The Open Source Cartridge Reader (OSCR) is a versatile tool designed to help preserve video game cartridges and save data. Developed by Sanni and the community, this device allows users to back up ROM files and save games from a wide range of vintage consoles.
At this point are there any cartridges on earth I couldn’t find a torrent of in about 2 mins on Google? They’d have to be deliberately being kept for rarity.
Probably not, but it does add a touch of legitimacy to the claim that emulators are for playing your own backed up games.
Did that claim have any actual grounding in reality? Or is it just an urban legend that keeps persisting?
It did, yes. Emulators as a piece of software that does not do anything illegal are not themselves illegal. But piracy is illegal, and downloading roms of games you haven’t purchased constitutes piracy. But if you purchased a game and used an emulator to play it that’s a perfectly valid use case that falls within the law.
Nintendo has been trying to push the envelope on that for years though. And it seems like they might recently be succeeding in some fashion.
Yeah honestly, what is the point of these devices when literally every retro game ever already has a perfect 1:1 dump available for instant download all over the internet? Why are new cartridge dumping devices still being produced? Even the rarest of rare games have easily-obtainable ROMs available. Who are these meant for?
That’s pretty neat about save games, actually… but this seems like a service tool not a purchase for everyone.
I definitely believe there are a few handfuls of games out there that need dumps. Most of them are owned by collectors who don’t want the value of their collection to go down. Eventually they’ll die and we’ll get those too.
