3 ms·

I think ROM sites were an artifact of the internet speeds we had access to early on. Where it wasn't practical to just download an entire library for an older c

by Feorn 3y ago

I think ROM sites were an artifact of the internet speeds we had access to early on. Where it wasn't practical to just download an entire library for an older console. Downloading an N64 ROM over dialup still took a little longer than an mp3, whole collections of them were out of the question. Even early broadband in many areas was limited to speeds where a single ROM was more practical to download. Complete ROM collections were, and probably still are, available for most old systems as torrents and on usenet.

gamepsys 3y ago
Downloading entire ROM collections quickly becomes too much data for local storage, starting with Saturn/PS1 and escalating from there.
- plussed_reader 3y ago
  Nah, you just need to scale up your storage expectation; I think 8TB will cover most of a PS1 localization.
  - pierat 3y ago
    Sony Playstation NTSC-U dump is only 472GB. Oh, and they're available on Archive.org :) https://archive.org/search?query=Sony+PlayStation+-+%28NTSC-U%29 https://archive.org/search?query=Sony+PlayStation+-+%28NTSC-...
    - plussed_reader 3y ago
      Maybe it was PS2 localization, but those quantities are well within the consumer reach to maintain archives. It's just work, like anything else.
- Acrobatic_Road 3y ago
  You don't need to do this. I bought a 1TB sd card because I heard that was enough space to store every retro game up to n64. I ended up copying over a small hand-picked selection of games rather than the full romset. We need some people to keep copies of the full romsets for the sake of preservation, but typical users only want certain, popular games.
anthk 3y ago
Downloading N64 roms as ZIP files was not a daunting task. PSX ISOs, OTOH... those were badly ripped. But most of the time you would just get Tony Hawk 2/3, the Zelda's, Mario 64, Jet Force Gemini, FIFA's, Wave Race and a few more in less than a week and the fun lasted months if not years.
theshackleford 3y ago
Plenty of large rom sites are still very actively used and trafficked today.

by Feorn 3y ago

gamepsys 3y ago

Downloading entire ROM collections quickly becomes too much data for local storage, starting with Saturn/PS1 and escalating from there.

plussed_reader 3y ago
Nah, you just need to scale up your storage expectation; I think 8TB will cover most of a PS1 localization.
- pierat 3y ago
  Sony Playstation NTSC-U dump is only 472GB. Oh, and they're available on Archive.org :) https://archive.org/search?query=Sony+PlayStation+-+%28NTSC-U%29 https://archive.org/search?query=Sony+PlayStation+-+%28NTSC-...
  - plussed_reader 3y ago
    Maybe it was PS2 localization, but those quantities are well within the consumer reach to maintain archives. It's just work, like anything else.
Acrobatic_Road 3y ago
You don't need to do this. I bought a 1TB sd card because I heard that was enough space to store every retro game up to n64. I ended up copying over a small hand-picked selection of games rather than the full romset. We need some people to keep copies of the full romsets for the sake of preservation, but typical users only want certain, popular games.

anthk 3y ago

Downloading N64 roms as ZIP files was not a daunting task. PSX ISOs, OTOH... those were badly ripped. But most of the time you would just get Tony Hawk 2/3, the Zelda's, Mario 64, Jet Force Gemini, FIFA's, Wave Race and a few more in less than a week and the fun lasted months if not years.

theshackleford 3y ago

Plenty of large rom sites are still very actively used and trafficked today.