Nokia's Nokia Conversations blog has published a video promoting retro game emulation apps that are available for its N900 handset.

However, the vid could land the company in hot water with the likes of Nintendo, since it shows someone playing a vintage Mario game on their device.

Emulation apps aren't in themselves illegal, but downloading and/or distributing game ROMs is. Promoting a handset's ability to play old Mario games could elicit a stern response from Nintendo.

Attitudes in the mobile industry towards emulators vary. Apple doesn't allow them on the App Store unless they're fully licensed - for example Manomio's C64 emulator, which only lets users download licensed games.

However, by contrast Android Market has several emulator apps available, which ride high in its paid games chart.

Gamers will certainly welcome the N900's emulation capabilities, but it remains to be seen what Nintendo and other games industry copyright holders make of it. The video is embedded below.