job was to make sure the Wii U could make a comeback?
TL;DR Version: Females were able to help foster the 3DS comeback, and they can do the same for the Wii U
