Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie

BenMcLean

The answer to every intellectual property law question is "No" regardless of context.

I'll try to update this thread sometime soon, but there's been so much backlog that it looks like it'll take some work, which I'm not up for right at this moment. Thanks to everyone who has found cool new stuff, especially the NES homebrews.

I am a big fan of One Must Fall 2097 and I'd be very happy to find out that a source port of One Must Fall 2097 will run on RetroPie but I won't list it if we're running it through DOSBOX, not because there's anything wrong with DOS games (they're some of the all-time best) but because MS-DOS has such a vast library of excellent free games that it would need it's own thread. Thanks to a numerically superior library of titles enabled by a free market open platform with near total backwards compatibility across the decades, the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race reigns over all console peasants with an iron fist and it always has, even back then.

Clyde

@rpieguy said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

I don't think someone playing a game in an office waiting room is a public performance but that would be up to a judge. Even if you were to charge money, it wouldn't violate copyright law.

Under the U.S. Copyright Law, Chapter 1, Section 101, "publicly" means

(1) to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered

That sounds to me like most workspaces. Further on, Section 106 states that

the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
[...]
(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

There is no mention of charging money; the mere performance seems to be protected.

Thus, I as a legal layperson think you're very likely wrong on both accounts – at least in the U.S., but I suspect that other countries' laws are similar in that regard more often than not.

@hooperre Mind that all our opinions here are no professional assessments. If you want to be sure, you'd have to ask a lawyer, preferably one specialized in copyright law.

@benmclean said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

The answer to every intellectual property law question is "No" regardless of context.

How about "will you continue to refuse intellectual property law?"

Sorry, I couldn't resist. O:) I concur to your decision not to list MS-DOS games here.

Triquick

This Guide: https://eltechs.com/retropie-raspberry-pi-retro-gaming-machine/

Shows how its possible to get older GoG games playing on a raspberry Pi with Retropie. Its requires buying the ExaGear Desktop through and a bit more setup to get PC games running.

Drakaen391

A good spot I get my PS1”roms” is off the PS1 disk... but haven’t found a way to have the pi read the disk...

Guessing I have driver issues...

If only I could share my saved between my Pi and PS1 memory card

Shadowron

Don't know if posted before, but i wanted to share this website with you guys.
http://nesworld.com/index.php

It contains a large database of homebrews (no hacks). Some are free to download, some are demo's and some you need to buy in order to play. The website doesn't only contain NES roms and information, but also for other Nintendo consoles.

To admins: if you think the link is inappropriate, please notify me.

BenMcLean

I wonder if the Lord of the Rings Game Engine could be compiled for RetroPie. http://www.wonderland.cz/lotr/

mitu

@benmclean From the looks of it the answer would be yes, but will most likely be easier to use dosbox to play the DOS version, at least for the joystick support.

cyperghost

Sega Master System - Brawl (for Genesis/Megadrive!)

download link

TomCat

Cant delete this, but figured out the problem and no longer need assistance, sorry.

mediamogul

@cyperghost said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

Sega Master System - Brawl (for Genesis/Megadrive!)

This was updated today and has a lot of new additions.

VictimRLSH

I was able to use the pak files from the Amiga version of Quake without any problems.

cyperghost

@mediamogul cool was not aware of this.
Another cool game is "Oh Mummy!" for Genesis/MD
It has a selection of 2 modes
Mode 1 is the original Amstrad CPC version with original music
Mode 2 is a massive improved graphics adventure game

TomCat

OK, so: I am building a retro pie machine and I need ROM's! So, I bought Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, Mega Man Legacy Collection and Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection off of Steam. I have read through many guides how to extract the ROM's from these games, but python wasn't really working, and also I'm pretty new to this stuff, so I don't understand a lot of the terminology. Now, is there anyone else that knows a good, simple, and straight-forward video or thread to figure out how to do this? Thanks!

VictimRLSH

Another thing to keep in mind is the gigantic number of programs for Apple, C64, VIC20, Amiga, and DOS that are shareware or public domain. While these might take more effort to get working, you will have an impressive game library that is completely legal. Redistribution rights would be another matter though...

TomCat

@victimrlsh Are you answering my question? I dont understand.

VictimRLSH

@tomcat It was a general addition to the thread for anyone looking to expand their legal game collection.

Clyde

@tomcat I can't suggest a(nother) guide, but you could open a separate thread about your specific problems to see if someone can help you with them.

Alban

World of Spectrum ORG for ZX Spectrum of Course :) add it to the main post :)

VictimRLSH

Don't forget classicdosgames.com where all the downloads are free, and while most of the games are partial demos, a full third of the hundreds of games are freeware or registered released into freeware. Most will also run on DosBox without much fuss. Unlike Cnet or Tucows, this site has ZERO ad popups and other annoyances to interfere with your downloading sprees.

Clyde

@VictimRLSH While I personally thank you for classicdosgames.com that I didn't know of, the TO @BenMcLean has set strict rules for his list:

@benmclean said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

to prevent the thread from becoming too ridiculously long for anyone to read, I am categorically excluding DOS games because the library of games which DOSBOX supports and which will run just fine through RetroPie is so staggeringly huge that we have no chance to even start on it. So when it comes to DOS games, I am only including DOS games which have modern source ports that run on RetroPie. Also, I am excluding anything for which the full experience is already accessible through the RetroPie setup script, so no Prince of Persia or Tyrian.

I'm mentioning this to remember anyone here of it, since it isn't mentioned in the opening post itself.