If you designed the Wii U, what would you have done?

[Darwinianevolution]

Make a Gamecube Controller that was compatible with PC. I would have bought one just for my PC.

The problem with the WiiU was a mix between power and lack of 3rd party. They are not the same problem, even if other companies use the lack of power to justify their apathy towards the U. Nintendo should have tried to get more multiplats at the start of the gen, when crossgen games were still pretty common. Bring popular multiplats, support popular remakes and let other people use your licenses (like they are doing now).

Good aditions for their first two years line-up would have been:

-Red Dead Redemption.
-TES. Skyrim.
-GTA IV
-Minecraft (they should have got it when Microsoft wasn't in charge, now it's impossible)
-Metal Gear Solid Collection 1-3
-Sonic Generations
-Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. (Nintendo platforms are the only place where Sonic can still compete, really)
-Valkyria Chronicles
-Mass Effect COLLECTION (not just the third. There was a point where the collection on PS360 was cheaper than just 3 on the WiiU).
-The Sims 3 (you could control the Sims with the gamepad, something like in the mobile version)
-Devil May Cry HD collection.
-Remake of a Dragon Quest game
-Remake of that Digimon Adventure game on PSP (there were no big Pokemon games on the WiiU to compete against, and there still aren't. I suppose it could have gone to the 3DS better, though)
-Remake of a Tales of x game.
-Any Dragon Ball game

Most of them would have sold poorly, but a port is always cheaper than a complete game, and it would have helped during that fatal first year drought. Combined with the Nintendo games and the few 3rd and 2nd party they got, nobody would have complained about drought. Maybe a bit of rehashing old games, but Nintendo gamers never played those before, so they would have had a perfect excuse.

In terms of power, make it similar to the XBone. It doesn't need to be the most powerful one (because most of third parties would ignore the system regardless of it), but it could at least prolong the lifespam of the system and attract those massive multiplats, like Destiny or GTAV.

Improve the eShop. Put Gamecube-Wii titles from the beginning, and create a virtual console for DS games (the 3DS also should have a eShop with DS games, by the way).

Also, I would have made the Gamepad with a smaller screen, to save money on its production.