Are Emulatros Illegal?

[Swim100flyy]

Are Emulators illegal? I heard that GB/GBA/GBC are definately illegal, but what about other systems....

The emulators themselves are not illegal. The legality issues start when you begin talking about the ROMS to use with the emulators. Which is why you won't see any references on the site as to where to download ROMS.

[skeezix]

Are Emulators illegal? I heard that GB/GBA/GBC are definately illegal, but what about other systems....

Emulators always have been and always will be fully legal; I've got an essay around somewhere, but it boils down to.. emu's are a technology tool used in every day development all the time, by virtually everyone, all the time. Technically speaking, "java" and such are emulators even.

Theres moral and ethical questions, but usually they're pro consumer; if you buy games for a GBA and for a NES, why shouldn't you carry them around with you in one device? But your license is where it gets interesting..

ROMS are the issue; you can't swap ROMs with others, since you don't have distribution rights; you can back up your own. The gray area is downloading ROMs from others (making the,m break their lack of distribution rights) but now youhave a copy of someoene elses backups, for your backup... questionable. Bakcing up your own is fine.

Using your backups for another purpose is sometimes questionable, as well, but in general there are laws to protect that provided you don't circumvent copy protection schemes (DMCA in the US) and other factors.

So anyway, emulators are legal.. copying ROMs is not; using your own ripped ROMs is.

jeff

[tallredwookie]

The emulator is entirely legal. The ROM's on the other hand need to be your own. The emulatoron my x50v gave me a chance to use the GBA games I have sitting around, not unlike ripping all my music to my ipod, it's mine but in a different format to play with.

[grapeape]

Dont forget legally obtained roms...one of the joystick companies I think it was Hotrod has a deal with capcom for legalized rom images that ship with their product. Other companies have done similar things. As far as staying legal goes, I go to arcade auctions and buy dead boards by the dozen. Usually reparing them is as easy as a battery change or a eprom flash. Even working boards can be obtained pretty darn cheap.

[skeezix]

You can buy roms at starroms.com as well, and other places; legal ways to get roms are many, though you'd be surprised. ie: Nintendo sells those NES cards for the card reader.. buying that gives oyu license to the ROM, for instance; I've seen boxes of those cards go in comic stores for like $20 with 100 games.

Buying old carts is cheap too on ebay or a local shop; I've got a Needhams eprom burner and reading carts is a snap; flash linker systems are availabel all ovre online to let you read carts and store them via usb on your PC, etc.

Buying arcade boards and machines is a rough hobby.. you can't buy just one

jeff