Well we're talking about Nintendo developed games. Between 2009 and 2012 they released: Skyward Sword, Rhythm Heaven Fever, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Party, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Play Motion, DK Country Returns and Xenoblade.

Don't get me wrong, there are four BRILLIANT games in that list. But that's eight games over three years. I don't think that is enough to show Nintendo are capable of supporting a console by themselves.

That's where games like Kirby's Epic Yarn, The Last Story, Sin & Punishment 2, Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Metroid Other M, Endless Ocean 2, Excitebots, and Pandora's Tower come in. All these were Nintendo published Wii games from 2009-2012.

Nintendo generally publishes 4-5 "big" games for a platform in a "big year" (usually the 2nd or 3rd year of a console/handheld).

This is their peak output generally.

After that they sorta become exhausted and need time to recharge.

In a slow year you maybe get 2-3 "big" releases.

Fact is there's only so much one company can do. Even though Nintendo's expanded a lot too, the loss of Rare has cut down on the amount of the games they release as Rare could often provide Nintendo will 2 good exclusives yearly (sometimes even more).

That was back in the N64 days, when games required much less time and resources. Rare released 8 Xbox 360 games throughout that console's life, more like one a year. (One of which was just an XBLA game) Not to mention they haven't made a game of Nintendo quality since the N64.

Though I have to wonder how much of that is due to mismanagement on Microsoft's part. Even if Rare was with Nintendo today, 1 extra game per year makes their lineup look surprinsingly better

2012: New Super Mario Bros. U, Killer Instinct U, Nintendo Land

2013: Pikmin 3, Mario 3D World, The Wonderful 101, Wii Fit U, Perfect Dark Omega

2014: DKC: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, X, Banjo-Kazuuuie, Super Smash Bros. U

2015: Zelda U, Kirby U, SmT x Fire Emblem, Diddy Kong Racing U or Kameo

Right now I think Nintendo is 2 games/year short on their console side. They need to invest more in at least financing more external projects if they choose not to have to make studio investments any longer. 

I'm not sure why people are even talking about this given the sales have picked in the recent weeks. In end all Nintendo cares about is if the Wii U makes a profit or not, the Gamecube made Nintendo money even thou it only sold 21 million. Everything will be alright in Wii U land.

Nintendo is losing money right now, much more than they ever have in the past, so I don't think it's that simple. 

They were also pretty bitterly dissapointed with the GameCube, which is part and parcel why they opted to go such a different route with the Wii. 

If Wii U sells in the GameCube range, Nintendo won't be very happy. The other problem is kids these days are getting handed a smart device and starting to play games on those before they even get a Nintendo portable and its disrupting the marketplace. 

Now they are throwing everything they can at the 3DS to keep it at a high sales level, but no doubt they are working harder in the handheld business than ever before and coming no where close to sniffing DS level sales.

So this is problematic, because during the GCN days, more or less Nintendo had a 100% monopoly on anything kids played in the handheld relam, not to mention at that time, they were reaping a lot of money off Pokemon as a merchandising property (toys, TV shows, movies, etc.). That's still around to some extent but definitely not as hot as it was in the early 2000s.  

It was easier to cruise off that handheld and consider consoles just gravy when you are completely unchallenged in the handheld sector, that's certainly no longer the case. If anything I think smart device gaming bothers Nintendo more because it strikes at the heart of a lot of things they like to call their own -- kid friendly gaming, intuite controls, etc. Sony could never seriously challenge Nintendo in the kids market, because they don't have an answer to Mario or Pokemon (maybe in the Crash Bandicoot days I guess). 

Mismanagement by Microsoft could definitely be a factor, though even before they were sold, their last NIntendo game, Starfox Adventures, was way below their past standards.

What Nintendo need right now is more collaborations like Sonic Lost World, F Zero GX, The Last Story, Kirby's Epic Yarn, (Whose dev is actually doing a Wii U collaboration, Yarn Yoshi) etc to bolster their output in the absence of strong multiplatform support.

I know 3rd party support on Nintendo hardware is pretty weak, but there is always a small handfull of decent 3rd party efforts per year as well. To that list you could add Monster Hunter Tri, Goldeneye 007, COD, Red Steel 2, Lego games etc.

Oh I agree, third party games like Monster Hunter Tri and Goldeneye 007 were among my favorite Wii games of 2010. Oh, and you missed out No More Heroes 2, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Rayman Legends, and Little King's Story. ;)

My point was that if we're going to look at Nintendo developed games within the 2009-2012 period, we should also look at the games they published, which greatly swell the ranks.