Ok, let's just overlook the WiiU hardware disaster. About the 3DS, other than being too expansive (at launch) and leveraging on 3D, what are the other main issues of the 3DS in your opinion ? Or, in other words, what kind of machine Nintendo should have launched after DS ?

When you base your entire strategy around casual, you have to be able to stay ahead of the casual market. The casual market releases hundreds of games a month on mobile and platforms/pc.
Then you release a system that is basically a phone touchscreen without it actually being a phone.
Innovation is the key here. It's not about nintendogs or mario or anything like that.
When you're coming off two revolutionary consoles with revolutionary games, you need to be able to keep pace.
I'd say the sales should be pretty expected.

There are a lot of different factors at play here, to be honest.

The absolute log-jam of titles on smart-phones and tablets has definitely hurt some games. There are probably dozens of "brain training" games out there for cheap, for example. Genres like this, where a casual gamer doesn't have to buy new hardware, will bleed away sales from dedicated gaming consoles.

As far as the Wii U goes, I've been saying for years now that we will not see a casual craze like the Wii in back-to-back generations. It was simply never going to happen, even if Nintendo had released the "Wii 2". Many of those who bought the Wii were not gamers, they were just fish following the current. They bought the games, played them for a little while, then stopped. That's nothing against the Wii, that's just a result of the Wii becoming the center of a viral fad. The people I'm talking about bought a console they can pull out now-and-then for parties and, essentially, they're set. They will not be buying another console for a long, long time, if ever. We all probably know one or two people personally who fit this description.

That's why I've been saying all along that Nintendo fans should consider the Wii an anomaly and not judge the Wii U against it. A typical Nintendo console, assuming it does not see significant third party support, should likely have a baseline closer to Game Cube levels, as they typically lack software support for several popular genres. Gaming tastes have expanded greatly but Nintendo has decided to concentrate on a few genres in particular, like platformers, which makes Nintendo consoles somewhat niche unless the difference is made up by third party developers.

Basically, that "blue ocean" has turned into a "red sea" thanks to saturation from mobile games and a possible consumer base which has shrunk compared to Wii levels.

Yes, I can agree to all. I still don't get why I can't play my SNES VC games on it. I'd also say eshop prices are insane, both for VC and new games. Well at least, the 2DS and games like Pokemon XY and Zelda ALBW seem like a step into the right direction. Atm, I just fear next year they will neglit the 3DS in their attempt to save the WiiU.

( I´ve noticed that the title of the thread has been changed from "casual" to "family-friendly" in order to justify the comparisons.

Still, most of them are not valid, since NSMB still sells a lot and the latest version of the series are selling proportionally equally the previous ones.

By the way, Mario games have been around since the 80´s, way before casual games were even considered. They do appeal to casuals, but they´re definetely not casual games.

It is a little bit of everything really.

Honestly, year installment series like Just Dance, due to the various side scrolling 2.5D platformers and Mario games in general Nintendo put out since NSMB Wii I am putting that in this category as well and others lose their appeal.

Nintendogs and Cats wasn't much more then a prettier Nintendogs with cats added in. Brain Training 3 was sort of stupid due to them changing their mascot from a Asian nerd face to guy that resembled a demon or devil when at least outside of Japan a good chunk of potential buyers (parents, older people, etc.) would be turned off on seeing that and those that wouldn't are unlikely to want this type of game.

Some games lose fad appeal, even bigger name titles like CoD and Madden will eventually see their stuff drop. But in reality a lot of Nintendo's issues seem to be how little they actively push their products via different media these days and instead seem content to rely on word of mouth.

i personally dont think Mario or Mario Kart belongs, there. Mario Kart is only has on game per console anyway. So it will always remain relevant as there really arent alot of those games per gen in the grand scheme of things.

Hardware is an issue obviously. Wii U isnt doing hot so games will sell less. However its not the only problem. To say that it is is ignoring the facts. lets look at games like Carnival Games and Deca Sports. THey have games on WIi but each followup did worst than the last, even WiiPlay did worse despite releasing to larger audiences. I think some people have lost interest in these types of games, nothing to panic about all genres go through this, the bigger you are the harder you fall

Nintendo console owners now confirmed "hardcore"

is sony gonna take the casual crowd back this gen?

also Just Dance is a yearly installment, when it comes to those its a matter of WHEN not IF they decline.

Didn't happen to EA Sports titles though, what makes Just Dance different?