... Especially with the virtual console these days, people have other options to play these old games...
It's that the people want physical copies of these games.
Digital versions of these games are available free...
You can't look solely at collector's when considering the market as a whole.
I will use Earthbound as an example. A few years ago, you could ONLY play this game on a Super Nintendo (not counting emulators), so if somebody wanted the game, they had to shell out whatever people asked. Which was over $200. Then in 2013 EB came to the Wii U VC. For the first time, gamers outside of Japan had an alternative way to play the game on their TV, with a controller. The sent the price of the cart down almost $100. A physical port would drop it considerably more.
Market economy fact: reproductions lower the value of the original.
That is why Super Metroid and TMNT IV still command higher prices, but the Zelda and Mario games can be fairly reasonable, a lack of reproduction options. Most of the Zelda/Mario titles are on many different consoles. Hell, I have the original LoZ on NES, GBA, Gamecube, Wii, Wii U and 3DS.
Physical reproductions can REALLY drop the value, digital repros can have the same effect, but are usually not as great because there is no tangible ownership.
Look, I'm all about good games having value, but people need to realize everything in the economy goes through a bell curve. It will eventually reach its peak value, and slowly decline after. Sometimes in peaks in a year, others it peaks in a decade. And sometimes its peak lasts for years.
We are currently at the top of the bell curve (or around it at least). I don't know if we're about to hit it, or starting to go down, but my point is that in a few years, most of these games will cost considerably less than they do now. That is why video games are NOT considered a good investment.
