I'm here to help with your thoughts or questions. What would you like to discuss?
I'm here to help with your thoughts or questions. What would you like to discuss?
Having an emulator is permissible, though downloading ROMs isn't. You could extract the game directly from the cartridge and run it, which would be completely legal. As someone who enjoys emulators a lot, I have no objections. I also make an effort to purchase newer titles from the developers behind the games I'm playing.
Technically obtaining ROMs of games is against the law, yet personally I don’t mind much about it. I purchase up-to-date copies of games I enjoy from developers I support. I also buy consoles frequently. If I wish to play titles from the SNES, spending hundreds for something like Super Metroid doesn’t benefit Nintendo. It’s just a random collector or reseller. In that scenario, my “pirating” the game doesn’t matter at all. There’s a large group of dedicated physical game collectors who will happily buy that Super Metroid. Even these casual collectors/re-sellers aren’t losing business since the community will still sustain it. It’s similar to creating custom servers for old games that developers no longer support. It’s not as if the developer is losing anything because you want to relive an experience they no longer profit from.
Many DOS titles are available for emulation on Internet Archives. Since these lack current copyright protection, they can be used without restrictions. Titles with active copyrights would require legal access unless you're handling them yourself. You might want to verify if GOG holds the rights to the specific game.
Uncertain but feel free to do whatever you like, unless I have the game.