With time and the advancement of technology, playing old video games has become increasingly difficult. It may be that your original console stopped working or you lost your cartridge while driving. In some cases, your TV and console may no longer work for you. If you really want to play Dark Water Pirates for SNES again, emulation is your best bet.
The key to emulating your favorite classic games is finding a reliable ROM site, which can be tricky since not all ROM sites are legal. Some sites allow users to download stolen ROM files. In many cases, downloading a ROM violates various copyright laws.
Under no circumstances should you create a pirated game, but that does not mean that you cannot find ROMs to download that do not violate any laws.
Earn beer titles at RomHacking and NESWorld
Hacking the ROM is illegal as it means that you are violating the copyright protection system in order to access the game. On the other hand, home games are free to download.
Sites like NESWorld and RomHacking have entire sections dedicated to homebrew games, which are simply games that developers and enthusiasts have created over the years and distributed for free to anyone who wants them. This is a great way to find informal games that few people have played.
If you want to find homebrew names for other systems, just do a quick Google search for what you need. There are active homebrewing communities for nearly every platform out there – it just might take a bit of research to find them. After all, there are very few new game developers for the Atari 2600.
Search for the ROMS Public Domain
Public domain ROMs are similar to home games in that they are not copyrighted and anyone can download and play them.
PDRoms is one of the largest public sites on the web with thousands of ROMs for dozens of consoles. Here you can find titles for everything from 3DO to Watara Supervision.
Look for abandoned programs – but know the risks
Abandonware is a gray area in terms of legality. While technically still copyrighted, abandoned software is defined as content that is no longer distributed or supported by the original creator. In many cases, the creator went out of business, so title rights are in limbo.
When this happens, it is often classified as abandoned software and considered free to use. However, abandoned software may be copyrighted, making it illegal to download its ROM.
Regardless, many people view discarding software as fair use, as a non-business developer is unlikely to sue for copyright infringement. It is possible that someone will sue for a violation of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) or take legal action, but that is also unlikely.
Back up games you already own
If the abandoned software is highlighted in a gray area, then the download of ROMs of games that you already have is a light gray area. Under US copyright law, you have the right to back up and archive software you have already purchased.
It is not possible to back up the software source code on cartridges (without much extra effort and technical know-how, anyway), but you can load the ROM of a game you already have.
For example, you can find the NES ROM StarTropics and download it to preserve the integrity of the software. Provided that you do not distribute the software to third parties, you are not breaking any laws as long as you personally own a copy of the title.
The emulator community is vibrant and thriving, and is a fantastic way for retro game enthusiasts to experience their favorite games over and over again. Just take care to only download ROMs from legal sources.
If you are unsure if a site is legit or not, do your due diligence to find out. After all, copyright infringement can not only spark controversy with developers, but also harm the industry as a whole.
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