Emulator is it possible?

[ExplorerSergio]

Is it possible to take the game off my gaming cartridge? Specifically a Gameboy advance game? how do people get the file to put on my pc? As the emulator sites are being shut down, now a days.

And also other games like ps1 games and such?

[Mira Yurizaki]

Yes, it's possible. How else do you think people make ROM images?

 

I won't tell you how to do it though. That's what Google's for.

[minibois]

Disclaimer: I am talking about making legal copies of games you OWN, for personal use. Something Linus has talked about a bunch with their arcade video and his PLEX server. This is not piracy.

Keep in mind some emulators may still require piracy to function, as they for example don't come bundled with BIOS for the system that is needed to have the emulator work, but which is also protected by copyright law, meaning it can be tricky situation, which often involves piracy.

For obvious reasons I do not support piracy of any kind.

 

There are a couple different ways of approaching this and of course different ways of how it is done.

Some devices for example only take the save game off a cartridge, so that is backed up, but not the ROM itself.

For the GameBoy systems I have only really seen this option:

But I don't have direct experience with it.

 

For certain disc based systems like the PS1, the process is different and mostly software based; as the PS1 uses CD's, which there are of course many different readers for it.

Since I don't have experience with any (neither for the PS2 and Xbox), I will not be able to make any specific recommendations.

 

For systems like the Nintendo DS and the Wii there are certain Homebrew applications which support making ROM backups of your own games.

The DS requires a separate flash cart (like Acecard, R4, etc.) and a homebrew program, but also a router with a WEP password (which is outdated and rather unsafe, so people usually recommend just having a cheap router for this purpose and unplugging it when not using it).

Check this article on Lifehacker for more info:

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-hack-your-nintendo-ds-for-easy-backups-and-singl-5588151

 

The Wii has a Homebrew program for it, but I forget what it is called.. You can probably find it by Googling it.

Dolphin (emulator) has a wiki page for it, that maybe has some more info:

https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Ripping_Games

 

I just wish game publishers cared a little more about their old(er) games to either:

- Not have crappy emulators (like the Wii U Virtual Console)

- Actually redistribute certain games

and

- support multiple save games!

 

That way this would all just not be necessary.

 

Once again, I do not condone piracy. I also implore you to read up on local laws regarding  these devices and their purpose (taking your own games off a cartridge for personal use). Laws will differ in the world on this subject.

[LogicalDrm]

14 hours ago, minibois said:

Once again, I do not condone piracy. I also implore you to read up on local laws regarding  these devices and their purpose (taking your own games off a cartridge for personal use). Laws will differ in the world on this subject.

This is the big thing. In EU saving something you own for personal use is fine. In some US states things aren't so easy.

[PlayStation 2]

16 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

This is the big thing. In EU saving something you own for personal use is fine. In some US states things aren't so easy.

I believe the official law in the United States is that backups of things like this you purchase is legal in a private manner so long as you aren’t circumventing any copy protection methods. So long as the games that OP has doesn’t require any trickery to get around any copy protection, it should be fully legal for him to hold onto a backup of that so long as it is not being used in an illegal way.

[JZStudios]

On 1/22/2020 at 9:31 AM, minibois said:

For certain disc based systems like the PS1, the process is different and mostly software based; as the PS1 uses CD's, which there are of course many different readers for it.

Since I don't have experience with any (neither for the PS2 and Xbox), I will not be able to make any specific recommendations.

PCSX2 will actually just straight play games from the disc drive. I took my PC over to my buddys house and had him watch me just stick MGS2 in my PC and start playing it. It's pretty rad. Didn't try the PS1 emulator, but you probably just need to put it in the disc drive and burn it to an .iso... which I think 7zip allows you to do. I've done it for a Win10 install disc, but don't remember what program I used, but it's really easy.

 

Unfortunately when I put the GameCube disc in Dolphin told me it doesn't actually play from the disc, so you do have to turn it into a .iso first.

 

To answer OP's question, there's devices people make that you plug the cartridges into to turn them into .iso's over USB, but it's much easier to frankly just... acquire them. If you want to keep it "legal" (I think it's a bit of a grey zone since you didn't make the backup) only nab ones you have physical copies for.

If you're still curious, check the forums for the particular emulator and ask on there for specifics. They're much more likely to have a solution.

17 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

This is the big thing. In EU saving something you own for personal use is fine. In some US states things aren't so easy.

No, it's legal across the US.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Making a backup copy of video games specifically in the US has a snag due to the Atari v. JS&A Group case, which ruled that making a copy of video games is not applicable under U.S. Code Ch 17 § 117. i.e, copying video games is illegal in the US.

 

I'm not aware of any case that tried to challenge this.

[JZStudios]

2 hours ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

Making a backup copy of video games specifically in the US has a snag due to the Atari v. JS&A Group case, which ruled that making a copy of video games is not applicable under U.S. Code Ch 17 § 117. i.e, copying video games is illegal in the US.

 

I'm not aware of any case that tried to challenge this.

Hmm... that's specifically talking about game cartridges, based on what you linked. So everything else is fair game I guess?

I also question if there's any legal need to own the console to make a backup and play it on an emulator. As such, depending on how that argument goes you could very well argue that the game is still software that you legally purchased and own and that you shouldn't need the console to run it. But I guess this isn't really a law debate.

[LogicalDrm]

8 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

I believe the official law in the United States is that backups of things like this you purchase is legal in a private manner so long as you aren’t circumventing any copy protection methods. So long as the games that OP has doesn’t require any trickery to get around any copy protection, it should be fully legal for him to hold onto a backup of that so long as it is not being used in an illegal way.

 

Yeah, I think that was what I was remembering. To be correct, going around copyright measures is probably illegal in EU countries too, but as backupping something you own is fine (I have friend who scans and OCRs books), they don't really come after you unless you are the distributor.

 

8 hours ago, JZStudios said:

No, it's legal across the US.

We've had this discussion in forums for years, and conclusion has been that there are iffy's in US about this.

 

Due to how we police these discussions, sharing and suggesting to "just download" games is still considered piracy.

[Mira Yurizaki]

On 1/23/2020 at 7:45 PM, JZStudios said:

Hmm... that's specifically talking about game cartridges, based on what you linked. So everything else is fair game I guess?

One could make the argument that it applies to games in general.

 

Because you know, lawyer logic.

 

EDIT: To argue a point about games in general, during the time the ruling was done, most programs were distributed on floppies or cassette tapes. Both had mechanical and electronic issues on the media itself. I'm fairly certain that the heads for those media physically contacted the media itself causing mechanical wear every time you used it. And then there's the fact that the data on floppies and cassettes would be destroyed from external magnetic fields.

 

And even if you were to argue that optical disks are fragile in the physical sense vs a solid state cartridge, you could still argue that under ideal conditions, they last practically forever because there's no physical contact between the media and the reader and they're not affected by EMI or whatever that could hamper magnetic storage.

 

So there's my lawyer logic.