What? That is incorrect, at least in the US. I cannot speak for other countries' laws, but there is no such thing as abandonware here, and distributing content owned by others is illegal here.

This is strange, because the abandonware sites are all (or almost all) in the United States!

There is even a site called "myabandonware", and when a game is released on some digital platform, they simply remove the download option and put the link to the store that is selling the game.

An example is Blood Omen - Legacy of Kain, which was available for download for years (free of charge) because it was abandonware, and when it became available on GOG, the site's administration soon removed the option to download and put a notice that it was for sale on GOG.

Well, the term abandonware is self-explanatory and it doesn't exist for nothing, but, everyone has their point of view, although the facts are out there.

No, Paladin is correct. Abandonware is a concept, and a very culture-friendly one because it works for the preservation of games and software. But legally speaking the term abandonware simply does not exist. It is not recognized by any law, no lawyer has ever claimed "X because abandonware" and no judge has ever given a sentence based on a "status of abandonware". To this date of course.

Unfortunately the laws of intellectual property in works of entertainment (music, movies and games) were written with a heavy slant towards the companies who could lobby for their interests instead of the common people who consume these products but didn't have a way to... bribe... legislators. So you just won't see abandonware as a successful claim in any court case. You can review any court you want.

I heard of that situation, but i never really bothered checking out Super Final Fight Gold Plus when i can get an advanced version in Final Fight LNS Ultimate. Interesting that Super Final Fight Gold Plus has a more consistent vibe. I might actually prefer it.

There exists a Hong Kong made freeware beat 'em up / fighting game hybrid called "Little Fighter 2", which has like a million different modded / converted / advanced versions. When i was younger, i would actually prefer the very much beefed up "Reinforced LF2" because the lack of standardization didn't bother me (it literally has Richter Belmont as a playable character), but nowadays i prefer the vanilla version a lot.

I'm not sure whether it is their fault though. The developer of "The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa", yeo, once said that his other game "Arrest of a stone Buddha" got rejected by GOG because they looked at the Steam reviews and were like "no, thanks". Considering 99Vidas has a Metacritic score of 69 and very similar Steam reviews as Arrest of a stone Buddha (75%-76% positive), it's possible GOG simply didn't want it.

I think the issue here is the difference between 'abandonware' as colloquial terminology for games no longer sold legally, and 'abandonware' the presumed imaginary legal state of such games as legal and free to download due to such status. Not being a copyright I obviously cannot say for sure, but there is certainly the idea that games that aren't or cannot be sold legally anymore can be downloaded for free without repercussions since presumable nobody would be able to pursue action since nobody owns the rights. I suppose I should have clarified that yes, I meant the games that have the legal ability to be sold to consumers, such as the aforementioned Bloody Paws Unleashed, which is available on Steam.

I stopped responding to keep from derailing the thread further. I politely ask to keep the discussion on the games at hand. You're under no obligation to honor my request, but I'm sure the op will appreciate it.

And I suggest you go to Pierwolf's profile and take a look at these modules:

Knights and Dragons - The Endless Quest (highlight for this one);

Fighters History Revenge;

Golden Ax Legend.

I had never heard of that, thanks for the suggestion! I only went to meet fan games 8 years ago. The first OpenBOR I played was one from Resident Evil and I didn't even know it was OpenBOR. Then I played and still play Streets of Rage Remake and SOR 2X, I'm looking forward to the release of SOR X, hehe. XD

I always wondered: Why "The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa" is on GOG and "Arrest of a stone Buddha" is not?! Now it's explained. Honestly, if GOG's policy for releasing games is based on Steam and Metacritic user reviews, I'd say GOG is losing money. Seriously, GOG lacks Beat 'em ups and Run and gun games. The best Beat 'em up from GOG, in my humble opinion, is Fight'N Rage, released in 2017, receives updates until today, and also has tons of content to unlock.

And that's exactly what I meant. People tend to confuse and think that piracy, fan games and abandonware are the same thing, when in fact they are not and there is a huge difference between these nomenclatures.

GOG itself is an example, many games offered for free in the store (I mean games that are permanently free) is because their owners no longer exist or simply gave up their copyright, so GOG distributes them as abandonware. Just to quote, if anyone here played and enjoyed Sonic Mania, thank the fan
Christian Whitehead who worked on Sonic rom hacks and other modifications, and let's thank Sega for not being like Nintendo who hunts down to its end consumers.

And come on guys, we're at GOG, a DRM-free store, it's even strange to mention copyright protection in a store that defends the opposite, and that ensures the preservation of our beloved games. Steam, in my humble opinion, is a dirty dictatorship that preserves nothing.
Feel free to argue, my comrade! And your certainty is wrong, I have no reason to like it or not like. Feel free... But don't wait for me to answer, because there is no mystery in understanding what is an abandonware and a fan game and how they work. But in closing I'll summarize one thing: abandonware is pure preservation, something the gaming scene needs. And fan games are the best creative way to improve concepts and create so many others, a fan game is simply a genuine art, something that is lacking in recent times.

Sorry, I hadn't seen your post. I only tell you one thing: Internet Archive. Located in San Francisco, California, it is DMCA free and has been in business since 1996! This internet library/museum that was founded by Mr. Brewster Kahle, is a great example of a (free) preservation service that serves as a stronghold for abandonware of any kind of media. So my friend, your claims are wrong. Hint (in case you didn't get it): Do some more research on the Internet Archive site and you'll see that you're wrong in saying that abandonware is just a "concept and culture-friendly" term. Just the fact that it's DMCA free/exempt, sums it up! And look at this... It's a organization (non-profit) located in the United States.

What you're talking about is called fair use. Not "abandonware."
They can't just upload what they please, willy-nilly. In many cases they obtain permissions to do so for archival purposes. These items are still protected under copyright, and anyone offering them for download could be prosecuted. They may not be, but you never know with companies like EA and Ubisoft, who have entries in the Archive. If you were to upload some of those things, you'd possibly find a C&D in your inbox. The Archive is constantly having to modify, remove, and obtain permissions to keep files up. It isn't the carte Blanche you seem to be implying.

I kindly ask you to take a few minutes of your time to read this: https://archive.org/about/dmca.php

I've been playing OpenBOR games since the days of the Lavalit forums. They're all great fan tributes and I love them to death. I even had a Wii with the OpenBOR app on it. These games also work on mobile so there's that. I reviewed Illusionista's Avengers game way back in the day! It's good to see the community still going strong after all these years.

That being said, these are just fun fan tributes. Aside from that Faderhead game, the other two already mentioned and Bad Ass Babes, I don't think many of these would be wise to sell on GOG. They are fan games and it would be like Sega trying to sell the sonic games at the SAGE conventions. Let's just have fun with them. If you're new to OpenBOR, you're in for a treat!

- Dungeons & Dragons Rise Of Warduke
- Power Rangers Beats Of Power
- Ninja Turtles Rescue Palooza
- Ninja Turtles 8-Bit Recolored and Extended
- Silver Night's Crusaders
- Jennifer
- Classic Fantasy (Used to play this a lot on mobile)
- Contra Locked & Loaded (Yes, plays like a Contra game!)
- Eternal Champions: The Thin Strings Of Fate
- GI Joe: Attack On Cobra Island
- Mega Man Robot Master Mayhem
- Mortal Kombat The Chosen One
- Mortal Kombat Outworld Assassins
- Nightslashers X
- Splatterhouse Deception Of The Mask
- Super Final Fight Gold Plus
- World Heroes Supreme Justice Extra

Full List: (www.chronocrash.com/forum/resources)

Those are all the ones I remember being awesome. Keep in mind, some of these are really old, so they made need some tinkering. But you'll have a lot of fun. Great for arcade cabs!

Not your original claim (That everyone knows its ok to download and distribute, as it's expressly a condition for a specific museum). I concede I was mistaken about some of the points, but the Archive was involved in some discussions about whether some of the software is legally allowed to be put up there, and some have been taken down upon re-release of titles. I also stand by my statement that if you were to download, and then redistribute certain protected works from there, you'd receive a C&D letter from a very bored lawyer. I say certain because even though copyrights are still active, the company who owns them may not be active, or may not know. In that case, it isn't legally OK to redistribute their work. It's morally ok in my book, sure, but that was never the question. Just because someone is unable or unaware of their copyright doesn't mean that one day you won't be one day held liable when someone who is petty enough to enforce their right gets possession of the mark.

You take the existence of "abandonware" sites as proof of the legal existence or legality of "abandonware, and it is not in anyway that. It is an absence of care (abandonment, if you will) that allows them to exist. But there is no protected class of software specifically for that, with the exception of one entity that archives them officially. It's mostly semantics, because functionally things work pretty similar to what you claim, with the exception being OK for anyone to distribute as it is certainly not. The existence of the archive is to enable users to make fair use works, as stated in that explanation you kindly linked me. Fair use is specifically a work that uses coyprighted material, but is exempt from DMCA because it meets criteria. The factors of fair use are as follows: Does it make a profit? Does it usurp the owner's market? Is the work transformative? Is the work educational, or a commentary/criticism of the original work?

Bad Ass Babes runs on OpenBOR? I never knew that!

That game is absolute trash ... and FUN!

I got it on Gamejolt before they started banning these games.

I would love to see it on GOG.
(edit: we also need "BadAss Babes: The Movie")