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I think that it's definitely OK to own ROMs that you own (or have owned) the original cartridge, disk, etc. It's a little sketchy about owning ROMs off of games that you have never owned before. If they are very old (like FFVI and before) and/or the company won't make money off of the legal sale of the particular game, then I think that it's OK.

What does everyone else think?

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Wow. 1,000 posts.

I miss you all now that I'm in boarding school! ;_;

i totally agree that if the company will no longer make any money from the game in question, it should be ok, other than that, i think its for the person playing the pirated software to make the decision. i play on illegal roms if for example the game is incredibly rare or unreleased in america, so im not gonna condemn other people who play on them.

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You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun, a newborn in the light
Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death
Hello to eternity and live for every breath

Your time will come...

a lot of the ROMs that I have are of games that I already have played or owned at one time. Admittedly, there are some that obviously I haven't owned so I can't really say what's morally wrong for others doesn't affect me. But I look at it similarly to ripping music from kazaa or another downloading program. I look at my arrangement of mp3s and there's maybe 65-70 percent of the mp3s i've already purchased the cd to, which is a similar percentage to ROMs I have. So, I don't really have a moral standpoint on it as I don't feel that guilty about it. Cuz for every one game (or song) that I play (or listen to), I know that I could name one that I have (or had at one time) owned.

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

I voted no. Who's to say that the companies who made these games won't want to make money off of them again sometime? With all of these classic rereleases coming out for the GBA, you never know. I do wish there would be a legal collection of games that companies denounce as being profitable software. However it might be hard for companies to even know which games they might want to bring back to the market. Plus there are companies who don't exist anymore, but I don't know much about this. Could existing companies buy the rights of certain software titles from dead companies? I think there should at least be some free offerings though, and more than just crappy games.

There's also the possibility that ROMs be downloaded on a fee basis in the future, with the proceeds going to the service and the original creators of the game. This could render all old games as profitable titles which all companies may want to take advantage of.

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I download ROMs usually of games that I've heard of or I've played before, although most of my ROMs are of games that I don't own. However, they mainly also are of games that aren't released anymore in their original form (e.g. Super Mario Bros. 1 for NES). Other times I can claim (honestly) that I download a certain game to learn about something, such as to "learn about" the RPG (which I personally consider an art form). And yes, if Square or Nintendo or whoever comes after me, I will really say that. I will even say (here and to them) that allowing people to download copies of old games onto computers (which normally wouldn't be played on a computer; i.e. are console games) and then play them could potentially help a company. For example, I have started paying attention to Squaresoft because of two games: first, I own Super Mario RPG (which I bought as a used game), and I thought that was the best game I played until I (second) downloaded Chrono Trigger. CT blew me away with its amazing quality and detail, and I (almost) instantly became a Squaresoft fan, realizing what good games they could come out with. I then began playing old Final Fantasies, and even though I am not too interested in some of the newer FFs, I might potentially help them sell their products by personally speaking well of them. (Sidenote: I don't think some of the newer FFs are that good but (1) I haven't played them (VIII-XI and X-2) and (2) I am not that disappointed because I view the FF series as a means of experimentation.) It just happens so that appreciation of Final Fantasies began just before they re-released most of their old FFs (as well as CT, coincidentially). (I also don't mind helping out Square by giving them some of my ideas when I get in touch with them in the future. But of course, that's a long-shot dream.)

I agree that the ownership of ROMs of games you don't actually own would make it difficult to sell games (especially re-releases). But I want to know something: Could somebody please post (in this topic or in a separate, clearly marked topic) how ROMs are made? That way I might be able to figure out other solutions to the problem, such as: Is there a way to control when ROMs become available?

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ROMs are created by hooking up a copier to a real cartridge. The copier reads the cartridge and creates a binary image of the data on there, basically.

Customs are known to be hard on people trying to get hold of copiers, but they've never stopped all of them from getting through, clearly, and I doubt they ever will. Besides which, plenty of people still have their existing copiers for old systems.

(This is why I shudder a bit when people refer to "the ROM version" as opposed to "the (x console) version" of a game. It IS a copy of the console version, though not always a perfect one.)

It's somewhat easier for CD/DVD systems as you can use many PC CD/DVD-ROM drives and commonly available software to read the data and create a disc image. It's not a ROM, but it's essentially equivalent.

That's the basic idea, anyway.

Like others here, I tend to get ROMs I can't buy. That now means all SNES games, basically, where I am. I've bought all the existing PSX versions of ones I actually play, though, so they're getting my money, but my SNES emulator is faster and more complete than my PSX emulator, so the ROMs get used more.

Well, this is one that's kind of a hard one to answer. You're really getting into the moral implications of ROM ownership...

I download games that I already own or something you can't get in the US (ie Tales of Phantasia, Seiken Densetsu 3, etc). The other ones I get are the ones I already own. As for taking away sales, my ROM collection will NEVER replace my actual game carts. I have the FFIIus game for SNES and the ROM on my computer. If FFIIus were suddenly rereleased to the GBA, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Why? Playing it on the computer just isn't the same as on the actual system.


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kame, tortue, tortuga, schildkröte, tartaruga, turtle

"Arthur Dent?"
"Yes."
"Arthur Philip Dent?"
"Yes."
"You're a total knee biter."

i own alot of roms, mostly for SNES and mostly of games i have never owned. But i do feel it is morally correct if the game is no longer in print.

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<Nealio> Seymour sounds like evil Winnie the Pooh

I'll cut this short:
I live in Poland (Poland = no SNES market whatsoever)
and I download and play ROMs, because I've no other affordable way of playing SNES and NES games.
Sorry to all the distributors. I don't rip the games I can buy though.

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN