Here in 2016 gaming has become more revolutionary than ever, developers are pushing the boundaries of graphics, gameplay and interactivity on a daily basis. That being said, one of the biggest markets in the gaming world today is the current boom in retro consoles and games. There is a growing number of collectors constantly sharing images of their vast retro games rooms and setups like the picture below.

As well as collectors there are many nostalgic gamers just wanting to relive great gaming memories from their youth (I definitely fall into this category). But surprisingly retro gaming can be just as expensive as playing the latest PS4 and Xbox titles, the most sort after retro games often carrying a high price tag. Another big cost for the nostalgic gamer would be when wanting to play numerous titles from different consoles, for instance, let’s say I want to play Super Mario, Sonic, and Crash Bandicoot, I’m going to need three different consoles to play those three specific games. Nobody reading this will be surprised when I say that I could play all of those games on one device with little to no cost if I just used an emulator and ROMs. Most people will be familiar with emulator programmes and how they allow you to play, well any game from the past on any console imaginable.

Now before I continue I will say that I’m not condoning or recommending you do anything posted in this article or even that I do or have done anything written in this article.

Now that’s over and done with I will mention that with current technologies, emulation has become a lot more popular amongst gamers. Systems like the Rasberry Pi computer and the ability to modify or soft-mod games consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, PSP, and original XBOX so they run emulators and ROMs. Again not condoning but if you look online there are some truly incredible, home built retro consoles using Rasberry Pi computers placed inside old consoles, cartridges, and toys.

Although fairly easy and a much cheaper way to play retro games, what about the ethics surrounding downloading ROMs and emulators? After a bit of research, it seems the official standpoint is that emulators are legal but the ROMs are illegal. But since there wouldn’t be much point having an emulator without any ROMs lets just say it’s illegal. Despite being illegal it doesn’t deter gamers from downloading and playing ROMs on their device of choice. One reason I suspect people believe its ok to do this would be because these games are quite old now, they aren’t being produced anymore and you can’t walk into a shop and purchase them brand new. I believe most of the main factors to be related to money and convenience but another factor to be that these games are rare to find in original form, however a ROM version could be located in minutes. I would describe myself as a really nostalgic person and I will often reminisce with friends about the games we used to love playing. Moments after or sometimes during these conversations I just want to be able to go back in time and play these classic games. As far as I’m aware time travel is still not an option but if anyone reading this is working on it then please be quicker.

Now the appeal for me to have one device full of retro gaming heaven would be being able to relive my favourite gaming moments from when I was younger, all conveniently and at no (or a small) cost. Through the various gaming pages I follow and the small amount of research I did beforehand (I’m lazy), the verdict on emulators seems to be split but not due to ethics. The majority of people for emulators and ROMs seem to be all for ROMs mainly for practicality and the cost factors. But those against don’t seem to be morally against them, they are retro collectors and simply prefer to own real games and consoles for elaborate home displays (not that I’m jealous or anything). So where do I stand on the ethics of emulators and ROMs? My opinion is that these games are difficult to find, especially in good condition and at an affordable price. So morally I’m not against emulators and playing ROMs of the retro classics I enjoyed playing over 20 years ago. I see emulators as different entirely to the copied or pirated games that were very popular with gamers who owned a chipped Playstation. As these were copied versions of brand new PlayStation games that at the time you could go out and purchase in stores and that to me is more morally wrong than emulators.

I didn’t want to get into a huge debate about piracy and copyright law but to focus purely on the ethics surrounding downloading and playing our favourite childhood games for free. You could argue that it definitely isn’t harming anyone to run a downloaded version of a NES game on your computer, console or handheld device and you would be right. Plus some might feel that if modern games were much better then gamers wouldn’t have to download old ones but that’s a rant for a different day.

Stuart Purcell

Meanwhile, deep underground somewhere in Manchester, terrifyingly sinister plots are being schemed. But back in reality I’m usually just playing video games, reading comics and watching cartoons.