There has been alot of talk about the 3 month gap between Donkey Kong and Mario Kart which got me to thinking what did Nintendo originally have planned for the first half of the year?

Donkey Kong was supposed to release in November but was pushed back, most people seem to think this was a strategic move instead of it needing extra time. If that is true it seems to suggest Mario Kart was supposed to release earlier unless for some rediculous reason Nintendo originally planned on having no exclusives release in the first 5 months of 2014.

If Mario Kart was in fact planned for an earlier launch what was it? Im thinking maybe March as a last hoorah for the fiscal year but as of this moment there is nothing slated for the first half of 2014 other than DK and Mario Kart so was Mario Kart really the only game they had planned from Jan-June?

Either Nintendo planned on having no games release for the first 5 months or they planned on having it release sooner but nothing for the next 3 months. Either way I dont understand what the game plan was for Q1-Q2 2014 before DK got pushed back.

Y'know that's probably it ... I guess nintendo was trying to mask the inevitable drought that was bound to reoccur again but little did they know it was a meaningless move.

Nintendo's Wii U release schedule is the single reason why the Wii U is bombing. The graphic power of the console isn't that bad. PS4 is obviously more powerful but the gap from Wii U to PS4/Xbone is much smaller then the gap between Wii and 360/PS3. I really don't know what the hell is going on at Nintendo in terms of game development. The last 2 years before Wii U came out, the Wii didn't have jack squat. I would have assumed that they were working on Wii U titles, and even if they didn't have much ready for 2013, they should have had alot ready for 2014. Xbox One and PS4 this year are not really going to have much either. It's not a huge deal year 1, but to not have a bunch of titles ready for year 2 is ridiculous. My honest guess is that Donkey Kong really wasn't ready yet. They would have been better off releasing it in November and pumping up their holiday sales, then have another software drought filled with Virtual Console and Indie games, then do what they are doing now.

You'd have to wonder if Nintendo was hoping that Watch Dogs might help to fill the gap between DK and MK. Not first party, but a hyped and (potentially) quality release from their biggest major third party supporter might have done the trick.

im very surprised by Nintendos inability to put up SW fast....i mean, i n the GC days they put Zelda; Mario, Metroid, Luigi, Wave race, F-zero, Pikmin, Starfox, Eternal darkness and more...in the first 2 years!!

Development costs ...

yeah but comparatilvely they cant be much more than they were in 2001 when GC was top tech, is not that WiiU games are high budget by todays standard at all, GC games were.

The jump from SD to HD is quite large. Not to mention the flurry of development for the 3DS that helped it get out of the slump.

Wii Fit U, Donkey Kong and Watch Dogs were supposed to be 2013 titles, it wasnt until October that DK/WD were delayed and December for Wii Fit. That either means Mario Kart was supposed to come earlier or they actually expected Lego Movie, Lego Hobbit and Spider Man to fill that gap for the first 4.5 months.

HD development caught them by surprise, please understand.