Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie

VictimRLSH

@BenMcLean Maybe we need install scripts to add legally downloadable content collections to Retropie. Just like installing all the Ports currently automatically adds the demo content.

EDIT: This of course would need careful curating so as to only include material that the original publishers officially release into public domain and also provide an official download link to. "Abandonware" wouldn't cut it, as there would have been no official release and to obtain the game, scripts would have to download from sites of questionable legitimacy.

themazingness

I discovered another great resource for extracting roms: https://gitlab.com/vaiski/romextract/-/tree/master

SgtJimmyRustles

I have a fix for this. My Sbcgaming.net site has a wiki that has game source lists. Both free and paid.

https://wiki.sbcgaming.net/index.php?title=Game_Sources

thelostsoul

@SgtJimmyRustles The Wiki is a great resource!

SgtJimmyRustles

@thelostsoul Thank you, me and the other members of my discord/subreddit really worked hard with gathering up that data. I had to port it over from the old wiki provider.

A Former User

This post is deleted!

themazingness

Edit: The only 2 games that can be extracted from this list (as far as I can tell) are Shock Troopers and Metal Slug 3. Use the dotemu2mame.js tool to do so.

These games were just made available to claim for Amazon Prime subscribers.

Gaurou: Mark of the Wolves
The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition
Shock Troopers
The King of Fighters 97 Global Match
The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
Samurai Shodown V Special
Metal Slug 3
The Last Blade 2

simpleethat

@themazingness do you know if those are permanent? Like will I be able to download them whenever or is it more like Prime Video where you can access them during a certain period and then you can't get them anymore?

Thorr69

@simpleethat If you claim the game on Twitch, they are forever part of your Twitch library. I imagine it's true for other formats as well.

simpleethat

@Thorr69 I figured that, thanks for the clarification.

themazingness

Konami recently released their old Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra over on GoG. According to this discussion, games can be extracted from it using a hex editor: https://www.gog.com/forum/konami_collectors_series_castlevania_contra/rom_files

For some reason Jackal is in the executable but isn't accessible from the application so that may not fall under "(legally) acquire." It's unclear if they all work at this time, but two of the games included (aside from Jackal) are working and the others should but seem to be having trouble at least with the one user who has attempted it.

thelostsoul

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

For some reason Jackal is in the executable but isn't accessible from the application so that may not fall under "(legally) acquire."

I would argue the opposite. You paid for a product and got it, unless it was a mistake and should not be there. But I am really curious now, about such cases in general, on other product types.

themazingness

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

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

For some reason Jackal is in the executable but isn't accessible from the application so that may not fall under "(legally) acquire."

I would argue the opposite. You paid for a product and got it, unless it was a mistake and should not be there. But I am really curious now, about such cases in general, on other product types.

Yeah, it really does make me wonder. Atari Vault is another interesting case. On the one hand, whether or not you buy the expansion the roms for those games are on your computer if you have the base game. On the other hand, you didn't purchase them so are you entitled to play them? You didn't put them on your computer after all. I would think the answer is no. Jackal's situation though, to me that seems more of an odd Easter egg that never got the green light. I think I agree with you, but I don't know really.

Clyde

@thelostsoul Actually in the case of software, you only acquire the license to use it. What you can download doesn't matter if the license coming with it doesn't cover its use (unless of course it covers "everything in this package" or something like that).

That said, is the license for that bundle accessible somewhere?

themazingness

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

@thelostsoul Actually in the case of software, you only acquire the license to use it. What you can download doesn't matter if the license coming with it doesn't cover its use (unless of course it covers "everything in this package" or something like that).

That said, is the license for that bundle accessible somewhere?

It's an old collection from 2002 that was on CD ROM. I'm not sure about the license agreement. It is DRM free being on GoG, but that doesn't tell us the other legal terms. I may buy at some point but the collections on Steam have the same games and more aside from Jackal.

themazingness

Second Dimension RetroPak Vol. 1 on Steam has NES roms, no extraction necessary. Simply rename the .dat files to .nes.

Edit: Also, it looks like they sell their games individually on the developer's website, ROMs and carts. This includes games not on the collection, some of which are Sega Genesis games.

BenMcLean

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

Actually in the case of software, you only acquire the license to use it. What you can download doesn't matter if the license coming with it doesn't cover its use.

It is my understanding that this ridiculous claim made by the evil mega-corporations in their bogus "end user license agreements" has yet to be tested in court. EULAs could just as easily say, "By clicking OK, you agree to surrender your first born child to be devoured by Satan" or any other arbitrary text and it would have the same untested legal status.

mitu

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

It is my understanding that this ridiculous claim made by the evil mega-corporations in their bogus "end user license agreements" has yet to be tested in court.

No, they've been tested alright - see https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/09/the-end-of-used-major-ruling-upholds-tough-software-licenses/.

themazingness

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

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

It is my understanding that this ridiculous claim made by the evil mega-corporations in their bogus "end user license agreements" has yet to be tested in court.

No, they've been tested alright - see https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/09/the-end-of-used-major-ruling-upholds-tough-software-licenses/.

Yes, but I guess my question would be then, you can still backup your software you have licenses for correct? And so long as those licenses do not specify use on one device, you're safe to use that backup? It seems like most games and game collections don't have a EULA you agree to. At least not the games I'm playing (I'm more of a classic gamer than a AAA game player).

Clyde

Many EULAs come into effect by buying, installing or using the software. For examples, see those of GOG, Nintendo, and Capcom.

Software licensing is at least as old as classic video games, so I highly doubt that classic video games don't have an EULA or other form of legal terms that prohibit any kind of use that's unwanted by the copyright holders.

Backups may or may not be allowed in a license as freely as any other term, although a country's laws may provide a general "right to private copies" like Germany, Austria, and Swiss do (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatkopie, which however do not apply to software).

IANAL, this is just my knowledge from using software and sometimes even reading its EULA for about four decades by now.