If they don't sell them in stores, or even if they don't sell them in your country, Piracy is the only way to play some games. They haven't lost a sale if you weren't able to buy it legally in the first place.
my thoughts exactly. if they provide a way to purchase and play these games legally on modern systems i would but given they dont i have resorted to emulation for more expensive older games and have started learning to rip the roms from my PS1 library
It has been proven that even piracy of released game isn’t a lost sale. The user would likely never have bought or will buy it regardless. But in terms of games no longer available it makes sense to pirate in terms of conserving history. Storage “runs” out, so the more users having a version of the game can help document history of gaming. An example of someone trying to do this recently to some extent is the history of Japanese MCD NDS game for teaching new hires. There is a really interesting video on the intense hunt for it.
They haven't even lost a sale if you can easily find it at a thrift store, if it isn't produced anymore. Nintendo isn't getting royalties on secondhand games.
agreed. it's much better now, but 5/10 years ago, if you wanted to watch various asian film/TV in the western world, you were shit outta luck. most of the times I never had the option of buying it legally, and even if I did, it almost never came with subtitles. piracy was the only way I could actually enjoy a lot of overseas media.
THANK YOU FOR THIS i've seen so many people convinced emulation is piracy (and therefore illegal) it's good to see someone set that rumor for rest for once and for all
@@IceMan2019 If emulation was piracy then Nintendo would be guilty of it themselves. No, emulation is not piracy as emulators themselves are not illegal. What is illegal is downolading roms off the internet.
@@Ashurman666 Emulating a product you own the copyright and distributing rights to, like Nintendo does for their emulations, is not the same as a consumer doing it. Someone who uses an emulator without purchasing those rights by acquiring the game through means of compensating the creator/distributor is committing piracy. Someone who then distributes said game for profit without permission by the creator/distributor is committing an illegal act. An emulator is not illegal and not committing piracy, a person's way of using said emulator is the one doing either one or both of those things.
Because of "pirates", video games are the most well-preserved form of media we have. Their work means that the hard work of countless game developers over the last 40 years will be saved on the internet for people to enjoy forever. It's not about just stealing a game like Nintendo likes to think; this is about making sure as few games as possible become lost media.
This is not applicable to modern games that require an always-on Internet connection for you to play the game (think SimCity), or whose game progress require reading up whatever the online servers give them.
The problem is that, even then, tons of video game content is constantly being lost. Piracy, aside from a small niche of passionates, has the same popularity bias most other modes of consumption do - popular works get pirated a lot, unpopular works don't get pirated at all - which implies the goal is usually not preservation, but consumption. Nintendo in particular has surprisingly good internal archives, so I'm not surprised they don't really feel the preservationist angle of piracy all that much.
Without piracy we would loose so much of video game history and with more and more games being "always online experiences", this problem will only get bigger and bigger over time. I understand that companies don't want people to illegally play their new games, but if a company fails to preserve their own history, then the consumers should have the right to do this job for them. Just my 2 Cents on the matter.
companies other then nintendo dont really care and the sole reason nintendo cares is because in japan there is still a market for older consoles and there games
@@archiemisc ok but if they aren't selling the games that they have stored in their data centers then it's kinda pointless, and the Wii U and 3ds Virtual console will go away some day.
Even he is a great host by himself now, I really enjoy this "old school" use of Anthony, when they put him in contrast with other hosts, he really shines: Calm, knowledgable and with an amazing voice.
Anthony is an impressive presence, I like that Linus seems to know how good of an employee he is as he always listens and learns from him in every video
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO! Dumping your own games isn't pirating - but more people need to be talking about this! I've been on a huge archival spree and was JUST talking about disc rot, hahaha. Also REDUMP is your friend!
Cartridge swap wear is straight up the main reason I was ever interested in stuff like the everdrive. Most people don't realize that simply switching cartridges in and out DOES cause wear, and it's wear that, while technically 'repairable' isn't repairable by your average user. Even those with the knowhow and gear don't want to if they don't have to.
@Clarissa 1986 The first comment says "is straight up the main reason I was *ever* interested in stuff like the everdrive," not "is straight up the main reason I was *never* interested int he everdrive." I made the same mistake reading it the first time too, lol.
Yes, personally, that's a large part of why I use an FPGA to play most of my games. Another one is simply the convenience of playing most of my games via one box with just a swap of controllers.
12:57 "It's valued at $299 Canadian" And now the concept of piracy's unethical nature falls apart. Having to pay over 200 dollars to play a used game in unknown condition (in fact it actually is damaged and can't save) is an unreasonably steep cost. In addition you can only get a used copy anyway so whether you pirate or not the IP owner isn't making any money off of it. I could go on a lot about piracy and its role in the legacy game market, but suffice to say that I think IP law needs an overhaul.
Super Mario RPG was available on Virtual Console on Wii and the Wii U, don't remember the price but something somewhere around $6-10 I think. If I'm not mistaking, the Wii U shop is still open so you can get a legal copy there, right now. It was also included in the SNES Classic Edition (MSRP $80). It appears to not actually be included in Switch Online, but Nintendo might add it there later and it is almost guaranteed they will sell the game in some form again in the future. So, "Having to pay over 200 dollars to play a used game in unknown condition (in fact it actually is damaged and can't save) is an unreasonably steep cost." - the free market has decided that it is indeed not a steep cost, but what a game in that condition is worth. "In addition you can only get a used copy anyway so whether you pirate or not the IP owner isn't making any money off of it." - This is incorrect as it is possible to buy new digital copies of the game right now from Nintendo. "suffice to say that I think IP law needs an overhaul." - I agree, there are many improvements to be made :)
@@janjohansson2567 It's emulated, though. Nintendo is arbitrarily deciding when it's okay to allow emulating a ROM? Especially when Nintendo hasn't actually developed an emulator themselves in decades, if ever? They've been robbing the open-source community like a bunch of rape-happy pillagers from the fucking Viking days while bitching about the villagers daring to make emulators THAT THEY ARE STEALING FOR PROFIT.
I love how the open source community has provided all the handy ROM & save data read-write capabilities we devs had with official Nintendo devkit hardware (I’m a former DS dev, with plenty of years with those IS-NITRO-… blue boxes). Not that the dev hardware let you do everything- R4DSes were pretty common at the studio as well though IIRC that was mostly because encrypting builds to run on production hardware was allowed by the contract with Nintendo, but decrypting was forbidden. As much as I pine to get a contract-broken blue box off of eBay at some point and equivalent hardware for earlier systems, the open source route is much much simpler.
"rules for thee, not for me" Linus needs to get that video out they were talking about. With the team dumping the ROM and then playing Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch) via emulation on the Valve Steam Deck. Dare Nintendo to try and sue them, or take down their (legal) video.
@@ekinteko This isn't so much a "dare", because from a legal perspective, Nintendo has an obligation to defend its intellectual property, or they relinquish their exclusive right to it. That's why it sometimes seems that companies go to absurd lengths to combat piracy. If they knowingly let theft of their IP slide even once, they will be deemed to have abandoned their claim to it and it effectively becomes public domain. If what they're doing has not already been established to be legal by legal precedence in the jurisdiction, they almost have no choice but to unleash the legal team. I'm sure these companies know that what they're doing looks bad, dumb, and even evil sometimes, but like I said, a lot of times it's because they have to do it that way if they want to actually keep their IP.
@@megachonk9440 Nope. The "dare" was that Nintendo was getting Google/UA-cam to ban certain people and pull certain videos down. They have been tight-fisted on this issue. Linus spoke about this with Luke during one of the WAN Shows, and many creators who have that content have purposely refrained from publishing it. Nintendo does NOT want any videos of Switch Games running on the Steam Deck.
@@megachonk9440 "defend it or lose it" only applies to trademarks tho (IIUC, IANAL) like, copyright not dying from lack of defense is part of the PROBLEM; distributing abandonware or out of print books can mean prison time if your local District Attorney dislikes you enough to file charges about it, even if nobody's heard from the rights holders for decades.
@@megachonk9440 you are mixing trademark with intelectual property laws, you don't lose your intelectual property rights if you don't go after every infringement, that's for trademarks
Nintendo could literally solve all their problems if they just gave people the ability to play their games on other devices as long as they have a legal copy of it and they put out a disclaimer saying that you may encounter bugs and such. People are going to do it anyways, so it's just a matter of if Nintendo will kill off their reputation or not.
Much like Apple, Nintendo wants near 100% control of the user experience on their devices with their software. They're also extremely obtuse when it comes to understanding what the people want.
Because in Japan, it's actually illegal to modify anything like game consoles. So dumping the rom requires modified hardware, (and even if you use a dedicated dumper), it ends up being an all encompassing "emulation and ROMs are illegal in Japan". And Nintendo so badly wants to enforce that law everywhere else in the world.
Imagine how amazing it would be if video games entered the public domain 10-15 years after release. Unfortunately, due to a certain mouse, that’s impossible.
I could even see 20 years. For all Works for Hire. And zero extensions. But there were other forces besides a simple mouse- the fact that every other country in the world had those sorts of insane lengths as well. The US was the only one with shorter lengths. So to prepare to accept the Berne Convention, the US started changing its laws to match.
Mickey actually is going to enter public domain on Jan 1 2024. Turns out the extensions to copyright became such a meme that anti-copyright extension groups gained a lot of traction and an extension is now unlikely. It's worth mentioning that only the original Steamboat Willy depiction of Mickey is entering public domain that year though, so you still won't be able to use the more modern depictions of the character for a while.
@@TheRyulord This is exactly why they've started using Steamboat Willy at the start of they're movies, etc. Copyrights expire, but trademarks (to oversimplify that means logos and identifiers) don't if they are still in use. This way, they will still have a case against any major party trying to use Mickey without their permission. How far that will go in court, I have no clue.
@@Hunter____1 You can pretty reliably track the outcome of a (US) copyright/IP case based on the wealth difference between the parties. There are several notable exceptions, but the general rule is bigger company = victory.
Abandon-ware should be free-ware, these games should be straight up free, there is nothing wrong with downloading a game that there is absolutely no reasonable way to play.
But 95% of the games they showed in this video were/are NOT Abandon-ware.... Nintendo re-releases them... so they protect their copyright..Even the old Sega games where available in the Nintendo store...
@@crestofhonor2349 Mickey actually came out of copyright recently. Only og 100 odd year old one though. it was surprising the Disney rule wasn't applied.
This has become a moral issue-letting useful tech die without support and forcing people to lose what they own, all while hoarding the content and refusing to sell it is a cruel practice. We know that inexpensive digital media pricing is the best way to end piracy, but game companies don’t care or try. This leaves it up to the community to solve the problems. What happens if a company goes out of business or shuts down a service? Something good is lost forever due to greed. This is why I hate DRM, price gouging, MTX, and always-online games (even if they are single player!)-they create a single point of failure that is illegal to address. One day in 40-50 years, most of us here will be dead, and the people of the future deserve the opportunity to enjoy what we do. Don’t let companies get away with trying to shut these efforts down: the future depends on it.
Well if a company goes bankrupt and no longer exists, legally everything goes to freeware if the licenses vanished, since there is no one to press charges. Corporations do this all the time, so why can't you as a consumer?
@@archmagemc3561 Wrong. If a company goes bankrupt licenses will be sold to repay their debt. Oftentimes, the license might be cared for even less by its new owner. Also, even if 'everything goes freeware', without pirates backing up the software beforehand and keeping it in circulation, there might be little left to preserve.
There is no moral conundrum if you legitimately own the cartridge involved. Backing up the software you have bought is 100% a right... As for digital media sales, until they start honoring sales cross platform, and guaranteeing access in perpetuity, it is a self defeating issue. Example here is the ROMs sold on the Wii market having to be rebought on the 3ds, for example.
@@kentucky_bandit3493 The problem is, the option of legitimately owning cartridges becomes increasingly difficult over time, as physical media degrades, and the number of working physical copies out there decreases, prices rise to unreasonable levels, or the cartridges aren't available at all. Should people decades from now not be able to play retro games because they never had the opportunity to legitimately buy them?
The amount of knowledge that Anthony has is mind-blowing, thank you Linus for bringing this guy to our screens. More Anthony retro gaming videos please!!!
@@boostedfew8165 100%, his delivery is amazing - he can break down complex thoughts and concepts into understandable, even funny language. Sometimes he gets a bit deep into the weeds; my favorites are videos like this, including interaction with others.
"Pirating" media that you ALREADY BOUGHT in another form should be legal anyways. This idea that the license that YOU OWN for the media is somehow magically bound to the specific physical disc or virtual store you bought it from is one of the stupidest concepts propagandized by corporations onto the public. Corporations only like private property when it's their private property. As to the rest of us, they'd happily make us into digital serfs.
i see your point, and tbh that media gets uploaded because it was purchased at all in the first place. however, they can't really take that risk because not everyone downloading ROMs will strictly OWN the physical cartridge, will they? i do agree that people who own the physical media shouldn't theoretically be harmed legally, but speaking practically, how are the publishers or law enforcement going to know who does and doesn't own a copy of it? not to mention there'd have to be a lot of legal refactoring just to warrant this kind of thing being allowed
If you buy a game, then you should be able to play it for the rest of your life and even give it to your children when you die if you want to. You shouldn't have to buy a game repeatedly because systems aren't backwards compatible. The reality is that hardware fails and often consoles are designed so that they are difficult to maintain and repair. Companies cannot be trusted to preserve their own games and in fact Sony and Nintendo don't really seem to care about preserving their legacy at all when they don't offer old games on their new systems. This is why DRM-free, digital copies of games are so important.
I have a gut feeling that Anthony wrote this one, & I’m all for it. Hopefully Anthony got his saves off that N64 memory card he used on ShortCircuit. EDIT: Oh, Anthony did write this one. Guess it was right without even checking the end credits.
Linus knew this was all for Anthony He just knew it was too cool not to make a video about it, and decided it was still worth it. Thank you Linus, and THANK YOU ANTHONY
Nice video! By the way, articles like the one at 15:54 that says that "piracy cost companies over $3 billion in 1998" make spurious claims, as it is extremely likely that a large percentage of those who bought pirated games for "as little as 70 cents" would not have been able to afford $50 games. So if they had 20 pirated games, the alternative might have them either not even owning a system, or owning 1-2 games for it instead of 20. I'm not at all saying that the sale of those is not piracy. It is. It's just that the claims of "money lost" are likely far from reasonable.
@Sappho True. It's allowed (for now), but I use my parents' Netflix account at my house for free. I watch a video on Netflix less than once per month. The second Netflix doesn't allow this kind of sharing, well, that's the second I don't have Netflix anymore (and don't care that I don't).
this is soooo true - a principal researcher at a well known university is supported by the government at $625/month in 2004 - u actually have an excellent standard of living & buying $50 video games (like I have in the past) is low on the list (and in fact, culturally, video games is one of the last things to turn to, thankfully, as the addict I am!)
True. I'm not buying a movie for £10 for the majority of movies. Sure, for the great ones I will. But if I watch 10,000 movies illegally, the reality is I'd only have bought like 30 of them.
Really don't understand why these games are protected so far out from when the originally released, it's not like anyone sells new copies anymore and it doesn't hurt Nintendo's bottom line.
they're going to be copyrighted for another 100 years probably with the current laws and with the way things are going expect it to be around 200 to 300 years in reality. the current copyright system is cancer. Originally the point was to protect original works from being copied so the creator could profit from them to recoup the cost of development but now companies are just laying back on their library of old stuff that they own basically forever. copyright is supposed to increase competition not decrease it!
Right? As long as Nintendo is no longer officially offering the games themselves, they lose NOTHING whether I pirate the games or buy them for ridiculous prices from eBay.
I really hope Nintendo get's their act together and starts selling us solutions for game preservation, especially for their mobile games. RIP Dragalia Lost.
more likely, they're trying to do the similar policy as Sony. force users into its cloud streaming service to charge as much money as legally possible.
Nintendo already has a solution for game preservation, the problem is they don't have a solution for licensing. Nintendo has a global account system for their modern video game systems but they refuse to attach licenses of purchased games to those accounts rather than the systems. This is why even if you purchased a game for Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console but play the rom on a homebrew emulator on Nintendo Switch, you're still pirating that game. It's all about licensing.
Nintendo is in the business of digital scarcity. Just like the "Disney vault". Pull something from the market, watch demand skyrocket. Just look at the insane prices of secondhand games right now. Nintendo indirectly benefits from this in a major way. It's a marketing strategy to the detriment of customers.
My favorite thing about Anthony is that he is incredibly knowledgeable about this stuff, but he not the know-it-all (that we all know) that just constantly tells you everything about it to show off his knowledge. He's great at explaining stuff in a way that doesn't come across as condescending and makes you feel like you're a part of it too, instead of just watching someone who knows what they're doing. I wish I had saved more of my console stuff from when I was a kid, would be really cool to archive it and play nowadays.
Just a side note for protecting your cartridges: silicone electrical spray really helps protect the pins. It’s used in faders in audio equipment all the time to keep them in working longer.
@@timramich is correcting them for forgetting the letter E in silicon really necessary. And yes I left off the letter E on purpose just to annoy you more
I remember Linus talking about this issue on the wan show, and I fully agree, If i already own a copy/license of a game or movie, should be able to just get an automatic updated format.
I would argue that if it takes time and cost to remaster it such as movies with scanning a negative and adding Dolby Atmos then I get why they don't want to do it for free.
@@simonl2072 tbh from what I ve experianced there is only handful examples of "remastering" is actually done by real pros , real engineers , real humans... most of them looks like/sounds like they tried some AI algorithm do the work then re realising it to make some money flow for the never ending company debts ...
@@flushroyal970 I agree that it's often passed to a subcontractor and it's an attempt to milk the cash cow completely dry. However, nobody is willing to work for free. My biggest issue is ecosystems. You shouldn't need to buy mario brothers on each Nintendo console, if I own the PS3 copy at 30 FPS and there's a pc version that would now run on the ps5 at 60fps why can't they give me the pc version? So I'm on the side of the consumer as long as I'm being fair to cost involved in real remasters and not just republishing. Even if it's proprietary licensed algorithms as there's still testing and IT services.
I see nothing wrong with using Emulators/ROMs, especially as the majority of those games have been discontinued. As long as you're not selling them, there shouldn't be an issue.
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 morality to me on this one is if you own it it doesn't matter. also your not selling it so they wont come for you. i find the nintendo to be authoritarian cause of old japanese law but i doubt they'll do anything about it. i find nothing wrong with it if you own the game tho.
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 i think that that is wrong. Because Nintendo is relying on Sales of Switch games. Anything from the last 2 generations imo should not be pirated/emulated as companies rely on the sales of those games.
The only problem is nowadays "discontinued" games get continued all the time. There's HD remakes coming out, virtual consoles, etc. For example when Nintendo issued a takedown notice for AM2R, they literally had their own remake in production that they would announce less than a year later. At the same time, I hate the current IP laws, but I don't know if that argument of they're not currently selling the game works nowadays as well as it used to. 🤷♂
In Sweden we have a law that makes private copying legal. Read private and not pirate. It basicly means that if I purchase and own a disc of let's say gta for ps2 then I can copy that disc however many times I want. I can also distribute it to my closest family and friends, legally. I can however not resell or distribute to random people, that is piracy. We pay a tax for every storage media, including cell phones and smart watches if they have storage for up to 7 usd per TB for this purpose. So exactly what they are doing here is 100% legal in Sweden.
@@zafraz1077 I just checked the Linus Media Group website in the Our Team section and Jon is still there, thankfully. Hurts to see when original members from when LMG was in the house leave the company.
I love how the solution is to keep charging people for the same product in later generations, but Nintendo refuses to do that even to gain profit. Like we’re supposed to just forget these games as time passes on.
@@TheRealNeoFrancois yeah for real, why has almost every game nintendo has rereleased for the n64 been so bad? Paper mario literally crashes and deletes your saves if you have watt as your active party member and die. A lot of the games lack visual effects that were present on n64, as well.
@@MrNapkino Funnily enough, the Wii had pretty good N64 emulation of their VC titles. Totally playable with decent input lag IIRC compared to the Switch.
Yeah and that is the contrast between what you've said and fact that Nintendo Consoles are the only ones with backwards compatibility [on GBA and GBA SP you can run GBA and GBC games, on Wii you can run GameCube games and on 3DS you can run DS games]
11:12 Put some respect on Castlevania, I played that game so much as a kid and even after playing it on an emulator it's still one of my top favorite games.
Linus: “ was the point of this for me to buy a bunch of stuff so you can use for your collection?” Anthony without missing a beat: “yes” Linus: “ well played ” 🤣 this is a man who both knows the immense value Anthony brings, and is simultaneously broken by systematic employee bullying 😂
@@ecologist0258 They're definitely legendary, but not because people like them. They're particularly well known for Oracle DB licensing, and more recently the Java bait and switch
13:16 Helpful TLDR: I reckon it is your capacitor. Under a dollar to replace. Before assuming the SRAM, it might be the resistor or capacitor. Probably capacitor due to age or as a knock-on effect of the resistor failure. Resistors are more likely if the resistor had got damp at some point. I reckon capacitor is the likely culprit and your SRAM could well be fine. A bad cap could be prematurely draining the battery and _(with or without resistor fail)_ changing the voltage as it writes to the (probably) 16K SRAM. Unless you have a bad solder joint (which I doubt), don't automatically assume the SRAM. You can test the SRAM chip btw. A new (identical) capacitor is a long overdue replacement. Trying saving a traditional new savegame on a real console could be a worthwhile test. A fluctuation in performance smacks of a capacitor _(or resistor)_ because it is intermittent like a voltage spike (creating the artifact). A bad SRAM would either be totally dead _(and not that symptom if it were that sudden)_ or it would be by electromigration, but of that were the case you would expect an array of SRAM, but you have only one 16K chip so it would not be so likely to be intermittent a fault _(variation in bytes that did not verify)_ compared to if you had an array. The SRAM chips places a fast load upon the power when the signal is pulled for the /RAS (row address strobe) "leg" metal strip out of the chip _(and that can be a prerequisite to the CAS signal)._ Inductance is voltage divided by the rate of change in current. So you're probably getting a voltage spike because you have a bad capacitor, resulting in the loss of bits in a RAM chip which is otherwise perfectly functional. A capacitor can be used as a decoupling capacitor. In Direct-Current, a wild variance in voltage in the power line to the chip will cause an undesirible change in the inductance _(hence using a decoupling capacitor)._ Different RAM chips can also have different voltages. Some SNES cartridges are SMD instead of through-hole. That gadget you are using might not expect the right cartriidges. That Mario-RPG is a rather modern cartridge (SMD). I would say, first just try replacing the capacitor _(with an identical rating and type, electrolytic/solidstate, where a film capacitor is superior to a ceramic capacitor in decoupling, and so an electrolytic is unlikely)._ Do also have a look for a discoloured resistor dulled _(if it is even that type of resistor)_ and take a multimeter to it (with magnification). However, it could well be just a busted capacitor with no need for other repair. Remember the kaplon tape over other parts to keep them safe and static protection. Where eye protection when snipping the legs of the capacitor you solder in (or out). Those resistors on the Mario RPG are generally not the big type you ge on other carts like other Mario games. My comment has no hate in it and I do no harm. I am not appalled or afraid, boasting or envying or complaining... Just saying. Psalms23: Giving thanks and praise to the Lord and peace and love.
I’ve never had any moral reservations about emulation. In most cases, the only way I can “own” the game is to buy an old console, and buy a used copy of the game, both on Craigslist or the like. My money going to some guy that bought this hardware years ago provides zero benefit to Nintendo. Yes, original hardware is better and arguably more fun, that’s where the value is. Locking down old IP doesn’t really help anyone, and the fact so many are willing to use sketchy websites and often technical programs to have a nostalgic experience should tell these companies that there should be a better alternative. Take my damn money so I can play on my switch, but don’t yell and scream that I downloaded something you no longer sell.
Agreed, Nintendo wouldn't have such hell with pirates if they were to offer a better alternative (and not some crappy service that you have to pay up to 80 bucks a year for)
@@SUCHMISH Gabe was right. Once I had an income that could support me buying games for sentimental reasons, I looked over the online shops that I had downloaded for the games I wanted. Even then I was still going over them with a comb because game companies can't help but change things, for better or worse. If it's a choice between throwing some money at a online shop to have a game on my PC or pirating, I'm taking the shop. Nintendo of all things has burned me out of wanting to use a console, since they want me to rebuy my legacy games every 5 years or so.
@@leadpaintchips9461 Gabe's philosophy is such a good one. Nintendo could demand full price for their games for all I care, if only they sold them online in an unencrypted ROM format. That, or Steam's model, which seems pretty good about not taking your legally obtained license away. 'Cos, that's the thing. You can't own a game, only a license to it. I'd say that the philosophy of "more convenient than pirating" also is a moral one. If companies want you to keep buying new licenses to the same game because they keep deprecating and removing support for older platforms, they might not deserve the sale. I don't care how much you point at how the law doesn't differentiate between legal and natural people; there is a difference between internationally published digital media sold through retailers 30 years ago, and new personal projects bearing the creator's name, published by said creator, where all money goes to the creator, that are being sold today.
But what if they did sell the game? Like for example i got pcsx2 on my Xbox. I wanna play max payne 2. I never bought it before. Now i can either emulate it or buy it from the xbox store. Here, is emulation wrong?
I don't care about piracy, but the sense of entitlement in most people is silly. You don't have some devine right to play a game, if they don't sell it the options are stfu and it's tough sh*t, or break the law. I have no problem with option 2, but I don't pretend there's some morals involved in it.
14:00 This makes me sad to hear. That is a true classic of a game and deserves a better fate. If LTT doesn't have anyone on staff who is comfortable swapping the SRAM, I would be happy to do so next time I am in the local area (assuming I have any a donor board that is compatible in my collection).
So happy to see the Sanni Cartridge Reader mentioned here. Almost nobody talks about that one, especially over the Retrode. It's such a great project that is still being updated today, that thing really needs more coverage.
I remember when the EULA encouraged you to make a BACK UP copy of software as the working original was your license and proof of purchase and needed to be put in a safe place.
Great video! Here in Mexico, and i assume in other low income nations, piracy and hardware mods have always been critical for consumers to be able to afford games. It's become sort of iconic to own a chipped PS2 or modded 3DS.
It is!. Here in Colombia back in the day all consoles were chipped and we got really cheap pirate games since network features were not a thing and those video console shops (Those with a lot of consoles and Tvs where you paid to play an hour which I would think were also common in Mexico) had a lot of those consoles. My last chipped console was my Xbox 360. When I got my Ps4 I was already an adult and could afford it, and all the internet features were to good to pass so that was my first not pirated console (I dont know if you can even pirate a Ps4 or ps5 like a ps1 or ps2 back in the day)
Also true in Brazil just like you described Mexico and what the colombian friend said was also true down here in São Paulo (Brazil). In my teenager years there were also these places with lots of modded consoles (PS2 mostly) that you could pay to play for an hour and arcades with fighting games (the majority of it where SNK titles for the NEO-GEO). We call this places "fliperamas". It is conforting to know that gamers on neighbouring countries where subjected to the same hardships and had similar experiences. God knows how hard it is to keep a hobby as expensive as gaming for all of us.
@@juselara02 A PS4/Pro system on Firmware 9.00 (current is 9.60) can be jailbroken for things like game dumping and hacking/modding games and gamesaves at the least.
Out of all the carts the ones that give me the most problems are the the Genesis / Mega Drive. They require resistor mods often in order to get them working again which is a pain and the contact quality is really hit or miss.
From when I looked into the legality of backups a while back, one thing that stuck with me was it's only legal if you still possess the original and the original is in working order. In other words, when the cartridge dies, you have to delete your ROM. Assuming your goal is to be 100% legal.
That sounds odd, as the goal is preservation and/or backup. If your backup needs to be deleted when your main source fails, then the point of the backup is *literally* defeated. Maybe the source you read from was mistaken, or more likely the law just doesn't understand the technology.
@@sakuyarules The general consensus agrees with you, that you can keep your backups if the original is damaged or stolen. However, copyright law also clearly states that you must destroy all backups if you no longer own a valid copy of the original. IMO, like many laws, those two things directly oppose each other and at some point a court case could happen that rules that way. When I said 100% legal I meant absolutely no chance of it not being legal. Perhaps if I said "if you want to be paranoid about it" my intention would have been clearer.
@@Xerain The original idea was probably to ensure that you can't just make a copy then sell or return a game like I totally didn't use to do with CDs from the library as a kid. Whether or not the law is written in a way that makes it clear and whether or not the courts would be intelligent/ethical enough to view it that way is another matter.
@@Xerain You have interpreted the law incorrectly, so the two situations you mention are not in opposition. You still "own a valid copy" of the original, even if it is damaged and does not work, because you are paying for a LICENSE to use it, which you still own even if you don't/won't/can't, use it. Further, it's a bit silly to even think about, because they can't come after you if they don't know, which they won't, and they won't care, as long as you are not sharing it with others, or selling copies, or facilitating other people doing it.
I support piracy of old games whether they're still being sold or not. Copyright lasting forever is an abomination created by Disney, and I think something closer to the length of patents (20 years) would be more reasonable. This would encourage companies to create updates for those old games instead of milking them forever without any effort.
OK, now imagine this from the perspective of an indie dev: you create a great game, it isn't a huge hit, it doesn't get scooped up by a big publisher, but for years and years on end, you get a steady trickle of ongoing sales that sustains you and your family. Occasionally, you rerelease it on a new generation of consoles, or maybe a new digital marketplace, and the ball continues to roll and the money continues to come in. Why does something being old mean that it is no longer worth paying for? Content is content. Enjoyment is enjoyment. Piracy is frequently more effort than just buying a licensed copy.
@@justaweeb14688 I'm not, I work on games and picture for a living, thus have no issue with supporting industries I work in. Hence positing the question from a different perspective on products that are still sold, still ported to newer platforms, still updated and improved to take advantages of new features on new consoles like touchscreens or gyroscopes. You can't seriously tell me that downloading a repacked version of something from a torrent with no multiplayer is better than just downloading the real thing, getting updates when they drop, having the online features, saves synced between devices, and forever available to just re-download whenever you want. That's without even getting into the ethical side of it with supporting what you enjoy. Let me guess, you're one of these people that wonders why their beloved obscure IP hasn't had a sequel?
Yeah ive paid for enough Sonic and capcom or collections in my 30 years 😂. Any game (for me) from 1999 or earlier is public domain in my book and will download and play without batting an eyelid.
Problem is, as you say in 'So is this legal?', Nintendo will still say you're pirating by ripping games for personal use. It's taking a long way round and spending a lot of money to just end up in the same place as just pirating the games. The retro games library is basically all dumped now anyway. The only case I can see for this thing is Kickstarter retro game campaigns like CheetahMen II: The Lost Levels and Jay and Silent Bob Mall Brall.
The way I see it, if Nintendo is not going to give us their titles in an easily accessible way, especially titles that cannot be obtained in any way legally - Then I have no moral qualms about piracy. And "piracy" makes it sound like something is being stolen, being taken from Nintendo. The thing that is being taken from them is an opportunity to make more money, where most of the time they don't even care about taking the opportunity. The original developers and distributors got their money. I see no reason not to do this, especially when it gives me a way to refuse supporting Nintendo's online service.
Nintendo is going to say whatever they want. They can also say that Doug Bowser is a fish. It doesn't make it so. This issue has been settled in court so much that any attempt by Nintendo to claim this is illegal can only be looked at as one thing: Lying.
@@Furluge I know that Nintendo has a lot more lawyer budget and that normally helps legal cases. The Legal system isn't really just quoting laws until they decide one proves if it's legal or not.
@@carrotman The amount of money Nintendo would have to spend on legal fees to not get their case instantly laughed out of court immediately is going to more than any amount of damages they could ever possibly claim from you dumping your own carts. There's simply too much precedent and law in your favor. Also I hate to tell you this but most of the legal system /is/ quoting laws and precedents at each other. Most of what you'll be doing in this case is filing legal briefs to the judge. The majority of your court costs after that are paying for stenographers, court costs, and your lawyer to actually show up.
Would really like to see more retro game content on LTT, yes I know there's a lot out there but it's become clear over the years that especially Anthony has a passion for it and I would personally love to see a series of him covering that stuff!
Nintendo loves emulation when they use it as a cheap way of dumping their library back to its fan base. But God forbid if the fan base uses it them selves. Edit: yes yes I know it’s there IP it’s there right. But it’s also BS that they will take the digital or even physical game YOU BOUGHT and stop you the owner from accessing it.
@@harvivekdhindsa6809 For me, this is the main reason for "p1r4Cy". The people who made it don't get paid, so who is being "stolen" from? It's not like Nintendo is sending a dime their way.
nintendo also loves selling you roms that they downloaded from the illegal rom sites they want to take down, as in the infamous case of the original super mario and the INES header.
That did not happen. Some VC games used the headers coming from an emulator, because the guy who made the emulator is now working at Nintendo, so he just reused the headers he made back then. Stop spreading that stupid ass shit.
This. And the language used is for other market segment. I was like, "wtf bro, Oracle sponsored this?". Then I remember how fucky and expensive is Oracle.
I know it seems odd, but Oracle is backing quite a bit of open source on their cloud platform. I remember the fist time someone handed me an "Oracle Linux" CD at a conf long ago. I was suspect for sure.
I recently went through the process of dumping all my physical and digital games from my past two decades of Nintendo systems for backups and use on the Steam Deck. It's super cool to see new life breathed into older games via emulation. Even with the weird snags the Steam Deck sometimes runs into, it's been a great system to replay some of my old favorites in a portable form factor and actually hitting their target framerates.
A look into the Polymega would also have been interesting (although likely somewhat off-topic for this specific video), but currently, shipping units are behind by several months, so can't really blame LTT on not happening to have one handy. They also don't have a module for the N64 yet.
I have a ROM for each of my vintage game carts. Did I dump them myself or did I download them? You'll never know because a well made digital copy will be as sharp as the original.
This is not true for modern game cartridges. The Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch utilize keys and digital signing to attach software to a specific console. This is why emulators often require console-specific files to prove you own the console itself and the game, this is also why emulators are legal. Emulators which work "out of the box" are using piracy means to allow you to play software or the console it is emulating does not have those securities in place.
@@lightly-red-huedmaleindivi6266 The topic is on Vintage Systems, last I checked the 3DS and Switch are not vintage systems. Also, these newer systems do not use game carts, they use game cards. Game carts finish the electronic circuit in the game system allowing you to play it. Game cards on the other hand act more like flash cards that are booted by the operating system.
@@Waifu4Life Being labeled as vintage or not is irrelevant as the 3DS and Wii U store will be discontinued as of march 2023. This means software for those systems will become just as inaccessible to everyone as software for older systems. Therefore piracy for those systems will become a topic of discussion as used physical games may be available for some but not everyone will have access and will need to resort to piracy.
@@lightly-red-huedmaleindivi6266 Emulating a DS or 3DS is not the best thing ever because of the dual screens and touch controls. The Wii U is a modern system that can easily hook-up to modern TV and can easily be jailbroken, so emulating it is pointless unless you just don't want to spend single a penny on hardware.
I love the DSi since it’s super easy to dump roms from your carts to the SD card slot with the help of a camera exploit. No extra hardware needed. Dumped my entire collection of games in under 2 hours.
@@ToxNano I never said I didn’t do that as well, have the entire English library of GB, GBC, and GBA games along with every NDS game that might interest me backed up despite me only playing those games for a couple hours tops since downloading them. I may as well snag that save data as well since I have the capability on my DS. I am more of the person who mods consoles because it’s fun than actually using those modded consoles and playing the games. I’d just rather emulate my games than use the original hardware. Did the same thing with my wii and wiiU. Modded them for like 2 days, played like 2 games, then didn’t touch them again (except when I need an online account to rip off the wiiU to use on CEMU)
I expected a good video on an interesting product, but I certainly was taken aback by how thorough and measured this video became on tackling the subject of game preservation and the importance of media perservation in general when factoring in the fact that as great as physical media is and always is, nothing lasts forever if you let something get lost. Definitely one of the best videos on the entire channel, kudos.
Linus NEEDS to have more video of this man. He is so integral on his presentations GIVE THIS MAN A RAISE he makes LTT Look good. It is what it is. The mans an asset!
We've let companies take intellectual property way too far. If I can reasonably enjoy their past products legally I will, but if that isn't possible or requires ridiculous means then I'm still going to enjoy it anyways, and their opinion on the matter just doesn't matter. They could easily give us a way to pay for them, so when they choose not to they completely forfeit their right to complain about "piracy" in my eyes.
That's not how the law works haha. You don't forfeit the right to complain about piracy haha. This is what you sound like, "Ford hasn't made it easy for me to purchase a 1965 Mustang so I'm going to steal one and enjoy it anyways."
@@alexmendez3681 He wasn't talking about the law. Reading helps. Media Piracy and Theft are fundamentally different! Theft deprives the owner of the stolen good, piracy does not.
I can only imagine going back to the days where we would just pass around each other's collection and rip the games. I can imagine stores getting around this by renting the copies knowing they're being ripped.
There is a well known game hurt by this practice for Apple 2 called The Bilestoad. The author saw 10% of the revenue he should have, based on numbers of people who played the game. This did not inspire him confidence in continuing to make new games, or update the game for new hardware. We did see an official update to more powerful hardware, one that added different classes of characters, but overall it remains something of a cult classic.
Always weird and lovely to see LTT covering retro gaming, on one hand I miss the quirks I'm used to on retro gaming focused channels, on the other hand, Anthony
great video. Lots of useful information. More please! This is so much more interesting that new TV reviews for thousands of dollars, which nobody will ever buy. This video and all the DIY stuff you guys do is way more cooler!
Nintendo's stance on emulation has been pretty cancer, they could change this if they themselves just put out a mass library emulator that allowed you to purchase every game in their collection for a reasonable price, build it to work on the current Nintendo system AND PC, boom, they're making more money and people have a "legal way" to feel secure in their emulation
They would probably do it if there was a demand for it but since so many people pirate there's no demand. So Pirates created this problem. I wish men had integrity.
@@khakers2.099 Agreed. So stop pirating so Nintendo can see that demand to release their games on newer console. If people are illegally downloading Roms, less demand will be displayed. Let’s be real here. People will not be inclined to purchase a game after it has been downloaded illegally.
Nintendo themselves utilized piracy in their own development of the NES and SNES classic. Hackers found the header data from the original rippers in the header of many of the games.
Anthony retro stuff is some of my favorite content. Always interested in how we'll be keeping favorable tech alive over the years as our daily lives begin to move away from supporting them.
Exactly. Giving Nintendo more money at this point is morally reprehensible, and has been for a long time now. Instead, consider supporting the internet archive and their preservation efforts.
@@Dragonisser The worst, releasing it overpriced in online store. Then shutting down the store with no way to DL the game you own. And IF the game is available on another console' store, you still have to buy it again
@@Dragonisser tbf most companies have done this in the past but we just hold Nintendo to a higher regard. Most of these things ea and rockstar have done. But I don't see people going around saying it's ok to pirate their games
Game preservation game historians and sometimes corporations will forget that they had the source code all together destruction of their own systems and infrastructure has been noted Nintendo even thanked pirates who had reverse engineered the code of one of their games so they can then turn around and sell it on the eShop.
@@awesomex1031 It's not completely unusual. Nintendo did hire one of the iNES devs for their emulation development in the GC/Wii days. That's where the whole false "Nintendo downloaded ROMS off the internet and resold them on Virtual Console" thing came from. So working with preservationists isn't unheard of.
@@RH_54321 didn't they immediately fire and sue him for his efforts on iNES once he got the Virtual Console emulation working? If they didn't, I'm sure they'd love to do that sort of thing nowadays.
I once downloaded a file thinking I'd get a rom of an old Kirby game. Turns out I was given the entire snes library in a zip that was probably less than 500mb. I definitely deleted that zip, and I definitely don't have it on an external HDD or anything.
I also accidentally downloaded every AMIGA, ATARI, NEOGEO, NES, SNES, N64, PSX, GB, GBA, GBC and Sega game. So glad I realized my mistake and deleted those files. I most assuredly haven't been playing them for a decade on multiple platforms.
ahahahahahahaha this is the pinnacle of all this talks about piracy. Best thread so far on the comments. I just imagined you guys like drug dealers doing something super wrong but then, I too DEFINITELY was not playing Capcom vs SNK 2 and all three Onimusha on my PC a little while a go... I just saw someone who looks just like me doing it and reported to the authorities immediately.
Most people I know were doing it as far back as the early 2000s on school PCs. My teachers hated it despite the fact that it was a legit way that some people learned how to get into coding and figuring out how it all worked together.
Today's retro gaming community is amazing. Every console you can think of, has some kind of mods, HDMI upgrades, custom software/firmware/BIOS, etc.. Seriously, I love these communities.
its probably the best part of gaming now... because modern gaming and huge companies have become overhyped trash heaps that kill IPs (halo) and delay overspent games.
"You can dump a huge collection in, like, _no_ time!" Aw, Linus. So cute. Have you gotten to your first cart that didn't read correctly yet? Break out the isopropyl alcohol and a carton of cotton swabs and get to dumpin'! Seriously though, I didn't know about this, and I like the idea of using a dedicated device rather than the Retrode, where I spent a ton of money on adapters, have to deal with storage drivers detecting the media on a computer, and it doesn't even do NES carts.
I'll give two + perfectly reasonable suggestions the likes of Nintendo could implement but never will because of selfishness and greed: 1) Make a public statement that all releases more than x-years old are officially free to use, possibly as a thank you to all those loyal paying customers. 2) Make the ROMs available for a small fee. Except of course the likes of Nintendo can't because they care so little for their past products they have to rely on 'pirated' copies for their own releases - it's a case of "I don't want but you can't have either" ...unless there's a quick buck in it. 3) There would even be a nice (if parasitic) business to be made from dusting off old tooling and doing limited re-runs of classic releases. See 2) as to why this isn't a practicable possibility - the files and tooling get routinely binned because these companies really don't care. Nintendo in particular is like that person who smashes things before they put it in a skip because even though they don't want it any more they can't stand the idea that somebody else might benefit from their rubbish. THAT is why I have no issue with the 'pirating' retro software - the nominal owner has already thrown it away and the sight of them complaining over others retrieving their rubbish from the bin only fills me with contempt.
Thank you for starting the video the way you did! Paper thin laws like "downloading an exact copy of the game you purchased is illegal because you don't want to open your collector's box and ruin the box" are exactly what we should be complaining about!
Hoist the colors Tired of of people not realizing emulation ≠ piracy But even with the illegality of piracy, it does so much more work in preserving games than Nintendo could ever do
I quite literally do not care who says what about Piracy or Emulation or downloading roms. Its 2022. No ones losing money over this. Nintendo maybe cause of the online VC services but quite literally they can't stop you. they would have to hack you or find you. or for someone to snitch but no one would do that cause its 2022 and everyones okay with everything at this point.
Remember, it is always morally correct to emulate games that you literally cannot play otherwise. If not for the community, many of these games would be forever lost.
thats what the big devs want. if you cant get the old version of the game they can mark up a new version or lock it behind a subscription service. and for games that don't do either, compa ies rather we fuck ourselves
And if you've spent your life savings on an Nvidia GPU then it's reasonable to emulate switch games cos you've no money left for a switch let alone any games for it!
My switch broke. I lost my old 3DS. After seeing this video... I might as well emulate my games that I legally bough over the years. I was devastated after hearing about the e shop. How am I playing my games on a new console after it gets damaged or lost? That's hundreds of dollars down the drain. Nintendo is just focused on the new generation. Nice video!
1:44 hell yeah, Crystalis! I actually had the battery replaced in the 90's by Nintendo. When they received the cart, they noticed "contamination" and proceeded to offer "cleaning" of all my games, all my controllers, and my NES unit. I sent them a HUGE box with over 100 games and all my NES gear, and they cleaned ALL the carts (peeling the stickers , completely reshelling them and reapplying the stickers) and replaced all my controllers and NES unit with new/refurbed hardware. THAT was the kind of customer service you got from Nintendo in the 90's.
0:35 No. But there's also no completely illegal way to do it either. Legally, you cannot make a ROM of a Nintendo game with 3rd party tools. But Nintendo doesn't provide you with a tool to do it either. Hence, you can legally use any illegal 3rd party tool you have access to. But that dumping you can legally make with an illegal 3rd party tool, can only be legally used for archival purposes. Yet legally, Nintendo cannot disallow you to use a product you bought in any way you find desirable (as long as you don't distribute the copies, or in some countries, as long as you don't ask for a benefit in exchange (distributing for free is not considered a copyright breach in some places), or even if you just don't claim it's an original (some countries "allow" you to sell pirate copies, as long as you clarify it's a copy. It's technically not allowed, but there are legal vacuums), depending on your local copyright laws). So: * Is it legal to emulate games, even if you own the original and the console it runs in? No. * Is it illegal, then? Also no.
AND!! I forgot, but recent anti-anticonsumer laws, that restrict the capability for companies to tie you into the one ecosystem, could soon take precedence over any copyright law or TOS anywhere in the world. In a perfect world, these will eventually lead to every developer offering physical copies of everything, and for those copies to be legally dumped and emulated in your ecosystem of choice, provided you bought the one copy. Of course, you cannot expect these types of laws to come from any USA legislative unit, but they can come from the European Parliament, and eventually by local legislation of jurisprudence be adopted by everyone else (like the little confirmation where you can disallow cookies when you visit a new website, that should be standardized, because many asshole websites hide confirmed ad, tracking and spy cookies in submenus, even if you turn everything off)
I disagree. If people stop pirating, I believe there would be so much demand for a game that Nintendo would start releasing these games. But since so many people pirate, there's no demand. Bummer too.
@@alexmendez3681 You've got it the wrong way around. If nintendo would release their games, some people would buy these instead of pirating. Most people wouldn't buy them at all though. It's not a "If people x then nintendo y" kinda situation. It's more a "nintendo doesn't sell, so people can't buy"
@@iminyourwalls8309 I knew you were going to say that there is a demand and that's why there is pirating. But Nintendo doesn't see that demand and that's why pirates are creating this issue. What's wrong with letting a game die? Why must it be preserved? Let it go, don't be afraid of FOMO. Hold them accountable? It's their IP. They can do whatever they want. One thing that I noticed through these comments is that pirates never create games of their own, it's rare. Pirates don't know the sting of working hard to create something only to have a bunch of pirates rip off their game. Sad. Disagree. Companies shouldn't have to compete with pirates. Pirates shouldn't exist, it's just morally wrong. What happens to men having integrity. I guess I'm starting to realize this is something deeper. If people pirate and cheat the system, what else are they cheating the system on? Shame.
@@Tom-bb5kh Nope. It's the other way around, the way I described it. When people pirate, the demand goes away for a game and Nintendo doesn't know about the demand since pirates figures aren't tracked anywhere. How are they supposed to know which games to bring back or not? You can't expect them to bring back every single game if no one shows a demand for it.
@@alexmendez3681 Not really. People can pirate almost every game, yet there’s still demand for lots of those games. People pirate because nintendo doesn’t sell them anymore. There is no way to “show demand” for a discontinued product. Do you expect people to not pirate and just spam nintendo’s twitter for eternity or whatever?
To make this experience better it's definitely worth looking into the Mister FPGA solution. Can't get much more real than that (except the original console).
My take on emulation, If I’m playing a system that’s older than 10 years, playing games not currently being sold on the market, or it’s a game i own a copy of. I see no issue in the “piracy” that’s occurring. Because for example if I’m playing Pokémon emerald, the only person I benefit by buying it now is the person selling it. The developers or publisher see no money from my sale. Furthermore most sought after games are extremely expensive. Without emulation I wouldn’t have had as many games in my childhood. I got games when birthday came or Christmas that’s it and I couldn’t get a bunch of games each time so my choices were limited. I understand why Nintendo gets pissed. I think the Nintendo switch emulator is very evil in that regard. Don’t want people to not enjoy their backups but it opens the door for probably thousands of people that will never buy a switch now to play it’s amazing games and even 10,000 people not buying it is close to $6,000,000 dollars not going to the developers or hardware engineers or even nintendo and that’s only to say each person only spends $600 that’s one console and 4 games. Emulation is amazing tool for game preservation and helping people discover older games however even good tools in the wrong hands can be very evil and very anti-consumer. Thank you for your time reading my hot take on the matter. -Dude and his cat
Yeah, it's only piracy if it's actively for sale by the first party on a modern platform. A sneakily modded ROM of sold on an Eshop as the original is still not the original.
@@xminorthreatx while yes I agree with you it is different the only reason I support that is Nintendo pays developers from that money. So there is money to be made.
@@xminorthreatx Disagree - if you dump the game yourself at least, it's not piracy. Let's not muddy things up in ways those who already abuse copyright would easily exploit to dumb down those who don't better - piracy is about how one gets the game, emulation being legit or not usually is about how one gets the game to emulate, age is utterly irrelevant IMO.
True , but its more like delisted games which impossible to buy legally rather than discontinued games because there are a lot of games which discontinued but still works and purchasable . Copyright have to be gone if the games completely delisted, if you dont sell a game anymore then you dont need our money anymore right? , Piracy should be legal if the games completely delisted on every store
If they don't sell them in stores, or even if they don't sell them in your country, Piracy is the only way to play some games. They haven't lost a sale if you weren't able to buy it legally in the first place.
my thoughts exactly. if they provide a way to purchase and play these games legally on modern systems i would but given they dont i have resorted to emulation for more expensive older games and have started learning to rip the roms from my PS1 library
It has been proven that even piracy of released game isn’t a lost sale. The user would likely never have bought or will buy it regardless.
But in terms of games no longer available it makes sense to pirate in terms of conserving history. Storage “runs” out, so the more users having a version of the game can help document history of gaming.
An example of someone trying to do this recently to some extent is the history of Japanese MCD NDS game for teaching new hires. There is a really interesting video on the intense hunt for it.
@Jesieniarz well said, it will always be important to view this as a way of preserving history rather then "stealing" games
They haven't even lost a sale if you can easily find it at a thrift store, if it isn't produced anymore.
Nintendo isn't getting royalties on secondhand games.
agreed. it's much better now, but 5/10 years ago, if you wanted to watch various asian film/TV in the western world, you were shit outta luck. most of the times I never had the option of buying it legally, and even if I did, it almost never came with subtitles. piracy was the only way I could actually enjoy a lot of overseas media.
THANK YOU FOR THIS i've seen so many people convinced emulation is piracy (and therefore illegal) it's good to see someone set that rumor for rest for once and for all
Emulation is piracy. Especially if you bought the item you are emulating or if it is free.
@@IceMan2019 If emulation was piracy then Nintendo would be guilty of it themselves. No, emulation is not piracy as emulators themselves are not illegal. What is illegal is downolading roms off the internet.
It's been put to rest forever now... and it's ironic Linus is the one that convinced you, lol.
@@IceMan2019 Piracy doesn't exists, intellectual property is the monopoly of an idea and like other monopolies, should be illegal.
@@Ashurman666 Emulating a product you own the copyright and distributing rights to, like Nintendo does for their emulations, is not the same as a consumer doing it. Someone who uses an emulator without purchasing those rights by acquiring the game through means of compensating the creator/distributor is committing piracy. Someone who then distributes said game for profit without permission by the creator/distributor is committing an illegal act. An emulator is not illegal and not committing piracy, a person's way of using said emulator is the one doing either one or both of those things.
Because of "pirates", video games are the most well-preserved form of media we have. Their work means that the hard work of countless game developers over the last 40 years will be saved on the internet for people to enjoy forever.
It's not about just stealing a game like Nintendo likes to think; this is about making sure as few games as possible become lost media.
And remain playable. Imagine all the always on drm games that will be unplayable without a Crack in 20 years
yes. this is the way. god bless the high seas.
This is not applicable to modern games that require an always-on Internet connection for you to play the game (think SimCity), or whose game progress require reading up whatever the online servers give them.
If I were a game dev I'd be honored to have people put in so much voluntary effort to make sure my creation is preserved for as long as possible.
The problem is that, even then, tons of video game content is constantly being lost. Piracy, aside from a small niche of passionates, has the same popularity bias most other modes of consumption do - popular works get pirated a lot, unpopular works don't get pirated at all - which implies the goal is usually not preservation, but consumption.
Nintendo in particular has surprisingly good internal archives, so I'm not surprised they don't really feel the preservationist angle of piracy all that much.
This Anthony guy is one of the best things to happen to LTT, it just feels like ultra legit nerd secrets + silky smooth delivery.
@@gigachud575 wait what?
He helped push me to switch to Linux instead of Windows 11, so Anthony is good in my books too
@@UNSCPILOT Arch BTW
Homeboy needs to let that hair go tho lol
Love anthony too very smart
Without piracy we would loose so much of video game history and with more and more games being "always online experiences", this problem will only get bigger and bigger over time. I understand that companies don't want people to illegally play their new games, but if a company fails to preserve their own history, then the consumers should have the right to do this job for them. Just my 2 Cents on the matter.
companies other then nintendo dont really care and the sole reason nintendo cares is because in japan there is still a market for older consoles and there games
@@si2foo I'm pretty sure Nintendo has a repository of their entire library within their own data centers.
@@archiemisc yes, but what does that has to do with his comment?
@@archiemisc ok but if they aren't selling the games that they have stored in their data centers then it's kinda pointless, and the Wii U and 3ds Virtual console will go away some day.
@si2foo and it’s not like Nintendo does a good job at actually preserving all their history
Even he is a great host by himself now, I really enjoy this "old school" use of Anthony, when they put him in contrast with other hosts, he really shines: Calm, knowledgable and with an amazing voice.
such a gentle friendly face too, he's so fun to watch and learn from
Anthony is an impressive presence, I like that Linus seems to know how good of an employee he is as he always listens and learns from him in every video
You always know a knowledge bomb is gonna get dropped when Anthony is around.
In contrast? With the irritable, clueless people with an ear numbing voice?
He does have a great voice. He could make bank doing VO work.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO! Dumping your own games isn't pirating - but more people need to be talking about this! I've been on a huge archival spree and was JUST talking about disc rot, hahaha.
Also REDUMP is your friend!
Well I'm not gonna buy these games. I'll just use someone else's Roms
Downloading rom of oldshitgame that you can't buy legally isn't pirating too.
@@TheMinatoST Legally it is but morally it's totally okay
Thank you, my friends from all over the world. I love you and I hope you will visit Morocco 🇲🇦🤗
@@MrGamelover23 what's the video that legal eagle talked about piracy?
Cartridge swap wear is straight up the main reason I was ever interested in stuff like the everdrive.
Most people don't realize that simply switching cartridges in and out DOES cause wear, and it's wear that, while technically 'repairable' isn't repairable by your average user. Even those with the knowhow and gear don't want to if they don't have to.
#facts.
@Clarissa 1986 The first comment says "is straight up the main reason I was *ever* interested in stuff like the everdrive," not "is straight up the main reason I was *never* interested int he everdrive." I made the same mistake reading it the first time too, lol.
Yes, personally, that's a large part of why I use an FPGA to play most of my games. Another one is simply the convenience of playing most of my games via one box with just a swap of controllers.
12:57 "It's valued at $299 Canadian"
And now the concept of piracy's unethical nature falls apart. Having to pay over 200 dollars to play a used game in unknown condition (in fact it actually is damaged and can't save) is an unreasonably steep cost. In addition you can only get a used copy anyway so whether you pirate or not the IP owner isn't making any money off of it. I could go on a lot about piracy and its role in the legacy game market, but suffice to say that I think IP law needs an overhaul.
Depends on the game, nintendo would make an argument you can download V.C.
@@fromryuk7785 doesn't that require not only a subscription but a premium subscription
Super Mario RPG was available on Virtual Console on Wii and the Wii U, don't remember the price but something somewhere around $6-10 I think. If I'm not mistaking, the Wii U shop is still open so you can get a legal copy there, right now. It was also included in the SNES Classic Edition (MSRP $80). It appears to not actually be included in Switch Online, but Nintendo might add it there later and it is almost guaranteed they will sell the game in some form again in the future.
So,
"Having to pay over 200 dollars to play a used game in unknown condition (in fact it actually is damaged and can't save) is an unreasonably steep cost." - the free market has decided that it is indeed not a steep cost, but what a game in that condition is worth.
"In addition you can only get a used copy anyway so whether you pirate or not the IP owner isn't making any money off of it." - This is incorrect as it is possible to buy new digital copies of the game right now from Nintendo.
"suffice to say that I think IP law needs an overhaul." - I agree, there are many improvements to be made :)
@@janjohansson2567 It's emulated, though. Nintendo is arbitrarily deciding when it's okay to allow emulating a ROM? Especially when Nintendo hasn't actually developed an emulator themselves in decades, if ever?
They've been robbing the open-source community like a bunch of rape-happy pillagers from the fucking Viking days while bitching about the villagers daring to make emulators THAT THEY ARE STEALING FOR PROFIT.
@@Anreii no tard
I love how the open source community has provided all the handy ROM & save data read-write capabilities we devs had with official Nintendo devkit hardware (I’m a former DS dev, with plenty of years with those IS-NITRO-… blue boxes). Not that the dev hardware let you do everything- R4DSes were pretty common at the studio as well though IIRC that was mostly because encrypting builds to run on production hardware was allowed by the contract with Nintendo, but decrypting was forbidden. As much as I pine to get a contract-broken blue box off of eBay at some point and equivalent hardware for earlier systems, the open source route is much much simpler.
"rules for thee, not for me"
Linus needs to get that video out they were talking about. With the team dumping the ROM and then playing Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch) via emulation on the Valve Steam Deck. Dare Nintendo to try and sue them, or take down their (legal) video.
@@ekinteko This isn't so much a "dare", because from a legal perspective, Nintendo has an obligation to defend its intellectual property, or they relinquish their exclusive right to it. That's why it sometimes seems that companies go to absurd lengths to combat piracy. If they knowingly let theft of their IP slide even once, they will be deemed to have abandoned their claim to it and it effectively becomes public domain. If what they're doing has not already been established to be legal by legal precedence in the jurisdiction, they almost have no choice but to unleash the legal team. I'm sure these companies know that what they're doing looks bad, dumb, and even evil sometimes, but like I said, a lot of times it's because they have to do it that way if they want to actually keep their IP.
@@megachonk9440
Nope. The "dare" was that Nintendo was getting Google/UA-cam to ban certain people and pull certain videos down. They have been tight-fisted on this issue. Linus spoke about this with Luke during one of the WAN Shows, and many creators who have that content have purposely refrained from publishing it.
Nintendo does NOT want any videos of Switch Games running on the Steam Deck.
@@megachonk9440 "defend it or lose it" only applies to trademarks tho (IIUC, IANAL)
like, copyright not dying from lack of defense is part of the PROBLEM; distributing abandonware or out of print books can mean prison time if your local District Attorney dislikes you enough to file charges about it, even if nobody's heard from the rights holders for decades.
@@megachonk9440 you are mixing trademark with intelectual property laws, you don't lose your intelectual property rights if you don't go after every infringement, that's for trademarks
Nintendo could literally solve all their problems if they just gave people the ability to play their games on other devices as long as they have a legal copy of it and they put out a disclaimer saying that you may encounter bugs and such. People are going to do it anyways, so it's just a matter of if Nintendo will kill off their reputation or not.
Much like Apple, Nintendo wants near 100% control of the user experience on their devices with their software. They're also extremely obtuse when it comes to understanding what the people want.
Ironically Nintendo did the very thing back then against their partner in Crime who owned the rights To The Arcade Version of Donkey Kong..
Also I hope Steam backs Nintendo into a corner to force them to do as you suggest.
Because in Japan, it's actually illegal to modify anything like game consoles. So dumping the rom requires modified hardware, (and even if you use a dedicated dumper), it ends up being an all encompassing "emulation and ROMs are illegal in Japan". And Nintendo so badly wants to enforce that law everywhere else in the world.
But then how would they resell you the same game every new hardware generation?!
Imagine how amazing it would be if video games entered the public domain 10-15 years after release. Unfortunately, due to a certain mouse, that’s impossible.
I could even see 20 years. For all Works for Hire. And zero extensions. But there were other forces besides a simple mouse- the fact that every other country in the world had those sorts of insane lengths as well. The US was the only one with shorter lengths. So to prepare to accept the Berne Convention, the US started changing its laws to match.
Mickey actually is going to enter public domain on Jan 1 2024. Turns out the extensions to copyright became such a meme that anti-copyright extension groups gained a lot of traction and an extension is now unlikely. It's worth mentioning that only the original Steamboat Willy depiction of Mickey is entering public domain that year though, so you still won't be able to use the more modern depictions of the character for a while.
@@TheRyulord This is exactly why they've started using Steamboat Willy at the start of they're movies, etc. Copyrights expire, but trademarks (to oversimplify that means logos and identifiers) don't if they are still in use. This way, they will still have a case against any major party trying to use Mickey without their permission. How far that will go in court, I have no clue.
@@Hunter____1 You can pretty reliably track the outcome of a (US) copyright/IP case based on the wealth difference between the parties. There are several notable exceptions, but the general rule is bigger company = victory.
@@angolin9352 oh, I'm not even a little bit surprised
Abandon-ware should be free-ware, these games should be straight up free, there is nothing wrong with downloading a game that there is absolutely no reasonable way to play.
for games and movies
old movies should be public domain and the companies that own them shouldn't be able to renew them forever
@@GlenMerlin You can blame Disney for that. Mickey Mouse should of already been in the public domain
Any game that's at least a generation old should be free and open source.
But 95% of the games they showed in this video were/are NOT Abandon-ware.... Nintendo re-releases them... so they protect their copyright..Even the old Sega games where available in the Nintendo store...
@@crestofhonor2349 Mickey actually came out of copyright recently. Only og 100 odd year old one though. it was surprising the Disney rule wasn't applied.
This has become a moral issue-letting useful tech die without support and forcing people to lose what they own, all while hoarding the content and refusing to sell it is a cruel practice.
We know that inexpensive digital media pricing is the best way to end piracy, but game companies don’t care or try. This leaves it up to the community to solve the problems.
What happens if a company goes out of business or shuts down a service? Something good is lost forever due to greed. This is why I hate DRM, price gouging, MTX, and always-online games (even if they are single player!)-they create a single point of failure that is illegal to address.
One day in 40-50 years, most of us here will be dead, and the people of the future deserve the opportunity to enjoy what we do. Don’t let companies get away with trying to shut these efforts down: the future depends on it.
Well if a company goes bankrupt and no longer exists, legally everything goes to freeware if the licenses vanished, since there is no one to press charges. Corporations do this all the time, so why can't you as a consumer?
@@archmagemc3561 Wrong. If a company goes bankrupt licenses will be sold to repay their debt. Oftentimes, the license might be cared for even less by its new owner.
Also, even if 'everything goes freeware', without pirates backing up the software beforehand and keeping it in circulation, there might be little left to preserve.
Well said.
There is no moral conundrum if you legitimately own the cartridge involved. Backing up the software you have bought is 100% a right...
As for digital media sales, until they start honoring sales cross platform, and guaranteeing access in perpetuity, it is a self defeating issue. Example here is the ROMs sold on the Wii market having to be rebought on the 3ds, for example.
@@kentucky_bandit3493 The problem is, the option of legitimately owning cartridges becomes increasingly difficult over time, as physical media degrades, and the number of working physical copies out there decreases, prices rise to unreasonable levels, or the cartridges aren't available at all. Should people decades from now not be able to play retro games because they never had the opportunity to legitimately buy them?
The amount of knowledge that Anthony has is mind-blowing, thank you Linus for bringing this guy to our screens. More Anthony retro gaming videos please!!!
more anthony in general! i always get so happy when i hear his voice
@@boostedfew8165 100%, his delivery is amazing - he can break down complex thoughts and concepts into understandable, even funny language. Sometimes he gets a bit deep into the weeds; my favorites are videos like this, including interaction with others.
Anthony episodes usually involve going down the tech rabbit-holes. It's fun having someone else walking you through the steps.
I like the back and forth it keeps this interesting 😉
He can be an excellent teacher
whoever edited this video, you are incredible.
Aprime AKA Alexandre Potvin did (the credits are shown at the end of every video on the end screen)
is jon still working on ltt? the thumb up meme reminds me that I haven't seen him in a long time
"Pirating" media that you ALREADY BOUGHT in another form should be legal anyways. This idea that the license that YOU OWN for the media is somehow magically bound to the specific physical disc or virtual store you bought it from is one of the stupidest concepts propagandized by corporations onto the public.
Corporations only like private property when it's their private property. As to the rest of us, they'd happily make us into digital serfs.
You should logically lose your license or at least have it expire the moment you end support for it on original hardware.
@Carl Gunderson ReALLY
the only crime here is putting uTorrent on the thumbnail
i see your point, and tbh that media gets uploaded because it was purchased at all in the first place. however, they can't really take that risk because not everyone downloading ROMs will strictly OWN the physical cartridge, will they? i do agree that people who own the physical media shouldn't theoretically be harmed legally, but speaking practically, how are the publishers or law enforcement going to know who does and doesn't own a copy of it? not to mention there'd have to be a lot of legal refactoring just to warrant this kind of thing being allowed
If you buy a game, then you should be able to play it for the rest of your life and even give it to your children when you die if you want to. You shouldn't have to buy a game repeatedly because systems aren't backwards compatible. The reality is that hardware fails and often consoles are designed so that they are difficult to maintain and repair. Companies cannot be trusted to preserve their own games and in fact Sony and Nintendo don't really seem to care about preserving their legacy at all when they don't offer old games on their new systems. This is why DRM-free, digital copies of games are so important.
I have a gut feeling that Anthony wrote this one, & I’m all for it. Hopefully Anthony got his saves off that N64 memory card he used on ShortCircuit.
EDIT: Oh, Anthony did write this one. Guess it was right without even checking the end credits.
Full credits are always at the end of the video!
Gut feeling aka end credits?
@@MrML4L I didn’t actually check the end credits yet.
We all know Linus "Not Wanting Malware Injecting Ads Is Literally Piracy That Steals Food From My Child's Mouths" Sebastian didn't.
@@Neoxon619 Every. Video.
Linus knew this was all for Anthony
He just knew it was too cool not to make a video about it, and decided it was still worth it. Thank you Linus, and THANK YOU ANTHONY
yw
let's be real Linus only agreed to make this video is because he's still coping with his "adblock is piracy" backlash across the Internet
@@lightly-red-huedmaleindivi6266 please see LMG Clips - "Nintendo's taking down Steam Deck videos?!" I think is the exact title
Nice video! By the way, articles like the one at 15:54 that says that "piracy cost companies over $3 billion in 1998" make spurious claims, as it is extremely likely that a large percentage of those who bought pirated games for "as little as 70 cents" would not have been able to afford $50 games. So if they had 20 pirated games, the alternative might have them either not even owning a system, or owning 1-2 games for it instead of 20. I'm not at all saying that the sale of those is not piracy. It is. It's just that the claims of "money lost" are likely far from reasonable.
@Sappho True. It's allowed (for now), but I use my parents' Netflix account at my house for free. I watch a video on Netflix less than once per month. The second Netflix doesn't allow this kind of sharing, well, that's the second I don't have Netflix anymore (and don't care that I don't).
this is soooo true - a principal researcher at a well known university is supported by the government at $625/month in 2004 - u actually have an excellent standard of living & buying $50 video games (like I have in the past) is low on the list (and in fact, culturally, video games is one of the last things to turn to, thankfully, as the addict I am!)
True.
I'm not buying a movie for £10 for the majority of movies. Sure, for the great ones I will. But if I watch 10,000 movies illegally, the reality is I'd only have bought like 30 of them.
Thank you so much for bringing back the "100% LEGAL" clip from your MAME/arcade cabinet video. It sparks joy.
Very classic
I appreciated an old good reference
I agree 110%
Yes, I loved this reference. Hopefully he brings it back again.
Really don't understand why these games are protected so far out from when the originally released, it's not like anyone sells new copies anymore and it doesn't hurt Nintendo's bottom line.
that's just copyright law in general. thanks disney.
they're going to be copyrighted for another 100 years probably with the current laws and with the way things are going expect it to be around 200 to 300 years in reality. the current copyright system is cancer. Originally the point was to protect original works from being copied so the creator could profit from them to recoup the cost of development but now companies are just laying back on their library of old stuff that they own basically forever. copyright is supposed to increase competition not decrease it!
Right? As long as Nintendo is no longer officially offering the games themselves, they lose NOTHING whether I pirate the games or buy them for ridiculous prices from eBay.
They do sell new copies of a lot of them though, on the eshop, and occasionally on devices such as the nes/snes mini
@@jubuttib best of luck to you for when they eventually close that server down
I really hope Nintendo get's their act together and starts selling us solutions for game preservation, especially for their mobile games. RIP Dragalia Lost.
In a year or 2 there will be community run servers, probably with better gacha rates too.
Dragalia Lost is still active isn't it? It has new articles promoting it from 2 days ago
more likely, they're trying to do the similar policy as Sony. force users into its cloud streaming service to charge as much money as legally possible.
Nintendo already has a solution for game preservation, the problem is they don't have a solution for licensing. Nintendo has a global account system for their modern video game systems but they refuse to attach licenses of purchased games to those accounts rather than the systems. This is why even if you purchased a game for Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console but play the rom on a homebrew emulator on Nintendo Switch, you're still pirating that game. It's all about licensing.
Nintendo is in the business of digital scarcity. Just like the "Disney vault". Pull something from the market, watch demand skyrocket. Just look at the insane prices of secondhand games right now. Nintendo indirectly benefits from this in a major way. It's a marketing strategy to the detriment of customers.
My favorite thing about Anthony is that he is incredibly knowledgeable about this stuff, but he not the know-it-all (that we all know) that just constantly tells you everything about it to show off his knowledge. He's great at explaining stuff in a way that doesn't come across as condescending and makes you feel like you're a part of it too, instead of just watching someone who knows what they're doing. I wish I had saved more of my console stuff from when I was a kid, would be really cool to archive it and play nowadays.
Just a side note for protecting your cartridges: silicone electrical spray really helps protect the pins. It’s used in faders in audio equipment all the time to keep them in working longer.
It's called silicone.
@@timramich is correcting them for forgetting the letter E in silicon really necessary.
And yes I left off the letter E on purpose just to annoy you more
@@demiviral95 Absolutely.
@@jojotastic7778 tiny pp energy
@@demiviral95 chad
I remember Linus talking about this issue on the wan show, and I fully agree, If i already own a copy/license of a game or movie, should be able to just get an automatic updated format.
Hmm yes but won't somebody think of the poor shareholders?
I would argue that if it takes time and cost to remaster it such as movies with scanning a negative and adding Dolby Atmos then I get why they don't want to do it for free.
@@simonl2072 tbh from what I ve experianced there is only handful examples of "remastering" is actually done by real pros , real engineers , real humans... most of them looks like/sounds like they tried some AI algorithm do the work then re realising it to make some money flow for the never ending company debts ...
@@flushroyal970 I agree that it's often passed to a subcontractor and it's an attempt to milk the cash cow completely dry. However, nobody is willing to work for free. My biggest issue is ecosystems. You shouldn't need to buy mario brothers on each Nintendo console, if I own the PS3 copy at 30 FPS and there's a pc version that would now run on the ps5 at 60fps why can't they give me the pc version? So I'm on the side of the consumer as long as I'm being fair to cost involved in real remasters and not just republishing. Even if it's proprietary licensed algorithms as there's still testing and IT services.
@@simonl2072 i agree. On the other side of the coin I do wish it is less expensive. Owning the same media on dvd, blu ray and 4k gets pretty pricey.
I see nothing wrong with using Emulators/ROMs, especially as the majority of those games have been discontinued. As long as you're not selling them, there shouldn't be an issue.
TRUE
What do you think about stuff more current? Like I'm playing Switch games on my Deck but i feel kinda weird about it lol
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 morality to me on this one is if you own it it doesn't matter. also your not selling it so they wont come for you. i find the nintendo to be authoritarian cause of old japanese law but i doubt they'll do anything about it. i find nothing wrong with it if you own the game tho.
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 i think that that is wrong. Because Nintendo is relying on Sales of Switch games. Anything from the last 2 generations imo should not be pirated/emulated as companies rely on the sales of those games.
The only problem is nowadays "discontinued" games get continued all the time. There's HD remakes coming out, virtual consoles, etc. For example when Nintendo issued a takedown notice for AM2R, they literally had their own remake in production that they would announce less than a year later. At the same time, I hate the current IP laws, but I don't know if that argument of they're not currently selling the game works nowadays as well as it used to. 🤷♂
Jon's "100% LEGALLY EMULATE" bit will always be one of my favorite bits on the internet
The video is still in Taran channel
ua-cam.com/video/q4gAq52rgPg/v-deo.html
In Sweden we have a law that makes private copying legal. Read private and not pirate.
It basicly means that if I purchase and own a disc of let's say gta for ps2 then I can copy that disc however many times I want.
I can also distribute it to my closest family and friends, legally. I can however not resell or distribute to random people, that is piracy.
We pay a tax for every storage media, including cell phones and smart watches if they have storage for up to 7 usd per TB for this purpose.
So exactly what they are doing here is 100% legal in Sweden.
Is he still with LTT? Haven't seen him on camera for ages
@@zafraz1077 was wondering the same
@@zafraz1077 I just checked the Linus Media Group website in the Our Team section and Jon is still there, thankfully. Hurts to see when original members from when LMG was in the house leave the company.
The SMRPG cart failing just shows how important emulation is for game preservation. All these cartridges will eventually fail.
Especially if you bought it for $299 Canadian (about $234 U.S.) and doesn't work.
It may be possible to fix it if it's a broken capacitor or resistor. Bad batteries are an easy fix. Other than that, not realistic.
I love how the solution is to keep charging people for the same product in later generations, but Nintendo refuses to do that even to gain profit. Like we’re supposed to just forget these games as time passes on.
Or if they do it's a shit version of the game
@@TheRealNeoFrancois yeah for real, why has almost every game nintendo has rereleased for the n64 been so bad? Paper mario literally crashes and deletes your saves if you have watt as your active party member and die. A lot of the games lack visual effects that were present on n64, as well.
@@MrNapkino Funnily enough, the Wii had pretty good N64 emulation of their VC titles. Totally playable with decent input lag IIRC compared to the Switch.
Yeah and that is the contrast between what you've said and fact that Nintendo Consoles are the only ones with backwards compatibility [on GBA and GBA SP you can run GBA and GBC games, on Wii you can run GameCube games and on 3DS you can run DS games]
No play! Only remember!
11:12 Put some respect on Castlevania, I played that game so much as a kid and even after playing it on an emulator it's still one of my top favorite games.
Linus: “ was the point of this for me to buy a bunch of stuff so you can use for your collection?”
Anthony without missing a beat: “yes”
Linus: “ well played ”
🤣 this is a man who both knows the immense value Anthony brings, and is simultaneously broken by systematic employee bullying 😂
I mean, he already has the beard and the earrings. Slap on an eyepatch and have Riley as his excited parrot, and the pirate look will be complete.
True 😂
Of course Oracle sponsored this, their lawyers are legendary!!
Is that really a thing?
@@ecologist0258 They're definitely legendary, but not because people like them. They're particularly well known for Oracle DB licensing, and more recently the Java bait and switch
yeah i was thinking.. Nintendo's terrible customer attitude.. Sponsored by Oracle's worse customers attitude!
That was quite a surprise.
13:16 Helpful TLDR: I reckon it is your capacitor. Under a dollar to replace. Before assuming the SRAM, it might be the resistor or capacitor. Probably capacitor due to age or as a knock-on effect of the resistor failure. Resistors are more likely if the resistor had got damp at some point. I reckon capacitor is the likely culprit and your SRAM could well be fine.
A bad cap could be prematurely draining the battery and _(with or without resistor fail)_ changing the voltage as it writes to the (probably) 16K SRAM. Unless you have a bad solder joint (which I doubt), don't automatically assume the SRAM. You can test the SRAM chip btw. A new (identical) capacitor is a long overdue replacement. Trying saving a traditional new savegame on a real console could be a worthwhile test. A fluctuation in performance smacks of a capacitor _(or resistor)_ because it is intermittent like a voltage spike (creating the artifact). A bad SRAM would either be totally dead _(and not that symptom if it were that sudden)_ or it would be by electromigration, but of that were the case you would expect an array of SRAM, but you have only one 16K chip so it would not be so likely to be intermittent a fault _(variation in bytes that did not verify)_ compared to if you had an array.
The SRAM chips places a fast load upon the power when the signal is pulled for the /RAS (row address strobe) "leg" metal strip out of the chip _(and that can be a prerequisite to the CAS signal)._ Inductance is voltage divided by the rate of change in current. So you're probably getting a voltage spike because you have a bad capacitor, resulting in the loss of bits in a RAM chip which is otherwise perfectly functional. A capacitor can be used as a decoupling capacitor. In Direct-Current, a wild variance in voltage in the power line to the chip will cause an undesirible change in the inductance _(hence using a decoupling capacitor)._ Different RAM chips can also have different voltages. Some SNES cartridges are SMD instead of through-hole. That gadget you are using might not expect the right cartriidges. That Mario-RPG is a rather modern cartridge (SMD).
I would say, first just try replacing the capacitor _(with an identical rating and type, electrolytic/solidstate, where a film capacitor is superior to a ceramic capacitor in decoupling, and so an electrolytic is unlikely)._ Do also have a look for a discoloured resistor dulled _(if it is even that type of resistor)_ and take a multimeter to it (with magnification). However, it could well be just a busted capacitor with no need for other repair. Remember the kaplon tape over other parts to keep them safe and static protection. Where eye protection when snipping the legs of the capacitor you solder in (or out). Those resistors on the Mario RPG are generally not the big type you ge on other carts like other Mario games.
My comment has no hate in it and I do no harm. I am not appalled or afraid, boasting or envying or complaining... Just saying. Psalms23: Giving thanks and praise to the Lord and peace and love.
Anthony is king. So glad he is getting the screentime he deserves. I wish he did audio books. So soothing and knowledgeable.
I’ve never had any moral reservations about emulation. In most cases, the only way I can “own” the game is to buy an old console, and buy a used copy of the game, both on Craigslist or the like.
My money going to some guy that bought this hardware years ago provides zero benefit to Nintendo. Yes, original hardware is better and arguably more fun, that’s where the value is.
Locking down old IP doesn’t really help anyone, and the fact so many are willing to use sketchy websites and often technical programs to have a nostalgic experience should tell these companies that there should be a better alternative. Take my damn money so I can play on my switch, but don’t yell and scream that I downloaded something you no longer sell.
Agreed, Nintendo wouldn't have such hell with pirates if they were to offer a better alternative (and not some crappy service that you have to pay up to 80 bucks a year for)
@@SUCHMISH Gabe was right. Once I had an income that could support me buying games for sentimental reasons, I looked over the online shops that I had downloaded for the games I wanted. Even then I was still going over them with a comb because game companies can't help but change things, for better or worse.
If it's a choice between throwing some money at a online shop to have a game on my PC or pirating, I'm taking the shop. Nintendo of all things has burned me out of wanting to use a console, since they want me to rebuy my legacy games every 5 years or so.
@@leadpaintchips9461 Gabe's philosophy is such a good one. Nintendo could demand full price for their games for all I care, if only they sold them online in an unencrypted ROM format. That, or Steam's model, which seems pretty good about not taking your legally obtained license away. 'Cos, that's the thing. You can't own a game, only a license to it. I'd say that the philosophy of "more convenient than pirating" also is a moral one. If companies want you to keep buying new licenses to the same game because they keep deprecating and removing support for older platforms, they might not deserve the sale. I don't care how much you point at how the law doesn't differentiate between legal and natural people; there is a difference between internationally published digital media sold through retailers 30 years ago, and new personal projects bearing the creator's name, published by said creator, where all money goes to the creator, that are being sold today.
But what if they did sell the game? Like for example i got pcsx2 on my Xbox. I wanna play max payne 2. I never bought it before. Now i can either emulate it or buy it from the xbox store. Here, is emulation wrong?
I don't care about piracy, but the sense of entitlement in most people is silly. You don't have some devine right to play a game, if they don't sell it the options are stfu and it's tough sh*t, or break the law. I have no problem with option 2, but I don't pretend there's some morals involved in it.
14:00
This makes me sad to hear. That is a true classic of a game and deserves a better fate.
If LTT doesn't have anyone on staff who is comfortable swapping the SRAM, I would be happy to do so next time I am in the local area (assuming I have any a donor board that is compatible in my collection).
So happy to see the Sanni Cartridge Reader mentioned here. Almost nobody talks about that one, especially over the Retrode. It's such a great project that is still being updated today, that thing really needs more coverage.
I remember when the EULA encouraged you to make a BACK UP copy of software as the working original
was your license and proof of purchase and needed to be put in a safe place.
Great video! Here in Mexico, and i assume in other low income nations, piracy and hardware mods have always been critical for consumers to be able to afford games. It's become sort of iconic to own a chipped PS2 or modded 3DS.
It is!. Here in Colombia back in the day all consoles were chipped and we got really cheap pirate games since network features were not a thing and those video console shops (Those with a lot of consoles and Tvs where you paid to play an hour which I would think were also common in Mexico) had a lot of those consoles. My last chipped console was my Xbox 360. When I got my Ps4 I was already an adult and could afford it, and all the internet features were to good to pass so that was my first not pirated console (I dont know if you can even pirate a Ps4 or ps5 like a ps1 or ps2 back in the day)
Also true in Brazil just like you described Mexico and what the colombian friend said was also true down here in São Paulo (Brazil). In my teenager years there were also these places with lots of modded consoles (PS2 mostly) that you could pay to play for an hour and arcades with fighting games (the majority of it where SNK titles for the NEO-GEO). We call this places "fliperamas".
It is conforting to know that gamers on neighbouring countries where subjected to the same hardships and had similar experiences.
God knows how hard it is to keep a hobby as expensive as gaming for all of us.
@@juselara02 A PS4/Pro system on Firmware 9.00 (current is 9.60) can be jailbroken for things like game dumping and hacking/modding games and gamesaves at the least.
Out of all the carts the ones that give me the most problems are the the Genesis / Mega Drive. They require resistor mods often in order to get them working again which is a pain and the contact quality is really hit or miss.
From when I looked into the legality of backups a while back, one thing that stuck with me was it's only legal if you still possess the original and the original is in working order. In other words, when the cartridge dies, you have to delete your ROM. Assuming your goal is to be 100% legal.
That sounds odd, as the goal is preservation and/or backup. If your backup needs to be deleted when your main source fails, then the point of the backup is *literally* defeated. Maybe the source you read from was mistaken, or more likely the law just doesn't understand the technology.
@@sakuyarules The general consensus agrees with you, that you can keep your backups if the original is damaged or stolen. However, copyright law also clearly states that you must destroy all backups if you no longer own a valid copy of the original. IMO, like many laws, those two things directly oppose each other and at some point a court case could happen that rules that way.
When I said 100% legal I meant absolutely no chance of it not being legal. Perhaps if I said "if you want to be paranoid about it" my intention would have been clearer.
@@Xerain The original idea was probably to ensure that you can't just make a copy then sell or return a game like I totally didn't use to do with CDs from the library as a kid. Whether or not the law is written in a way that makes it clear and whether or not the courts would be intelligent/ethical enough to view it that way is another matter.
@@Xerain There is a difference between a valid copy and a functional copy. The validity comes from the original purchase rights.
@@Xerain You have interpreted the law incorrectly, so the two situations you mention are not in opposition. You still "own a valid copy" of the original, even if it is damaged and does not work, because you are paying for a LICENSE to use it, which you still own even if you don't/won't/can't, use it.
Further, it's a bit silly to even think about, because they can't come after you if they don't know, which they won't, and they won't care, as long as you are not sharing it with others, or selling copies, or facilitating other people doing it.
I support piracy of old games whether they're still being sold or not. Copyright lasting forever is an abomination created by Disney, and I think something closer to the length of patents (20 years) would be more reasonable. This would encourage companies to create updates for those old games instead of milking them forever without any effort.
OK, now imagine this from the perspective of an indie dev: you create a great game, it isn't a huge hit, it doesn't get scooped up by a big publisher, but for years and years on end, you get a steady trickle of ongoing sales that sustains you and your family. Occasionally, you rerelease it on a new generation of consoles, or maybe a new digital marketplace, and the ball continues to roll and the money continues to come in.
Why does something being old mean that it is no longer worth paying for? Content is content. Enjoyment is enjoyment. Piracy is frequently more effort than just buying a licensed copy.
I support piracy in general
@@HammyHavoc piracy is never more effort than just buying it. What websites are you going to??
@@justaweeb14688 I'm not, I work on games and picture for a living, thus have no issue with supporting industries I work in. Hence positing the question from a different perspective on products that are still sold, still ported to newer platforms, still updated and improved to take advantages of new features on new consoles like touchscreens or gyroscopes.
You can't seriously tell me that downloading a repacked version of something from a torrent with no multiplayer is better than just downloading the real thing, getting updates when they drop, having the online features, saves synced between devices, and forever available to just re-download whenever you want. That's without even getting into the ethical side of it with supporting what you enjoy.
Let me guess, you're one of these people that wonders why their beloved obscure IP hasn't had a sequel?
Yeah ive paid for enough Sonic and capcom or collections in my 30 years 😂.
Any game (for me) from 1999 or earlier is public domain in my book and will download and play without batting an eyelid.
Problem is, as you say in 'So is this legal?', Nintendo will still say you're pirating by ripping games for personal use.
It's taking a long way round and spending a lot of money to just end up in the same place as just pirating the games.
The retro games library is basically all dumped now anyway.
The only case I can see for this thing is Kickstarter retro game campaigns like CheetahMen II: The Lost Levels and Jay and Silent Bob Mall Brall.
The way I see it, if Nintendo is not going to give us their titles in an easily accessible way, especially titles that cannot be obtained in any way legally -
Then I have no moral qualms about piracy. And "piracy" makes it sound like something is being stolen, being taken from Nintendo. The thing that is being taken from them is an opportunity to make more money, where most of the time they don't even care about taking the opportunity.
The original developers and distributors got their money. I see no reason not to do this, especially when it gives me a way to refuse supporting Nintendo's online service.
Nintendo is going to say whatever they want. They can also say that Doug Bowser is a fish. It doesn't make it so. This issue has been settled in court so much that any attempt by Nintendo to claim this is illegal can only be looked at as one thing: Lying.
@@Furluge
I know that Nintendo has a lot more lawyer budget and that normally helps legal cases.
The Legal system isn't really just quoting laws until they decide one proves if it's legal or not.
@@carrotman The amount of money Nintendo would have to spend on legal fees to not get their case instantly laughed out of court immediately is going to more than any amount of damages they could ever possibly claim from you dumping your own carts. There's simply too much precedent and law in your favor.
Also I hate to tell you this but most of the legal system /is/ quoting laws and precedents at each other. Most of what you'll be doing in this case is filing legal briefs to the judge. The majority of your court costs after that are paying for stenographers, court costs, and your lawyer to actually show up.
Would really like to see more retro game content on LTT, yes I know there's a lot out there but it's become clear over the years that especially Anthony has a passion for it and I would personally love to see a series of him covering that stuff!
New channel needed I think 🙂
@@CJonestheSteam72 This!
I just love these videos where we have Linus play around with stuff while we have Anthony doing the explanation. What a duo!
Nintendo loves emulation when they use it as a cheap way of dumping their library back to its fan base.
But God forbid if the fan base uses it them selves.
Edit: yes yes I know it’s there IP it’s there right. But it’s also BS that they will take the digital or even physical game YOU BOUGHT and stop you the owner from accessing it.
@@harvivekdhindsa6809 For me, this is the main reason for "p1r4Cy". The people who made it don't get paid, so who is being "stolen" from? It's not like Nintendo is sending a dime their way.
nintendo also loves selling you roms that they downloaded from the illegal rom sites they want to take down, as in the infamous case of the original super mario and the INES header.
That did not happen.
Some VC games used the headers coming from an emulator, because the guy who made the emulator is now working at Nintendo, so he just reused the headers he made back then.
Stop spreading that stupid ass shit.
@@simpson6700 It's not technically illegal if they're the IP holder.
@@archiemiscit's still hypocritical AF to download and sell something from the websites and emulator developers you've tried to take down for years.
I'm loving these retro videos!
can't wait for the day we can watch Anthony upgrade an Amiga 500 with some chip RAM and a CF adapter
In another few months we can watch him get his retro arteries upgraded with ones not clogged with cholesterol.
As an IT professional, I'm just amazed that oracle sponsored this already.
This. And the language used is for other market segment. I was like, "wtf bro, Oracle sponsored this?". Then I remember how fucky and expensive is Oracle.
2:10 Your collab with electroboom is the gift that keeps on giving LOl
I love the fact that the one video Oracle sponsored is law-related. At least they know where their true expertise lies
I know it seems odd, but Oracle is backing quite a bit of open source on their cloud platform. I remember the fist time someone handed me an "Oracle Linux" CD at a conf long ago. I was suspect for sure.
I recently went through the process of dumping all my physical and digital games from my past two decades of Nintendo systems for backups and use on the Steam Deck.
It's super cool to see new life breathed into older games via emulation. Even with the weird snags the Steam Deck sometimes runs into, it's been a great system to replay some of my old favorites in a portable form factor and actually hitting their target framerates.
I'm all for these in depth videos funding lmg staff passions!! This needs a series haha
A look into the Polymega would also have been interesting (although likely somewhat off-topic for this specific video), but currently, shipping units are behind by several months, so can't really blame LTT on not happening to have one handy. They also don't have a module for the N64 yet.
I have a ROM for each of my vintage game carts. Did I dump them myself or did I download them? You'll never know because a well made digital copy will be as sharp as the original.
This is not true for modern game cartridges. The Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch utilize keys and digital signing to attach software to a specific console. This is why emulators often require console-specific files to prove you own the console itself and the game, this is also why emulators are legal. Emulators which work "out of the box" are using piracy means to allow you to play software or the console it is emulating does not have those securities in place.
@@lightly-red-huedmaleindivi6266 The topic is on Vintage Systems, last I checked the 3DS and Switch are not vintage systems. Also, these newer systems do not use game carts, they use game cards. Game carts finish the electronic circuit in the game system allowing you to play it. Game cards on the other hand act more like flash cards that are booted by the operating system.
@@Waifu4Life Being labeled as vintage or not is irrelevant as the 3DS and Wii U store will be discontinued as of march 2023. This means software for those systems will become just as inaccessible to everyone as software for older systems. Therefore piracy for those systems will become a topic of discussion as used physical games may be available for some but not everyone will have access and will need to resort to piracy.
@@lightly-red-huedmaleindivi6266 Emulating a DS or 3DS is not the best thing ever because of the dual screens and touch controls. The Wii U is a modern system that can easily hook-up to modern TV and can easily be jailbroken, so emulating it is pointless unless you just don't want to spend single a penny on hardware.
I love the DSi since it’s super easy to dump roms from your carts to the SD card slot with the help of a camera exploit. No extra hardware needed. Dumped my entire collection of games in under 2 hours.
HiyaCFW ?
Why jump through all those hoops? I know someone that downloaded 6000+ NDS roms in under 5 minutes
@@ToxNano The CFW is without using an R4 card and you can emulate games from other handhelds too
@@M87-o3n Sure, custom Firmwares are great. I still wouldn't want to dump 50+ games myself, especially not if they're available elsewhere :D
@@ToxNano I never said I didn’t do that as well, have the entire English library of GB, GBC, and GBA games along with every NDS game that might interest me backed up despite me only playing those games for a couple hours tops since downloading them. I may as well snag that save data as well since I have the capability on my DS.
I am more of the person who mods consoles because it’s fun than actually using those modded consoles and playing the games. I’d just rather emulate my games than use the original hardware. Did the same thing with my wii and wiiU. Modded them for like 2 days, played like 2 games, then didn’t touch them again (except when I need an online account to rip off the wiiU to use on CEMU)
I expected a good video on an interesting product, but I certainly was taken aback by how thorough and measured this video became on tackling the subject of game preservation and the importance of media perservation in general when factoring in the fact that as great as physical media is and always is, nothing lasts forever if you let something get lost.
Definitely one of the best videos on the entire channel, kudos.
Linus NEEDS to have more video of this man. He is so integral on his presentations GIVE THIS MAN A RAISE he makes LTT Look good. It is what it is. The mans an asset!
We've let companies take intellectual property way too far. If I can reasonably enjoy their past products legally I will, but if that isn't possible or requires ridiculous means then I'm still going to enjoy it anyways, and their opinion on the matter just doesn't matter. They could easily give us a way to pay for them, so when they choose not to they completely forfeit their right to complain about "piracy" in my eyes.
Wow I've said word for word those sentences over the years
That's not how the law works haha. You don't forfeit the right to complain about piracy haha. This is what you sound like, "Ford hasn't made it easy for me to purchase a 1965 Mustang so I'm going to steal one and enjoy it anyways."
@@alexmendez3681 yeah, but you cant copy and paste a 1965 mustang for free. its not comparable
@@alexmendez3681 He wasn't talking about the law. Reading helps.
Media Piracy and Theft are fundamentally different! Theft deprives the owner of the stolen good, piracy does not.
@@pixelg4m3r25 but "yOu WoUldN't StEaL a CaR", right?
I can only imagine going back to the days where we would just pass around each other's collection and rip the games. I can imagine stores getting around this by renting the copies knowing they're being ripped.
There is a well known game hurt by this practice for Apple 2 called The Bilestoad. The author saw 10% of the revenue he should have, based on numbers of people who played the game. This did not inspire him confidence in continuing to make new games, or update the game for new hardware. We did see an official update to more powerful hardware, one that added different classes of characters, but overall it remains something of a cult classic.
that sponsor was incredibly specific, i am pretty well rounded when it comes to tech but that flew over my heard harder than a Turboencabulator
The perfectly cut scram while dripping something got me
Always weird and lovely to see LTT covering retro gaming, on one hand I miss the quirks I'm used to on retro gaming focused channels, on the other hand, Anthony
great video. Lots of useful information. More please! This is so much more interesting that new TV reviews for thousands of dollars, which nobody will ever buy. This video and all the DIY stuff you guys do is way more cooler!
I'm just here for the Intel tech upgrades
Nintendo's stance on emulation has been pretty cancer, they could change this if they themselves just put out a mass library emulator that allowed you to purchase every game in their collection for a reasonable price, build it to work on the current Nintendo system AND PC, boom, they're making more money and people have a "legal way" to feel secure in their emulation
They would probably do it if there was a demand for it but since so many people pirate there's no demand. So Pirates created this problem. I wish men had integrity.
@@alexmendez3681 that’s literal proof of demand
@@khakers2.099 Agreed. So stop pirating so Nintendo can see that demand to release their games on newer console. If people are illegally downloading Roms, less demand will be displayed.
Let’s be real here. People will not be inclined to purchase a game after it has been downloaded illegally.
@@alexmendez3681 and yet for some strange reason people are still buying games
@@alexmendez3681 the most smooth brain take on "piracy" I've seen in a long time.
yikes
Nintendo themselves utilized piracy in their own development of the NES and SNES classic. Hackers found the header data from the original rippers in the header of many of the games.
Anthony retro stuff is some of my favorite content.
Always interested in how we'll be keeping favorable tech alive over the years as our daily lives begin to move away from supporting them.
The last ever corporation I'd care about respecting in some way is Nintendo. No shame in pirating their historic or current products.
Exactly. Giving Nintendo more money at this point is morally reprehensible, and has been for a long time now. Instead, consider supporting the internet archive and their preservation efforts.
What did Nintendo do?
@@Dragonisser The worst, releasing it overpriced in online store. Then shutting down the store with no way to DL the game you own. And IF the game is available on another console' store, you still have to buy it again
@@Dragonisser tbf most companies have done this in the past but we just hold Nintendo to a higher regard. Most of these things ea and rockstar have done. But I don't see people going around saying it's ok to pirate their games
@@Dragonisser Add to it.
- Nintendo (not love) hate relationship with fan games.
- Not making their games soundtrack available in streaming platforms.
Game preservation game historians and sometimes corporations will forget that they had the source code all together destruction of their own systems and infrastructure has been noted Nintendo even thanked pirates who had reverse engineered the code of one of their games so they can then turn around and sell it on the eShop.
That doesn't sound like something Nintendo would do, aside from flipping that ROM.
Please add commas in the future man, this is hard to read
@@awesomex1031 lol :b
@@awesomex1031 It's not completely unusual. Nintendo did hire one of the iNES devs for their emulation development in the GC/Wii days. That's where the whole false "Nintendo downloaded ROMS off the internet and resold them on Virtual Console" thing came from. So working with preservationists isn't unheard of.
@@RH_54321 didn't they immediately fire and sue him for his efforts on iNES once he got the Virtual Console emulation working? If they didn't, I'm sure they'd love to do that sort of thing nowadays.
remembering when Anthony first appeared on camera and looked nervous but look at our boy now
Before: Linus Tech Tips
Now: Linus Piracy Tips
I once downloaded a file thinking I'd get a rom of an old Kirby game. Turns out I was given the entire snes library in a zip that was probably less than 500mb. I definitely deleted that zip, and I definitely don't have it on an external HDD or anything.
I would definitely never have the whole snes library downloaded to my hard drive. Deleted it immediately when I realised what I'd accidentally done.
Could you send a link? I'm definitely not downloading, i just want to block this site on my pc so no poor soul would ever find this abomination
Wow! That magically didn't appear be to a magnet url to the said file in the comments here somehow
I also accidentally downloaded every AMIGA, ATARI, NEOGEO, NES, SNES, N64, PSX, GB, GBA, GBC and Sega game. So glad I realized my mistake and deleted those files. I most assuredly haven't been playing them for a decade on multiple platforms.
ahahahahahahaha this is the pinnacle of all this talks about piracy. Best thread so far on the comments. I just imagined you guys like drug dealers doing something super wrong but then, I too DEFINITELY was not playing Capcom vs SNK 2 and all three Onimusha on my PC a little while a go... I just saw someone who looks just like me doing it and reported to the authorities immediately.
Linus acting like everyone hasn't been doing this since the dawn of time.
Jokes aside fun video!
Most people I know were doing it as far back as the early 2000s on school PCs. My teachers hated it despite the fact that it was a legit way that some people learned how to get into coding and figuring out how it all worked together.
Today's retro gaming community is amazing. Every console you can think of, has some kind of mods, HDMI upgrades, custom software/firmware/BIOS, etc.. Seriously, I love these communities.
its probably the best part of gaming now...
because modern gaming and huge companies have become overhyped trash heaps that kill IPs (halo) and delay overspent games.
"You can dump a huge collection in, like, _no_ time!"
Aw, Linus. So cute. Have you gotten to your first cart that didn't read correctly yet? Break out the isopropyl alcohol and a carton of cotton swabs and get to dumpin'!
Seriously though, I didn't know about this, and I like the idea of using a dedicated device rather than the Retrode, where I spent a ton of money on adapters, have to deal with storage drivers detecting the media on a computer, and it doesn't even do NES carts.
0:08 Jon's "100 pecent legal" lives on
I'll give two + perfectly reasonable suggestions the likes of Nintendo could implement but never will because of selfishness and greed:
1) Make a public statement that all releases more than x-years old are officially free to use, possibly as a thank you to all those loyal paying customers.
2) Make the ROMs available for a small fee. Except of course the likes of Nintendo can't because they care so little for their past products they have to rely on 'pirated' copies for their own releases - it's a case of "I don't want but you can't have either" ...unless there's a quick buck in it.
3) There would even be a nice (if parasitic) business to be made from dusting off old tooling and doing limited re-runs of classic releases. See 2) as to why this isn't a practicable possibility - the files and tooling get routinely binned because these companies really don't care.
Nintendo in particular is like that person who smashes things before they put it in a skip because even though they don't want it any more they can't stand the idea that somebody else might benefit from their rubbish.
THAT is why I have no issue with the 'pirating' retro software - the nominal owner has already thrown it away and the sight of them complaining over others retrieving their rubbish from the bin only fills me with contempt.
Thank you for starting the video the way you did! Paper thin laws like "downloading an exact copy of the game you purchased is illegal because you don't want to open your collector's box and ruin the box" are exactly what we should be complaining about!
Hoist the colors
Tired of of people not realizing emulation ≠ piracy
But even with the illegality of piracy, it does so much more work in preserving games than Nintendo could ever do
If regular people could do it, a massive corporation with a fuckton of money could do it better, they just choose not too
Everyone in the fist 5 minutes omg can we just appreciate how much work he puts into his videos.😂
I quite literally do not care who says what about Piracy or Emulation or downloading roms. Its 2022. No ones losing money over this. Nintendo maybe cause of the online VC services but quite literally they can't stop you. they would have to hack you or find you. or for someone to snitch but no one would do that cause its 2022 and everyones okay with everything at this point.
You: No-one is losing money over this.
Also you: Nintendo does but they can't do shit.
Good to see Anthony again, I don't watch every single video but haven't seen him in a while
Came here expecting to cringe...and left with a smile on my face. Thanks for this video and supporting the scene. Long Live Emulation!
Remember, it is always morally correct to emulate games that you literally cannot play otherwise. If not for the community, many of these games would be forever lost.
If a game is out of print, it's fair game for emulation imo.
thats what the big devs want. if you cant get the old version of the game they can mark up a new version or lock it behind a subscription service. and for games that don't do either, compa ies rather we fuck ourselves
And if you've spent your life savings on an Nvidia GPU then it's reasonable to emulate switch games cos you've no money left for a switch let alone any games for it!
It's morally correct to emulate any Nintendo game.
@@vexsimp correction: its morally correct to pirate ANY game
My switch broke. I lost my old 3DS. After seeing this video... I might as well emulate my games that I legally bough over the years. I was devastated after hearing about the e shop. How am I playing my games on a new console after it gets damaged or lost? That's hundreds of dollars down the drain. Nintendo is just focused on the new generation. Nice video!
1:44 hell yeah, Crystalis! I actually had the battery replaced in the 90's by Nintendo. When they received the cart, they noticed "contamination" and proceeded to offer "cleaning" of all my games, all my controllers, and my NES unit. I sent them a HUGE box with over 100 games and all my NES gear, and they cleaned ALL the carts (peeling the stickers , completely reshelling them and reapplying the stickers) and replaced all my controllers and NES unit with new/refurbed hardware. THAT was the kind of customer service you got from Nintendo in the 90's.
0:35 No. But there's also no completely illegal way to do it either. Legally, you cannot make a ROM of a Nintendo game with 3rd party tools. But Nintendo doesn't provide you with a tool to do it either. Hence, you can legally use any illegal 3rd party tool you have access to. But that dumping you can legally make with an illegal 3rd party tool, can only be legally used for archival purposes. Yet legally, Nintendo cannot disallow you to use a product you bought in any way you find desirable (as long as you don't distribute the copies, or in some countries, as long as you don't ask for a benefit in exchange (distributing for free is not considered a copyright breach in some places), or even if you just don't claim it's an original (some countries "allow" you to sell pirate copies, as long as you clarify it's a copy. It's technically not allowed, but there are legal vacuums), depending on your local copyright laws).
So:
* Is it legal to emulate games, even if you own the original and the console it runs in? No.
* Is it illegal, then? Also no.
AND!! I forgot, but recent anti-anticonsumer laws, that restrict the capability for companies to tie you into the one ecosystem, could soon take precedence over any copyright law or TOS anywhere in the world. In a perfect world, these will eventually lead to every developer offering physical copies of everything, and for those copies to be legally dumped and emulated in your ecosystem of choice, provided you bought the one copy. Of course, you cannot expect these types of laws to come from any USA legislative unit, but they can come from the European Parliament, and eventually by local legislation of jurisprudence be adopted by everyone else (like the little confirmation where you can disallow cookies when you visit a new website, that should be standardized, because many asshole websites hide confirmed ad, tracking and spy cookies in submenus, even if you turn everything off)
Yeah basically its a massive legal grey area and a massive cluster fuck.
Long life to piracy and emulation! It's kept decades of gaming alive and well :)
I disagree. If people stop pirating, I believe there would be so much demand for a game that Nintendo would start releasing these games. But since so many people pirate, there's no demand. Bummer too.
@@alexmendez3681 You've got it the wrong way around. If nintendo would release their games, some people would buy these instead of pirating. Most people wouldn't buy them at all though. It's not a "If people x then nintendo y" kinda situation. It's more a "nintendo doesn't sell, so people can't buy"
@@iminyourwalls8309 I knew you were going to say that there is a demand and that's why there is pirating. But Nintendo doesn't see that demand and that's why pirates are creating this issue.
What's wrong with letting a game die? Why must it be preserved? Let it go, don't be afraid of FOMO.
Hold them accountable? It's their IP. They can do whatever they want.
One thing that I noticed through these comments is that pirates never create games of their own, it's rare. Pirates don't know the sting of working hard to create something only to have a bunch of pirates rip off their game. Sad.
Disagree. Companies shouldn't have to compete with pirates. Pirates shouldn't exist, it's just morally wrong. What happens to men having integrity. I guess I'm starting to realize this is something deeper. If people pirate and cheat the system, what else are they cheating the system on? Shame.
@@Tom-bb5kh Nope. It's the other way around, the way I described it. When people pirate, the demand goes away for a game and Nintendo doesn't know about the demand since pirates figures aren't tracked anywhere. How are they supposed to know which games to bring back or not? You can't expect them to bring back every single game if no one shows a demand for it.
@@alexmendez3681 Not really. People can pirate almost every game, yet there’s still demand for lots of those games. People pirate because nintendo doesn’t sell them anymore. There is no way to “show demand” for a discontinued product. Do you expect people to not pirate and just spam nintendo’s twitter for eternity or whatever?
Anthony: "They are roms.."
Linus: "that makes sense...." 🤣
Anthony has come a long way as far as presenting to the camera goes. Way more comfortable than the early videos.
To make this experience better it's definitely worth looking into the Mister FPGA solution.
Can't get much more real than that (except the original console).
My take on emulation,
If I’m playing a system that’s older than 10 years, playing games not currently being sold on the market, or it’s a game i own a copy of. I see no issue in the “piracy” that’s occurring. Because for example if I’m playing Pokémon emerald, the only person I benefit by buying it now is the person selling it. The developers or publisher see no money from my sale. Furthermore most sought after games are extremely expensive. Without emulation I wouldn’t have had as many games in my childhood. I got games when birthday came or Christmas that’s it and I couldn’t get a bunch of games each time so my choices were limited. I understand why Nintendo gets pissed. I think the Nintendo switch emulator is very evil in that regard. Don’t want people to not enjoy their backups but it opens the door for probably thousands of people that will never buy a switch now to play it’s amazing games and even 10,000 people not buying it is close to $6,000,000 dollars not going to the developers or hardware engineers or even nintendo and that’s only to say each person only spends $600 that’s one console and 4 games. Emulation is amazing tool for game preservation and helping people discover older games however even good tools in the wrong hands can be very evil and very anti-consumer. Thank you for your time reading my hot take on the matter.
-Dude and his cat
Yeah, it's only piracy if it's actively for sale by the first party on a modern platform. A sneakily modded ROM of sold on an Eshop as the original is still not the original.
@@xminorthreatx while yes I agree with you it is different the only reason I support that is Nintendo pays developers from that money. So there is money to be made.
Fuck Nintendo, I use a Nintendo Switch emulator because a game in Brazil is like 1/3 of a minimum salary
@@xminorthreatx Disagree - if you dump the game yourself at least, it's not piracy. Let's not muddy things up in ways those who already abuse copyright would easily exploit to dumb down those who don't better - piracy is about how one gets the game, emulation being legit or not usually is about how one gets the game to emulate, age is utterly irrelevant IMO.
I'm watching this on June 28th, 2023. Nintendo announced a Super Mario RPG Remake
Woohoo!!! :)
I love that I'm seeing both the box and screenshots from one of my favorite games (and the first I ever beat): Phantasy Star
preservation of roms and isos is good for video game history
Great video, I found it relied on or showcased specific products too frequently though. Would also be interested in a followup for optical disc games.
6:14 Linus Drop Tips
what a sweet collection of cartridges you guys have there on pristine packaging
Copyright shouldn't exist for discontinued games.
True , but its more like delisted games which impossible to buy legally rather than discontinued games because there are a lot of games which discontinued but still works and purchasable . Copyright have to be gone if the games completely delisted, if you dont sell a game anymore then you dont need our money anymore right? , Piracy should be legal if the games completely delisted on every store