Are Nintendo ROMs legal?

It is illegal to download a Nintendo ROM from the internet whether or not you own an authentic copy of that game.
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Is it illegal to download Nintendo ROMs?

On its own, the possibility of playing older games in whichever environment you please sounds like a nice option to have. But while emulators are free and legal, ROMs are not.
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Is it illegal to play switch ROMs?

No, downloading Switch ROMs for free is a violation of copyright law. It`s important to respect the intellectual property rights of game developers and publishers. 2. Is it legal to create my own Switch ROMs from physical copies of games I own?
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Is emulating a Nintendo game illegal?

Emulators are legal, as emulating a system is not exactly the same as copying proprietary code of that system. Except those emulators which require the BIOS files to run, they are illegal. Since NES emulation does not require bios files that won't be a problem.
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Is Nintendo cracking down on ROMs?

Nintendo's Piracy Crackdown Continues, Wins Another Court Case Against ROM Site - IGN.
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Emulators and Roms are they LEGAL?

Will Nintendo sue me for downloading ROMs?

It is illegal to download a Nintendo ROM from the internet whether or not you own an authentic copy of that game.
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What happens if you get caught with ROMs?

If you own a game physically, you are likely to emulate or own a ROM of the game. However, there's no legal precedent in the United States to say it's illegal. There is no trial on record of any company going to court over emulators or ROMs and their use.
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Can Nintendo sue you for using an emulator?

Emulating a game you already own is legal. Yuzu is no longer active as of the lawsuit, but last week when it was, it was all above board if you bought a game on the Switch and then emulated it through Yuzu to play it on your PC, so long as you extracted the ROM yourself.
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Are ROMs illegal in the US?

Emulators are legal to download and use, however, sharing copyrighted ROMs online is illegal. There is no legal precedent for ripping and downloading ROMs for games you own, though an argument could be made for fair use.
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How do I legally get ROMs?

One way to acquire legal ROMs is backing up official copies of the games from owned physical medium using cart readers or modded consoles. As long as a physical copy is owned, it is considered to be legal to use a digital copy for personal use.
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Has anyone been sued for emulation?

There have been a handful of emulator lawsuits; described below are three emulator-related legal incidents, one of which is highly significant in that it may finally be the case that sets the precedent for all such cases to follow.
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Why is it illegal to download ROMs?

Game companies and copyright law don't care if they don't publish or make profit of their old games anymore, it's their copyright and they will consider this as a form of piracy.
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Can you get in trouble for emulating Switch games?

Yes, emulators are legal. But we all know that the overwhelming use of them is in illegal situations. What percentage of emulators are only used to play homebrewed games or commercial games that an individual has personally backed up? Almost all other uses are illegal.
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Can ROMs be malware?

The emulators themselves are more likely to give you viruses or otherwise compromise your system than the roms are. Of course if you download from the official sources rather than some random mirror site, you're usually pretty safe.
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Is emulating the same as pirating?

Emulators make software piracy possible by circumventing anti-piracy countermeasures on video game systems. Every Sony PlayStation video game system comes with a special security chip installed that prevents the unit from playing pirated PlayStation games (copies made from the original using a CD burner, for example).
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Is it legal to download a game you already own?

After all, you already paid for it, and you still have the copy. While it's technically infringement to download it, in this case there was zero harm, as long as you keep it to yourself. Other examples of not piracy.
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Is Dolphin EMU legal?

Projects like Dolphin are seemingly not illegal, given they can be used to run homebrew games and applications, developed by fans of an abandoned console. And the emulators themselves most often contain no pirated material or illegal software.
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Does Nintendo care about emulation?

It is also no secret that Nintendo is not a fan of any kind of piracy or emulation whatsoever.
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Why did Nintendo sue Yuzu?

Nintendo argued in its lawsuit that "the vast majority of Yuzu users are using Yuzu to play downloaded pirated games in Yuzu," a fact that could have played against the emulator maker at trial even if non-infringing uses for the emulator do exist.
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Is it illegal to download rom hacks?

Rom hacks are perfectly legal. However, downloading the ROMs themselves isn't. If you patch the hack to the definitely legal roms that you definitely ripped yourself, then you're good. (By the way, no one is going after you for piracy, the police/FBI only actually go after people who distribute pirated content.)
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Is it illegal to download movies for personal use?

Are downloading movies illegal for personal use? Yes mostly. If you are not a subscriber to a streaming service that allows movie downloading and you download from open internet sources, torrents, etc. it is most certainly illegal.
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Why is emulation legal?

While emulation software itself are legal, emulating games is only so when legitimately purchasing the game physically and ripping the contents. Freely downloading or uploading game ROMs across various internet sites is considered to be a form of piracy, and users may be sued for copyright infringement.
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Do emulators get you banned?

No, if You use an Emulator, It does not Ban You. The Game detects if You are using an emulator and matches You with players playing using an Emulator. But, if You use a Keyboard and Mouse Directly while Playing a Mobile Device.
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Is it legal to emulate Tears of the Kingdom?

It's worth noting that emulators aren't actually illegal, but piracy very much is. There's nothing illegal about creating and distributing an emulator, which is likely why Nintendo is using Tears of the Kingdom piracy as justification for the lawsuit.
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Is dumping games legal?

Are dumping games legal? In the USA, it is considered legal to make ROM backups of games you physically own for archival/preservation purposes. It is considered illegal to distribute copyrighted ROMs without a license to do so.
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