After resting for so many years, the Bionic Commando franchise is swinging back with not one, but two new adventures currently in development.  There's the new big 3D Bionic Commando and the modern 2D remake of the original Nintendo Entertainment System game.  It seems like this would be the perfect opportunity to bring the original 8-bit game to the Wii's Virtual Console, but alas, it is not meant to be.  Capcom wanted to offer the game, but Nintendo put the kibosh on that idea.  Capcom's Ben Judd explains:

I can't say why. I can just say that we tried to get it to work. We're huge fans of the game. When you think about it, it totally makes sense as a strategy to have the original game out there in some format that people can play and see what was so great about it. But we were told no.

I can understand Nintendo's position from a business point of view.  Both new Bionic adventures are for non-Nintendo hardware.  Why would Nintendo want to help promote the competition?  Sure, the company would get some of that sweet, sweet Virtual Console revenue, but Nintendo isn't exactly aching for income right now.  It can afford to not bring in this money if it helps from sending more money to competiting products.  Maybe we'll see the game again somewhere down the line when either the new Bionic games are old news or if Capcom decides to develop a Bionic title for the Wii or Nintendo DS.  Either way, I wouldn't expect to see it anytime soon.