EmuParadise has removed its entire library of retro game ROMs and ISOs

[Austin]

This is terrible news.

[MrMaddog]

The thing was Emuparadise had already removed 1st party Nintendo games b/c the Big N was still selling them (via Mini Classics) but even that wasn't enough.

 

I can understand if they were selling them digitally for any platform like Atari & Sega does, but while Nintendo had the Virtual Console service for their previous systems but not for the Switch. So what happens when they shut down Virtual Console for good? And also the fact they they keep selling Mini Classics in small amounts doesn't help matters either. Plus what happens when "real hardware" consoles die off? How will people be able to play the original Super Mario Bros. in the future if the game's no longer available digitally (legal or otherwise)?

[Swami]

Well, it's finally time to download those 4GB of SNES Everdrive rom packs off that site where they are.

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

I have 2 external hard drives filled with roms. So are they gonna send their ninja's out to my house now too?

I backed all my downloaded roms years ago, because I knew theyre still one of the only corporations who would rather squeeze water from a rock over a 30 year old rom when everyone else has moved on. Nintendo..... Always going too far with their greed.

Edited August 9, 2018 by PhoenixMoonPatrol

[Taijigamer]

Sad times. Emuparadise should have made a point of removing only Nintendo Roms. Why should the community suffer completely for their draconian decision making. Nintendofail. Time to boycott.

[F34R]

Sad times. Emuparadise should have made a point of removing only Nintendo Roms. Why should the community suffer completely for their draconian decision making. Nintendofail. Time to boycott.Boycot

Boycott who?

[Taijigamer]

Nintendo products.

[Flojomojo]

LOL@ boycott, as if the emulation crowd is buying a lot of Nintendo product anyway.

 

Yes yes, "sometimes trying something in emulation spurs people to buy the real thing." But equally often (probably more, choose your data to fit your argument, because nobody really knows) emulation is done despite commercial availability.

 

Before Emuparadise existed, there were plenty of places to find ROMS, and there will always be other sources now that it's gone.

[F34R]

Nintendo products.

Yeah, no.

 

I don't have any issue with companies pursuing legal channels when their work is being distributed illegally.

 

I've never kept a rom that was available commercially from said company. If I want it, and it's available to be purchased, I'll buy it.

[Inky]

Sad times. Emuparadise should have made a point of removing only Nintendo Roms.

 

They did.

[John Stamos Mullet]

I've never kept a rom that was available commercially from said company. If I want it, and it's available to be purchased, I'll buy it.

[Austin]

Before Emuparadise existed, there were plenty of places to find ROMS, and there will always be other sources now that it's gone.

 

One of the issues is that this sets a bad precedent. LoveRoms first, and now EmuParadise (a popular one to many).. Who's next? Obviously only time will tell, but there's a chance others might take note and follow suit. The more this happens, the more people have to resort to shady, unsafe methods of acquiring this stuff.

[Flojomojo]

Are you new to the internet? This kind of thing has been going on for a long time, and will continue for a long time to come. This site will go away, and five others will pop up (with offshore, possibly anonymous hosting) to take its place. It's not like Emuparadise was clean or non-shady itself.

 

The pirate sites have no legal standing, but enforcement has been done in whack-a-mole style so far, and end users haven't been fingered by law enforcement in a long time.

[Tempest]

I've never kept a rom that was available commercially from said company. If I want it, and it's available to be purchased, I'll buy it.

 

I'm not quite as heroic as that, but I try. I don't download roms for any current generation systems (anything you can buy in stores or at a Gamestop). The most current system I have roms for is the Saturn and PSX. I know that Sega, Nintendo, etc still own the rights to all their games for the NES, SNES, Genesis, etc., but since 90% of them aren't available by any means short of ebay I don't feel guilty downloading the roms. When you get into older stuff like the Atari and early computers where the copyrights on most things are murky or have been completely abandoned, I feel no shame at all.

[Gamemoose]

Sad times. Emuparadise should have made a point of removing only Nintendo Roms. Why should the community suffer completely for their draconian decision making. Nintendofail. Time to boycott.

So wait....let me get this straight: a group of people that were downloading unlicensed game files from a site not authorized to distribute said files is "suffering" because said site decided to take away the games so the owners don't get sued into oblivion for illegally distributing someone else's content? And Nintendo is the bad guy? Explain to me how Nintendo, who is STILL SELLING Virtual Console games, will have a subscription service that will have classic games and they sell consoles right now with classic games on them, is being " draconian" in their push against ROM sites?

 

It seems as though you want them to just lean back and say "naw, even though we sell our top classic games yet, you can go download for free. We don't care". How is that good business sense? Also, we have no rights to their files. It's a priviledge. It's like getting angry at a friend who brought their ball for everyone to play with but then took it with them when thry had to leave.

 

I'm no digital saint- I gotz teh ROMz too. I just updated my NES/SNES minis with just titles I loved the most years back. But I'm not going to light a torch and grab my pitch fork because Nintendo decided to go after ROM sites. It's their right. It's also Emuparadise's right to yank access to files to protect themselves.

[John Stamos Mullet]

Are you new to the internet? This kind of thing has been going on for a long time, and will continue for a long time to come. This site will go away, and five others will pop up (with offshore, possibly anonymous hosting) to take its place. It's not like Emuparadise was clean or non-shady itself.

 

The pirate sites have no legal standing, but enforcement has been done in whack-a-mole style so far, and end users haven't been fingered by law enforcement in a long time.

This.

 

Even if they take down all the site that show up in google results, there's hundreds of thousands of torrent trackers hosting this stuff all over the net, in foreign jurisdictions where they can't enforce anything against them. This is like using a band aid to mend a decapitation.

[Petran79]

Sad times. Emuparadise should have made a point of removing only Nintendo Roms. Why should the community suffer completely for their draconian decision making. Nintendofail. Time to boycott.

Their priority should be sites that distribute Wii U, 3DS and Switch games. Downloading Zelda BOTW, Smash, Mario Kart, Pokemon or Samus Returns does far more financial damage than some 20+ year old NES or Gamecube game

[Tempest]

This.

 

Even if they take down all the site that show up in google results, there's hundreds of thousands of torrent trackers hosting this stuff all over the net, in foreign jurisdictions where they can't enforce anything against them. This is like using a band aid to mend a decapitation.

 

I think the goal is to make it more difficult for the casual pirate who is just going to do a quick Google search for 'romz'. Anyone who is actually dedicated to looking will still have no trouble finding them.

[icemanxp300]

Am I the only one who is excited that my collection just went up in value

[Tanooki]

The amount of selfish whining in here against Nintendo is pretty bad. Did EP ever say it was them that shut it down, or are we just jumping to conclusions because of the LoveROMs incident? For all you know it could have been fear of that, but not Nintendo contacting them, to a few other game/hardware makers going after them, or maybe it really was Nintendo.

 

Either way if you have a EP account the roms, magazines, players guides, and other so called removed stuff is still there with links and those links go to off site storage spaces like Mega and the others. Nothing is gone, just shifted, so this is a lot of almost pointless drama and middle finger wagging at a company that may or may not have ordered them to do it.

 

 

Gamemoose, don't bother you're preaching to very self entitled deaf ears upset over a free ride being made ever so slightly harder to still get anyway and from the same site no less.

[Jess Ragan]

I have my own reasons for avoiding Nintendo products. Still feeling burned by the end of Miiverse and having to purchase a new console just because their last one bombed. My 3DS hasn't seen a power on in months.

[AMenard]

LOL@ boycott, as if the emulation crowd is buying a lot of Nintendo product anyway.

 

Many do use current systems that aren't emulated. And many buy the Nintendo swag.

And since Nintendo doesn't sell carts for their old platform anymore, no one can buy new one but I sure would.

[John Stamos Mullet]

From a purely sociological standpoint, I really don't care if Nintendo's IPs are being distributed on ROMsites, because they already make so much money with people who do legally purchase their products, that it's not actually hurting them - not compared to say, a mid-level professional musician trying to make a living from their music, and having it shared instead of purchased and not making enough to live off.

 

I'm not saying they shouldn't enforce their IP rights, but I don't really feel bad for the big N if people are sharing their stuff.

 

Kinda reminds me of when Metallica got huge after the black album, and went after Napster and basically embarrassed themselves.Technically they weren't wrong, and were within their legal rights, but the way they went about it alienated a ton of people - since one of the bigger reasons they became popular before their breakout hit/radio albums was word of mouth and people trading tapes of their live shows. They used to have entire sections of stadiums specifically reserved for bootleg tapers.

[Flojomojo]

Many do use current systems that aren't emulated. And many buy the Nintendo swag.

And since Nintendo doesn't sell carts for their old platform anymore, no one can buy new one but I sure would.

 

OK, so explain to me what a "boycott of Nintendo" would accomplish, and how it would work?

 

If everyone who is soooo pissed at them for enforcing their copyright under the law never again buys a Nintendo product (Switch, 3DS, swag), what happens? Does Nintendo feel a drop in their profits and somehow attribute it to coordinated nerdrage? Then what?

[Rick Dangerous]

Not really worried about this in the least.

 

There is not stopping the internet and those who are willing to share. I feel like there is a big "rom/movie/music" sites are being shut down scare every three-five years. And then guess what? Everything goes back to normal and all the sites have the ROMS again. In a few months it will be water under the bridge.

 

Plus at this point, who doesn't have a full rom set for just about every cartridge based system they love, or at least know someone who does and would be willing to share? I know I do...

Edited August 9, 2018 by travistouchdown