oh lol

A little off-topic, but if you are worried about legalities it should be noted that it is also illegal to posess games and systems from a different region, i.e. if you have a Famicom or import and are using it in the United States, you are breaking the law.. busted..

Ask LikSang about this. Oh wait, they're out of business. Thanks Sony.


edit: Actually it might be "Use" not "Posess".. Can't remember exactly how it's worded in the literature.. Also, you best leave your NTSC gameboys at home if you are going to Japan. Also illegal. Dumb laws but they exist. Although they would probably never prosecute you.

I am not a lawyer. But I used to watch "Law and Order" so I'm an expert.

It's not illegal, but if a supplier who gets their games from the manufacturer sells them to another region, it breaks their agreement. It's still not illegal to use or sell them.

Gameboys and the DS are about the only modern systems that have no region protection.

But it just breaks the TOS that the supplier/retailer has with the manufacturer if they sell to other regions. It's not illegal for the end-user.

Gameboy are, and always have been, region free.

Second, Japan also uses the NTSC standard.

NTSC-J It's a little different (the way the amount of black is transmitted is different), but they're completely compatible, unless the console maker decides to lock out games from different geographic regions.

Well ok then. I like all the posts here trying to circumvent in any way they can. So much creativity. Should just call them Homebrew Chips. And.. let's be honest.. how many have Homebrew Chips?

they're still illegal, although they are easily attainable if you go to some random Chinese website.

Games from other regions are not illegal to own, posses, or use, or anything else like that. Listing other things that you believe to be illegal does not make any other thing more legal or less illegal.

How about a modchip for a Chinese knockoff NES clone? now that's irony..

Emulators illegal too? just curious..

Emulators aren't illegal, but ROMs usually are, especially if you don't own the game (I'm thinking they're illegal no matter what in the US).

An NES doesn't need a modchip (only one pin needs to be cut to enable use of games from other regions or not published or licensed by nintendo), and NES clones (and the Famicom and NES 2) don't even have a lockout chip.

emulatators and game downloads are legal if you have the system and the game your downloading

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp#download_rom
It doesn't work like that.

Yeah, it depends on the country; roms are illegal to download in the US.

This is a common misconception, however its not true.

its debatable, i remember reading a forum post (not this forum) ages ago where it had the conflicting statements.

It depends on what country you live in. I'm pretty sure that the US makes it illegal to download anything (roms are illegal from the internet, emulators are not), but I'm not sure if any other countries have a law like that.