Illegal Game Sharing Site Mocks Nintendo's Recent Legal Actions With Trolling Video

LOL
Here we again, Funny Debates about Fan-Made games.
I will prepare my Pop Corn.

I call this "Natural Selection" in practice.

The stupid don't get to go on.

I guess this must be their attempt to simply go out with a bang as opposed to trying to fly under the radar.

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

@Coffee_Drinker
"Play stupid games win stupid prizes."

Hahahahaha...... !

LOL

Wonder if they realize David and Goliath wasn't about a 3 ft man fighting a 15 ft giant...

Oh well, never heard of them before.

I love it.

You show 'em lads.

Nintendo can take down a few emulation sites, but 10s more will pop up.

It's a losing battle unless Nintendo get creative like Spotify and Netflix have done to the music and movie businesses.

Ten old NES games doesn't cut it.

lol that's the spirit.

Pride before a fall perhaps? I applaud the bravado, but at least when it comes to them emulating Nintendo games without permission, it's going to take more than Thanos to stop Nintendo. Good luck.

We need a hero... someone more powerful than any Nintendo character... someone who can control their power in such a way that they are nearly unbeatable... someone who knows the difference between wrong and right...

Smh I can't believe people sometimes

This is funny.

I also love the way you have to repeatedly remind people that this is illegal and bad throughout the article.

Poking the bear I see. Guess they have a death wish?

If it weren't for those sites, a lot of people would never have been able to play a majority of those games since they were produced in such small numbers and are next to impossible to get your hands on the legal way.
As long as there isn't a legal option then I have no problem with these sites.

And as mentioned above, it's a loosing battle for Nintendo. You can't stop them. Instead stop wasting money on lawyers and build a good legal alternative.

Ye Olde Bantre

I'm not saying that I'm happy about what Nintendo is doing. Taking away all of these old games and NOT offering them on a modern platform is terrible. However, I don't know how this website that is mocking them, will be able to get away with it. If they do that's great though.

Is CompleteROMS still around?

"Ten old NES games doesn't cut it"

@MichaelHarvey To be fair,it's actually 20 old NES games we're getting.Which is about 15 more than I want or need but 20 none the less.Agreed though,it doesn't cut it!

@MichaelHarvey Exactly. Nintendo has a MASSIVE backlog, with many games that they simply don't offer.

@saintayu Yes they have to because most people are too dumb to realize that it is in fact illegal. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it legal. As simple as that

@MichaelHarvey Hmm. You got me thinking. Maybe that’s Nintendo’s long term plan. Maybe that’s why they started these legal actions. I’m sure they aren’t gonna stop at 10 titles.

Frankly my dear (NintendoLife),
I don't give a damn (about illegal video game emulations & hackers).

ps: also @RyanCraddock you may start writing more creative articles in the future. Hacking and emulation is your daily agenda here on NintendoLife. Perhaps you should try working on Hacking and Emulators websites instead.

In my opinion, Nintendo has a ton of cash and should be at the head of preservation and providing the way for people to play old games and make new ones that celebrate their properties, not the one with the hammer smashing everything else.

Without an alternative for playing, the enforcement is going to cause resentment. What's needed is some acknowledgement and support of historical preservation and delineation from Nintendo what is fair game and what is isn't.

I also think a harbor for fan made games that is managed by Nintendo to dispel consumer confusion and still let fan games get made would be a great show of good will and beneficial to Nintendo.

@Ensemen I've never seen someone argue that it was legal to pirate games. I've seen people say that they don't care that it's illegal.

It's more about pushing an agenda than anything else as is your comment attempting to make others out as stupid.

Honestly think it’s a waste of money by Nintendo going after these sites. You take one down and two take its place. It’s like a hydra. Total waste of time. Just get the legacy products on the shelf so people have easy access and don’t end up stumbling onto these sites out of desire to play old games.

@Cosats Go home, you're drunk.

@Mr_Pepperami
Btw, how to defeat Hydra ?

@HobbitGamer I don't drink alcohol so I am fine.

@Anti-Matter well for Hercules it was a sword of fire but I don’t think Nintendo has access to it.

@saintayu What? Just look at any comment section regarding this topic. Half the people are angry and saying that nintendo is in the wrong for doing this.

And yeah i do think people defending other people stealing intellectual property and selling it for their own profit are stupid. And if that's "pushing an agenda" then so be it.

Funny thing is Good Old Downloads don't host any content, they just point you in the direction of the content you want. It's also hilarious that they're adding a retro section as a response to all these takedown notices.

Wouldn't it be amusing if Disney took legal action against them for use of their property in that tweet

@Ensemen legal doesn't equal right? It is really that simple. People have said that over and over again and yet still have their views misrepresented.

You're entitled to your beliefs and all but just insulting the other side makes it seem like you have no real argument and have to resort to name calling.

I find amazing how some people feel like they have a right to play those games however they want.
Those games are Nintendo’s property to do as they please whether you like it or not and they are in their right AND obligation to protect said property.
All that “game history preservation” is just cr*p talk and just a very poor way to justify the stealing of others property. It’s as simple as that.

I understand Nintendo's point of view since they're still selling their old games, but I do think emulation is a fair way of sharing games that'll never see the light of day again like Robocop vs Terminator, old TMNT games and the like because of all the red tape involved.

@Cosats Jolly O!

Anybody else think of Reggie in the scene from The Shining, only when he cracks the door he says “Heeeere’s Legal!”?
No, just me? Some of you aren’t actually mad at each other or over this, right? Like you’re all just trading barbs for fun, yeah?
Because I can’t imagine getting so angry at someone for expressing their opinion that you feel actual anger.

Almost no one gets in trouble for copying a CD or movie for a friend. But when you are brazen about it, and start mass distribution of stolen copywritten material, you're going to have issues. And in this case, I am all for Nintendo dropping the lawsuit hammer.

I guess there is a lot more of this these days, certain influential people who shall go unnamed are getting away with breaking the rules and being very open about it. It's likely emboldening others.

Everyone here should remember that Nintendo actually used ROMs from "illegal" websites themselves.

@Anti-Matter

One argument for fan made games, could be on the basis on 18+ games. Personally Nintendo is failing to meet the needs of Adult gamers. We could have had a violent version 18+ of Luigis Mansion, that aggressively advertises 3D for the HD TV target on 3DS. Instead Nintendo just goes for a straight port.

Oh well, guess they can look forward to SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy

Also Ryan = Tabloid Ryan Craddock.

I check their twitter link, and it leads to a site where you can download contemporary games for free. Dead Rising 4. Shenmue 1/2 released just 7 days ago, and not currently withdrawn from sale. Prison Architect - indie game. Still currently available to buy.

This is not in the spirit of emulation. F### these guys.

@G-Boy How do you know that? Doesn’t Nintendo have all the roms from their games themselves?

@MichaelHarvey

agreed. N is horrible to it's customers and fans.

i've already hacked my nes classic. nice to have all the good stuff N didn't deem worthy of putting on the system. mike tyson's punch out you idiots! mr dream can stay in japan.

@SimplyCinnamon53 https://youtu.be/zR1uEwjx7VI

Why can't people seem to get it through their heads that ROM sharing is basically piracy no matter how you slice it?

GoNintendo didn’t name the site or show the video because they’re responsible journalists.

Scummy NL saw NL in said video and thought “OMG WE’RE FAMOUS, LET’S PROMOTE THIS EVEN MORE”.

I mean... I don't understand how this is still a debate, I love ROMs, that's how I got to play lots of games for the first time and had a lot of fun, even bought the 8bitdo nes30 to play them. However, it's still illegal to distribute intellectual property that isn't yours, people talk about this as if Nintendo is the only one that does this, Movie studios, copyright system in YouTube, Sony, Microsoft, etc. They're not villains for doing this guys lol, it's just the legal team behind Nintendo protecting THEIR property because remember guys, they made it, it's their right to do whatever they want with it. As for the argument about game preservation, totally agree, if there was a legal service to do this it would be fine and I feel like they're planning to do so with the online service coming up, that's why they're taking action now.

Entitlement, entitlement everywhere. Welcome to the real world people. You cannot steal another company's property and expect to get away with it. Nintendo have been saying they would prosecute anyone who backs up and shares their games since the 90s. They have been telling sites for years to stop and the sites didn't listen. So they are finally taking action.

Oh man this was kind of funny. Ninty just needs to roll out the goods!

I've always thought of Nintendo's HQ like Mr. Burns' office from the Simpsons. I just assume there is an army of lawyers behind some hidden wall that are ready to litigate at a moment's notice. lol

@AlternateButtons evil?

They'll make loads of money over the next day or two because of this, then will be shut down. Going out with a bang is right. Fair play 👍

@G-Boy These Nintendo apologists don’t wanna heat the truth.

People that work in the industry and make the games we love use roms and are fully behind game preservation.

It’s a shame because often sites become more than that.

We want games to stay available but not games that can be Freely purchased

@KingdomHeartsFan people won’t agree but buying a second version of a nes cart or downloading the Rom is similar.

Nintendo makes no money either way.

@saintayu No real argument? These people are taking intellectual property from other people that have worked for it and selling it for their benefit. How is that no "real argument" against these people?

@KingdomHeartsFan Funny thing is, they do get money from it... they shipped that game to a retailer and they got the money from them and when it was originally purchased. It's not like they don't get money from the guy who resold it, they already did.

@roboshort
If they also move into SNES, Gamecube and N64 games, they will easily add value and justify their Nintendo Online subscription service a bit more. Plus they will kill off emulation as the Switch will be THE place to play old games and not bother messing about with files and emulation. Another reason to buy a Switch.

Win-win.

@KingdomHeartsFan Oh good, the "Nintendo doesn't make any money on the resale so not getting any money from illegal ROMs must also be perfectly okay" idiocy. Please develop some IP so I can steal from you.

@AlternateButtons while I think theft is wrong. We clearly have a different base line on what I would refer to as evil. I personally leave that word for murderers etc. But each to their own.

@NiaBladerunner
You know, i just ONLY need rated Everyone & Everyone 10+ games (With a few Teen games) for my life.

@KingdomHeartsFan The difference is that someone bought a single copy for full price and sells a SINGLE copy to the next person. In most cases the guy selling the copy doesn't profit from it because they sell it for a lower price most of the time.

Now if a guy buys a game and makes it available to the public online he sells multiple copies of a game he only bought one of. And of course this is worse for a company because it means that with a single copy multiple people can have the game simultaneously which means less sales. And it also means that the guy with the rom can make profit out of something he did nothing for.

I see a pretty big difference here.

@KingdomHeartsFan exactly, that's why your argument doesn't really make sense, you're saying that because they don't make money on it the second time its sold, it's the same as ROMS, however, ROMs never made money for the company they belong to, they're always distributed for free, hence, illegaly.

@Ensemen I went to the site to see what you were talking and could not find where they were selling anything? I didn't even see ads.

So I'm not sure what you're talking about there.

So how are they making money? Most sites on the internet make money off of ads and include other people's IP including this one. So are you all against that as well?

Or is it just OK when you say it's OK and wrong when you decide it's wrong? Your personal morals matter to you but they don't to anyone else. If the only defense for an action is its legality than history would have never moved forward.

@JamesJose7 actually someone had to buy a copy of the game for the rom to be made from. Interest in roms could be used to market new titles. Nothing as is simple as it is being made here.

@DreamerDC @Cosats

I've also noticed that. Many people here act like we are a church of Nintendo rather than customers with an interest in video games. The word "entitlement" gets bandied about too often here, but it is Nintendo's job to please their customers and keep us purchasing, playing and promoting their products.

Nintendo should offer all these games as part of their online service or they should put them on a virtual console (or alternative) for sale.

@KingdomHeartsFan When you sell the game, you no longer have the game and someone else has the game. With roms, you have the game and the other person has the game without any sale. Understand?

Lol butt hurt lol.can't wait for all to. Sites to be gone

@MichaelHarvey ‘entitled’ is the new hip word that everyone throws about if anyone complains about anything. Don’t think Nintendo release enough games? You’re ‘entitled’. Don’t like a certain film you were a fan of? You’re ‘entitled’. Then comes the if you don’t like it don’t buy it special. It’s just the time we live in.

These comment sections always draw the line between "die-hard Nintendrones fighting for The Man" and "Downtrodden Consumers fighting against the Corporation". Personally, I lean towards the side that has legal standing-as in, Nintendo technically owns these titles, and can do whatever they want with them.

Not that I care much, these sites always pop up, and plenty of people are brave and stupid enough to keep putting ROMS up while drawing attention to themselves against the company notorious for taking down ROMS (because I'm sure no other company has EVER done this before). BTW, nice job to the emulator aggregator site for putting a spotlight on you and everyone else selling these ROMs, I wonder if Nintendo will be kind enough to ignore what everyone's doing THIS time around

@Trikeboy and the only person who made money off that second sell is the person who originally bought the game not the publisher and not the creator. Understand?

I love the way people act like publishers haven't also gone after the resell market in the same way with the same reasoning. You all want to regurgitate the party line so you should all be against resale as well just like the corporations themselves.

And to be clear I'm not just referring to Nintendo.

@saintayu What are you even talking about?
Even if they really don't make a single penny from this (which i highly doubt) they are still distributing something for free that other people have worked for. How can you not see a problem with that?

And what? Can you really not see a difference between what nintendolife is doing amd what an ILLEGAL rom-site is doing?

Of course everyone decides for themselves what they think is wrong and what is right but so do you? what does that even have to do with this discussion.

I know I'm not as active as I used to be - I'm currently more of a "lurker" - but with another ROM site thread I felt the need to speak my mind.

I get the fact that we're all Nintendo fans who love their games and IPs. I got my start on PlayStation but I've converted to Nintendism ever since the GBA/GCN era and never quite came back (aside from Xbox consoles for third parties and the PSP family for portable PSOne goodness).
That said, the grave-dancing when it comes to ROM sites taken down is an itty bitty too much for my taste. Speaking of taste, @Anti-Matter, you haven't finished that popcorn bucket already, have you? Good!
[puts his hand in AM's bucket, then an audible crunch is heard]
Mmm, good. Where was I? Oh, yeah.
My viewpoint is in kind of a middle ground, so to speak. While I get that Nintendo has the legal right to act the way they're doing, I don't think they also have the moral right to do so. Don't let the legal nomenclature make you think otherwise: the adjective "legal" and the adjective "right" are not to be mixed up, in any circumstance outside of a courtroom.
That said, the focus of the article is not only a merely ballsy move on the website's part, but overly so. Given the aforementioned legal rights playing a big part here, the website is either going out in a major blaze of glory as suggested by several comments before mine, or they're just trying to state a point - namely, their moral rights.
Emuparadise had a donation system giving users the option to choose if they wanted to just download whichever game was in there, or to give them money in exchange for the option to download more games simultaneously. While the offer more or less could cover server costs as is the case with, say, the Nintendo Online Service itself (just to stay topical), pro-ROMs and anti-ROMs users alike would most likely argue that there is a potential gain margin at work, while also nodding for good measure. It's part of what makes emulation very much a grey area, so I won't act like I'm a legal expert of any sort.
But suppose for example that Emuparadise did, theoretically, give a certain amount of the money they got to pay Nintendo, Sony, or fill in the blank with any corporation of your choice... yeah, to pay them for the trouble. Now, wouldn't this scenario look an awful like, say, Netflix? Any service giving the public the option to pay a little and to get a fair amount of content in exchange would sound like a fair compromise whenever the ROM topic is brought up. Or at least, almost - the utter lack of ownership over content is always a legitimate concern for the general public and I can't blame them for this one bit. Remember, if you said companies "don't owe us content", stop for a moment and consider that as long as you don't lose it, any game disc you have is still your property, which (after going digital with my 3DS) I have found out to be a very strong pro-physical argument, hence my preference for cartridge in the Switch era.
Back to the ROM topic, however - I see that we're in a situation where both sides have to make a step forward. Downloading a current game is 100% illegal when considering legal part, and 90% wrong when considering the purely moral compass-related side of things (with a 10% of good faith towards whoever can't afford a game for circumstances outside his or her will). Sure: downloading Super Mario Odyssey is super wrong-ee oh-nay-nay, there's no denying that.
But consider a game like, say... DinoCity for the SNES. Does the legal alternative exist? And don't you dare mentioning the actual SNES on eBay like some smart guy, because I'm talking about a below-100-bucks scenario (damn, even Reggie said you shouldn't pay more than 80 for the SNES Mini, which has 20 games in it last time I checked). So what's at the top of the list when applying common sense? That's right, emulation!
So here's my two cents - ROM sites shouldn't allow you to pirate current-gen software, but older and unavailable software is fair game to me. For unavailable software that gaming giants do have the rights for, though, making it available should the most sensible choice. Remember: celebrating about the demise of such sites is pointless - you're not getting one cent out of the supposedly huge amounts of cash Nintendo gets out of this.
Nintendo is not legally "supposed" to give us a Virtual Console (nor are we entitled to demand for one, but asking is still permitted), but a VC on Switch would give them a strong moral argument between the various ROM site takedowns. The Nintendo Online Service is at least a good amount of confirmation that older games are indeed coming to Switch, but their dependence on subscription points towards the lack of ownership I was talking about in my off-topic paragraph which, as far as concerns go, is a different beast altogether.

Meanwhile, until the legal alternative comes, my English-patched Mother 3 ROM isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

@Ensemen you and several others have said that they are making money so that's what that has to do with the discussion.

Now you change the goal posts when you realize that you and everyone else saying it have no proof that money is being made.

And there is a legal difference but really by posting about roms and emulators like this Nintendolife is making money off of them and being complacent. Just because they keep using the word illegal doesn't absolve them from the fact that they are exploring the situation for profit. And I don't have a problem with that but your side probably should giving how moral you are.

Things die in the dark and this is only shedding light on the issue and making it even bigger.

You're the one that said they were selling roms. It's on you and others saying that to prove it.

@saintayu 1 ROM copy = infinite distribution, 1 Physical copy = 1 Physical copy. It's simple, it's illegal and there is no way around it. I'm not even arguing in defense of Nintendo, it's the same for all media, movies, music and other game companies too. ROMs are fun, but don't defend them as if they were legal just because you're getting them for free very easily.

@JamesJose7 I have never said they were legal. I don't see anyone saying that. I said that no makes money off the resale but the seller who did not make or distribute the game. No matter how many times that game is sold it will never make them money. That is the same thing and that is why publishes would like to do away with the resell market as well.

Just because something is illegal doesn't make it right or wrong. I suppose you support the police who beat woman trying to vote because at that time it was illegal or any of the other things that have been done that were legal but wrong?

I'm not comparing the two. I'm pointing out that the it's legal so it's OK defense is really the lowest one you could use but it is technically correct.

@saintayu nani?? xD what was that police argument all about haha, talk about going off on a tangent. Time to leave this thread, it was fun discussing this though.

@AlexSora89
Good analysis of the situation. You should "weigh in" a bit more.

@JamesJose7 it was illegal for woman to vote in the US. I am pointing out that by the logic of most in this thread woman should have just accepted that it was illegal and couldn't be changed.

And that everyone who's argument hinges only on legality would surely approve of the measures taken to ensure those women didn't violate the law as being acceptable.

It wasn't directly a response to you personally so much as your argument.

And yes this discussion is fun and interesting. XD

@AlexSora89
Yo !
Long time no see.

@MichaelHarvey
Thank you! I just tried to, er, examine just why I felt neither the "yay get 'em pirates Nintendo!" approach nor the "long live ROMs, you're never catching us alive Nintendo!" one is 100% reliable.

@KingdomHeartsFan

Because you purchased it and decided that you either didn't want it anymore, or that you needed some money.

Sharing roms for free are more like recording an entire album or a movie. Or perhaps more like streaming.

Selling roms, which is what those two moron websites decided to do, is akin to making and selling bootleg copies.

Perhaps a good alternative would be to make games whose creators are long gone, public domain if no one picks them up, after a certain amount of years.

@Anti-Matter
Fowwy if I left youw popcown bucket haff-empty. [resumes munching]

@HappyRusevDay @Syrek GoNintendo didn't need to mention it because it's sourced to NintendoSoup, which is then sourced to TorrentFreak. GoNintendo is actually the only one that didn't name the site or show the video, which is kind of like saying "We won't show it here, but this is where we heard about it and you can see it".

Sites hosted in Russia, China and South America are immune to Nintendo.

make your games legally easy and for resonible price to get. just look at music industry before and now.

TVTropes: "Bullying a Dragon"

@MichaelHarvey the same old NES games over and over.

@saintayu Yeah they may not make money off of these games but that still doesn't change the fact that they are still taking away sales from the developer. And of course do i think that making money off of this situation is even worse but that doesn't change the fact that you are still stealing someon else's property and selling it for free.
And of course nintendolife is making money off of this sitaution that's their job? Reporting on stuff you know.
But you know, they are not taking someone else's work and distributing it for free. They are actually doing work on their own.

Right or wrong? I don't care, this is amazing. All my hats off to you!

@MichaelHarvey The problem is any service they make will never be good enough because there will be titles that can NEVER come to a service like that, many many many titles that are stuck in publisher copyright limbo. That is why roms and emulation are good.

I guess we now know which rom site is run by immature children...

Tired discussion. But it's all for the clicks, I guess.

Also, great job promoting the site in question.

I would like more positive reports on all stuff Nintendo. But hey, if this kind of articles is what people actually wants, I'll shut up and leave.

So you almost get sued, and have to close down your website because, yes your illegally uploading roms. So Nintendo agrees to not sue, you close down the site..... and then open another one and advertise on social media that your releasing it! I forsee a law suit in 3...2....1....

Balls of steel! =O

@Syrek24 I have all the roms anyways, but if you didn't make money off of your games that are 30 years old by now, too bad that is fair game. The only other thing I do that is "illegal" is smoke Marijuana, but that will be legal soon here anyways. Art is to be experienced by all and true gamers view games as timeless art.

@Syrek24 @Jokerwolf
You could have fooled me when you said you're not a petty child. Your comment is just snide attacks on another commenter.

@Jokerwolf Sorry, bro, but art is an economic good, and artists have legal protections. No alleged timelessness entitles the public to consume it for free.

@MichaelHarvey Petty children are easily fooled.

@Jokerwolf
Well it's a good point. Games based on movies are very unlikely to be released again. But Nintendo can at least make a service that covers the needs of 90% of people. Instead they don't bother.

@PanurgeJr
Another one. You think it's 'us' and 'them' when it comes to debate and talking about this. Grow up you sad person.

@MichaelHarvey You mean the wants of 0.009% of people. Commenters on fan sites are pretty much the opposite of the average gamer.

@MichaelHarvey Both grown up and not sad about anything. Try again. Oh, and this time, try not to demonstrate the quality you're criticizing.

@PanurgeJr
This is not a fan site. It is a Nintendo news site. You even speak like a young teen. Do your homework, son.

@MichaelHarvey Well done doubling down on the petty insults. You are to be commended for that, at least. And at most.

@Jokerwolf
We still alive WITHOUT playing All games that has ever been exist.
If we don't have any chance to play some specific games, just MOVING ON / LET IT GO !
There are more important things than just playing video games.

Pay for your games. Period.

@Anti-Matter Doesn't bother me too much because I own all the roms on my physical backup solutions, multiple copies of them including bios images for every console that ever existed. It is just a futile effort by Nintendo and any other company.

Nintendo has a legal requirement to protect its properties. Because if you explicitly make an exception, you lose your rights to them. Official licenses are a separate matter.

@PanurgeJr.
It's not an insult. We were all that age at some point. At least I understand the rationale to your posts here. You're a super fan and this is a "fan site". I also like Nintendo and their games, but no company is beyond criticism or feedback.

@Jokerwolf
What a pity...
I Removed ALL my pirated games long time ago.
I start from ZERO again.
I Sacrificed my addiction with pirated copies by NOT to play any pirated copies for more than 1 year.
I knew what was my feeling to NOT play my games anymore.
It was HURT.
But my Sacrifice has paid off by my Original collections, bought with my own money, from my salary, and my patience to get the Original games came to me.
And i felt happier to get Original games rather than pirated games from ROMs and Emulators.
Because i DO RESPECT with Nintendo / 3rd party developers for making good games for my collections.

Looking at their website they're seemingly "sticking it" to small indie devs too. I mean good thing they're "preserving" Cuphead and Undertale, Night in the Woods right?

Honestly just browsing their website and knowing that they're unfairly offering all that hard work for free just doesn't sit well with me.

@MichaelHarvey If you can tell me, accurately, my age and educational background, then I will accept that perhaps you are offering constructive criticism. If you are ignorant of these details and still say it anyway, then I must conclude that it is a petty insult from a man trying to rationalize how his pettiness is somehow different and more acceptable than other people's.

And every company is beyond having their copyright infringed. There's nothing of criticism or feedback involved in the stealing of ROMs.

@Anti-Matter Oh I have been collecting a lot of old school games too don't get me wrong, I do love my old school collection too, I even have some super rare stuff not many people have. I understand they have to protect their IP when they can as well. I just think in the end it is pointless that is all.

@Gelantious But if a company wants to distribute only a select amount of products they are entitled to do so. If people haven’t been able to play these rare games, them downloading them for free offer no benefit to the original creators.

I’ll admit I have downloaded a lot of roms, I try to only get roms I have physical copies of. But as others have mentioned it is an odd “gray area” when it comes to legal stuff. I have had quite a few friends which pirate games, also download roms because they can’t afford games. I do think that is wrong as things cost money for a reason. But if someone is downloading roms for other productive reasons such as historical preservation, studying, or game development I think that is fine. But as I said in a previous comment if a company wants to limit the amount of games they release they have every right to. And people will find a way to download them for free which I have no issue with. But once people start trying to say they have some god given right to download those games for free then I think that isn’t right. Everybody steals something in their life, but you don’t hear people saying how they have the right to rob houses or steal cars. Anyways that’s my 2 cents

@Yorumi Not using your copyright isn't hoarding, and nobody is obligated to sell anything they don't wish to. Consumers are entitled to buy only what is offered, not anything whatsoever.

@RazorThin
My another 2 cents.
We Can Still Live WITHOUT Gaming.
There are A Lot of ways to entertain us.
If we couldn't take a chance to get into some specific gaming experiences, just MOVING ON from Video gaming world.
By doing so, we could behave wiser and happier by NOT Addicted by something that will lead to such a dirty tricks like that.
We Can LEAVE from games piracy if we WANT to CONTROL our Desire.
Control your Desire to NOT wanting everything even by illegal ways.
Keep practice controlling our Desires.

@Stocksy Supply and demand (which is one of the most important reasons for physical to continue.) It's not the same thing because when the disc was printed, one tangible license was sold. You may resell your license if you wish, but Nintendo sold one license, and that one license can only be used by the current holder of the license. Like holding an automobile title. You can sell the vehicle, and transfer the title, hand over the key, and then you cant use it anymore. The mfr made one, sold one, and one person can use that one at a time. If they made 1,000,000 of them, there are 1,000,000 of them in circulation at any time, and the value of that item (or scarcity and thus demand for new items!) remains.

Digital copying however, Nintendo sells 1,000,000 licenses, however users endlessly duplicate them and there are now 10,000,000 licenses in use in the world. This changes the supply of games, the demand of games, value of games, impetus for rereleasing, remastering, or building sequels, etc.

No, Nintendo gets no money from the eBay sale nor from the download. But in the eBay sale, the one license Nintendo sold is still one license. In the ROM example, that one license is now 5. It's printing money rather than simply transferring what was bought. Economies are significantly more complicated than a simple "money for A, no money for B" if it affects the market (or the market to resell something.)

Case in point, if infinite copies of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 could have existed, the business case for Nintendo to re-release it on 3DS and WiiU as well as create a sequel would have been far, far lower.

@Syrek24
I love your comments.
Keep preaching them with the Right things to do.

@Stocksy I don’t think the people who disagree with ROM sites care about money. Seems most are saying it’s the principle of the matter. What gives these sites the right to distribute, sell, share intellectual property that isn’t theirs? Haven’t heard anyone crying about Nintendo’s pockets/bottom line.

@KingdomHeartsFan Well, when I sell my game on eBay I’m selling something I own. It’s called the first sale doctrine. Pretty sure these ROM sites don’t own anything so not sure how it’s comparable at all.

@NEStalgia Yeah I'd say the closest equivalent is like printing counterfeit money. The effect doesn't take money away but instead devalues the existing supply.

Must had been super butt-hurt cause they no longer can get stuff for free. Making games is hard work man, unless you can make one yourself be like everyone else, go out, and just buy the thing. These are the same people that want things for free but weep and cry when their precious companies goes under, will what do you expect, no support means no more games.

Nintendo has had some nice Virtual Console services in the past but there's still A LOT of obscure Nintendo content that needs to be preserved. 64DD had few gems with VERY limited availability in Japan (F-Zero X Expansion Kit with an amazing track editor) and most of the Satellaview stuff was saved by fans for the future before it was discontinued.

@Dr_Lugae Exactly. Though I suppose it's also a counter-balance these days now that publishers are pushing digital.... The monetary comparison to that would be a bank that can print all the money it wishes without ever devaluing supply.

So basically the US Federal Reserve....

@AlexSora89 Hey Alex, long time no see - hope you're doing well. I completely agree with what you're saying.

I will also add that emulation is the fundation of good journalism. A good journalist has to research and play games to make connections, draw comparisons etc, basically to know what they are talking about...emulation is the only effective way to do it. Just think of how little we would know about videogame history without MAME.

@NEStalgia Eh idk. A lot of people run that game with HD textures and still own multiple copies of it.

@Anti-Matter dude quit being weird. You're acting like this is some cult.

@Trajan
Weird what ?
Some peoples want to play the games by Legal way.
Controlling our desires is the key important for us to not getting involved into wrong ways.

@Anti-Matter I got what you're saying. Practice self-control and moderation

It's very hard for a lot of 1992+ borns to get access to these old roms, because they didn't grow up in the retro eras of console gaming, like I did. I commend the sites that Nintendo are going after, because I want more people to experience the kinds of games I did growing up.

That's the problem with physical media; as time goes on, it can become harder to track down a copy at a reasonable price, if at all. Well, there's always torrents - it's impossible to truly wipe data from the Internet once it's already out there.

@Anti-Matter And that has nothing to do with this topic.

I don't do the whole ROM thing outside of the SNES classic, and for sure will do so on the N64 classic, but I already own those games.

If I wanted to sit in front of the computer (which I hate), I'd play Xenoblade 1 with improved HD textures. I also own this game, and it is my favorite franchise.

You can do a lot of neat things with emulators. Nothing morally wrong.

Nice to see the Nintendo Moral Guardians are here to save the day!

@EightBitMan I see you've added the "but free advertising" argument to the list of ridiculous non-arguments you've made. But then again, you think "fckdrm" is reasonable, so at least you're consistent.

But I am surprised it took you 150 comments to chime in. I'd expect an obsessive troll like yourself to be much quicker.

Doesn't Nintendo copyright claim Let's Plays due to the audio from the music in their games? If that's true, I imagine the easy solution to not being copyright claimed by Nintendo would be to turn off the audio in Nintendo's games.

I'm all for emulation and roms, not like the big N has never downloaded a rom before.
If there wasn't any roms loads of videogame history would be lost to time and that's a fact.

@Trajan
But, i decide to play the game Just The Way It Is, NO Emulators, NO Forced Improvements, JUST Being Original.
I Don't Need Better improvements from illegal ROMs & Emulator.
My PC is NOT to do such things like that anymore.
Can i just play my games from their actual machines ?

@MichaelHarvey
Exactly!

Nowadays, websites that provide digital products for free, but that is illegal in any way, will not stop, there will simply be new ones in another place, and; so in addition, 20, 30 sites downed now?, when on the internet there thousands and more than thousands of websites, you think that some company, besides Nintendo could demolish that, it's "super hyper mega" difficult (XD), but in this case, Nintendo has to do what it has to do to protect its intellectual properties even if it looks like battle lost, and also, even if we do not like those actions, but it's better that way.

and I clarify that this is a fact, I am not in favor of piracy obviously, and I can support "fan things" (fan games, fan arts, fan fics, etc); However, we must accept these things, companies must protect their products and we must accept legality, and of course we seek to support what we like, in addition to sometimes trying to give more than what the company develops; But, if we seek dialogue with the company and try, correctly, we can make fan games, and, in this case, preserving and replaying the classic video games, can coexist, without affecting the companies.

Ok, my comment again about this, continue with your discussion.

@KingdomHeartsFan it’s called first-sale doctrine. Look it up. You are legally allowed to sell it. Nothing like ROMS at all. Not sure why people keep up with the comparisons.

@KingdomHeartsFan yes, NO ONE sells ROMs

And it’s about distribution. They are allowing for the illegal distribution of someone else’s IP. Selling your old, used SNES cart of Mario Kart isn’t the same thing. That was my point. So again, why do people keep comparing ROM sites with selling a used copy of a game you legally bought & owned?

@KingdomHeartsFan

I heard that two sites ninty decided to go after was selling them. Not for very much but still, Nintendo and anyone else is well within their rights to protect their property.

But yes, some games haven't been picked up by anyone and it would be a crying shame to lose them.

There's nothing wrong with making games like that freely available.

@Tyranexx. Lol

@KingdomHeartsFan Cleary 🤝

@Anti-Matter Yeah. I don't do that stuff either, but I also don't like playing in front of my PC anymore.

However since getting my Switch I got a new style TV. Unfortunately old systems look like garbage on it. So I bought Nintendo's emulators. Can't wait for the N64 version. I do put additional ROMs on these machines of games I already have, or wanted to check out (Chrono Trigger, which I bought after playing for 6 hours). Since Nintendo started this I have downloaded a torrent with every single N64 game. If I could have downloaded all thr old games I had individually I would have, but this was easier since they started scaring people. I'm sure others will do the same, which actually makes it worse for Nintendo. I own all the great 64 games except for Kart. You better believe me and my friends will be playing Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on a N64 classic.

Virtual Console is also an emulator. Funny, as I skipped the Wii and Wii U generation I had no idea such a thing existed until a year ago.

I am also excited for the 64 classic so I can play fan made games like Goldfinger 64, and the hilarious Super Trump 64 (Mario 64 where you have to get over the border wall).

You do you. But don't go declairing yourself the arbiter of morality. Nintendo is just trying to get this done while they still have money. If they go back to their old ways and lose the core gamers, all they will have is licensing the old games. I love Nintendo too, but these actions are leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

@Tempestryke

But there is a small, mini, tiny problem, all Third Party games that have appeared on the platforms of (in this case) Nintendo, are under a License (yes, the famous: "Licensed by Nintendo"), that license is also a "kind" of intellectual property, which means that both Nintendo and the company that owns that Third Party game are the only ones that can decide the fate of the game, if that license is lost, then the game is free, but as long as it exists, and that means that Nintendo continues paying that license, will continue to be owned by Nintendo (and the original owner, which, if it does not exist now, because even so, it is still owned by Nintendo)

Edit: Well, doing a little research, I see that the license has nothing to do with whoever owns it, but I "feel" that if it has something to do with it, but well, I need to investigate more.

Theory: what if Nintendo is doing this due to the new president? What if Nintendo is planning for repeated failure in the market again, and is trying to lock this stuff down? Remember: for the longest time the only thing Nintendo had was nostalgia.

Hope not, but who knows.

@ReaderRagfish But, the company taking down the sites has been caught downloading said rims and reselling them so everyone in this situation is kinda looking like an idiot.

@Trajan I think it's just a cleanup in time for the Nintendo Online Service. They've sent out DRMs before that coincided with a big release.

@KingdomHeartsFan The belief that distributing ROMs is okay simply because someone isn't profiting is idiotic. If you believe holding one idiotic opinion makes one an idiot, then yes, I'm calling anybody who believes that an idiot.

@Trajan
Fine.
Do whatever you want, but i still stand on my RIGHT way to play.
I'm satisfied by playing the games with Just The Way It Is quality.

No, thanks. I REFUSE to join with your WRONG way to play video games.
I will JOIN with other gamers who still care about playing LEGAL & ORIGINAL.

@KingdomHeartsFan Suppose I take the cartridge from Walmart without paying, rip the ROM, upload it to my website (in the spirit of video game history preservation of course), then return the cartridge to Walmart. What then? I’m sure you’d say it’s a victimless crime because, after all, Walmart would be losing the money if someone bought it from EBay or GameStop anyway. And Nintendo would lose money if someone bought it secondhand. Walmart doesn’t lose the cartridge and can sell it to the next person. No harm done, amirite? Surely these evil corporations have made enough money already.

@Anti-Matter Yeah I'm probably going to buy the thing to rip ROMs so I can have my 100% complete Goldeneye save on my N64 classic.

I don't want you to join me. I want you to think for yourself.

The twitter post seems to be gone now.

I made a quick google search for this ROM site and came to what I believe is their webpage. Checked the game collection and there's a lot of newer games there. Are you ROM defenders also supporting that?

I can almost understand it if there's an extremely rare game from the 80's - early 90's only available via ROM's, but a game like Crysis that's only 11 years old? Or A Hat in Time? Or Hollow Knight? Is that OK?

Where to draw the line? Which games are OK to spread? Which are not? And I'm not talking legally here: obviously none of it are OK from that point of view.

@joey302
Congratulations for the most IGNORANT post ever !
Enjoy your Sins & foolishness.
Oh..... but be careful with Bad Karma that will comes to you soon.

@BladedKnight
Remember, whatever we did, soon we will get the feedback. It could Good Karma or Bad Karma, depend on what you did last time.

@BladedKnight
Whatever you said, dude.
Whatever you said....

@KingdomHeartsFan Well there is always the chance that these games rerelease on the virtual console you never know. I don't have a problem with emulating games per se, if you owned a game and broke it sure go on and emulate it. Or if a game will probably never be rereleased again because of copyright issues or something like that then sure go on and emulate it. But please don't act like you are on the moral high ground when doing these kind of things and don't act like nintendo are idiots because they are trying to crack down on these things.
And by the way these sites they closed down didn't sell only games that would never be rereleased again. A lot of these games you can buy on the wiiu or 3ds vc. I mean just look at the site in the article. Selling Cuphead and other new titles, this has nothing to do with preservation, this is just wrong.

Wow, so much double standards in the comments section.

Nintendo keep taking down the rouges!!!!

@DreamerDC
They shall be exalted in the heavens, far above the earth. Our Lord God Nintendo keeps a watchful eye.

Forgive me for I have sinned

About the only way for this to end (at least in the US) is for citizens to collectively hold congress hostage until they roll copyright back to the 14 years w a set number of years with renewal: fees being a percentage of total profits or X number of dollars (whichever is larger). This would make sure that products with no continued commercial value would re-enter the public domain, and that public domain media would satisfy the majority.

Because honestly, after 14 years most games are not even given a second thought by the majority of people and by 28 years, they are all but forgotten.

@Anti-Matter wow that’s pretty messed up...ignorance?? Really??? You don’t know a damn thing about me bro! For one thing my original game collection is 8,000+ games and 35 or so Systems since I’m 12 years old starting with the 2600. 100 grand investment easy! And every weekend for 27 years I go out and buy 3-4 games to support this industry and my hobby so I don’t owe you or anyone else justification here. I’ve spent plenty of money on this hobby. Stop kissing Nintendo’s ass they don’t need your help! They’re STILL incompetent and the Switch saved their ass coming off the Wii U so stop...please...i used to be that way with Atari and then Sega...then i grew up. I have every single right to call out on Nintendo for being a bunch of cheap, incompetent, senseless lazy asses! Thx

@Anti-Matter oh and thanks for wishing me harm and bad karma! Real decent and human of you ya jerk!

@BladedKnight thank you buddy! 😉

@joey302
Whatever you said....
Whatever you said....

@Anti-Matter it is what is Said! How bout read the above posts and pay attention. Just cause you’re broke ass doesn’t give you right to take it out on others and their opinion🤪🤬
And BladedKnight is right! Chill out Edger!

@KingdomHeartsFan The 10 most popular SNES games on Emuparadise were all either available on the SNES Classic Edition or at least one Virtual Console (usually both). The Disney vault argument is a smokescreen (even though it’s entirely in Nintendo’s rights to make a game and not rerelease it for 20+ years as they did with Star Fox 2 - you might not like it but they can do so).

@KingdomHeartsFan Wondering why idiocy and its spread would bother someone is kinda idiotic...

From reading further comments it seems that a lot of people are happy to actively mod / emulate etc. Shame on you, you are the skurge on the industry.

And please don't hide your illegal actions behind 'opinion'.

Having done some more reading into this... I have come to the conclusion that Nintendo are going to lose this fight.

I love Nintendo but this really is a losing battle for them. Aside from the fact that any legal action they attempt to take with China wouldn't hold any water, just look at the state of Manga and Anime streaming for example, any attempt by Shonen Jump to stamp it out has failed very badly because of China and private servers hosted in China that no other countries legal jurisdiction has any sway over.

The roms and emulators subject is a legal grey area in many western countries too. The only real option for them is to move in with a real legal option of their own and force close the shoddy ones that keep popping up.

And i personally think they intend to do just this.

@KingdomHeartsFan .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

@KingdomHeartsFan
You keep talking about preservation and the games that will never ever been released anymore.
You know what is better solution ?
Just LET THEM GO !
Learn to control your desire to NOT get attached Too Much with video games.
We can play something else or we can DO something else better than crying out the games that we will never able to play it again.
Nothing is Eternal.
We CANNOT Keep our games on graveyard and bring to Otherworld, so just LET THEM GO by the time we don't have any chance.
Think wisely, you will play happier.

@KingdomHeartsFan Yeah i do think you should emulate a game if you're sure it is never gonna be rereleased again. But i still think that you shouldn't be angry at nintendo for not giving you these games. They gave you them on the original console and they don't owe you anything after that. You get for what you pay. Again no problem with emulating in these situations imo but don't be so entitled when you don't get what you want (not reffering to you of course).

I see the Nintendo Moral Guardians are out in force.
Yes, ROMs are technically illegal. Nintendo has the legal right to do this, but it does not have the moral right.

I want to play Mother 3, but I can't read Japanese. A ROM is a perfectly reasonable solution until Nintendo gets its head out of its butt and releases it here in America (which is obviously NEVER going to happen at this point).
Satellaview games would be lost forever without emulation. Why is letting good games get lost forever seen as acceptable and right?

@Yorumi I agree with that sentiment. Isn't that what is happening with music?

Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!

This makes me glad that I've kept all of my old games and consoles over the years.

@spizzamarozzi
Well, you're giving MAME too much credit. Although, then again, when it comes to my knowledge of gaming history I have this little godsend of a magazine to thank for.

Rest in peace, NRU.
(In case you're wondering about how well I'm doing, check here for a quick chuckle.)