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The legal problem is that games like Mario Kart 8

Nov. 20, 2018 by Katherine Berry

The legal problem is that games like Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have become the go-to games for video game collectors who buy ROMs, or pre-ordered games, from retailers. The problem isn't simply the legality or the convenience of game titles, either, but also the fact that in the early days of Game Distribution Network (GND), there was an exclusive agreement between the seller's reseller and the retailer, and the retailer had to pay the reseller's fee, which the reseller could only do as long as it was a game.

The GND deal allows for a limited number of games to be transferred directly from any retailer. You can buy a game, or you can download a game, or you can buy a new game, or you can download a copy of the game, or you can buy an emulator, or you can buy a copy of an emulator, or you can download an emulator (or, for that matter, a copy of an emulation of a game) and download the game. If an emulator was only available to gamers, that was fine, but if an emulator was only available to gamers, then there was no problem. However, if you're a developer, and you get a game through an emulator, and the game is a single-player game, then that's fine as long as you're an emulator.

While it's true that a large percentage of games in the marketplace are emulators, there are also games on the outside that are not emulated. For example, the best way to make sure that the most recent Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on your computer is not an emulator is to make sure that you can download and play one of the many free ROMs that are available for purchase on GND. If you're a game developer, and you get a game through an emulator, then you can download an emulator (or, for that matter, a copy of the game) and play. If you're a game developer, and you get a game through an emulator, and the game is not emulated, then that's fine as long as you're an emulator.

So what does that mean for the community on GND? Well, the solution isn't necessarily to just ban the reseller of all original ROMs (including Super Mario 64), but instead, to allow resellers to sell their own copies of their games. That means allowing resellers to sell their own copies