Yes, they might not sell as many copies on the VC, but they'd make far more money on iOS if the released the original SMB there! Imagine if they sold it for $4.99 on mobile; I'm sure they'd sell millions and millions of copies! They'd make a shit ton of money, and might even lure new gamers to their consoles.

Maybe, but the more people buying it on iOS, the less that might be buying a 3DS or Wii U to get it. Nintendo hasn't trusted another company with there properties since their failed Phillips partnership that birthed the Mario and Zelda CDi games. Nintendo knows there bread and butter are their stable franchises so providing access to what most anaylst call their biggest competitor while sharing profits wtih them doesn't really make sense when Nintendo still has their own platforms.

I just don't see the harm in releasing a 30 year old game on iOS/Android... Maybe they could make a special Nintendo app (that's free) where you can buy and play Nintendo games; kinda like eShop on a smartphone. Just release the old games there.

More people are going to expect more games, you start off with Super Mario Bros. people are going to expect Mario 3, World, Duck Hunt, etc. and Nintendo would feel obligated to provide. Ultimately, what is the point of own a 3DS or whatever Nintendo's next portable is going to be if you can get Nintendo classics on your iPhone or Andriod?

Nintendo is thinking about their business as a whole when they put the line in the sand at developing for smart phones. Not only would it not help out their hardware side of the business but the fact is, for every game sold a portion of that to either Apple or Google or whoeever the Japanese equvialent it, which is not exactly Nintendo's best interest unless releasing older games can go Angey Bird numbers which isn't a given.