Killing Iwata.

That's the thing though. Nintendo only seem to be eager to support a handful of titles when the other manufacturers consistently try to create good relations with all major 3rd parties.

For a lot of 3rd party games, during advertisements you see at the end "Call of Duty on Xbox" or "Assassins Creed on PS". But I don't think I've ever seen a big profile 3rd party name like that attached to a Nintendo console. It makes sense then that 3rd party games don't sell on Nintendo hardware, because people (and I don't mean Nintendo fans) don't even know these titles can be bought on Wii U. I am imagining that Sony and Microsoft actively seek out any opportunities to advertise such large releases on their consoles. This feels like such a wasted opportunity since Nintendo could have the potential to market their console as one that plays both Call of Duty and Mario, two of the biggest franchises in existence, serving a very wide audience.

I remember Bathesda once saying that Sony and MS always keep the 3rd parties informed of their hardware manufacturing process, yet the same can not be said from Nintendo.

Doesn't the Gamecube fulfill a lot of the points you mentioned?

The wii u needs some clever and well judged marketing and a large price drop.

It needs to appeal to the same people who bought the original wii. There is absolutely no point trying to compete with ps4 and xbox one head on. wii u versions of multi-format games are generally damaging to wii u unless its the type of game that has low cpu requirements so is competive with other consoles (2D platformers, race games etc).

I've got this horrible feeling just as Nintendo gets most things right with a mario kart bundle for christmas we are going to see a piss poor version of watchdogs released on it that actually damages wii u christmas sales.

I think unless wii u games occupy the space between 360/PS3 and PS4/xbone they do the wii u no favours.

How many faceoff's has wii u lost now to 360 and PS3? It seems like about 20 with only a few faceoff's being favourable to it.

They need to ask themselves two very simple question:

"When is the last time Mickey Mouse cartoons were relevant?"

and

"How come Disney is still on the top of their game, despite their main symbol being nowhere near as popular as it used to be?"

I believe they can extrapolate everything else, both hardware and software related, from answers to those two questions.

The most important thing they need to do is to stop trying to dictate when a generation starts and ends. They are not in the position to do so, and end up paying heavily by having outdated, or overpriced systems at the wrong time when consumers have better alternatives from Sony and MS.

Since they can last for years without making money, they should keep the wii U alive until PS5/Xbox two and then rival those consoles on specifications and price, and as an incentive keep online play free.

I would do this:
1). Release a new console: backwards compatibility with the Wii U and if possible the Wii. Power needs to be between the XB1's and PS4's power or better (if 2016 or later, better), everything less is not good enough. Price needs to be competitive with the PS4 and XB1, like $400.
2). Work on your network, it's shit.
3). Have a good controller on par with the Xbox One controller and the Dualshock 4.
4). Make sure all 3rd party games that come to XB1 and PS4 also come to the new console.

I thought the problem with Watch Dogs on Wii U is that no-one will buy it. How could a version that no-one (certainly not people who don't already own Wii Us) will acknowledge or care about actually hurt sales?

Some points, and no on some other points.

But no not reallly even then.  They had a little more focus on the core with third parties and power but as for many other things no. 

I mean realyl i think the huge issue is Nintendo is becoming irrelevant in todays world.  Kids are of course still playing Mario and all that, but theyre also playing Call of Duty, Halo, and other games like this.  Nintendo's focus on Mario and mainly platformers is hurting them.  Its ok to still have mario and other platformers as big hit franchises but completely disregarding everything else is a little foolish in my opinion.  Where is the diversity?  Saying theyre innovative is one thing but they show very little of this when it comes to creating new franchises.  I mean what has been some big new ip's theyve worked on in the last decade?  Not just for the wiiu but with the wii also.  Wii Sports? Xenoblade? 

Nintendo did a great job at putting themselves in their position by focusing on the family orientation and casuals.  Now they not only have an issue with hardware but they have a perception issue as not having more hardcore games, and theyre to blame for this.  And why would third parties jump ship when they wont help their own console out?

Its like ok im making a console who am i going to appeal to?  Well we want the 2D Mari fans lets make that.  Ok so we did that, but we just made one for 3ds.  Now lets make a 3d mario for those fans, but we also just made one of those for 3ds.  Ok lets make a mario kart that we also just made for 3ds.  Hey lets do a Donkey Kong Country that we just released for 3DS.  Lets release one of our biggest system seller, smash bros but lets release it for 3ds first.  So mr iwata what do we do now?  I think we should make another mario game, we dont have enough of that.

How about a new ip that is completely unlike a nintendo-esque game to appeal to more than just one group of gamers. Maybe focus a little more on bringing completely new stuff like X and Xenoblade rather than focusing on games of yesterday only.  So not only are they excluding genres but theyre also excluding fan favorite franchises.  And hey yeah ill get my zelda at some point or the other but is it enough to get people to buy a console yet again for?

what was the lastest thing? Exactly, you CANT replicate the WIi every gen, thats impossible