It's really neither, I'd say "moderate success"

Also that top 10 list of M rated games on Wii really shows that developers simply aren't trying. There is only 1 AAA game on that list and it's a 2 year old port from last generation. The rest are either spin offs, gimped ports, niche games, or a combination of the three AND none of them were advertised.

wii gamers want

a high budget game
a single player mode that is 10 hours long
an online multiplayer
good story
excellent controls and i guarantee ya it will sell a million heck even 2 million

all we want is a high budget game like red steel 2.. that looks like a high budget game

MadWorld's problem was that it was a pretty niche game with pretty big expectations. Seems like typical Clover/Platinum (Viewtiful Joe, Okami, God Hand, Infinite Space, Bayonetta).

The game likely did better on Wii than it would have elsewhere (PS3, 360, PS2, PSP) if only due to standing out.

Interesting comments so far, anybody else have an opinion on this?

More hit than miss. I doubt it cost much more than No More Heroes to make, and it's sold comparable numbers. And it's still selling. 12k this past week, albeit at discounted prices.

Can anybody help me think of some more recent beat em up/brawler games to compare this to. So far the only ones that I'm coming up with is Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Spyborgs and Bayonetta. Are there any more games in the genre preferably from this gen, but last gen is also OK?

The obvious one is God Hand.

go look at the sales of madworld compared with those of NMH, its pretty enlightening

It wasn't a hit in the general sense.

It might have lost money, but not a significant enough to discourage Sega/Platinum Games from trying agin (for example, costs me $20 to buy a bike, sell it, and only get $17 back; not a total loss).

Then again, it might've made some cash. Sega did say that because of Madworld's sales they could invest in something else.

Although it is at a low price point, it isn't done selling either. It sold 10k this past week. Sega titles seem to have extended sales patterns, so don't count the game out at 350k. Just look at Ghost Squad, Valkyria Chronicles, or House of the Dead (Wii).

Is No More Heroes, a Beat em up/Brawler? I've never played the game, but I thought it had more of an open world gameplay?