You can also legally play them.

If you own the game are roms illegal. ROMs like Hellfire Taco said are illegal but not the emulator itself. ROM sites are falling but a legal loophole could save game emulation Console Classix and The Open Library show a way forward for online ROMs. It is also illegal.

There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backuparchival copy exception. It is not a second copy rule and is often. Pragmatically no one cares if you download roms.

Unauthorized copying and distribution of ROMs or the game files themselves for use with emulators is illegalUnder United States law downloading copying and distributing copyrighted ROMs is always illegal. If you want to emulate with the maximum amount of legality youll have to dump your own ROMs directly from your cartridges. Video game ROMs are illegal even if you own a physical copy of the titles.

Your game copiesbackups are your own games and they are yours. ROMs Are Always Illegal. Emulating a Game Legally.

You can get in trouble for downloading ROMs of games no longer sold as well and hosting illegal content is illegal too. Yes Downloading Nintendo ROMs Is Illegal Even if You Own the Game But Insert Failed Video Game Company Here No Longer Exists. These are considered illegal unless you own the game itself.

No matter whether you own your copy of the game downloading roms non-homebrew is illegal as they are a copy that someone has distributed. While there may be some exceptions if you do own the game and rip the ROM yourself most of us are likely to just download ROMs that are already available online. Nintendo explains it pretty well on their legal page.