Your examples are totally correct and well explained, but sometimes, good games just can't catch a mainstream audience for some mysterious reasons: Okami always comes to my mind, a game of such a quality should easily have been (at least) a million seller, and then... it only sells a little bit more than 500k on two of the most successful consoles ever... very mysterious...

Another strange thing: some games are supposed to fail due to a "kiddy look"... someone here told about Psychonauts (not released on a Nintendo console), but we could mention "Zack and Wiki", "Little King's Story" or "De Blob": quality games... colourful and cartoony, OK, but quality games, and they should "click" with the usual Nintendo userbase: and they just don't, or only have a "niche success"...

In the past, i liked to view the Nintendo's "core userbase" as more open-minded than the ones of the other console makers, but with time, i realize that these people may be sheeps, too (but with other kinds of games): if a great action/adventure has Zelda written on it, it sells 7 millions, and when it's Okami, only 3% of these 7 million people will buy it...

If a quality game needs to have "Nintendo" written on it to be "really" successful, then, there's really a problem, and i can easily understand the doubts expressed by many in the industry... even if to know some success, they should think about quality FIRST, which most just don't, at least not on Wii and DS like they usually do anywhere else (Ubisoft bein' the worst in that vein)...

Double post, sorry...

Okami didn't even get advertised, no?

The problem with Zack and Wiki -- I haven't played the others and thus I am refraining to make any comments -- is that the "kiddy look", as you say it, communicate the consumer it is a kids game. Zack & Wiki is brutally difficult and very few kids will find anything in that game but frustration. I am very sure it was returned by many parents and enjoyed none or very little word of mouth publicity.

Products for kids should have an appropriate challenging level, which should be far easy to most adults. If you want to sell a really challenging game, you should communicate that with the right visuals in the cover and marketing campaign. This is very very basic and Capcom still made this mistake. I blame on them for the failure.

Madworld was very well advertised and hyped, and definetly a good game.. but it sold very little..

the only games that sell well are the either VERY well established franchises and Nintendo First party games

Why MH Tri sells that well 1 Million baby because simply is a real Wii game not a port not a PS2 graphic a real Wii game so if Capcom make more efforts than I'm sure lot of gamers will jump in.

This guy is only saying to this so people might actually notice his WiiWare game...

Probably the same reasons Beyonetta is not selling so well. Both games are good, but do not a peal to a lot of people. 

Well its about word of mouth as well, as someone said it was a painfully difficult game, and something people (the average person not the enthusiast)would not recommend to their friends.

There are plenty of examples of good games selling poorly and bad games selling well, and not just on the Wii, but that doesn't change the fact that for the most part, if you make a good game, you will have a higher likelihood of seeing strong sales.