People often complain about the legality issue surrounding emulation and roms in general. One thing to remember about the proliferation of the roms and emu scene is that of convenience. People now a days tend to appreciate having less stuff and digital content. Steaming, Steam, etc. If Nintendo created some sort of digital game marketplace odds are good emu and rom scene would deteriorate. fundamentally issue is the scene itself and how gamers now a days want to consume content.

Also important to remember is that often times the older consoles and cartridges no longer function well, the condition of the physical hardware starts to deteriorate and unfortunately things can wear out.