EmuParadise Shutters Downloads after 18 years

EmuParadise has shuttered downloads of ROMs from its site. Simply replacing the download link with a question mark that takes you to https://www.emuparadise.me/emuparadise-changing.php

I’m sure you have all used EmuParadise over the last 18 years in some fashion or other.  For a long time, it has been the go to site for game ROMs and emulators and for good reason. The site was quick, it had a great category system and you could be sure that the downloads were clean.

Emulators are, as I understand it, perfectly legal in the UK. However, downloading the ROM or associated BIOS file is where the legal line is crossed, and this is generally why you are unlikely to find an emulator that has the BIOS files included.

This is the line that EmuParadise has skirted over the past 18 years, but it seems that they have finally succumb to the massing pressure from games companies and their associated brood.

Now before I continue of course I am going to say that you should never download or upload them for other people to enjoy or go searching for them on popular search engines.

I will say it’s surprising that EmuParadise lasted as long as it has, and if they see this, I want to say thank you for being a provider for retro gaming freaks like myself.

Legalities aside, I can say that ready availability of certain game ROM’s has fuelled the creativity of many people.

Just look to Zelda: A Link to the Past or Super Metroid, games which are massively popular, but now speed runners and gamers seeking a new challenge have created randomiser mods for both to breathe new life into the games. Changing things such as item locations forcing you to play differently each time. These mods would simply not be possible without ROM’s

There are also games that are just not available anymore or were never localised. One game I can think of is Moon Remix, a brilliant RPG for the PS1, there has been an ongoing fan translation that would not be possible without access to ROM files and a love for the game itself.

There are also plenty of games that would simply not be available to play, if it were not for ROMs and emulation and fan-translations alike. Games that are cost prohibitive to purchase, with prices just continuing to rise as we speak even if you purchase a second hand copy, the publishers if they still exist are not seeing any profit from these secondary sales.

Of course, it is unlikely that companies such as Nintendo or Sega will go after the individual gamer for simply downloading a ROM and enjoying it, preferring to go after the distributors like EmuParadise directly.

And much like the Hydra, for every EmuParadise that stops providing access to ROM files more will appear to take its place in an ever lasting game of cat and mouse.

EmuParadise shuttering its downloads is a big kick in the archiving and retro gaming scene. Simply because the site offered the most complete and easy to access collection of games from all the various regions in one place.

Though I am sure the other sites that spring up will quickly burden the extra load, I do wonder what is next for the site that curated mine and others childhoods and I wonder what will happen to the games they have stowed away on their many servers.