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Nintendo press release: Super Mario Brothers on Christmas for $5

press.nintendo.com — From the release: "This year Santa is getting some competition from another jolly guy with a big belly and a red cap...."

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Itazura, on 10/12/2007, -4/+140I don't see how Santa is competition since you don't have to pay him five dollars for each present.
- Tonyisbad, on 10/12/2007, -22/+5You know what, i would gladly hand over 5 bucks to nintendo to play super mario bros. on my wii! By gladly i mean i'm only willing to hand over that 500 points/5 bucks when you finally release Super Mario Bros. 3 on the wii or one of the later versions of sonic the hedgehogs. Until then nintendo i will keep my 5 bucks on my debit card, so if you want my money release games that are iconic to me growing up in the 90s.
- ibeetle, on 10/12/2007, -4/+26Yea, but you have to leave him $5.00 in cookies and milk. And that bites because those girl scouts make some damn good cookies.
  
  Oh and do not forget about carrots for his reindeer. Do not leave corn. It gives them gas. Santa does not like that. Would you want to be behind 8 deer with gas?
- megashaun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30We were all thinking it would be free. The surprise is we have to pay for it!
  
  I already have 4 copies of SMB/Duck hunt that I use as coasters.
- rlg420, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9ibeetle, I applaud you for using the proper pluralization of deer. *nerdie grammar high five*
  Oh and by the way, I have played Super MB waaaay too many times to pay another $5 to play it. Maybe if they update the visuals or something along those lines.
- twtmc, on 10/12/2007, -13/+7I think it's crap that they are trying to charge for this game AGAIN. I'll just play it on my PSP for free using a NES emulator if I really want it.
- DocWhoWho, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7these 'classics', perhaps 99% of them, are classics for a reason
- ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6Oh yes! Nintendo is giving me the opportunity to pay for a game I already own and have played to death! A game I can get for free on any emulation web site! Paying multiple times for products you already own or can easily (and LEGALLY!) get for free is the best present a multi-national corporation can make! Thank you, Nintendo! Thank you!
- CaptJackSparrow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4> Would you want to be behind 8 deer with gas?
  
  If Santa can get a gas mask, this can actually increase his speed in this busy season by making his reindeers mini-rockets. ;)
- AlexMax, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19@ilyag
  
  I am willing to pay Nintendo 5 bucks for a legit copy of Super Mario Bros that I can play on my TV. I never had an NES, and I don't feel like playing ebay roulette with systems and carts. Yeah, I've played it a ton in various emulators, but I've never legitimately paid for it, and emulators aren't as nice because it's so easy to cheat with them with savestates.
  
  Also, consider harder to find games. Or hell, even harder to find consoles. Who here owned a TurboGrafx 16 when they were young? Or had an legit copy of Gunstar Heroes? Assuming I'm not playing an emulated copy, It's a lot easier to make a snap decision to pay a one time fee of five bucks to have a downloadable copy sent to my Wii than go through the effort of getting the console and/or the game on ebay. Call me lazy, but downloadable game services like Steam have sold me and many other people on games that we would normally not buy in the first place. It works, and it's the future of buying games.
  
  And for the people who are screaming about the prices and how they should be sold for X amount of money, quiet *****. Nintendo has people who have dedicated their careers to economics and marketing that did research and came to a consensus, balancing what people would be willing to pay for a game with trying to make the whole endeavor profitable. You don't have the data or qualifications to back up your price suggestions, so go back to your emulators and goodrom sets, because Nintendo trying to turn a profit on their games is clearly terrible, right?
- ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4AlexMax:
  
  Your unwavering devotion to a corporation is sickening.
- CaptJackSparrow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8They should have offered 5 NES games (including SMB) for 500 points as a Christmas surprise.
  
  Right now, it is more like a gift for themselves. It is not like something they would have not done otherwise anyway (so no extra effort/surprise there). SMB was probably one of the first ones to be ported and all NES titles are 500 points so it was only a matter of timing. They may as well call all games a "surprise". Every Monday, new surprises. Come on Nintendo, you can do better. Give a gift to your loyal customers. And we were not expecting a lot, most of us have already spent money on these.
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ rlg420
  
  Your NERDY Grammar Club Membership has been revoked.
- rchtr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1ilyag, you practically just stated that you're a hypocrit.
- kauko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"And for the people who are screaming about the prices and how they should be sold for X amount of money, quiet *****. [snip] You don't have the data or qualifications to back up your price suggestions, so go back to your emulators and goodrom sets, because Nintendo trying to turn a profit on their games is clearly terrible, right?"
  
  Just out of interest, what do you think of Sony and their PS3 pricing model? Most people find the price of PS3 horrible but I bet you're ok with that since they are just trying to turn a profit (or cut losses) on their system, right?
- AlexMax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@kauko
  
  Think about the problem that Sony's economoists and marketers (or consultants, perhaps) have when they are presented with the PS3. I've heard that on the $600 PS3 that Sony is losing $200 per console, so let's say that the cost to manufacture is $800. Let's call that the high end of the scale. On the other hand, the Wii is $250, and the Xbox 360 is $400. Let's call that the low end. Now, the higher they go towards the high end, the less they lose per console, but the less people buy. The lower they go, the more people buy, but the more they lose per console. What many people don't seem to realize is that this scale is not necissarily linear either, there IS a sweet spot on that scale somewhere that will ultimately make Sony the most money. The scale itself is only an estimation, but people much smarter than you or I assembled the scale that told them that $499 and $599 are acceptable price points.
  
  Now, does this mean that I am willing to pay $599 for a Playstation 3? Hell no. But none of us are qualified to tell Sony how to run their business, if we were, they would be paying us for our opinions. Hey knucklheads, these "obvious" solutions to companies problems are obvious to them too, but unlike you, they have a clearer view of the big picture, and have reasons for not following your advice. So instead of being an armchair businessman and sprewing forth pages worth of verbal or written diarrhea on subjects I know nothing about, I simply play my role in the whole equation, the consumer who is willing to buy (or not buy) a product. I buy virtual console games. I don't buy PS3's. Easy, huh?
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"We were all thinking it would be free. The surprise is we have to pay for it!"
  
  I remember seeing newspaper ads years ago from guys who buy/sell used games. SMB went for a nickle a cartidge.
Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -21/+89It's the original NES Mario Bros, right? Why, for the love of God, would a TWENTY YEAR OLD game cost $5 to download? They should really start bundling those VC games for people to get their money's worth.
- Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21Profits!
- SkippyDoorknob, on 10/12/2007, -5/+41It's the original NES Super Mario Bros.
  The original NES Mario Bros. is already available.
- JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -6/+471. Release a good game
  2. Get people hooked and ready to buy it over and over while you port it to every new console you make
  3. ???
  4. PROFIT
- pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36I want the one that came with Mario All Stars! Humph!
- jeffness, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13I worked for an employer that sold digital information online for a fee. Online pricing of digital information or downloads is a difficult arguement to get into. I always advocated a lower price because I felt that increased volume would more than make up for the lost revenue, but heres what happens.
  
  business: "Hey let's offer information online for a fee. Let's start it out at $XX because we dont know what we are doing with pricing and we don't want to start out too low and we can lower it later if we're doing well enough"
  business: "Holy ***** we're making alot of money off this woo hoo!"
  employee: "Guys, people complain all day about how much we're charging, I think we charge too much and we should lower prices and encourage volume"
  business: "***** you guy, we're making money, I don't care what you have to deal with all day or the feedback you receive, we're not lowering prices because I'm mr greedypants and I don't want to touch it"
  
  a business does not see the revenue they lose from prices being too high and unfortunately it's difficult to convince them to change pricing structures if it is atleast already profitable
- happygiraffe88, on 10/12/2007, -5/+40Agreed...if someone told me they paid $5 for this at a yard sale I'd call them an idiot. Yet somehow Nintendo has people lining up for it.
  
  This game is on half.com right now for 75 cents...AND it comes with Duck Hunt on the same cartridge.
- sam10685, on 10/12/2007, -22/+19i can find 5 dollars in change on my bed room floor. and i am really pretty poor. quit your whining.
- Pundan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19@sam10685
  Maybe that's because you're poor, because you keep all your money stashed on the floor of your room?
  
  Anyway, I'm not against Nintendo re-selling the games over and over again I just think $5 is a lot of money for a game you not even get "in real life". I collect NES games, and I would pay more than $5 for a mint version of the game. Nintendo should bundle all their games and sell them cheaper, it's not like they haven't profited on Super Mario Bros earlier on..
- Benzido, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2@ JeffH:
  
  What do you mean, '???'?
  If you get to step 2, where people are hooked on your product and willing to buy it 20 times over, I'm pretty sure you will profit.
- Teaboy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I think that Nintendo should give it away for free if you own the original game, but that'd be pretty difficult to check. Any suggestions?
  
  I have two copies of SMB1 and a copy of SMB1/Duck Hunt! Nice!
- wastern, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13NES games should only be $1, like songs from iTunes. N64 games should be $7, the other should be in between that
  
  The games are already made and they have already made their money. I already had a Nintendo with Super Mario back n the 80s, I paid for the game once already
  
  I hope it at least comes with the old Duck Hunt
- AuntyBub, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0@ Benzido
  It's a South Park reference from the Underpants Gnomes episode, not a great reference, the gnomes planned to:
  1) steal underpants
  2) ????
  3) profit
  
  See in Nintendo's plan the ???? = Get people hooked then sell it over and over, there isn't actually another step in between that and profit
  
  Apparently the folks at Nintendo are not quite as devious or as misguided as the underpants gnomes.
  
  EDIT: See ohgr is referencing it too, he's so fast
- mrthebunny, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5@AuntyBub
  
  Pssssh... kids these days... they don't even know their classics! South Park did it, yes, but it's The Simpsons who started it...
  
  (Sorry I'm turning 30 today so I feel old!) :-)
  
  But it's also a standard meme on Slashdot (can we name that site here?).
- Ranneko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Teaboy: So if you bought the hardcover version of a book, you would expect to be able to get the softcover for free? Or the audiobook version for free?
  
  You want something in a different format, you are going to need to pay for it.
SkippyDoorknob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26I guses this squashes the rumors that they will be free... oh well...
bookishboy, on 10/12/2007, -24/+86A Christmas present is not something that I have to pay for.

And a game from 1985, isn't worth $5.00, which is why it's available on so many ROM sites for free.

***** you, Nintendo.
- LordofChaosIori, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25Bah, they actually never said gift/present... they said surprise... unless someone would like to prove me wrong?
- Pundan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1If they decided to release Ufouria on the Virtual Console THAT would be surprising!
- pokemogu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Well, sure Nintendo is not expecting for criminals who "freely" download games to pay any proper cost.
- 404notfound, on 10/12/2007, -18/+5You know that emulation is illegal, right?
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14"And a game from 1985, isn't worth $5.00, which is why it's available on so many ROM sites for free."
  
  That's some mighty fine logic. The fact that something is available illegally for free makes it not worth $5.. way to encourage Nintendo to start seriously cracking down on rom sites.
  
  I agree it isn't worth $5, but it's certainly not for that reason.
- j_bellone, on 10/12/2007, -15/+10Agreed. ***** you, Nintendo.
  
  I owned several copies of that game. I already paid my money and they want to sell it for $5 back to me digitally? That thing should have been preloaded on the console when I bought it on launch day. This system has been a lackluster so far as the only good game out on it is Twilight Princess (which is a Gamecube game).
- Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7"A Christmas present is not something that I have to pay for.
  And a game from 1985, isn't worth $5.00, which is why it's available on so many ROM sites for free.
  ***** you, Nintendo."
  
  Yes, it's available on many ROM sites for free. So are all DS games. You're claiming they also have no value because it's possible to pirate them?
  
  You want to complain about them marketing nostalgia, fine - personally, I'm happy to pay a pittance to have great old games, some of which I never played before (like Gunstar Heroes), on my Wii, but you certainly don't have to.
  
  But please don't start the "I can just pirate it, so why would I pay for it?" argument. You can get around paying for lots of things in life by breaking the law.
- insanewriters, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6It is not considered piracy as long as you own the original media. If you look at all the fancy legal mumbo jumbo when you buy a game, you'll notice you are actually buying a license to the media. If I own Super Mario Bros. for the NES, which I do, I should not have to pay for it again no matter what system I intend to play it on.
- straxus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 "You know that emulation is illegal, right?"
  You are mistaken. Emulation is not illegal. Pirating software is.
  Emulation != Piracy
  
  "You can get around paying for lots of things in life by breaking the law."
  That's true. But sometimes the law is wrong. I think most of us can agree that current copyright terms last far too long, especially as it relates to software.
  
  Having said that, it's perfectly okay for Nintendo to charge for these old titles. They may be insanely overpriced, but it doesn't require you to crack the protection on the console and write five emulators, or wait for someone else to figure it out and share the knowledge with you. You have every right to do that if you want to play the games you already own, but Nintendo is under no obligation to do it for you for free.
wisegrape, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Why is R-TYPE for TurboGrafx16 800 Wii Points.
Is this a mistake or are the prices for TurboGrafx games going up?
- 404notfound, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't know why this comment got modded down; it's a valid point.
  
  The TurboGrafx-16 games have all been 600 points so far; and as far as I know, the price for games of a console stays constant no matter how good or bad the game is. Hopefully this is just a typo.
- megashaun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Probably because it's the most faithful port of R-Type, thus in some weird way justifying a higher price.
  
  Or it's just an R-Typo.
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7$5 or $8 for an old game is an absolute rip off. F'en ridiculous.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@strictnein
  
  That depends on what correlation you place between age and the enjoyment you get from the game. There are many old games that supply $5-8 of enjoyment.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1VeganG brings up a good point. While $5 is a hell of a lot to charge when you can buy the original cartridge for under a buck, it's still cheaper than a movie.
  
  Hell, at $5 each, I could buy two games for the price of a movie ticket around here. And I'm pretty sure I'd get more than an hour of play out of both...
- otatop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"and as far as I know, the price for games of a console stays constant no matter how good or bad the game is."
  
  Sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but the prices aren't constant. The prices we're used to are just base prices, so games they think they can sell for more, they can. R-Type's gonna cost $8 instead of the usual $6 for TurboGrafx games. It sucks, but they know people will still pay.
dmason, on 10/12/2007, -8/+27I love the Wii, but I wish there were a $15/month subscription plan for classic games.
- pixelmixer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6NOOOOOoOOo!, who would ever want to buy a game then not get to play it in a month? and why would you want to dish out a monthly fee for ANYTHING?
  
  I hate how companies are going toward stuff like this. "You can buy our stuff, but you only get to play it for a month, then you gotta buy it again. Haha SUCKERS!". Dont encourage it PLEASE.
  
  Bah! I could rant on so long about how much i hate the idea of monthly fees in general, but I'll just rant on about the fact that you're promoting such an idea.
  
  Gah!.. things like cell phones and WoW are really making people value their money less..... come on people.
  
  look man... how many virtual games do you think are going to be on there? Say, for example, you pay 15$ for one month. You play about 10 games.. alls good, but the next month say you only play 2 games. Now you're paying even more than if you bought them one at a time. THEN say, you liked on the the games you played the first month... now you have to pay another 15$ just because you felt the urge to play that same game again... theres about 17$ for that one game.. to play it for 2 months. Of course you can play other games, but why play them when you only felt the urge to play that one.
  Then say, one month, you dont play any games, but you signed a contract for 6 months. Now you're paying 15$ for what?
  Complete waste of money..
  
  Pay a damn $5/each and BUY the games you want so you can play them whenever you want instead of dishing out money for months to play the same games over and over.
- dead2sin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1pixelmixer:
  
  I agree about WoW and such. But there are some instances where monthly fees are a great way to save money. I.E. I want to play a bunch of different Nintendo Wii games. Say I wanna play Trauma Center, Red Steel and Call of Duty 3. I could pay a service like gamefly $20/month and rent the first two. Say I absolutely HATE Red Steel. I can send it back and get CoD3. If i had bought Red Steel and hated it, I just wasted $50. =)
  
  On the other hand, I prefer to only buy games that I really like and have a very large amount of replay value. Otherwise, I'm trading the sucker in and getting another game...and its far more cost-effective to pay a monthly fee to play games and turn them in, etc.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@pixelmixer
  
  I see what you're saying, but nevertheless there is a market for people who want to do this.
  
  Look at Netflix. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace, only getting faster and faster. People everywhere have large DVD collections that are now starting to feel deficient, even though the collection may only be a few years old. I just sold my own DVD collection, for a paltry sum. Why? Because nobody wants DVDs anymore, they don't sell. Go look at ebay if you don't believe me; they aren't selling. If this continues, physically owning something begins to make less and less financial sense, when you can just pay $15 a month to have unlimited access to whatever is new and available.
jackal27, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Screw Mario! Castlevania 4 and Street Fighter! W00ties!
- JDoggqx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I saw Super Castlevania and I my jaw dropped. I had heard nothing about that coming out so soon! Now I'm torn between getting Mario or Castlevania!
  
  I'm probably going to wait for Super Street Fighter. With the 4 bosses and the new chanllengers that game would be more worth it.
Jussles, on 10/12/2007, -7/+25You know, at first I thought VC games were really going to be great, but this is just ridiculous. $5 for something that old? No thanks.
- pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I'm starting to agree with you. When I heard about the VC I thought of...
  
  Super Mario All Stars
  A Link to the Past
  Super Metroid
  Super Mario World (1 and 2)
  
  Etc...
  
  The games they've released so far suck and are overpriced.
- teresagirl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Considering the retail value of Super Mario 1 is about 99 cents, in which you get an actual hard copy, it is way too expensive. Digital content should be cheaper not more expensive. Of course, I refuse to pay money for things I will not actually own physical copies of, but lots of people feel differently.
  
  Also, I will not pay again for digital copies of things I already DO own physical copies of.
- prockcore, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Where are you finding a retail SMB cart for 99 cents? Even on ebay it goes for about $10.
- lanchfn21, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Mario-Bros-NES-NINTENDO-Clean-brothers-game_W0QQitemZ320063331821QQihZ011QQcategoryZ62053QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
  
  $0.99, granted its shipping cost is $4 and has 16 hours left but I found this in about 2 seconds. I think you can get this game for < $5 very easily.
- 404notfound, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Let's assume the Wii will have a lifespan of 5 years. There are approximately 52 Mondays (the day they release new VC stuff) in a year, so that comes out to about 260 Mondays. On average there've been about 4 games released a week, so that's 1040 games. I don't know exactly how large the library of games is, but that's a lot of games.
  
  How many of them do you think are as great as Link to the Past or Super Metroid? I would say there are about 50 truly awesome titles out of all of that, and I think I'm being pretty generous.
  
  Can you imagine what would happen if all the best games just got released first, and the lesser titles came afterward? Everybody would buy the best ones and ignore the rest. With 50 really awesome titles out of about 1040 (assuming they keep releasing them at the same rate), that would mean about 1000 games going unnoticed.
  
  So yes, they're holding back on the good ones, possibly waiting for a drought in Wii releases. Is it greedy? Kind of. But that's marketing.
  
  (By the way, take my numbers with a grain of salt; they're there for the sake of argument)
wingnut21, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11Nintendo, you're doing a lot right, but you're getting this wrong. 5 bucks? That's ridiculous.
sdphost, on 10/12/2007, -11/+15why pay for music? ***** you *insert favorite band here* i can download your music for free why pay!
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I think the point most people are getting at here is that $5 is a ridiculous amount for a 20 year old game period, not that it's only expensive because they could download it for free by using other methods.
- prockcore, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24Should Pink Floyd CDs be cheaper because they're 30 years old?
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9That's a horrible comparison and you know it. No matter how "classic" original NES games were, up until SNES, you could only get a limited amount of gameplay out of just about anything. Unfortunately, the original Super Mario Brothers falls into this category.
  
  It was groundbreaking at it's time, it played a lot longer than other games - but it's still not worth $5 when compared to what you could get for the same amount or free today.
  
  Music hasn't changed in that way. If anything, Pink Floyd carries MORE quality than the ***** they're putting out today. I can't honestly say that about the original Super Mario Brothers.
  
  Just to reiterate, I'm not complaining about a $5 price for just any Virtual console game. I could see FF3/6 being worth that, but definitely not anything on the NES. Maybe $2.50 or something.
- Rickler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I already own a copy of SMBros.. now I have to buy it again? and for $5!!! and without DUCK HUNT!!! :(
  
  Your argument is flawed, it's the same concept as if I already owned a Pink Floyd record and they are now charging me extra for a digital copy. Granted is almost impossible for them to know I own a copy... but still!
Crossmenjeff, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7you can buy like 4 copies of the original for 5 bucks. maybe 5 if you don't include sales tax
- rushoffailure, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Hm. Where do I plug it into my Wii?
Boorad420, on 10/12/2007, -20/+0YOU CAN BUY MY WII FOR 5$!
- KillaGoat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8What's your number?
Crossmenjeff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3you know as well as i do the price will go down after the first hundred thousand retards buy it, just like a "greatest hit" game for the ps2. it should be a dollar in no time.
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, but the thing about that is that the games are usually worth $50 before they come out as "greatest hits" in this case you're getting like 100kb of data for $5. That's ridiculous.
  
  Although I do agree. I'm positive a price drop will be in order close to immediately. I can't imagine a lot of people would pay $5 for the original SMB unless it was totally revamped or something.
- Sairgem, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4You guys underestimate people's willingness to spend $5 on old games. Look at xbox live arcade.
- Cyber_Akuma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Xbox Arcade games are different.
  
  1. You can demo them.
  
  2. They added achievements and sometimes other extras.
  
  3. Theres online play (hello Nintendo, you hearing this?).
  
  4. These are ARCADE games which have been reworked to hell with extra features while also keeping the entire original game intact yet most cost less than the cheapest VC game.
- Sairgem, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6"yet most cost less than the cheapest VC game."
  
  What? The cheapest xbla games are $5. Misinformed are we? I pretty much agree with you on the rest of your points though. Hell, I even bought a couple classic games myself. (I know $5 is a lot for games like these, but I can't help myself. I like burning holes in my pocket.)
- j_bellone, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Did you just compare Xbox Live to the ***** that Nintendo sold us as their online product?
theBrink, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3who cares? d/l the rom already if you're dying to play it, I already have too many games I can't finish...
danfuturo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5while $5 is certainly a jip for people like us who know we can get them free on ROM sites, Joe McSchmuck would rather play em on his Wii for $5 and not have to be bothered with having to google it up and download the necessary pieces of software to get it running.
vtsquire, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Everything Ive heard about the wii so far has been totally awesome... up until now. If they wanted to charge a single buck for the game.... I could digg it. But five? Funk dat. On the upside, I still hold hope for the system since they equate 100 wii points to a buck, which means the possibility of some odd cents games. Like tetris... hell yes. gimme teh tetris.
- Ddeccard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Is it really 100 points/USD?
  
  *****. I'm paying one euro for that. According todays exchange rates I should get 132 points. And europe gets shafted once again.
- nikdoof, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Indeed, here in england we pay £7 for 1000, $10 is £5 to us at current rates.
- straxus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"And europe gets shafted once again."
  
  It evens outs somewhat, because you generally have higher incomes in Europe than the US.
ydt89, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8That sucks i was hoping it would be free as a gift just for that day :(
sonictonic, on 10/12/2007, -11/+17I know I'll get dugg down for this but I think the majority of you guys are whining cheap-skates. ;)
- Vishap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Or poor college students who only got a Wii because they won some money. :P Sure, $5 isn't that much money, but it is 5 dinners when I buy the cheap frozen meals or a hell of a lot of Ramen. The Opera browser's the only thing I've downloaded from the shop channel and it looks like it'll stay that way, at least for a little while. I really am glad Nintendo is making a profit but hey, complaining is free and fun. ;)
kmacleod, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17dugg from a Wii, with the new Opera browser... Seems to work!
- xerus, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Yup ;D
mrmattregan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+54-5 games a week. That means in about 50 years the whole nintendo library will be available for purchase/download.
- Cyber_Akuma, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Yeah, uhh, good luck hoping the Wii and especially it's VC lasts 50 years...
Shorties, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I want Nintendo to offer a buyback program, sell your old carts for Wii Points, I would love to be able to send in a bunch of my old NES and SNES carts that I never play anymore for 500 and 800 wii points respectively.
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That would kill me. Sure I'd have all of my games virtually catalogued, but there is just something great about having your cartridges stacked up on a shelf. It's so great to physically have the games. At least that's my stand on it.
Navitron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I'd pay $5 maybe... MAYBE for a few really good SNES games but for a NES game oh fck no.
- Shorties, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13IMO this is how the pricing should be:
  
  $.99 NES
  $5.00 SNES
  $10.00 N64
- rodrigo74, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I'd go for
  $1 for NES
  $3.50 (tops) for SNES
  $7 for N64
mrmattregan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32 or 3 dollars for NES games sounds about fair.
notepaddotexe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Bah, paying $5 for those old games doesn't bother me. Sure I've already got them but I see it as a good use of $5 if it's a game I've come back to over the years and enjoyed playing. Super Castlevania 4 FTW!
Karted, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Wow what a great Christmas present from Nintendo! $5 For a 22(almost) year old game! Plus its not even very fun SMW > SMB.
cartoondream, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I seem to be missing the surprise factor completely. Perhaps this isn't THE surprise?
Cyber_Akuma, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15So..... our Christmas surprise is them releasing a couple of VC games on a Monday just like they have done every week since launch with no reduced prices or special features or anything extra?

Excuse me if im not surprised...
- cartoondream, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hope not. Why have a press release for a surprise?
Beyond31, on 10/12/2007, -16/+0I think i will spend 6 bucks to download a PS1 or Ps2 game to my PSP via my PS3 thanx anywayZZZZZ though

LOSERS !!!
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6You could have put that in a less obnoxious way so that people like me who own the PS3 and aren't total idiots aren't made worse off on the Digg scene than they already are.
  
  Personally I'm still too cheap to drop $6 on a PS1 game since I still own all of my originals and they play fine on the system.
- Beyond31, on 10/12/2007, -10/+0Not my fault your ashamed to admit your a PS3 owner or a cheap bastard ...take a long run off a short cliff will yeah :)
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Pff. I admit I'm a totally cheap bastard and if you'd check my history in commenting I'm a pretty outspoken advocate for the PS3 around these parts which is rare.
bogmaster, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Maybe it's just me, but I have no desire to purchase any VC games because of how ridiculously expensive they are.

Not to mention I purchased Mario 64 for N64 back in the day *and* the version for the DS about a year ago. It irks me how they don't let you apply your product code for the free download, yet expect you to pay a third time!

If I wanna play it, yeah, I'll just use my DS, but it's the principle of the matter. Plus the games aren't even multiplayer over the WiiConnect service o.O

I love my Wii, but I think this is one thing they sorta fumbled on. To me anyway, I'm sure there are tons of people eating this stuff up.
- Sairgem, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3"Not to mention I purchased Mario 64 for N64 back in the day *and* the version for the DS about a year ago. It irks me how they don't let you apply your product code for the free download, yet expect you to pay a third time!"
  
  Those... are two different games. Sure you bought them? Surely you noticed the different tracks and everything when you played them.
- cartoondream, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I think he means how you can replay some of the N64 courses on the DS game.
  
  So far I think Gunstar Heroes is the best VC offer. I don't own a Genesis anymore and the game goes for more than 5 or 6 bucks on ebay.
- bogmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Courses? Tracks?
  
  What are you talking about? Mario Kart? Yes, Mario Kart 64 and DS are different games.
  
  I'm talking Super Mario 64. The one where you collect the stars and takes place primarily in or around the castle. The only real difference in the DS version is you can play as Yoshi.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If I go to see a movie in the theater twice, they want me to pay twice! The very nerve!
pulpjedi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14If Nintendo wants people to buy VC games, they should throw us a bone. Super Mario Bros would have been a great free-download for Xmas. In fact, I think it should have shipped with the system.
- Jacobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, they missed the boat on that chance. I can see charging for any other mario game, but this one should have absolutely been a free download.
- j_bellone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It should have shipped with the system.
mattjumbo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Can we at least be honest and say...

"I think five dollars is too much because its so easy to just steal it!"

I'm no angel..I've got a ton of emulators but at least I don't use the phony euphemisms. If you download the SMB rom and play it on an emulator, you *stole* it. Nintendo sold and/or gave that cartridge to you for play on the NES. That was the deal. You might not like it, but that was the deal.
- bogmaster, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2...shut up.
  
  Go play moral crusader somewhere else.
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4""I think five dollars is too much because its so easy to just steal it!"'
  
  No, most people are saying: "I already own 3 copies of this 20+ year old game, and now they want to sell it to me again for $5?".
  
  "Go play moral crusader somewhere else."
  
  Moral Crusader will be out on the Wii VC next Monday. It will be 800 Wii points.
- chaosmachine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2it's not stealing. anyone who bought the original mario has the right to download and play the rom.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2chaosmachine, if you want to play Pretend Lawyer, there is a game like that for the DS called Phoenix Wright. It has just about as much basis in real law as you do.
romulcah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Are these releases the same for europe or just the US?
weezerrock86, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I don't see why everyone is complaining about the price theres a lot worse things you can burn $5 on (cigarettes). Im un-employed and a college student and I think these prices are a drop in the bucket sure you don't want to buy every thing that comes out but for those classic titles that pretty much consumed your childhood its fun. 5 systems right there in one spot. As for the press release its still going to be a surprise not every Wii owner sits on digg.com all day reading press releases from companies so it will be a surprise for the majority of owners.
neiltc13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Toejam & Earl is already in the shop channel. I downloaded it this morning.
macweirdo42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Meh, in my opinion, it's not that it's a 20 year old NES game that doesn't make it worth $5, it's the fact that everyone already owns a copy. Otherwise, I'd be saying that it's still a good game, and the fact that it's old doesn't really detract from the value.
JimmyJJWalker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Wooot, old games on Wii for $5!

Revolutionary Next Gen baby!
your_mom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3there are so many free LEGAL ways to get this game, i dont even see why you would pay $5. and who cares if its not legal, at this point is it really worth it to pay THAT MUCH for super mario? for some other game someone might want to do that, but come on.
xerokitsune, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I will likely pick up Super Mario.
I would pick up the Street Fighter II if they added network play.
For me the other titles are a bit high in my eyes, though Castlevania 4 and R-Type are quite tempting.
imbiginjapan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While you folks are bitching about Super Mario Bros., I'll just be over here downloading Castlevania 4.
stuff, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Oh Jesus people, quit complaining. You spend $5 on a happy meal at Mc Donalds that will only fill you up till you get to the restaurant where you'll eat the real food.

If you don't want to spend the 5 bucks, then don't buy it. I could play this game for free in many ways, yet I'd really like to have it in my Wii, so I'll pay the 5 bucks and it'll entertain me for a while, maybe longer and it'll be worth it.

Would $1 have been better? I'm sure it would have, but not gonna cry about the extra 4 bucks.
- drsnacks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"Oh Jesus people, quit complaining. You spend $5 on a happy meal at Mc Donalds that will only fill you up till you get to the restaurant where you'll eat the real food."
  
  Gross - what kind of obese monster does that? Ugh - I could just see a guy like that, flapping his chins and asking his family "Ya wanna pick something up from McDonald's to hold us over until we get to Friday's?" Then he belches and a bit of puke from his oversized lunch squirts into his mouth, then he quietly swallows it like usual.
- jrstinkfish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Gross - what kind of obese monster does that?"
  
  I snorted to that here at work ... and it just echoed because no one's here. Why the hell am I here???
- Donerkebab, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yes! Amazing how many cheapskates there are on this site. First of all, five bucks is NOTHING people. Second of all, if it's not worth it to you, don't buy it! Yes Nintendo is trying to make money, a real shocker I know. Finally, the most appropriate comparison to make is with a new console game purchased at retail. Compared to the $50-60 you pay for a new game, $5 is insignificant.
  
  Half the twelve-year-olds complaining on here probably don't even have a Wii anyway. And if they did, they wouldn't know what to do with it.
yournamehere, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3ok, now this is getting stupid. pay for something i can download for free online?
- Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You're right, this IS stupid. Gosh, why should we pay for books, either? I mean, you can download those. Movies, too - there's lots of places to pirate movies. And DS games, and Gamecube games, and XBox/PS2 games... and I'm sure eventually you'll be able to download PS3, X360 and Wii games as well. Let's just not pay for ANYTHING, ever again.
  
  There are lots of valid criticisms for Nintendo's pricing scheme, but "why should I pay you when I can just pirate it?" is not one of them. You can avoid paying for lots of things in life by breaking the law. Do you steal your food, too?
- xerokitsune, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Convenience and legality.
  You can download almost any piece of software you can think of from the web for free. Why do people bother paying for any of it?
  Convenience , well sometimes it's a pain to find the stuff especially if it's illegal or marginally legal. Also with the free emulation there isn't a point of responsibility for your experience, if it doesn't work then the end user has to figure out why. While for most it's not much, but for a non-technical person the $5 prevents the whole fighting with original Nintendo hardware to function(dirty corroded contacts ie. flashing screen) and emulation issues(bad/corrupted Roms, disappearing ROM websites download methods, emulator problems).
  And legality, many people don't own their original Nintendo or games anymore. While I doubt Nintendo will sue the heck out of you for enjoying a ol ROM image of SMB, your still not technically legal.
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1@Ravenlock
  We all already own a copy of SMB. If I owned a copy of any of your other examples I'd find no problems with downloading a ripped copy.
  
  Grow a brain.
Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'll be picking up SMB, Street Fighter II and Super Castlevania IV for sure. Nostalgic gaming goodness for the win.

If you haven't gotten Gunstar Heroes yet, by the way, for the love of God do it. I had never played that before. It's amazing.
thanhado, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You know, Nintendo's not forcing the game down anyone's throat. For me personally, sure, I'd like to have more VC games (I no longer own a NES, SNES, et al) but will be picking and choosing wisely as to what I will get as the price is above what I'm generally willing to pay.

It's your choice, please don't say, "now they make us pay $5 to download it?". No one's making you do anything.
ethanhines, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I thought it said 500 Wii points not $5 (American) Dollars??!?!!?
- thanhado, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1500 Wii Points cost US$5
hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Screw you Nintendo. I'll play all my ROMs on my TV with XBMC.
- dime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5GEE YOU SURE SHOWED THEM LOLOLOL!
  
  I'd wager you're the type of cat that wouldn't pay regardless of the pricing scheme...
solomongrundy0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Honestly the pricing structure should be about:
$0.50 for 2> gen
$1.00 for 3rd gen
$3.00 for 4th gen
$6.00 for 5th gen
$12.00 for 6th gen (In a few years time prehaps... When the first hand market for GC games is basically non-existant.)

...of course I would make a system where the pricing on the game adjusts to popularity compaired with others from that generation vs. file size. The higher the game is on the list, the more it costs. So, then crappier titles that are around will be like bargain bin priced. In addition to making a torrent-like file hosting/'credit' system available to people for hosting their legal copies. To help keep the server costs down and encourage people to buy the popular product to share in the swarm. (Basically somebody pays and they have the option of sharing their copy with other legal purchases. Which in exchange for their bandwidth, they get credit with which they can buy new games.)

"Sharing is good."

Though they'll most likely never do such a thing. ^_^ Because it's totally crazy, right?
- Donerkebab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Based on what? The fact that you think this is a good idea?
rohcky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Where is my Tecmo Bowl?
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Tecmo Super Bowl ftw
DocWhoWho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If you were one of the idiots posting one of the 1000 links over the past day or two, claiming it was gonna be free, please, raise your hand to your own foolish behavior.
darksheer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All of my other presents are meaningless in the face of the almighty Super Mario Bros.
wo1verine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't understand you people, really.

Nintendo is not forcing anyone to purchase this VC title. If you like it, great. If you don't, well then don't.

For the price of what you spend in the morning on coffee and a snack you can play the original SMB. Believe it or not, like it or not, pushing an NES title to the Wii VC has significiant costs for Nintendo. From the actual porting/testing, to support, to bandwidth. I'm not sure why everyone believes this costs Nintendo nothing, come in to the real world.

I for one will be purchasing this Christmas day. If you want to find a 99c cart though, and blow in it before you play on another system, feel free.
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Believe it or not, like it or not, pushing an NES title to the Wii VC has significiant costs for Nintendo. From the actual porting/testing, to support, to bandwidth."
  
  I really doubt they port each game, most likely they use an emulator, which for the most part they have to write and test once (per system) The more games they release and the more compatibility they ensure, the less it costs to release each one.
  
  Bandwidth usage for downloading one VC NES game is probably on par with watching a few videos on youtube.
  
  What it boils down to is that individuals have been writing highly compatible NES emulators for years, in their spare time, and releasing them for free. $5 -per game-, with millions of potential customers, is an attempt to make a serious amount of money for little effort, no matter how you look at it. They could offer it for -way- less.
  
  I personally think they jack the price up partially because too good of a deal would compete with their normal games.
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Nintendo press release: Super Mario Brothers on Christmas for $5

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