You're not wrong, but that assumes users and clients are following communications protocol 100%.

So literally no longer literally means literally?

I understand the economic concepts behind this; I just don't know the specific numbers. But lets play with what you've provided. Lets be generous and say that localization only costs $50,000, and the game is sold for $10 on the VC. That means that Nintendo needs 5,000 Mother 3 fans to make the game profitable, or a mere .125% of Wii owners (assuming 4 million consoles sold by year's end). I have a feeling that the costs are target number are even less. But even so, how do we know that there are that many people interested to begin with? I agree that a game does not need to be mainstream to be profitable, but it has to cross a popularity threshold. With all the noise about Mother 3, is that enough to guarantee that it cross said threshold? As I said, I would hope that Nintendo has done whatever market research is necessary to justify their position. If not, then they very well could be missing out on an opportunity.

Hmph. Best Swordfighter, sir, not best sword.