so i was thinking about getting SMG for a friend of mine as a chiristmas gift only to find out the things still in the $40 range on Amazon...  what the hell.... the thing was released 3 years ago... what gives?  and what ever happened to Nintendos player's choice line?  they gotta bring that shit back.

People will say because they sell very well. But even the games with modest sales stay at a high price.

I guess what it comes down to is Nintendo has a shit ton of money and they want full value for their games.

They would probably sell more games and consoles if they lowered the price on older games. I'm sure as hell not paying full price for them.

Zelda TP for example. Used version is only $5 less than its full retail of $60.

Nintendo certainly don't control the used games price.

I think it has to do with fewer people reselling their games since they mostly are deemed "classics", meaning it's less likely people will sell after they are done with the game.

Supply and demand.

They do it because they know people want Nintendo games for their Nintendo console. All vendors understand that the main reason most people own a Nintendo system is for the 1st party games thus they can get away with only knocking off $5-$10 for most of them.

@Galaki

u got another example? i don't think the TP one holds up really well

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000FQBPCQ/ref=sr_1_1_olp?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1288937884&sr=1-1&condition=used

It's what I see at ebgames. Apparently, games are more expensive here in Canada, too.

However, I do notice there are more Nintendo games going on sale more frequently this year than previously.

Note that I only buy new games.

May I ask what games you are talking about?  Below are 1st party games that didn't exactly set the charts on fire that are now a fraction of the price they were at launch.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disaster-Day-Of-Crisis-Wii/dp/B000FNJ0IK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288944312&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-NTRPAVCE-Magical-Starsign-DS/dp/B000GHG9VG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288944462&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Jam-Band-DS/dp/B003K1AMFO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288944618&sr=1-1

In my experience, it's only the amazing selling games (MKWii, SSBBrawl, Mario Galaxy) that keep a high price for long periods of time, rather than the modest selling ones

It's simply because in general, Nintendo's games are well known for being of the highest quality available. That's the primary reason for why their games retain their value so well.   

Edit: This article from nintendoworldreport also answers some questios as well. One reason being that a lot of Nintendo's games have a huge amount of replayability.   

Because many of them sell well. Supply and demand and all that. Same reason MW2 is still nearly full price.

Though many Wii third party games are extremely cheap now, since they usually don't sell, so it kinda evens out.

I do agree though, they need the players choice, at least for their really old Wii games.

Why not? They sell like mad at that price, and are evergreen. Why cut the price when something is in demand?