You mention mobile being a "gateway drug",
What if you could buy Animal Crossing mini for .99 on iOS and Android and then if you owned and played Animal Crossing mini you get a discount on Animal Crossing U and you get to port your guy and stuff into the Wii U game which just so happens to be MUCH bigger and more expansive with more fun things you can do.
Maybe in Animal Crossing mini you live in someone else's town, but when you "move" to U you can run for Mayor, or maybe you can be Mayor in mini, but you can be Governor in U.