But how do you know ahead of time?
With books, I definitely understand. And agree. But with a game, unless I have an Internet connection right there with me at all times (which I don't, because I'm too cheap to get a smart phone), there's no way to check to see if the games are related by plot or by name only. Therefore, I took a gamble on the fact that, even if I've never played the game before, the developers aren't going to be stupid enough to let someone new to the series run around in utter confusion just because they never bought the first game. I'm pretty sure I'll get by.
Depends on the game. Most of their ported games (Zelda collection, Mega Man collections, etc), they were absolutely atrocious. Their first-party titles (Smash Bros., the Mario games, any Zelda game actually made for the GC) they were pretty good. And pretty much anything else that had a multi-platform release, it was much better on one of the other platforms. Just my experience.