Things would be different, it would probably end 2nd or first. But it would have still had a weak opening year.
It was 9 months before the Wii U received its first flagship title and even then it was the fairly niche Pikmin. Comparatively the PS4 will receive its first in Infamous:SS in less then half that time. The Xbox in the form of Titanfall. Thats not to mention the superior quality 3rd part titles (Thief, BF4, COD, Tomb Raider, Ground Zeroes) which actually act as selling points unlike the unimpressive Wii U ports we saw at launch.
Had Nintendo released a system in the same power bracket as the XO/PS4, it would have FFXV and Kingdom Hearts 2 coming out for it, there is no way square would throw away easy money. Probably Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid, Destiny and Arkham Knight would be coming to it too.
People act like 3rd parties hate Nintendo but there is little evidence of this. The wii had tons of support and EA/Ubi/Sqaure Enix/Activision all released numerous games exclusively for the platform. Of course it weak power meant that ports weren't as feasible but clearly publishers go where they believe money to be made whether its Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft or even Apple. Most of Nintendo's software woes can be easily explained if you just look at the circumstances.
The N64 was awkward system (memory limits and cartridges) that kept changing during development, which was persistently delayed and arrived after the ps1 found a strong audience. Lets not forget that both systems were hugely different, multiplatform releases were rare, so it was an either/or situation. Of course most picked the PS1 which had the benefits of a 2 year head start (imagine the PS4 didn't launch till 2016!??)
The gamecube arrived after the mega hyped ps2 already positioned itself as the only system 3rd party really needed to concern themselves with. The gamecube still had decent 3rd party support but the PS2 had an unbeatable combination of exclusives, most of which belonged to franchises which had already alighed with sony during the previous era; Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, Tekken, Metal Gear Solid.
The Wii was underpowered and feature uncoventional controls. Yet it was successful so 3rd party publishers supported it (EA/Activision/Square/Ubi). Due it power they had to make titles specific to the system and its perceived audience. Of course these titles were developed by lessor studios because the main teams were making the games they actually wanted to make on the PS3/360 as opposed to trying to cater to a particularly fickle audience in the wii.
Wii U is underpowered just like its predecessor, although to a lessor extent. But still, It has very few advantages over the systems that were dominating the market during the period of its launch (ps3/360). Essentially, its only selling point is Mario. I think we can all agree the Gamepad is not much of a selling point.
Generally speaking, if the Wii U was more powerful it would have more support and gamers would have more confidence in its future, the same way they do with the PS4; It hasn't sold 6m copies to date because of Killzone and knack.
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