Emuparadise

About

Emuparadise is a website which for many years hosted emulators and ROMs which allowed people to download and play video games from old consoles and developers. The site, which fans have lauded as being influential to the resurgence of retro gaming, ceased ROM hosting in 2018, evidently due to recent lawsuits filed by Nintendo on similar sites.

History

Emuparadise launched in 2000, and was founded by a user named MasJ.^[1] For eighteen years, the site hosted emulators and ROMs of video games from old console that would be otherwise difficult or in some cases outright impossible to find. According to an article from TechCrunch, it was also one of the few sites in the early 2000s that had the service and did not also clog one's computer with viruses.

Shutdown

On August 8th, 2018, site founder MasJ posted to the Emuparadise^[2] forums saying that the site would no longer be hosting ROMs and instead be a database and forum for retro gaming fans. According to the post, MasJ elected to make the decision for the sake of his team members.

It's not worth it for us to risk potentially disastrous consequences. I cannot in good conscience risk the futures of our team members who have contributed to the site through the years. We run EmuParadise for the love of retro games and for you to be able to revisit those good times. Unfortunately, it's not possible right now to do so in a way that makes everyone happy and keeps us out of trouble.

The news comes days after Nintendo filed two lawsuits against similar sites, LoveROMs and LoveRETRO, in which they are seeking "statutory damages of $150,000 for each Nintendo game hosted on the sites and up to $2,000,000 for each trademark infringement."^[3]

Online, reactions to the news were divided. TechCrunch^[1] took an optimistic approach towards the news, saying that while the site served its purpose in the early 2000s when the internet was less regulated and the games it hosted then would have been expensive to purchase or impossible to find, the reality of the modern era in which major corporations re-release old games and become more zealous about shutting down ROM sites made the end of Emuparadise an inevitability. Goombastomp,^[4] meanwhile, was highly critical of Nintendo's zealotry in shutting down ROM sites, considering products they've released such as Mario Maker and NES Remix essentially reap the benefits of the same culture. The site also praised the availability of ROMs, crediting it for the surge in retro-style indie games like Shovel Knight and Super Meat Boy. The news was also discussed on YouTube channels including Game Dave, whose video gained over 45,000 views (shown below, left), and Simply Austin, gaining over 65,000 views (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References