I loathe you right now.  

Wind Waker, remake of a Gamecube game

Pikmin, series that started on Gamecube

Wonderful 101, spiritual successor to Viewtiful Joe

Bayonetta 2, high paced action game with female lead just like P.N. 03

Strong survival horror selection, ZombiU/RE Revelations/Walking Dead vs REmake/RE Zero/Eternal Darkness

Sonic exclusivity, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle/Sonic Adventure DX vs Sonic Lost World/Sonic Boom

Gamepad is essentially the GC-GBA connectivity

Both sold at a loss and with the goal to attract third parties

Link in Soul Calibur II vs Mario characters in Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Third party collaborations on Nintendo titles, Sega codeveloping F-Zero and Namco on Star Fox for Gamecube. Namco codeveloping Smash Bros and Tecmo Koei on Hyrule Warriors for Wii U

3D Mario games that arent sequels fans expected, people wanted Mario 64 direct sequel instead got Sunshine. People wanted Mario Galaxy 3 instead got 3D World.

And Brain Training/Nintendogs + cats are somehow less unique now? What about New. Super Mario Bros?

1 in 3 people bought a Wii for Mario Kart, many I would say bought it just for Mario Kart & Wii Sports. If WiiU isn't doing well, I blaime the lack of that killer ap, the lack of that Wii Sports U.

So blaime the GamePad then, not the 3DS. It's an unwanted extension to gaming (unlike the Wiimote)

Also DS had Super Mario 64 DS (which is a lot like Galaxy), New Super Mario Bros, and Animal Crossing. WiiU doesn't have Animal Crossing.

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3DS sales are hurt by the mobile industry and WiiU sales are hurt by the lack of hype and a poorly thought out controller. Simple as that.

I buy Mario Kart and Smash Bros to play local co-op, I can't do that on the 3DS unless I'm really geeky and only play with friends who own the game & a 3DS.

Playstation 2 sold to everyone. Adults, kids, etc. all chose it over the other platforms. You don't sell 150 million of anything just selling to one demographic in this business. 

Naturally speaking though, the kids who were 8-12 years old when the NES hit it big in the late 1980s were entering their 20s as the PS2 era dawned in late 2000, so I would say the primary audience for the PS2 was 20-somethings. It was just a natural evolution of the marketplace. 

Virtually everyone I knew who was a gamer in their 20s at that time had a PS2. Sony had tremendous brand momentum coming off the first Playstation. 

Totally agree with you there.That right there is at the center of why the console is failing so miserably, it´s not just marketing, it´s not just the name of the system, it´s not just the drought, sure all of these add up, but there´s more to Nintendo´s failure with the system than those things... though I admit I´m still surprised it´s struggling to even reach GameCube numbers.

There are plenty of games that have the simple pick up and play spirit that are non-intimidating and have simplistic game mechanics like Wii Sports.

They're called Candy Crush Saga, Flappy Bird, Plants Vs. Zombies, Angry Birds, Words With Friends, etc.

And they only cost 99 cents or better yet are *free*. Nintendo can't compete with that.

Why is that consumer who's interested in that type of experience going to pay $350 to play Wii Fit U or Wii Party U (which is actually pretty damn fun, I'd say its a better game than either of the Wii Sports titles)?

They're not.

Also Wii Fit U is not the same game as 8 years ago, it's Wii Fit 3. And Wii Party U is Wii Party 2. These are legitimately entirely brand new games with completely new mini-games, it's the same thing you guys are asking for with Wii Sports, only with new niche sports like cricket ... that idea is not going to fare any better. Mario & Sonic Olympics is also on the Wii U with a bunch of sports mini-games ... that's a bomb too, whereas the first one sold 7 million+ on the Wii.

So you're basically saying Nintendo is no longer innovating in the games department on the Wii U?

Nintendo has always done best when they made innovate games and worse (sales) when they lack innovative games.

A+.

I don't disagree with your first point hat those cheap games are a big competition that do embody many of the qualities Wii excelled at.  We differ in thinking that Nintendo can't compete with free games.  They always have always managed to compete well with any other form of entertainment.  Game boy advance sold well despite iPods and the DS sold well despite IPhones.  3DS and Wii U have become too much like IPads/PS360 to offer a differentiating experience. 

That is what I have been repeating like a broken record.  It might be a better game but it isn't a better experience. No one is gonna pay more or upgrade for the same experience. Wii Party is still good enough. Just Dance is still good enough.  They have to once again make the way in which the games are played more novel.  

This is what I mean by different experience.  Gamepad cost 100.  Let's destroy it and instead add the following in it's place :
4GB RAM $40
2 cameras $10
Processor and casing for cameras $20
2 Wii Mote+ .

They now have full body gaming and profitable @ $349. It's not shit because of the wiimote inclusion giving it tactile and arcade like input unavailable to competitors.  Super Mario Paint Ball on this Wii U would be a more novel and different experience than other games even if they are free.  Cost of the system would be very competetive to mid-higher end tablets and phones and less than consoles. Cricket and other EU centric sports such as soccer would actually do really well on a system like this.  

Nintendo is not Blizzard. It is not enough to iterate the gameplay over and over again.  You must change the way the game is played.  We have played with dual screens.  We have played with touch. There are many ways to use different technology to make the experience more novel. 

The GBA really didn't compete with the iPod to be honest, iPod was just taking off in 2003, when Nintendo was winding the GBA down. And even there, really the iPod wasn't an interactive entertainment device, it was more of a replacement for the Discman as it mostly just played music. 

Smartphones were a bit of a slow burner at first, and so was the "app idea", the first gaming app that was a blockbuster was Angry Birds and that didn't come out until the end of 2009. Then the iPad arrived in 2010. And Android in that same time frame too. That's really the point where iOS/Android started to rock the game industry and the effects started to become very noticable.