I don't mind paying 5$ for Super Mario Bros 3, or 8$ for Super Castlevania, or Super Mario RPG, or Donkey Kong Country 2. They are worth every dollar.

Then again, I do mind paying 5$ Donkey Kong, or Mario Bros.

Super Mario Galaxy has been out for more than two years. It even has a direct sequel that has been out for a few months. Buying it at retail it still costs full price. Nintendo doesn't really discount their prices with their boxed items, there is little reason to assume they would do so with their downloadable content just because it's been around for a while.

For regular prices, VC is fine. Sure, there are the games that are overpriced compared to a cartridge (SMB1; you can probably find someone giving it away.), but then you have the hassle of hunting down a working system. Part of the price you pay is convienence; I don't need to play with the NES to get the game to work, only to have it glitch out in world 8-2.

What the pricing scheme does, is that it sets consistant prices, so that you know what you will be paying for something. Sure, SMB3 goes for more than $5 used; does that mean that Nintendo should be charging more for it? Some games are a flat out bargain (case 1: Earthbound), others seem pricey because of a cheap cartridge, but it all is designed to even out in the end, with a fee to be able to avoid messing around with the older systems.

That aside, I do think it would be nice if Nintendo would do occasional sales on VC and WW (and DSiW, but that's still growing) items. Something simple like "Shiggy's birthday is this week; take 20% off all Mario games online." The problem at this point is that you start getting into the MS point dilemma- you wind up with odd points that are a pain to spend. But a sale might get enough people to bite, especially on older items. If not a sale on items, then I'd say at least get demos for the games up, ala XBLA. There are a few WW games we're interested in, but ranging from 1000-1500 points makes it kinda hard to pick one up at random in case it's bad. There were those 5 demos about a year ago, but nothing since.

Damn right. Where are the Rare games?

Some games, like Mario Galaxy are exceptions to the rule and we all know this.  Of the hundreds of games released every year, a minute few, probably less than 1%, have enough staying power to maintain sales without price drops.  Several, but not nearly all, Nintendo titles have had this.  But even a powerhouse sales grabber like Smash Bros Melee was still discounted eventually.  Nintendo's discounts have typically come in the form of "greatest hits" titles, which on the GameCube, retailed for $20. 

The Wii hasn't had a greatest hits line yet, neither has the DS, which is rather puzzling.  Not every great game maintains stellar sales constantly.  A greatest hits line for both systems would likely increase attach rates, and some titles that didn't get the sales they may have deserved can get a second chance.  It's possible Nintendo feels they don't need a GH line for their "ultra popular" machines.

Unlike MadWorld, Majora's Mask is actually worth $10.  Eat my truth.

Standardized pricing on VC does inflate prices on some games imo (hello awful NES ports of DK/DKJr/Mario Bros/etc), but it also makes other a complete bargain ($9 for Rondo of Blood is like a tenth what it's worth). Overall, I think it's okay, though $8 on SNES/Genesis pushes it a bit imo (should've been $7).  If anything I'd say Sony shot themselves in the foot by pricing PS Classics at $6 baseline, though they tend to break that barrier anyway on the rare occasion they release something people actually want (FFVII, FFT, Grandia, etc, etc).

The problem with VC isn't pricing imo, it's that the content stream has more or less dried up.  And not due to a lack of actual content... where the hell is Earthbound, Terranigma, Mischief Makers, etc!?

I have purchased a Neo-Geo game on Virtual Console. If i wished to acquire that physically, i could have bought a PS3 and 360 instead

The overpriced NES games are extremely outweighed by the impossibly under-priced collectors' gems.

They can't release some of the games made by Rare (Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, etc.) because those properties are owned by Microsoft now. They can't even make Diddy Kong Racing now becase Banjo and Conker are Microsoft characters.

The games that use Nintendo-owned characters can be greenlit, but that just leaves the Donkey Kong games, sadly.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Still, it would be nice to see Donkey Kong 64 on the VC.

Something else likely holding back DK64 specifically is that the game used the RSP 'microcode', meaning it used custom 'to the metal' programming outside the Nintendo/SGI standardized development environment.  This was something only a few devs did on N64 (only Rare, Factor 5, Boss Games Studio and Angel Studios iirc) but it allowed to get much more impressive results out of the hardware.  Other games this would be an issue for include Resident Evil 2, Rogue Squadron, Battle for Naboo, World Driver Championship, Indian Jones and the Infernal Machine and Stunt Racer 64.