What's with this "Wasted their time" argument? (Space, okay, that could be viable were it argued well...)
They didn't make these games, they were already made, obviously! All they had to do was shade in some boxes, which were probably taken from a ready-made template anyways.
In any case, I do believe that Masterpieces certainly have their place in the Brawl realm; especially when you consider the purpose of SSBB.
The whole **** game is an advertisement! Have you read Saki Amamiya's trophy description? It's pretty much just the back of the box. Have you seen the way they made Meta-Ridley look absolutely awesome? Doesn't that make you want to pick up Corruption, even just a little bit?
As shameless as it may be, the disc for Brawl is double-layered in many ways - The obvious, but also the purpose. Yes, it's a spectacular fighting game, but it also serves as a veritable encyclopedia for all things Nintendo; so much so that I've gone into Chronicles just to find out when the first Tetris came out (1989, would'ja believe it?). Masterpieces are playable chronicles, and absolute nostalgia too.
And about the time period, if they'd made Kid Icarus any longer than five minutes, I would be on the horn with Nintendo right now, haggling for the points I spent back. Nintendo fans are loyal, but vengeful they can be! Think back to Delay Day 02 (The Lost Update) - Remember the rage?
In any case, I fully endorse Masterpieces - Though I would've liked to see Earthbound just as well. Perhaps it was a matter of licensing? That tends to be a prevalent irk in the cross-over world, and is likely a more accurate source to blame than Masahiro himself.
Frankly speaking, the complainers are probably the people who've never actually gone into the Masterpieces and had a real go with 'em. Fire up F-Zero, thirty seconds is all you need to RAWWWK!
And if even after that, you still don't like them, then I have to ask... Why did you even stray from the Brawl menu anyways? That's where you want to be, so stay there!