As a whole, Nintendo is falling apart. The 3DS might not outsell the GBA, the Wii U might not outsell the GC. There's still time, but no games. MK8? Could you remind me how much did SM3DW help? And don't try to say that MK is their biggest system seller. It's they're best selling game, but it sells good because of the install base. Also, it sells good because it has Mario in it. After that, it could be over. They will keep supporting the Wii U, but only to hope it can get to GC levels. And the 3DS is another thing. It could outsell the GBA, but that depends on how SSB4 affets it's numbers. So I'll leave it alone. But I want to know two things from you!

1. How can Nintendo FIX the Wii U problem? Don't you dare to say "release next system right away" They can't just give up. That will just give them a bad name! Their best option would be to expand their dev teams, or acquire more dev teams, and I hope they do that even if they don't fail. Releasing more games? At this rate, that won't help that much. Maybe just keep it as it is and hope for the best. Or they could try to get as many exclusives as possible!
2. What can they do for their next home console? And make a super powerful console is not enough! That might actually be worse. Why? Because it'll be a more expensive Nintendo system. Do you really believe 3rd parties will support a expensive Nintendo console? Like, really? They don't sell good on a cheaper console, and you believe a more expensive console will sell more? OK, let's say it sells like the Wii... How many of the install base will buy a 3rd party game?  That's the problem! In this market, 3rd parties rule. Your console doesn't sell good with 3rd parties, you're done. Your console doesn't get 3rd parties, your done. And this is why I'm asking, what can Nintendo do?

Growth Growth Growth. They only real solution to Nintendo's issues is to get far more developers for their platform. If they can't rely on 3rd parties they have to make 1st party larger.

Some of those studios and employees need to be very familiar with HD production so that they can help Nintendo native teams streamline that process.

Then they wouldn't have to worry about hardware parity and can focus on making great games faster which is the only thing that can help their platform.

They need to find a way to innovate and expand themselves with more developers... They should have already realized that no one is gonna make games for the wiiU apart from themselves so they need to take it all in their own.

I think what they should realize that the wiiU is not gonna be very successful so they need to make great games and just make whatever profits they can on software and near the end of the wiiU's life cycle, have a strong finish and then have a strong start when their next gen comes around... Make the wiiU the best gaming platform when it comes to Nintendo games instead of releasing shit that people don't care about like wii fit and have better release schedules

Its such a shame that they didn't buy Altus when they had the chance to, it really would have helped the wiiU with all the exclusives they could have snagged

For home console in the mid-term they probably have to just swallow the pill and keep doing what they're doing. 3rd parties have all but left Wii U, so it will be very hard to reach any critical mass on that product, but they have probably invested a lot into the games that are coming, and will be better to keep going and break even than to cancel anything.

For handheld they could move to the next generation in the next 1~2 years I think (i.e. when 3DS is 4 to 5 years old).

Iwata clearly does not want to downsize Nintendo, but I think they would start reducing resources in the home and handheld games segment, and add resources to their QOL segment.

Well, nintendo cant compete with specs and third party support of the other systems. So if nintendo wants the wii u to succeed, they need to do three things.

First, get the price down. The system needs to probably be half the price of the ps4 if they want it to be somewhat competitive

Second, redesign. Redesign the system to make the system itself more appealing. All anybody sees is the freaking controller which combined with the horrible mistake of the name confuses a lot of consumers. People tend to think it is an add on for the wii instead of a new system.

Last of all, they need to develop non traditional gaming options. The secret to the wiis success is they created experiences that were not typical gaming experiences. Wii sports, wii fit specifically probably are responsible for moving at least half of those 100 million wiis. Nintendo cant just come out with updated sequels, they need to create new experiences.

Lower the wii u cost and add value by larger game bundles and offering low cost or near free retro titles on the nintendo eshop. Actively seek third party developers to create new versions of classic Nintendo franchises like Pilotwings, F-Zero, Starfox etc.

Release a proper next gen system that outperforms ps4 and xbox one in about 2 years with a brilliant game bundled at launch.

No more pathetically underpowered home systems that are incapable of matching the performance of competitor's products. No more being a generation behind all the time. Treat your customers with some respect rather than trying to rip them off with weak hardware at massively inflated prices.

1. Release a LOT more VC games each week
2. Pay developers to port their games to the Wii U
3. Pay developers to port Nintendo's and their own 3DS games to Wii U
4. Make more 1st party games
5. Advertise the Indy Games! A video a week highlighting a few games on the e-shop and through their online sites would be nice
6. RELEASE GAMES FOR THE SYSTEM.

Advertise, take full advantage of their diverse IP library, more virtual console games, and make multiplayer games online. Not everywhere is like Japan.

There's absolutely no saving the WII U. The best way they could go about it is dropping the gamepad to reduce the price of the console when MK8 hits otherwise it's guaranteed to hit lower than 15 mil lifetime at this rate.

FIrst of all, what to do with the Wii U:

Release their next system right away. Just joking. In all seriousness, Nintendo has reached a point where it can not count on major 3rd party publishers on their platforms. They found reasons not to support the N64, GameCube, Wii, and now the Wii U, and one can argue that the Vita gets better 3rd party support than the 3DS despite the latter being a few times more popular. Indie developers seem to have largely gotten on board, but as the Vita can attest, we have not reached a point where those can push hardware.

Therefore, the mid-to-long term solution is to simply increase 1st and 2nd party output. In the latter area, Nintendo is actually doing well. The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, Super Smash Bros 4, Hyrule Warriors, LEGO City, SMTxFE, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge are all example of 2nd party output. Nintendo has increased their software output on the Wii U by probably 25% to 50% this way. This can be improved, but the job so far has been well done enough.

Of course, the problem of unideally low first party output remains. There are several ways to work on this. One is to naturally let studios get experience with HD development. Inexperience is probably why it took Retro, for example, 3 years to make a 2.5D platformer with 40 levels. Studios will get better at this over time. However, the core problems remain.

Options include increasing the size of existing teams, creating new studios, or acquiring studios. The first is probably inevitable, but should be limited: one of Nintendo's strengths is relatively small yet experienced and skiiled teams, and simply giving EAD another 200 newbies and saying "go wild" will barely help. Creating new studios should be done to a greater extent, but the problem of inexperienced teams not creating quality work arises. These new teams could not immediately be assigned, say, the next Metroid game for the Wii U. At first, they'd only be trustworthy enough for smaller eShop projects and aiding other studios.

Acquiring existing teams thus seems like one of the better options available. These teams would probably have to be independent studios without a constant publisher that put out fairly decent work regularly. Preferably they'd be Western, but I have nothing against Japanese studios. These studios could then be given the task of making new series or handhling the development of series not currently underway by Nintendo's "core" teams, ala Next Level Games and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.

The problem is, how many new studios can Nintendo afford? If they buy too many at once, losses will be great and shareholders will be furious. They'd have to limit themselves to a maximum of a couple of smaller or one big studio a year in order to pass judgement.

Thus, even if Nintendo goes all out with expanding both its 2nd and 1st parties, it likely won't be able to, say, double its output of roughly ten games of any sort a year by the Wii U's death. Considering how not all of those ten games are top tier, and many hardcore gamers like to buy 20+ games a year, then we still have a problem.

Another path that needs to be taken is the one taken by Super Smash Bros 4: combining Wii U and 3DS development. Two games for the price of 1.4, you could say. Many games for the 3DS could simply be upscaled for the Wii U, especially if they don't make extensive use of stereoscopic 3D.

All that said, the above steps, though probably necessary, are insufficent, especially in the short term. The Wii U needs to sell in 2014, not 2017. And for that, Nintendo has to do something other than becoming bigger.

Here's an idea: make the Virtual Console a selling point.

Imagine being able to play almost every Nintendo-developed game from 1983 to today all on one machine. I'm talking about the Wii's focus on the NES, SNES, and N64 combined with handheld games at least up through the GBA (a step already being takem) as well as GameCube and Wii games.

This would satisfy a lot of fanboy cravings, but how can Nintendo turn this into a selling point.

Redo the price structure.

Nintendo doesn't have to make Super Mario Bros a freemium game, or even 99 cents. But Wrecking Crew should be $1 or $2, not $5. GameCube and Wii games can cost as much as $30 to download, but Nintendo's retro library should extend as large a scale of prices as possible.

Nintendo can also make a loyalty program. It doesn't have to be PS Plus, though that's not a bad idea. They could have people vote on what games get released next and get rewarded with discounts if they vote for the winner. Nintendo could randomly give a choice of gifts every few months to all Wii U owners. They could bundle their big games with digital copies of retro predecessors. Imagine if MK8 came bundled for $300 with a 32 GB Wii U preloaded with the SNES, N64, GBA, GmaeCube, and Wii iterations of the series? It would not cost Nintendo very much, and create a reputation as a less expensive but still quality system compared to the other 8th gen consoles.

The Wii U, therefore, would rely on three pillars (Big Retail Nintendo Games, indie devs, and retro games) to support a console that sells hardware and software at a significantly lower price than the competition. It would not make a TON of money, but Nintendo could still make a profit on every system without too much trouble. Especially since they would dominate retail software more than ever before. I can see the Wii U selling 30 to 50 million units this way, including 8 to 12 times as many retail games and maybe a Billion indie and VC titles, including bundled games.

Now for part 2; the next Nintendo console. This should not come before 2017. 2016 would be acceptable, but 2017 is preferable. It would preferably be at least as powerful as the PS4 in every individual respect, if only to let the platform get 2+ years of ports more easily and have an easier time getting started, but otherwise, power should not be a focus.

What I think Nintendo should do is combine their handheld and console halves to make a cohesive whole. They could develop a single "super-handheld" with PS4-like power, they could make software for 4DS games compatible with the Wii3, they could have deals where you buy games for both systems at the low price of $70, but the 9th gen Nintendo platforms need to be closely connected. If Nintendo can only rely on themselves, then they have to get all their games on both platforms. This means Mario Kart 9 should be available on both platforms the same day, even if there are more features or a better resolution on the console.

tl;dr Nintendo needs to make a new niche for home consoles to save the Wii U, and needs to have both of their platforms be similar for cross-development next gen.