Sort of. Sometimes an emulator also requires the OS Romset especially for newer consoles. WinUAE for example is a legal Amiga emulator however you have to buy a license to the Kickstart ROMset, without it it simply wont run. You can buy the Amiga Forever pack that includes WinUAE and all available Kickstart's.

I believe the Sega Saturn emulators also require ROMsets to even boot and as Sega is never likely to make these public domain all Sega Saturn emulators are of questionable legality. Most are distributed without the ROM's but with a heavy wink implied at where to get them.

So emulators are kind of like guns then? A gun with no bullets cannot kill people thus an emulator without the proper BIOS/CMOS/etc. can't run illegal ROMs....

If you guys just bought a PS1 with a controller, memory card, and the game you wouldn't need to play it on an emulator to begin with............problem solved.

Poof.

Emulators can provide a better experience than the real thing though (unless you want the exact original game experience).

I don't think so though. That's just an opinion to be honest.

It always depends on the system you emulate. Generally, low level emulation is the way to go but it takes a huge load of CPU power. And yes, because of the better visuals by various filters and the higher Hertz rate of monitors emulators CAN provide a better game experience. Not to mention Savestates. ^^

However, some emulators are as unfriendly as the original. For example DOSBox. And I'm not sure the Norton Commander won't screw up anything if I use it there...

DOSBox is a necessary emulator for older games on PC that you couldn't play on any other console. Using emulation for games that were made pretty much for consoles is a big no no in my opinion.

I can understand if people decided to emulate horridly expensive games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, or emulate games that never made it to the US in english that are translated in an emulator, its just that I don't do it.

They don't make new NESs any more then they make new copies of DOS. If you legally have the ROM, as in if you actually have the game and rip it yourself it is legal. In the case of the PlayStation you do actually need the console as well though, since the only BIOS that currently work are the ones the system uses, and the only way to legally obtain those is to have the system.

Well, a gun with bullets can't kill people either; the being pulling the trigger is the killer ;). However, your analogy does hold some water. There can exist legal reasons for a law-abiding citizen to shoot a gun, just as there probably exist legal reasons for a law-abiding citizen to run an emulator.

As for the PlayStation, I think all PS3 are backwards compatible for PS1 games. Of course, only the original PS3 has the emulation chipset for PS2 games. So your point does stand for PS2 games, since Sony is only making Slims now, AFAIK.

As for the Wii, I have zero experience with that console except watching my 11 year old cousin play it for 3 minutes, tops. It might be backwards compatible as well, but I somehow doubt it. Especially not when cartridges are considered.

I think ROMS are also okay when the publisher of the game is either defunct or is not selling the game anymore anywhere. So for obscure NES, SNES or other console games that have never been re-released I don't think there is anything wrong with downloading them.

I had an extensive SNES ROM collection before the Wii came out, but I deleted most of them because now those games are being sold again (though on a system I do not own, sadly). I kept games like Shadowrun though, which is not being sold on the Wii and whose publisher is long gone (Data East).

Not all playstation emulators. PCSX doesn't require a ripped BIOS. It features a free/ libre reverse engineered BIOS that will work with a lot of games. An authentic BIOS works better but if people actually care about a free BIOS, they can be made.

Connectix Virtual Game Station, the old commercial PSX emulator Sony bought because they couldn't shut it down in court, can't use a ripped BIOS at all.

Ahh, so the Wii does run the older titles (at least downloaded copies). I guess that makes sense. I just never really thought of the Wii audience as one that would enjoy the 'Nintendo Hard' experience.

As for Shadowrun, yeah... I don't think I could delete that either if I had a ROM of it. There aren't enough games that use the Steampunk/Magic world style (well, maybe Technopunk/Magic is a better descriptor for Shadowrun); the only other game that is similar and as good for me is Arcanum. I heard rumors that there are plans for the Shadowrun IP in the near future though. However, I don't know specifics and I can't even remember where I read it.

EDIT: Can't find anything about a new Shadowrun RPG with a quick Google search, so I must have been thinking of something else. Unless my brain time-warped to that horrible Shadowrun FPS Microsoft made 5 years ago *shudder*.

A quick Amazon search shows that the PSX versions are much cheaper and more plentiful than their PC port counterparts.