Are video game emulators and roms legal?
Emulators are not inherently illegal. However, virtually all of them are made by ripping the BOIS out of the actual hardware being emulated. If that technique is used to make the emulator, then that emulator is illegal. ROMs you download from the net are illegal. The only way a ROM can be legal is if you own a legal copy of the game *AND* make the ROM from that legal copy for archival/backup purposes. So you must also keep the original so long as you have the ROM, and you cannot use both the original and the ROM at the same time. There are some legal issues with this situation, since making a archival copy of a cartridge is impractical for most people, which is not how the laws clearly intend it to be.
