this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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RetroGaming

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The Open Source Cartridge Reader (OSCR) is a versatile tool designed to help preserve video game cartridges and save data. Developed by Sanni and the community, this device allows users to back up ROM files and save games from a wide range of vintage consoles.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 56 points 3 months ago (8 children)

US$249.99 ready-built, for anybody curious. Not saying it's not worth that, but that will price a lot of people out of it.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Me.

I was like "oh cool!"

And then I saw the price.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

I had someone build one for me a while back. I don't have any rare cartridges, but the games my dad and I played together have saves that I value. Hopefully the thing works!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Yeah if you can do it yourself it's about half that. Save the hero builds an older revision but it's also cheaper.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago

Better make a full copy of this project before Nintendo comes after it too.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Someone should buy this and then charge like $5 to backup someone's cartridge for them.

Too expensive for everyone to own

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah seriously.

Also are we not at a stage where most games have been dumped perfectly already?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This is for preserving one’s own library, which makes emulation fully legal instead of the wink wink “legal” that many gamers find themselves in.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Some people care about piracy laws?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Nintendo bootlickers salty about having to pay a subscription for Super Mario Bros.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (6 children)

This is really cool, but I wonder how long it’ll last before they are bullied with legal threats.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I think dumping your game cartridges is legal, otherwise you couldn't emulate games legally.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The thing about legal threats is that they can work even if the theory they are based on isn't any good. Fee-shifting isn't always guaranteed, if it is available at all. Capital has already budgeted for its lawyers this year, have you?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I'm not sure if this would strictly be a SLAPP rather than general litigious bullying (GLiB has a nice ring to it actually.)

In this respect though open sourcing it was a good move. Even if the creator were to be blocked from distributing, it's out there.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Nintendo sent a bunch of thugs to the home of an emulator developer last week, and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Everything he did was legal, but that doesn’t stop Nintendo from literally threatening harm to your family.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

If you dump a game cartridge, Nintendo can kill your wife.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

yes tiptoe around that eula

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Since when did cartridge games have EULAs?

Also: in sane countries (i.e: not the so-called US), EULAs don't overwrite civil laws.

The only dangersis when DRM is circumvented.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

In glorious people-protecting America, we actually have something called “shrink wrap” EULAs which state that you agreed to the terms by opening the box. Even if those terms were inside the box.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkwrap_(contract_law)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wow... but did e.g. Gameboy games have those?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I honestly just assumed they did because everything does, but thinking back I don’t recall noticing one in the box but I was young and may have just tuned it out. I hope someone else here can recall!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

EULAs on every game are afaik a produch of everything going online. i don't think those old games have eulas.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

so-called US

I know what you mean but it’s funny to question what a country has named itself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (3 children)

The people of the continent called it "turtle island". European occupiers called it the "US".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The Country is not the Continent.

Sure, the singular cultural/political/religious "those people".

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Cartridge dumpers have existed for decades. They are 100% legal, just like any physical media player (VCR, DVD player...).

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (6 children)

At this point are there any cartridges on earth I couldn't find a torrent of in about 2 mins on Google? They'd have to be deliberately being kept for rarity.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Probably not, but it does add a touch of legitimacy to the claim that emulators are for playing your own backed up games.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Nintendo doesn't even care about that so tbh fuck em.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Did that claim have any actual grounding in reality? Or is it just an urban legend that keeps persisting?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (5 children)

It did, yes. Emulators as a piece of software that does not do anything illegal are not themselves illegal. But piracy is illegal, and downloading roms of games you haven't purchased constitutes piracy. But if you purchased a game and used an emulator to play it that's a perfectly valid use case that falls within the law.

Nintendo has been trying to push the envelope on that for years though. And it seems like they might recently be succeeding in some fashion.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Very few. However, this type of devices can also backup saved games.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

This is neat!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

In a just world, you could just download ROMs for free.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Honestly, as cool as this is, I just keep collections of downloaded entire game libraries like PS1, PS2, PSP, 3DS, NDS, GB, GBC, GBA, NES, SNES, etc.

I'm more interested in preserving my save games, which I can dump myself on my modded 3DS for 3DS and NDS games, plus my PSP I can just copy paste those save games from the memory card. Those are more what is really irreplacable. Everyone has my games, not everyone has my save games.

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