Is it wrong for me to play Pokemon Emerald on my phone?

[Okjoek]

Someone told me that it's illegal to play Pokemon Emerald on my phone using an emulator. I was thinking does it really matter considering that I (my parents) already paid for the game and I own a legitimate copy of the game. I was curious if there was any part of the law that justifies me being allowed to play the game on any platform I like as long as I took a legal route to obtain an official copy of it. I'm really not a guy who likes to be seen as a pirate-er, but I don't wanna carry that clunky GBA sp around with me with its old cartridges and LCD display. It was a great system for its time (and in my case reliable since it still works), but I want to phone game now. 

[Suika]

It's completely illegal even if you own a physical copy.

[samocamo123]

No one cares, just play it on your phone, (mods i'm not advocating piracy just stating a point) even if you pirated all your games and movies, no one would care.

[Mira Yurizaki]

It's illegal to download a ROM, even if you own the game. The whole "back up copy" of a game only approaches legal gray areas if you made the copy.

 

That said, nobody's really going to care.

[Okjoek]

1 minute ago, Suika said:

It's completely illegal even if you own a physical copy.

Gosh darnit. Curse your proprietary-ness Nintendo!

 

*cough* Better not download it then...

[Suika]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

That said, nobody's really going to care.

Oh no, of course not. There's a reason there are so many ROM distributing websites for old Nintendo consoles compared to just about any other platform.

[Mr.Meerkat]

Nobody really except nintendo may care a little...

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

Gosh darnit. Curse your proprietary-ness Nintendo!

 

*cough* Better not download it then...

It's not just Nintendo. That's how anything with a copyright works. If the place distributing it is not authorized, it's illegal to get it from them. For example, you can't torrent a movie off the Pirate Bay even if you own it on disc. You have to make the copy yourself.

[SCHISCHKA]

Your license agreement will likely state it can only be used on Nintendo hardware so you cannot transfer it to another machine such as an emulator

[tlink]

depends on where you live. most country's it will be illegal but there are some where it will be legal or atleast a gray area.

[Guest]

Local legislation may be different for everyone but...

 

Is it legal? No.

Is it immoral? Maybe.

Does it matter? No.

Will anyone ever know or care enough to do anything about it? No.

 

The only people who ever really get in trouble for this sort of thing are people busted for hosting and distributing a lot of illegal files. That's a very rare circumstance. There simply isn't a cause or justification to go after most people for their illegal file use.

 

I'd treat this one the same way Linus treats his NAS media streaming (as I do as well); just do it if you paid for it.

 

I personally have a Plex server on my FreeNAS system with hundreds of movies and TV shows that I paid for, ripped from blu rays, and encoded with Handbrake. It's technically illegal but I don't care because I paid for it.

 

I must admit I've played a ROM or two I didn't have a physical copy of. I don't advocate it, but what is a guy to do when some of these games are impossible to find or cost hundreds of dollars, just to run them on a system that is doomed to fail over time?

[Zodiark1593]

When I was at the Carmax, the lady in the signing room asked if I played Pokémon Go. I said no, but then showed her Pokémon Ruby running on my phone. 

 

My PS1 ROMs I ripped myself as there is no specialized equipment needed. 

[Phieus]

I personally don't care about the legality or Emulating a game I already paid for. I't like using a Plex server to stream your ripped Blu-Rays to your phone. In my opinion go for it, haters gonna hate