Thursday, December 19, 2019

Getting game ROM files.

I have to start with a disclaimer, that downloading copyrighted material is illegal in many countries. Because of this, I can only condone using the Retrofoot/Pie Retro for playing games you have personally copied from your owned physical copies of the respective games. 

Since few people actually possess the hardware needed to do this, I am providing the following guidance for those who wish to disregard my warnings and venture into the vile world of content piracy. Seeking illegal files may take you to some places on the internet that might serve content that some people might find offensive or otherwise distasteful. Also, from time to time what once were reliable sources get legal pressure applied causing them to shutdown or stop hosting the game ROM files. So the intrepid neophyte content pirate is better served by teaching how to find what is wanted rather than providing links.

Finding just about any given game is usually a matter of asking the right question.  For example, typing "SNES ROMS download" into Google gives the first search result containing what appears to be ~1400 ROM files for games played with Super Nintendo Entertainment System, along with many more systems, each with a library of games. On sites like these, the game file (ROM) was compressed into a zip file.

So, as an example, if you want to play T&C Surf Design you might google search for "T&C Surf Design ROM," download, unzip the downloaded file and put the game into the right folder on a USB drive that has been prepared according to the instructions elsewhere on my blog. 

Some people don't have the patience to download games one at a time, and might find it easier to find an entire library using peer to peer (P2P) file sharing. This requires a piece of software called a p2p client.  There are many available for free.  If you prefer to use P2P, you might want to do a google search for something like "SNES ROMS torrent" the disclaimer above applies here as well.