When the Nintendo Wii U was launched in 2012, it immediately fell on hard times. Despite the fact it had no real competition from newly launched rivals by Sony and Microsoft yet, the Wii U failed to find a large audience and got off to an awful start on the sales front.

To make matters even worse, once the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were released in late 2013, they immediately vaulted past the Wii U in both sales and popularity. What was Nintendo to do? How was it going to save its flailing console?

By releasing great games Nintendo fans were sure to buy, that's how. Since its debut, the Wii U has seen the release of two games that are among the most popular titles for the unconventional console, if not the most popular: Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros Wii U.

Just how popular are these games? This should give you an idea: Mario Kart 8 was the sixth best selling game on Amazon.com overall in 2014, and Super Smash Bros Wii U was the 17th best selling video game on Amazon last year.

The release of these two hit games allowed the Wii U to enjoy its best sales since its initial launch in 2012, according to The Independent, which should come as no surprise, but what will Nintendo do for an encore? These two games are likely to continue selling well, but the Wii U will need more hit titles to keep sales at healthy levels.

That's where these games will come in. Mario Party 10, a new Zelda game, Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse are all slated for release this year. New games in the Star Fox and Donkey Kong universes will also see the light of day in 2015, and all of them could potentially help the Wii U maintain its sales resurgence.

Among them, Mario Party 10, Mario Maker and the new Legend of Zelda game are the best bets for big sales numbers once they launch. Mario Party 10 will be the latest installment in the long-running, crowd-pleasing minigame fest, while the newest Zelda title will once again star series hero Link and transport the player back to the world of Hyrule. Of the three, Mario Maker might be the most unique game of the bunch and will allow players to create classic 2D Mario levels of their own. However, level creation requires work, and it'll be interesting to see whether players will be willing to devote time and effort to making game worlds instead of simply playing through them.

Nevertheless, the immediate future of the Wii U looks promising. If these games deliver and win over audiences, the resurgence of the Wii U will continue well into 2015. The more it does, the more Nintendo will continue to make up for the pancake splat that was the console's initial launch back in 2012.

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