Game emulators - legal or not?

Playing old classics on your smartphone or PC sounds good - but is that legal? We will clarify whether the game emulators are illegal or not.

Game Emulators: Legal or Illegal?

Emulators are widely used. You can find them for PC's or smartphones. The game emulator itself is generally not illegal. Nevertheless, there are first exceptions:

• Some emulators require the BIOS of the respective console to be able to play the games. That shouldn't actually be delivered with the program. As a user, it is difficult to recognize this, but emulators with a BIOS are illegal.
• However, the fact is not really relevant, because at the latest with the ROMs you are walking on thin ice. An emulator is useless without the game images. ROMs are digitized games, but they are still subject to copyright regulations. Ultimately, you download a pirated copy with a ROM - whether it's Nintendo or PlayStation games.

Legally play classic games on PC

Nevertheless, you do not have to do without the classic games: there are also legal sources for legally playing old games in the browser. So you can enjoy again, games like "Pac-Man", "Pitfall!" or to play "Karateka". You can find more information in the article "Classic games: playing milestones now in the browser".

You can also play smartphone games legally on your computer: with the free Android emulator you can simulate the entire operating system including all apps on your computer.