If I recall, Team Meat tweeted that they had something to announce about a possible Wii version of Super Meat Boy at GDC. I wonder if there was still a possibility of getting a publisher for a retail version at that time, or if they were simply teasing and had always planned to announce it was never coming. With a company like Team Meat, the latter sounds more plausible.

They mentioned in the talk that they weren't able to find a publisher because publishers are running away from Wii retail right now.

I saw that, but did they know that when they made the earlier tweet I mentioned? Or were they still hopeful to find one?

IIRC, they were hopeful, but did know it would be a tough hill to climb.

How about Nintendo steps up to the plate here? Their infrastructure somewhat hindered the game's release, so why not lend them a hand? Or would that create too much of a problem since I'm sure there are other developers who are in a similar boat?

Team Meat knew the size limit of WiiWare, but chose to ignore it because they assumed that Nintendo would grant them a waiver. I don't know if they asked Nintendo to consider publishing it as a retail game or not, but that would be nice if they did.

I wouldn't have bought it on Wii, but I would totally buy it on the 3DS. I hope it happens.

Yes! There's still hope!