I think Nintendo could have saved Wii U and have been profitable.

[zorg1000]

No.

1. Dropping the price by $100 would likely have resulted in more sales but would lead to higher losses per unit.

2. Smash Bros as a Wii U exclusive wouldnt have seen better sales nearly to the extent you are thinking of. As of the last update Smash Wii U has sold about 5 million & Smash 3DS has sold about 8.5 million for a total of 13.5 million. As a Wii U exlusive we might be looking at 7-8 million so Nintendo loses out big time. A Mario in the style of Galaxy may have sold better and moved more hardware but not by a huge amount. Metroid is relatively niche, it usually does in the 1-2 million range so its not nearly as big of a system seller as you think.

3. Virtual Console titles are great as supplementary titles but are not system sellers in and of themselves.

Overall we might be looking at a Gamecube level sales with your ideas but also far greater losses.