Yes, and...?

Obviously they were trying to replicate the Wii launch to some degree, obviously it didn't take the second time around (sort of predictably). 

That said, I don't neccessarily think it's fair to sh*t on Nintendo Land or something ... it's a pretty good game, even quite a bit fun for casuals ... it's just in today's day and age it's nothing special. And the whole mini-game concept for a console is played out, it got co-opted but iOS/Android basically taking the "mini-game" concept and turning it into a freebie industry of 10000 different games where 1 of them occassionally becomes a new social fad. 

I think sometimes console "warriors" get the wrong idea that some how effort should equal success. But really that's not how the game business (or even life) always work. Just because you try hard or you even deliver good games is no gaurutee of success. This is not as much of a merit based business as people would like to think it is. It's just easier to think of it that way (ie: the system with the best games wins!) because it's a comfortable safety blanket of an idea. 

Well Nintendo Land was a good introduction to the Gamepad(never tried it, but you can see it uses the different features of the gamepad)

NSMBU was probably easy to make and the previous one sold 25 million copies

ZombiU was Ubisofts attempt at cashing in on the launch of a new console(just like they did with Red Steel)

Pretty good strategy from both companies if you ask me...

Guess I read it wrong then...

My cousin who bought the Wii doesn't even like Mario Kart by the way. "Too hard". Even Wii Sports Resort was pushing it (she prefers the original Wii Sports by far). She likes the Wii in the same way Charades or Twister is fun ... it's fun to have your friends get up and look foolish infront of others. That's the "party" appeal of it. Shockingly she got tired of the Wii after about 2 years (I guess this is Nintendo's fault too). 

What's wrong with Nintendo not wanting to make games like Wii Sports (with stripped down mechanics) forever? That's not Nintendo, anymore than asking Wes Anderson or even Steven Spielberg to make nothing but Micheal Bay style movies because that's what a portion dumb general movie going public wants (robots and some tits and ass and explosions, minimal to no story, lots of special effects). 

Nintendo Land isn't any more complex than Mario Kart, so why isn't that successful? It's not like the Wii U doesn't have a crapton of mini-game style titles either. Casual gaming fads are not based on merit or quality ... is Flappy Bird really a better game than some of the Wii Fit U mini-games? Nope. What's so special about Candy Crush Saga? This is just the epitome of throwing a bunch of crap at a wall and having some of it stick. 

Nintendo was always going to lose this audience unless they completely sold out their prinicipals as who they are and gave into what that audience wants -- simple to play, stripped down, mini-games for $1 (or better yet free). And tons of them, with little to no regard for actual quality. "Quality" is actually bad because it can make the games unneccessarily complex/hard. That's what that audience wants now and Nintendo cannot oblige that without destroying what makes them Nintendo in the first place. 

I'd rather Nintendo fail being themselves than sell out trying to be something they aren't. If the mass public doesn't want to buy an entire console just for Nintendo franchises anymore, than so be it, Nintendo will find some other ways to make money, and at least Nintendo can say they went down being themselves, not some shadow or joke of a company pretending to desperately chase every fad. 

Depends on what you mean by underperform though...

NSMBU has sold over 4 million. Thats about 65% of the install base.
MK8 has sold over 2 million in a month. Thats about 33% of the install base.

Dont see any PS4 or XB1 games hitting that percentage.

And if that downmarket is perfectly happy playing $1/free Flappy Crap? Then what? 

There's nothing wrong with them liking that, anymore than the kid that wants to just watch Transformers and nothing else ... but I think honestly if you can't even enjoy a 3D Mario game, like the most recent 3D Mario World, which is pretty damn streamlined design wise -- then maybe (gasp!) Nintendo isn't for you. 

Maybe you're better off with Flappy Bird. A lot of these people don't even want to play a game for more than 10 mintutes at a time maybe three times a week, good luck convincing them to buy any kind of seperate console now that they don't need to (since their phone or tablet does that just fine). 

At what point do you just admit you're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Nintendo isn't about cheap disposable gaming. That's what that audience wants. 

Nintendo can't win with that audience unless they sell out and destroy the basic prinicpals that makes the company great in the first place. Nintendo games were never cheap, dumbed down disposable gaming ... they are generally easy to pick up and play, but very deep and often very challenging games with great design mechanics. But this also always required some level of skill, patience, and general love of gaming to really get into. Been that way since Donkey Kong in 1982, which is hard, unforgiving freaking game. Far moreso than the likes of Pac-Man. 

If someone can't appreciate that, then Nintendo simply isn't the company for them. And by the way -- Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, Zelda: OoT, are all *great* video games and tremendous achievements that will forever live on and be remembered decades from now, whereas Candy Crush won't. Nintendo has nothing to be ashamed about if they're being themselves. F*ck an audience that only likes you if you basically have to rip apart everything about the company that makes you tick in the first place, it's like a girlfriend that "loves you" but wants you to change everything about you, that's not love. 

Donkey Kong was 81. Just saying:)

Mario Kart 8 has been out for a little over a month on a console that has sold about 6.5 million units. Are you really comparing that to MKWii thats been out for 6 years on a console with 100 million units sold?

Also MKWii is still selling. Nintendo wont have 10 million sales of a game in the first week. They have long legs though.

Nope, it doesn't in the slightest, but if it can get the price of the actual system down to one which people who might be interested in playing successors to games they enjoyed on the Wii would play, it could well be their best shot.

It'd also bring the price down to the point where people can get by the fact that it's not going to have FIFA, GTA etc on it and buy it as a secondary console to play the exclusives.