Third parties tried and almost every single project failed to do anything significant. Dont try blaming this on third parties again, when as much blame can be put on Nintendo's very own incompetance to both get 3rd parties to continue supporting it and to get Nintendo games actually out on time when theyre needed.

ZombiU failed to profit. Splinter Cell tanked hard. Call of Duty did nothing special. Assassin's Creed did nothing special. FIFA bombed. Batman did nothing special. Deus Ex bombed. Need for Speed bombed. Tekken bombed. Mass Effect bombed. Sonic Lost World bombed. Ninja Gaiden bombed. Walking Dead bombed. Scribblenauts bombed. Rabbids bombed. Your Shape bombed. Madden bombed. 

EA completely stopped development on Wii U because there was no money to be made. 3rd parties put the big, blockbuster franchises on Wii U and they simply didnt sell. 3rd parties put the small, niche titles on Wii U and they simply didnt sell. Nintendo software is sturggling to sell. 

Its incompetance on the part of Nintendo for a) thinking another underpowered console with a gimmick controller would be okay and b) for not being ready to deal with the incoming droughts that all new consoles face. PS4 and Xbox One are both getting similar support in 2014 that Wii U had. Look at whats released so far.

The big Nintendo franchises work because the appeal is immediate and understandable: Pokemon is like a trading card game in appeal: you build and customize and fight with NPCs and friends, and trade with NPCs and friends. The platformers are all about simplicity of game design and getting from A to B. Zelda is a very basic adventure game where the adventure is the focus, rather than the story, focusing on exploration, dungeon-crawling, combat, and building your character. You don't need to know much about the fantasy world, you can just dive right in to almost any Zelda game, play, and understand. That's part of why Wii Sports and such did so well: beyond the gimmick of motion controls, Nintendo had and still has a fundamental understanding that simplicity of mechanics + depth of content is how you make a successful game (Sports didn't really have depth of content, unfortunately, though Sports Resort did...)

What is Wonderful 101? Can you describe it's function in two sentences or less?

That's why W101 did so poorly, i think. New IP didn't help the fact at all, but it wasn't a marketable concept. I think Nintendo understood that, because as anemic as their marketing has been since, really the late Wii generation (which is one problem that Nintendo can solve very quickly if they wanted to, unlike their other challenges which mandate slow, long-term solutions. Fire your North American marketing team and rebuild that whole damn enterprise), w101 was really just sent out to die. Nintendo couldn't wrap their heads around "selling" w101, and I don't particularly blame them because it's a hard concept to sell.

first this game wasnt going to move alot of consoles, I dont care that the first DKC moved SNESs that was GENs ago. Different world. People were in denial, now they have crow.

two. the system itself is not popular, it really doesnt matter what they put out at this point people arent going to budge for updated versions of games they already played to death. If people dont wasnt the HW that is a BIG problem. Some might be let down by Smash and Kart

 I had a feeling something was off in those dates. Ah well.

But still, I don't see the problem really. Donkey Kong Country Returns released 4 years into Nintendo's most succesful console ever. To compare it to a series with all 3 titles on Nintendo's LEAST succesful platforms (Pikmin on GC and WiiU).

This is the first time DK has had to swing into a failing console during one of the worst release windows (Q1).

Considering all these factors, I'm not too alarmed by the numbers. I don't know if people were expecting 500k first week, cause that's ridicilous on a 5 million install base console.

thats funny, you werent saying that prior to the game releasing when it was supposed to do well. Guess hindsight is 20/20

If we didn't have a Japan PS4 launch -- it'd be #1 this week.

If the WiiU was already doing great -- we wouldn't be complaining.

Perhaps we're just expecting way to much from Nintendo.

are we really though? and if we are? why wouldnt we, this is a system following the Wii.

I've burned many bridges over the EA debate. Suffice it to say there's nothing left to say on that matter that isn't going to lead to personal attacks in the end.

ZombiU failed to profit (kind of feel that's Ubi's fault there. The game didn't have boffo production values and sold, what, 600k by now? What's it take?). Splinter Cell tanked hard.(Everywhere, and was gimped on Wii U) Call of Duty did nothing special.(Expected, gimped). Assassin's Creed did nothing special. (Copy last response)FIFA bombed.(By being a literal roster-update of the prior FIFA year. EA self-sabotage strikes). Batman did nothing special. (weasel words here. What is "special", what is "sufficient"? Did it make money for Warner Bros? Was it a worthwhile investment? City must have been, since Origins was made). Deus Ex bombed. (By being a remake few people asked for and being $20 more expensive) Need for Speed bombed.(The EA argument that i'm not going to touch again). Tekken bombed. (This is the only really valid one). Mass Effect bombed. (EA, do NOT try to make an argument here) Sonic Lost World bombed. (Not really. Twin-platform sales are getting to a healthy place. Too soon to call). Ninja Gaiden bombed. (What's the standard, here? How much did Razor's Edge, not actual NG3, do on PS3/360?) Walking Dead bombed. (Everywhere) Scribblenauts bombed. (Doubtful, WB kept working at it) Rabbids bombed. (Game was sent out to die) Your Shape bombed. (Ditto) Madden bombed. (EA)

kinda expected given the userbase, but 200k week one isn't thaaaat bad.
Unless NPD shows a drastic difference.

6th biggest WiiU launch, behind Nintendo Land, NSMBU, Super Mario 3D World, Legend of Zelda WW and Pikmin 3.
Should have better legs than the latter though.