I don't mean old school throwbacks just for nostalgia. I mean those ripping off NSMBWii because it's tearing up the charts.

Er... but NSMB *is* an oldschool throwback and selling HUGE (in part) due to nostalgia?

Nostalgia's a lazy way to look at it. It has the solid platforming action of the SMB games that made them bestsellers. While I like the 3D Mario games, they are too different to have the same appeal (note the sales of Mario Galaxy to the first NSMB).

Sure, NSMB's a quality game, but you just can't divorce nostalgic appeal from it's sales.  That's really part of it's DNA.

I'd also say stuff like MegaMan 9 and Konami/M2's ReBirth line are extremely high quality, even if they're more slavishly (and self-consciously) retro.  If they weren't great, they wouldn't be doing nearly as well as they are.

I didn't state it's not a factor. I'm stating it's wrong to think of it as the primary factor.

I'd prefer not ranking factors, it seems like an effort in futility.  I do feel pretty safe saying were NSMBWii not a Mario branded game though, with all that brings with it, it would be selling a small fraction what it is...

That's brand recognition, not nostalgia.

In (New) Super Mario Bros. case, it's both.  Again, nostalgia is in the game's DNA, from the brand to the gameplay to the marketing.  You can't get away from it.

shovelware sells.

third party probably see that, but the thing is the wii got competition, it's not that it's being ignored, but the PC, ps3 and 360 probably will sell those games better, they are able to push graphics to new highs faster.
while they would be able to get more profits, they loose graphics fidelity, online features, and certain technology breakthroughs. and with this all the hype that usually sells the games. like mw2.
porting games to the wii isn't worth it either because the wii can't handle them, if the wii was abit stronger considering the userbase it would have gotten the games.
thats the problem the wii have with third party.

Again, I didn't claim nostalgia was not a factor, so the DNA comment is irrelevant (why repeat a comment I didn't even deny, and explictly stated I wasn't). The point is to think it's the main thing selling the game, and that a game with solid platforming and content can't sell such a game (not in those humbers, duh) on the home systems now.