I'd say this speaks less to the actual quality of retail Wii games versus WiiWare games than to the critics not getting the appeal of games outside their scope. Remember the ign guy gave NSMBWii a lower score because he felt he had to.

First of all, I think Wiiware has had good games so this isn't a negative to the Wiiware service.

However, I think that the reason there's certain Wiiware games (and as someone said, certain GC and PS2 ports) showing up as being higher on the 'metacritic' polls than most regular Wii games is not because those specific games are inherently better than the rest of the Wii library. Its because the vast majority of the 'gaming media' has a bias against the Wii library. And it has been shown time and time again the regular Wii games get downscored for petty things. Whether it be graphics in comparison to the 'HD systems' or the arbitrary scale of 'innovation' (either too much or not enough) or this notion that a Wii game has to confirm to unique rules such as using certain controllers and/or target certain demographics.

In short, many Wii games are not scored in the same way other games have been, either in the past or other games currently are for other current gen systems. Yet they are ultimately judged next to those same games, such as past PS2 games or current PS3/360 games. It is a unmentioned double standard in the gaming industry which is ultimately causing all but the most hyped and popular Wii games to get downscored. And as a result, trying to compare metascores is practically meaningless.

"Whether it be graphics in comparison to the 'HD systems'"

I hate that one. It shows they only care about the wow factor, not the art.

I don't have any WiiWare titles but I guess they are fun because people are buying them.

It is fine...If they cared only about the Wow factor Braid would not be reviewed as the best XBLA game.

Would it be over-assuming to say that these highly rated Wiiware games attain the higher sales on the service?
I don't really know about WW sales.....

Okay, there are exceptions, but for the most part games with obvious "artistic" graphics (Braid, No More Heroes) are about the only game allowed to be impressive that don't have suped-up HD graphics.

Cave Story reached 90 on meta today! The Wiiware service is really healthy!

Top scoring / hyped / lucky games on downloadable services do make their publishers quite a bit of money, but most fail, just as in retail.

World of Goo, Tales of Monkey Island, Braid, Flower, Mega Man 9, and Cave Story have all performed well.

Everything about online reviews of anything is completely broken, I couldn't care less about the lot.

(TooT should forever remain the highest rated game of the universe, until we get holodecks anyway)