Sales figures for the Wii U will turn around just as they did for the 3DS, says Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime.

Speaking with Forbes, Fils-Aime said his company was confident the Wii U would be in-demand over Christmas thanks to the just-released Super Mario 3D World, among others.

“We rate our chances very good,” he said.

“Software drives hardware in this business. We see it time and time again. We saw it with our Wii and DS businesses. We’re seeing it right now with Nintendo 3DS.

“It was probably a year ago, I was having similar meetings to these, when the challenge was, ‘Reggie, what are you doing with your handheld business? How are you gonna grow it?’ Well, we bring our great franchises to bear, and watch what happens,” he added.

“Software drives hardware. And we’re having a stellar year. We believe the same will happen with our Wii U business, with these fantastic franchises that we’re bringing to bear this holiday.”

While Fils-Aime admitted that shiny new consoles were alluring for the public, it was not usually the most powerful machine that topped the sales over a console generation.

“If you look at the last two hardware cycles, it was not the most powerful machine that won, not in the case of the PS2, not in the case of the Wii,” he said.

Fils-Aime also felt that any confusion over what the Wii U actually was had been overcome, and that its backwards compatibility and price were points in its favour. But at the end of the day, it was about the games.

“It’s all about these great franchises. This is the place to get Mario, to get Zelda, to get Donkey Kong,” he said.