Nintendo’s plan to save the Wii U? Double down on the cuteness of Yoshi, Kirby, and Toad

LOS ANGELES — I checked out a lot of Nintendo’s upcoming games for its Wii U, a console that’s been struggling to find an audience, during this week’s giant Electronic Entertainment Expo tradeshow. Some might expect the Japanese game publisher to try a different approach to gain back some market share. Maybe Nintendo could change its family-friendly perception and become more edgy.

Well, that didn’t happen, and I’m happy. Almost all of Nintendo’s games at E3 had two things in common: they were fun, and they were insanely adorable. It was almost comical how often Nintendo’s PR staff (OK, and me) would “oooo” and “awwwww” during the cute demos I played during my booth tour.