Old topic renewed: What legal Roms are currently available?

[Dreamwriter]

This is an old topic, but that's the problem - all the good replies are back from 2003 (back when StarRoms was around), and many of the arcade collections aren't for sale anymore.  So what legal roms are currently available for purchase?  I'm including arcade collections in that, as long as they are accurate emulations which allow for remappable controls (although it'd be best if the collections had the actual rom files accessable).

From what I can tell, the Midway Arcade Classics (the first one, not deluxe) is still around, does anyone know if that include Roms, or at least has accurate emulation and mappable controls?

Oh, and I checked the Wiki, it only mentions the Capcom collection included with Hanaho disks, Digital Eclipse, and Microsoft's "Return of Arcade"

[Havok]

Don't forget Gridlee, Poly-Play and Robby Roto!

Woo hoo!

 

[RobotronNut]

various out-of-print ones can be found on ebay, probably also other places like amazon, etc.

here's a list of games i own in pc collections. this is excerpted from a rough list i keep in excel and probably contains omissions and errors.

game name              rom name      pc disk
--------------------------------------------------

asteroids              asteroid      atari 80
asteroids deluxe       astdelux      atari 80
battlezone             bzone         atari 80
black widow            bwidow        atari 80
centipede              centiped      atari 80
crystal castles        ccastles      atari 80
liberator                            atari 80
lunar lander           llander       atari 80
major havoc                          atari 80
millipede              milliped      atari 80
missile command        missile       atari 80
red baron                            atari 80
root beer tapper                     atari 80
space duel             spacduel      atari 80
tempest                tempest       atari 80
warlords               warlords      atari 80

dragon's lair                        dragons lair

frogger                frogger       frogger

golden tee classic     gtclassc      golden tee

720 degrees            720           midw treas
blaster                              midw treas
bubbles                              midw treas
defender               defender      midw treas
gauntlet               gauntlet      midw treas
joust                  joust         midw treas
joust 2                joust2        midw treas
klax                                 midw treas
marble madness         marble        midw treas
paperboy               paperboy      midw treas
rampage                rampage       midw treas
rampart                              midw treas
road blasters          roadblst      midw treas
robotron               robotron      midw treas
S.T.U.N. runner                      midw treas
satan's hollow                       midw treas
sinistar               sinistar      midw treas
smash tv               smashtv       midw treas
splat!                               midw treas
spy hunter             spyhunt       midw treas
stargate               stargate      midw treas
super sprint           ssprint       midw treas
toobin                 toobin        midw treas
vindicators            vindictr      midw treas

APB                    apb           midway dlx
arch rivals                          midway dlx
badlands 1989                        midway dlx
champ'ship sprnt       csprint       midway dlx
cyberball              cyberbal      midway dlx
cyberball 2072         cyberb2p      midway dlx
gauntlet II            gaunt2        midway dlx
hard drivin                          midway dlx
hard drivin compact                  midway dlx
hydro thunder                        midway dlx
ironman

[RobotronNut]

here's the same list, sorted by game name:

game name              rom name      pc disk
-------------------------------------------------

720 degrees            720           midw treas
APB                    apb           midway dlx
arch rivals                          midway dlx
asteroids              asteroid      atari 80
asteroids deluxe       astdelux      atari 80
badlands 1989                        midway dlx
battlezone             bzone         atari 80
black widow            bwidow        atari 80
blaster                              midw treas
bosconian              bosco         namco 50th
bubbles                              midw treas
centipede              centiped      atari 80
champ'ship sprnt       csprint       midway dlx
crystal castles        ccastles      atari 80
cyberball              cyberbal      midway dlx
cyberball 2072         cyberb2p      midway dlx
defender               defender      midw treas
dig dug                digdug        namco 50th
dragon spirit                        namco 50th
dragon's lair                        dragons lair
frogger                frogger       frogger
galaga                 galaga        namco 50th
galaga 88              galaga88      namco 50th
galaxian               galaxian      namco 50th
gauntlet               gauntlet      midw treas
gauntlet II            gaunt2        midway dlx
golden tee classic     gtclassc      golden tee
hard drivin                          midway dlx
hard drivin compact                  midway dlx
hydro thunder                        midway dlx
ironman

[RobotronNut]

here are ones i'm still looking for, if they can be found for a reasonable price:

discs of tron
puzzle bobble / bust-a-move
1943
crazy climber
donkey kong
donkey kong jr
ikari warriors
mr do
space war
stratovox
time pilot
time pilot 84

[MaximRecoil]

If you use the "PRE" tags it will use a monospace font to keep your list lined up.

[RobotronNut]

thanks for the formatting tip. i've edited the above posts to use PRE tags.

[ChicagoDave]

Taito Legends is also available.  There is also Taito Legends 2, but I haven't seen it here in the US, only on foreign sites.

[RobotronNut]

i just found puzzle bobble 1 & 2 on amazon marketplace for $4.67 shipped.

[ChicagoDave]

Here is my list


Game                                          CD/DVD
1942                                          CAPCOM Arcade Hits Volume 2
1943 The Battle of Midway                     CAPCOM Arcade Hits Volume 2
Alpine Ski                                    Taito Legends 2
APB                                           Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition
Arabian Magic                                 Taito Legends 2
Arch Rivals                                   Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition
Asteroids                                     Atari 80 Classics Games in One
Asteroids Deluxe                              Atari 80 Classics Games in One
Badlands                                      Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition
Battle Shark                                  Taito Legends
Battlezone                                    Atari 80 Classics Games in One
Black Widow                                   Atari 80 Classics Games in One
Bonze Adventure                               Taito Legends 2
Bosconian                                     Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
Bubble Bobble                                 Taito Legends
Bubble Symphony                               Taito Legends 2
Cadash                                        Taito Legends 2
Cameltry                                      Taito Legends 2
Centipede                                     Atari 80 Classics Games in One
Chack

[SirPoonga]

Just wanted to note most of there are not roms, they are games in collections that use a custom emulators and can not owrk with mame.

[Dreamwriter]

The problem is many of those products are not available for sale anymore.  I'm not looking for games that are for sale on eBay or used games, but real, still sold, fully legal products.  Many of those things have crappy license agreements that don't allow reselling, even when the original is uninstalled and all manuals and disks are included.

As for Roms or lack thereof, roms are always better as emulation can be spotty (or nonexistent - there are a lot of old arcade "ports"), and work better with front ends, but I'd be happy if a game was perfectly emulated even without roms.

[ChicagoDave]

All of the games that I have I bought within the last few months.  They are all available in stores (usually in the discount jewel case section) or new and unused on ebay from software wholesalers.

[RobotronNut]

Just wanted to note most of there are not roms, they are games in collections that use a custom emulators and can not owrk with mame.

since these collections usually claim to be "identical to the original," i assume the roms are in there somewhere, though perhaps buried, and that i have, therefore, paid for the use of them on my PC, even if my actual use is in mame with an unofficially-obtained rom.

if a case like this ever went to court, i'd think it would fall under the copyright "fair use" rules. and even if it were ruled to have violated the letter of the law, i'd at least have satisfied my conscience that i'd fairly compensated the copyright holder for the use of their intellectual property on my pc.

btw, thanks for the list, ChicagoDave. i hadn't realized 1943 was available. i just picked it up on amazon.

of all the games i play with any regularity, the only one i don't have some sort of license for is discs of tron.

maybe i'll see if i can find an actual physical rom online somewhere...

[SirPoonga]

No, that is bad thinking.  The rom is there, but embedded into the exe.  If you extracted the rom from the exe that would be altering the probram which oes against the EULA.

You paid to use it on your PC with their emulator with the rom embedded into the mulator.

[MaximRecoil]

No, that is bad thinking.  The rom is there, but embedded into the exe.  If you extracted the rom from the exe that would be altering the probram which oes against the EULA.

You paid to use it on your PC with their emulator with the rom embedded into the mulator.

I don't think he was talking about altering anything. I believe he was talking about playing the same game he owns on the disc in MAME with the ordinary MAME ROM:

and that i have, therefore, paid for the use of them on my PC, even if my actual use is in mame with an unofficially-obtained rom.

Additionally, he implied that the correctness of his actions would be in regard to his conscience, not necessarily in regard to the law:

and even if it were ruled to have violated the letter of the law, i'd at least have satisfied my conscience that i'd fairly compensated the copyright holder for the use of their intellectual property on my pc.

It sounds like a legal grey area to me, but regardless of that, I can say with near absolute certainty that the copyright holders don't know RobotronNut from Adam's off ox, nor will they ever, and this particular case is not going to court.

[SirPoonga]

What I meant was just to indicate that it isn't legal.  It doesn't matter if it was downloaded or extracted from the collection.

If it makes you feel better that you have bought the game somehow that's not my problem

[ChicagoDave]

Thanks RobotronNut, I just got Midway Arcade Treasures from ebay.  This adds:

720 degrees
Blaster
Bubbles
Defender
Defender II
Gauntlet
Joust
Joust 2
KLAX
Marble Madness
Paperboy
Rampage
Rampart
RoadBlasters
Robotron 2084
Root Beer Tapper
Satan's Hollow
Sinistar
Smash TV
SPLAT!
Spy Hunter
Super Sprint
Toobin'
Vindicators

[Dreamwriter]

See, there's an interesting thing.  I got Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe, and while it's a pretty cool collection, it uses crappy Starforce copy protection, requires the CD in the drive (and not even just one CD, but two, one per collection), and has its own annoying front end that HAS to play a video everytime you do something.  If I want to do the perfectly legal thing, I have to use it that way, right?

HOWEVER, Awesome Arcades (http://www.awecades.com/) uses Midway Arcade Treasures in their commercial arcade machines (gives you the CD's even), and claims to use the Digital Eclipse emulators, so it doesn't sound like they got special licenses (they *are* using Mame for Exidy games, but only those) - but their machines don't have a CD drive, and they are obviously using their own front end for all the games.

Any idea what they are doing?

[SirPoonga]

Any idea what they are doing?

Deamon tools or alcohol 120% to make a virtual cd drive from an iso image.

Are they using their own frontend for all games?  Or just to launch the midway menu?

[Dreamwriter]

The whole point of StarForce is to not allow CD emulators - it reboots your machine if it detects a CD emulator running (it installs as a device driver, and is quite evil).  And as bypassing copy protection is illegal, I doubt they are doing that since they are selling the things commercially.

But yeah, that's another interesting part, they *are* using their own front end to actually run the games, or at least it looks that way: