Play Those Classic SNES Games on Your iPad

So, you're paying cash to do something illegal? These guys are probably gonna get screwed fast. Don't get me wrong, I love my ROMs, but if you're doing something illegal (eg giving out games that aren't yours) don't charge for it.

I do have an SNES and the games, so to play it on the go, I got a SNES emulator for Pocket PC. Total cost, $0. Difficulty? Copy and paste onto an SD card. That was it. No jailbreaking, or cost, or breaking the law. Plays very smoothly and looked great on the VGA size screen.

this is disgusting. it's like pirates that ask for donations or to pay for using their services, WTF IS THAT?? greed at it's best.

A lot of things will run old school emulators, pretty funny they charge for it though, since both are built off code from freeware emulators.

BTW, roms are illegal, regardless of whether you own the system, games, or delete them within 24 hours. There is no "backup" in the licensing. They really only care about games they want to re release though.

You pay cash for software that has the CAPABILITY to run "illegal" ROMS. You are not buying the ROMS themselves, nor can they legally supply them.

my iphone 3gs can do that, they should be working more on the n64 one now that these iDevices come with faster CPUs.

this is so OLD!!!!!

um why does Apple get an article to do this when Android already has a NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Sega Genesis emulator and they are free. Where is the article on how Android can do all of this? Android has been doing it for a long time and you don't have to jailbreak the Droid in order to use it.

If you want to run an Apple related ad every day fine but lets at least hear some comparable news on Android. I'm sure there are people out there using Android in unique ways as well. Heck my friend at work had his baby do something cute with his Droid Incredible the other day. If I write an article about how the world will now be a better place because of it do you think we can put it up here? Gee that would be neat.

Yep - it also has the Wiimote syncing without rooting.

Honestly it depends on where you live, and the reason software like Clone DVD still is being sold. You ARE allowed one back up copy per real copy.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-digital.html

Now when talking about SNES ROM's the licensing was pretty weird and no one probably read it... So I can't say if they mention anything about making a back up, if they didn't mention it then it falls under section 117 and you can make one copy per original you own. (I myself would get in deep doo doo on this one since I keep multiple back ups of my hard drive in case one is a dud lol)
Also you can't download them, you have to make your own back up, Not as hard as it once was though.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/21 [...] ay-aflame/

Big wop nothing amazing here they have done this in the past and it did not cost money plus it's illegal.

JonathanDeane is 100% correct in what he says. However there must be some loophole that is jumped through by the companies otherwise how could copy protection programs be legal? Since by law we have the legal right to make functional backups and yet they attempt to stop any form of functional copies for example PC games protections which have become horrendous. I wonder if someone took this issue to court if they could actually win.

Anyways I always found roms on such devices tend to be a pain when it comes to controls even more so with fast paced games.
If someone really wants to play the classic consoles in a portable form then I would advise a DS or PSP sure it may cost a little to get the hardware needed but its well worth it.

One last note since the emulators listed in the article were built around pre-existing freeware is it even legal for them to sell it?

Most systems as far back as NES had disclaimers in the fine print of all manuals stating that creating backups was illegal. It's also been ruled in the past that section 117 doesn't apply to roms. It was mainly created back in the day when things were on easily damaged magnetic media and backups were necessary to maintain ownership. Section 117 also applies to archival purposes only, so if they found any sort of emulation software on anything you owned, it would no longer be valid only for the sake of an "archive". The fact is though that older games are not accessible or presently supported, so there's no reason for them to go around and prosecute people for playing them, UNLESS it's a popular game and has been re released. I'm not saying stay away, just keep in mind most of the people that run emulation sites are high school students, not attorneys, so it's not a good idea to accept their legal counsel on copyrights.

As far as programs like Clone DVD, they're intended to make copies of your home made DVDs. If people choose to use them to back up something else, that's not the program's fault.

I'm not sure of the exact wording in the law, but in the US there is federal law that definitely makes it legal to own backup copies of software.