In 2006, Nintendo released their Virtual Console on the Wii. This feature allowed gamers to play their favourite titles from NES, SNES, Sega Mega Drive and N64 on their Wii. And in June 2011, Nintendo also released the Virtual Console on the 3DS, providing Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance games to be played on the new 3D Development System.
This feature on both systems is marketing genius,as it allows old Nintendo favourites- such as Super Mario and the Legend of Zelda games- to have a second life on the market. This also allows Nintendo to milk out sales from already developed and successful games that have lost their market presence years after their original release. And because many of Nintendo's games have a legacy, veteran gamers and new gamers are attracted to experience (or re-experience) these legendary games.
Also, being released electronically (via download) allowed the games to have a fantastic modern edge, as well as lowering hardware and production expenses by providing electronic simultanous production (Supply = Demand) and not releasing them on 3DS game cards or Wii Discs.
And even if this feature isn't expolosively successful, at least it brings more profit and awareness from these historic games than it would with them sitting in the dusty halls of Nintendo's archives.
