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Sure thing. All you need to do is go to a site like eBay or Amazon, purchase the cartridge/disc for the game you want (buying it used should be fine), and then rip it yourself using one of the numerous ripping devices that are legally available. Easy peasy.

When you get down to it, the process is more or less identical to ripping audio from a CD or a video from a DVD (in fact, I used to rip all of my PS1 games from disc, just like I would my CDs, and I actually intend to go back and do so for all of my disc-based games in the next few years here) and, for the most part, just as legal.

The most obvious way that you might run afoul of the law with the steps above is that some emulators require that you separately download a copy of the console's BIOS before they'll work, which is an act of copyright infringement. Thankfully, more and more emulators are moving away from that practice by doing the tough work of reverse engineering the original BIOS so that they no longer need a copy of it to work, and the standing precedent in the US is that they are perfectly legal. The other way you might run afoul of the law is that newer systems may have copy protection mechanisms in place. Just as you're allowed to format shift a blu-ray but you're not necessarily allowed to break the encryption on the blu-ray to do so, you may run into issues with games on newer consoles that have similar protections in place.

Alternatively, if you don't want to deal with ripping ROMs from your own, legally-purchased copies of the game, most of the popular games from old Nintendo systems (as well as others) are available for purchase on newer Nintendo systems. Were you actually interested in pursuing this legally (rather than simply asking a rhetorical question as a poor rationalization for your illegal behavior), you'd already know that the Wii and Wii U provide a rather extensive back catalog of old titles that are available for purchase (though I think the Wii is losing access to the store in a few months). Likewise, many old console games are available on Steam, GOG, or similar storefronts. And for older games that had a PC release, many are still playable thanks to WINE, ScummVM, or other pieces of software that allow you to simulate outdated hardware.

Honestly, it's easier than ever to go about this stuff legally. Unless you're talking about obscure games that have been lost to time, there's almost always a legal avenue open that (after a possible fixed cost for the some necessary hardware) only costs whatever the prevailing price is for the game.

You can develop Switch games for a nominal fee of around $450 on a special developer version of the console. If you're that keen on writing games, there you go, the offer is right in the open that allows the handful of hobbyist to get into homebrew.

But no, people want to hack the consumer version. And pirate games. Under the guise of "homebrew".

Remember when Nintendo consoles had memory cartridges? I do.

You mean like the Switch has? Yes, I'm remembering that right now, in fact. Doesn't matter, though. You can't move your installed games or game saves from system memory to your SD cards

You do not understand the process at all. Here are the steps.
1. DMCA take down notice. Content comes down.
2. DMCA counter Notice. Content goes up in 10-14 days unless step 3 is done.
3. Original complainant file suit in court and notifies content provider with case number.

Complaint maker is in fact the person evaluating the counter claim

False. The courts evaluate the claim after step 3. The content provider can to put the content back up based on the existence of a counter claim and be free of liability.

There is no recourse other than to sue after that, and even that would not be a guarantee of getting your video back on youtube

You don't have to sue to get your content up. They have to sue to keep your content down.

When nintendo filed a wholesale bunch of claims on bigger "let's play" channels a few months ago.

You should really look into your example before posting it. The Nintendo/"lets Play" issue has nothing at all to do with DMCA. Nintendo did not file take down notices but filed claims against advertisement revenue. The videos were not taken down. The revenue just didn't go to the video producer.

Those of us that bought a Wii will be able to use everything from the old console on the new one. That means that we don't have to buy controllers

Except people who bought GameCube controllers for optimal performance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

I am looking forward to playing Arkham City, AC: III

By AC: III, do you mean City Folk?

and possibly NG 3

That one already came out on Virtual Console in 2008.

There is a good chance that your like holds no stake in the successes, failure, or image of these companies. Just play the games

Which is exactly how the console makers want it. They want the people at home to just play the games, not to make them. Only a token number of console games are officially moddable to any capacity, such as LittleBigPlanet, WarioWare DIY, and the level editor of Brawl.

Pixar were responsible for unirally's production being stopped and any hopes of a sequel dashed.

All because the game used a red unicycle, to me this is like suing someone because they used a tennis ball in a game of tennis.

Then again I should expect such things from a company founded by jobs

There's a pinball game on DSiWare by the makers of Metroid Prime Pinball, supposedly a very good one as well. Pinball Pulse.

Maybe choosing the right variables is hard to get just the right amount of friction, bounce and gravity into the game. Maybe other developers don't pay enough attention to how real machines behave.

"The games industry’s equivalent of Waterworld. Or Ishtar. Or Heaven’s Gate."
That would be precisely, Waterworld for VirtualBoy. Or, how to make a really, really, really bad game based on a really really bad movie.

I owned this atrocious game for that poor orphaned system. Anytime I think of an absolutely horrible videogame, Waterworld comes to mind. The game consisted of a circle of stonehenge like objects floating in a circle with friendlies in the water that you need to save. The hostiles come in on their personal watercraft (aka Jetskis) and kidnap the hapless friendlies. You need to fend off the hostiles and rescue the friendlies so they can go back to their existence of bobbing around in the circle. Just level after level of this. All presented in glorious LED red.

Seems I'm not the only one with this opinion.

There are definitely reasons for preferring a PC, but some of yours don't make much sense :-)

Some of us prefer to have a computer over a console. I'd rather play Fallout 3 on my computer because I can't stand console controllers, especially for FPSs.

It takes some getting used to, and you'll never be as good with a controller than with keyboard and mouse, but it's not as bad as many PC gamers pretend it is. Besides, lots of good FPS never make it to PCs.

Its nice to be able to Alt-tab out of games and check things out,

True, but on the other hand, nothing prevents you from also using a laptop, netbook or iPhone while playing a game on a console.

and to be able to download patches for buggy games,

In my opinion, that's not a plus, it's a minus because the main result of this is that games are released in what is essentially an unfinished state. Unfortunately, the PS3 and Xbox now also allow patches for buggy games, so some console games are released with gameplay-killing bugs, too.

and extra content for the expandable ones.

The same applies to consoles.

Consoles also suck for RTS games, as in there aren't any to speak of.

That has changed in recent years. Even the Wii has a neat little RTS with Swords & Soldiers.

Also PCs are cheaper to deal with, once you have one for gaming. Throw in a $80 video card every 2-3 years and your good to go.

The PC update race is slowing somewhat, but on average, console hardware is still cheaper (although games tend to cost more).

Nintendo responded by telling people to stop looking only at the first week's sales because there's more than one week or month for the game to sell in and on platforms like the DS and Wii they actually do instead of hitting near-zero sales after two months and a pricedrop after three more. Their example is CoD4 for the DS which sold 36k in the first month and 500k lifetime-to-date.

When I heard "the wiz", the first thing that came to mind was The Wizard, that 1980's film which was basically a 90 minute Nintendo promotional item.

Maybe that powerglove kid can show me the flutes on SMB3 with this handheld, as opposed to getting his ass beat by a 9 year old!

I know these ads really bugged me. http://www.nintendolife.com/games/wii/wii_sports/s creenshots/455303ecdbb01 And I don't even know what they're for. ;)