This guy found a really cool method with a flash cart (legal on its own) and a link cable.

https://youtu.be/rORPp6vYMsw

I have experience in this area :D

Here are some relevant notes and pictures of mine about that subject

https://text.nstr.no/~erik.nordstrom/game_boy_color_forever....

https://casa.nstr.no/0001

I bought two different devices for dumping ROM and save game data, and the one that worked best for me was the insideGadgets GBxCart RW.

I even thought about offering as a service that people could ship their GameBoy carts to me and I would dump the ROM and SAV files for them, and then I would ship their cart back to them and provide the dumped data along with a video showing the process of dumping the data.

The easiest way is to use a cartridge ROM dumper such as: Retrode, Flash Boy, GBxCart RW, RetroBlaster 2.0, etc.

There are also a lot of DYI devices using Arduino and other popular boards.

I have not personally used anything listed here but it seems promising.

https://gameboy.github.io/wiki/cartreaders

I believe the same or similar devices can be used to write cartridges with ROM hacks if one is so inclined.

The easiest solution is to simply google the ROM.

Edit: you edited your answer after I replied, so I'll edit mine too, it shouldn't be illegal to download the ROM if you physically own a copy. If you want to do it the hard way, buy a GB dumper.

Do you mean "it shouldn't be illegal" as in you wish it was not illegal or as in "it is probably not illegal"? Because in most jurisdictions (including the USA) it is illegal to download a backup ROM of something you own. Regarding making a personal backup, some jurisdictions are more permissive but some do not even allow it.

> Because in most jurisdictions (including the USA) it is illegal to download a backup ROM of something you own.

Not a lawyer but I'm suspicious about that: first of all, I don't think downloading is actually illegal, it's either sharing stuff without license or keeping stuff without license that are generally illegal (which is why viewing movies from an illegal streaming website is legal in most places even though the website owner is clearly doing illegal stuff).

Then, if you have a license and the law in your jurisdiction allows personal backup, I think you'd have the right to actually store the thing, so I don't think you'd be breaking the law here.

As "it is probably not illegal", people always say "use the ROM of games you physically own" when talking about emulators, so I have imagine it would be simply legal.

I think that’s largely meant as some combination of a joke and an indemnification of the person saying it. I think it’s common knowledge that everyone who does this is using a file they downloaded from a site they found through Google.

> people always say "use the ROM of games you physically own”

People also say “No copyright infringement intended” while uploading full movies to YouTube. People, especially when it comes to matters of copyright, typically have very poor understandings of law...

So what would be the correct understanding of the law in this case? That using an emulator is illegal because you cannot own a copy of the games you own?

It varies based on country and jurisdiction, but from an American / European perspective - some parts of the emulation scene are “definitely not legal” (eg, distributing copyrighted ROMs), and most parts of the scene are “It is complicated. Well-informed people have different predictions, but it hasn’t been tested in court, so we don’t know for sure”.

Moon Channel (an actual lawyer) has a fairly clear and concise summary with particular relation to the Dolphin emulator’s attempt to get itself on Steam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROQUZDCIMI

In by far most jurisdictions it is illegal to share the ROM, it is legal to download it.

You are in the clear if you download it from a ROM site (and own the corresponding cartridge). You are not in the clear if you use filesharing, unless you freeload.

Has anyone ever been prosecuted or even taken to court in the US for downloading a ROM of a game they own? I can't seem to find any examples. I'm aware of Nintendo of America v. Bung Enterprises but that is not against a consumer.

I believe you can purchase a GameBoy cartridge reader.

>I already has a license for it

You only have a license for playing it and not a license for copying it.

In my jurisdiction (France) we have the droit à la copie privée for that (and we actually pay a tax to the local RIAA and MPAA equivalents on all storage hardware for that right) so yes I have that second license as well.

That wouldn't be considered a license and droit à la copie privée wouldn't apply to the site sending you the file.

> That wouldn't be considered a license

Would you mind expanding what you're thinking about here? (FWIW the ”license” concept doesn't really exists in French law)

> droit à la copie privée wouldn't apply to the site sending you the file.

Sure, the website would be illegal without doubt, but that's independent. Illegal streaming services are illegal as well, but watching them isn't for instance.

For a more similar example, there used to be a website that gave you the ability to “record TV programs in the cloud” (recording what's happening on TV is legal because is falls under the «copie privée» definition): the website was prosecuted and found guilty, but no customers were.

Just download it illegally it will be fine.

Yeah, seriously.

There is something unreasonably funny to me about the idea of someone getting carted off to jail for illegally downloading a ROM of a 27 year old game.

The person is timid about doing it, but everyone online was saying to just do it since everyone does and what is the worst that could happen. And then despite all of the very real crimes going on in the world, the police show up at this person's door.