I know, when the Wii was all but abandoned, I reasoned that they were working on next gen games. But then their new system ends up in a drought just 2 month into its life. I suspect they committed to much of their resources to the 3DS, and it's sure biting them on the arse now.

I think you´re right about that.Well, if it´s gonna be that way, then the home console/handheld hybrid that´s been speculated might be a very good idea, from that point of view.

I think they probably should've held off on releasing "The Last Story" from Wii and re-worked it as a show piece Wii U launch title taking an extra 14-15 months to bring the graphics up to next-gen quality and tweaking the game play and story as well.

If they had that at launch or shortly afterwards they'd be in better shape.

What they need to do now is throw everything they have at Wii U; the 3DS is doing fine, and has actual third party support to back it up. The Wii U needs saving, they need to make it their top priority. Make sure at least two out of Mario Kart, Smash Bros, and 3D Mario are out for the holidays, market the hell out of them. In the short term, do some Nintendo directs focussing on upcoming Wii U titles, and step up the marketing for LEGO City and Monster Hunter.

Just keep throwing Mario at the problem, lol. NSMB didn't cut it but surely Mario Kart and Mario Universe will. Bring on Mario & Sonic Olympics Sochi, Mario Party, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Wario World, Luigi's Mansion U, etc. etc. too :). 

No point in marketing LEGO City IMO, the average kid doesn't have $350 laying around for a game console. 

Mario Kart is a bigger franchise than 2D Mario and 3D Mario hits a different (more core) audience. It does need more than just Mario though, yes; other franchises will be needed, such as Pikmin 3, X, Zelda, and whatever else Nintendo is (hopefully) cooking up.

The price point is indeed a problem at the moment, but awareness of the console needs to be built, so many people don't know it exists.

Mario Kart and NSMB are pretty even I'd say as franchises. NSMB2 is quickly catching up to Mario Kart 7 for example. 

3D Mario is definitely several notches below and then Zelda is a notch below 3D Mario.

Nintendo's biggest mistake with the Wii/DS era was not investing enough in sustainable new character properties during that generation. 

Instead they banked almost entirely on things like Wii Sports/Fit/Party and Brain Training and Nintendogs ... franchises that likely have lost a lot (if not even all) of their appeal. 

So basically there's nothing from Wii/DS eras that really helping Nintendo now in terms of being new, so they're stuck having to ride Mario for every problem they have because there's no other answer they can come up with quickly. 

DKC is really the only other franchise besides 2D Mario that Nintendo revived to big numbers that they can now carry over to the Wii U/3DS. 

3D Mario and Zelda are still big, system selling franchises, even if they're not Mario Kart big. And let's not forget Smash Bros.

And then there's the cumulative effect of smaller ones like Pikmin, X, Yoshi, and possibly Metroid, Starfox, F Zero, etc, which may not be huge on their own but can form a considerable collective draw.

I hope in the next Investor's Meeting people go all around Iwata for this mess. They release only 2 games, a collaboration and a up-port, since launch.

If I were an investor certainly wouldn't be happy with the console numbers and directives performance.

I'm going to have lots of fun with you, i see...