Wait..... what?
Mario, Mario Kart, Pokemon, Super Smash Bros, Animal Crossing always sold (and continue to sell) crazy amounts of copies on its main iterations
Even with the small install base of the WiiU, Mario, Mario Kart and Smash passed the 04 million mark of physical copies sold. Pokemon X/Y; Pokemon Omega/Ruby and Animal Crossing on the 3ds are some of the biggest hits this generation (13, 10 and 8.8 million respectively)
Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pikmin and Fire Emblem are not as big in sales as those franchises, but still has respectable numbers, with all main games surpassing 01 million copies (02 million in the case of Zelda)
I don´t think such sucessful franchises could be considered irrelevant. BUT, I do agree that Nintendo has been having difficulty, for some time, to create new successfull IPs. Tomodachi Life and Splatoon are huge hits, but some experiences, like Steel Diver and Fossil Fighters, have not been promising.
