Wii U is looking pretty good on the charts right now, signs of a good holiday season?

Compared to last year at this time. What else did the Wii U having going for it?

Around this time, Bayonetta 2 was on the verge of release. Mario Kart had great legs, Hyrule Warriors had come out a month before, and Smash Bros didn't even have a solid release date yet.

How does that compare to this so far?

^ Quite decently. MK 8 has its equivalent in Splatoon. Mario Maker will probably sell more than Bayonetta and HW together, and Smash might be hard to top... Since it was a November game, and so far... Only Taiko/Lego.

Fatal Frame was also released shortly after Bayo 2 if I'm not mistaken... Needless to say, it sold poorly.

Yoshi, Captain Toad, Smash, and Mario Party keep selling a bit over a thousand copies for now... Hopefully by the holiday, they'll get a nice boost with Animal Crossing and Star Fox releasing. (Mario & Sonic/Mario Tennis are uncertain, the former seems to have been pushed back.to 2016).

I'd be willing to bet that Star Fox is released in November, as it is in the west. Won't be as big as Smash most likely in terms of software sales, but it might be a similar hardware mover if Nintendo works it right.

Fatal Frame and Bayonetta 2 released back-to-back, you're right. It helped the Wii U maintain its baseline, but it didn't really boost it all too much. 

Animal Crossing, Star Fox and Genei Ibun Roku #FE all releasing in the holiday period would be a very notable improvement over last year, which just saw Smash (which didn't give an impressive boost due to the 3DS version and lack of a bundle) and Captain Toad (which sold well, but again, only helped the consistency of hardware sales).

Plus there's Mario Tennis, but I wouldn't place any bets on that moving hardware. It might sell decently though.

I agree, it will be released in November as well. And it comes out the same day as ACAP in the West, right? Kinda bummer that Wii U needs THREE titles as the "big holiday title".

It comes out the same day as Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon in the west, but that's releasing in just a few days in Japan.

And honestly, every console aside from the 3DS needs multiple big titles in the holidays to keep the momentum, because otherwise the market is just not interested.

Ooooh, I thought Amiibo Party was releasing on the same day... Although it probably will.

Well yes, but in previous years we had 3D World and Smash as those titles that were hyped and expected to be of quality. This year all three titles are middle of the road when it comes to hype and critical reception. Xenoblade could've used that spot instead of Mario Tennis (which we have no release dates for Japan and North America).

I highly doubt Amiibo Party will be released on the same day as Star Fox.

I can guarantee that Star Fox, Animal Crossing and Genei Ibun Roku #FE combined will have a much bigger effect than either 3D World or Smash. Those games just didn't do much for the Wii U in Japan, regardless of their hype or critical reception.