So it's widely known as a fact that many Nintendo games have ridiculous legs. But here's the question that no one really bother to ask...why is this so?

[scottie]

No-one asked it because everyone knows the answers to it.

Nintendo prioritises gameplay over graphics. Halo1 is outdated, GT1 is outdated, Super Mario Bros 1 is not.

High length of game and replayability reduces 2nd hand sales - your typical HD 3rd party game has a playtime of anywhere between 6 and maybe 16 hours - all the copies bought in launch week are sold back shortly after, forcing a price drop of the new game to catch up, and even then, 2nd hand are still cheaper, reducing sales from that point on. Nintendo games last 60-200+ hours (a lot more than 200 in the case of SSB or Mario Kart), and thus are not sold back to stores.

A lot of people buying certain Nintendo games are families, kids etc. They do not read up on games beforehand, they do not line up at midnight. They will buy MK, Wii Fit or whatever when they feel like it, when they get tax back, or when bills were less than they expected, or their car gets through its rego check without needing anything done to it. They buy games for birthdays. This is why Fire Emblem and Zelda do not have such good legs. Fire Emblem owners are game forum dwellers, and to a reasonable extent, so are most Zelda owners.