I know many people here come to GOG hoping for legacy PC games. Perhaps they are checking out what came before them, or more likely they are looking for some title(s) that they remember from their gaming youth. For this GOG is a fine initiative, but ultimately there are far more games in the past than GOG will ever be able to get onto their catalog, and many of them aren't PC games at all.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with MAME(and similar), the arcade emulator, where if you happened to have acquired the physical ROM sets for a particular game then you may then emulate that game on your home computer. I find it hard to believe that such software is supported by more than a minute fraction of legitimate use since acquiring those ROMs can be quite costly, but easily downloaded just like everything else.

I have often wondered as to why IP owners couldn't / shouldn't sell ROM use rights to legacy arcade titles, or even old cart systems like SNES. Just something people could buy saying they have the right to emulate a given arcade title. A company could package games for some new format, but the number of titles and the effort involved suggest that most games will not receive such treatment. This arrangement would mean companies would need to do nothing beyond taking money and issuing some sort of proof of ownership/play right. They don't even need to host the ROM files, only sell the right to use them, then people could go and download them from any of the existing sources. No, investment, no product to sell, no bandwidth fees, no anything but some revenue out of something that is already being done on the sly.

I personally would be interested in such a thing and in my rich man's fantasy I envision my own personal MAME cabinet. Something that would cost a lot of money now to do legally, but might be affordable if you could just buy2-5$ rom rights for a slew of games.

Is that crazy talk, or does having access to legacy arcade titles sound worth while? Has such a thing been attempted, or is there some barrier that makes it impossible or improbable?

StarROMs? Not enough support when they existed. Sad. :(

I would also like to see this, and not just for Good Console Games (which so happen to ALL be old) but also for Commodore64 and many other old computers! I really can not understand how companies would not want to get money selling all those games which are otherwise not making them any money whatsoever.

But fear not! We are not the only ones who wish for this very thing... go to the GOG wishlist and join the wishing!

There is also amigaforever.com and c64forever.com and—I believe—Nintendo also sells retro ROMs through some online Wii thingy.

Nintendo has always been insanely against ROMs for any reason. Just read their current FAQ for some of their asinine beliefs about ROMs.

Then maybe I am wrong but I thought they had an online ROM store.

Edit: here: http://www.nintendo.com/games/gameGuide?download=classic

If you consider that ROMs then, no, we're not even talking about the same thing. You're talking about Nintendo reselling you the exact same game you already own, they're fucking fine with that. What they're not fine with is you emulating any game, whatsoever, that they have not sold you on that exact platform, see this for details: http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp#roms

I see what you are getting at: DRM-free ROMs; non-vendor-locked-in ROMs; non-platform-specific ROMs. I also think that would be ideal, I am just too literal at times.

Those collections are fine, and Sega has been pretty good at bringing them to various platforms, but thats not really what I'm angling for. I'm looking for something that makes setting up a ROM loaded PC system(or not) with a custom collection plausible, and something that cast a wider net than a handful of cherry picked titles. The software exists, so do the ROMs, so does the hardware. The only thing standing in the way is an organized method and participation. I know participation comes down to the individual rights owner and that alone makes it an improbable nightmare. It also seems like it would need to be kind of a back alley thing, because most people are going to want the collection package because it makes running it more intuitive.

And I agree with the sentiment that Wii's Virtual console doesn't count. Its a fine delivery method and I would be surprised if they didn't use it, however it locks the game to that console. It means you don't have the ability to use whatever method or device for play back, and that they have a way to get you to rebuy the game when Wii goes dinosaur. ROMs mean you get to emulate the game for your needs. It also means if companies wanted to put out old games then maybe they need to do something to improve upon the original experience like SSF2THD. Something they might not be wild about.

Their 3DS store is pathetic. Nintendo has the rights to some of the best games of the 8/16 bit era. And the DS has all the buttons of the SNES. I would really love to play eg. Final Fantasy VI on my DS. Guess what, I can't (I even have the GBA version, but I gave my original DS away). At least they have Links Awakening DX....

I'm sure its not pathetic. I'm quite sure its just the right size, and you should do what every good little boy and girl game fan would do, and rebuy every title you have ever purchased, for every random platform if its available. And if its not available then you need to trust that Father Video Game knows what is best, and you do want what is good for Father Video Game don't you? All the good little video game children do. If not then maybe you aren't one of Father Video Games good little children.

Wait, did you say you wanted to play a GBA game? Those aren't supported, those are very old games nobody cares about and bring no profit.You really shouldn't be playing old games but playing Father Video Game's new games. This makes you a very naughty child indeed, and we may need to feed you to the pit monster. Perhaps something can be done for you but you must act now. Go sacrifice all your Euros to Steam, and XboxLive. Buy something new that is old. Sell something precious and buy something overpriced at retail you know nothing about. Do it. Do it now and maybe Father Video Game will spare you.