Is Coolroms Safe? Here’s All You Need To Know

CoolROM is a popular gaming website that provides emulator games and ROMS to game lovers to play their favorite titles on their personal computers.

The emulated games are from the following consoles;

GBA
N64
NDS
SNES
GBC
MAME
NES
PSX
Etc.

Coolrom has a massive library of games that attract many game lovers worldwide to their site to download any game of their choice.

What Is An Emulator?

Emulator refers to a program that allows you to run software from a different device on your PC.

One of the reasons most people look for emulators is that they want to play their favorite video games and use any operating system they want on their PC.

For instance, as a Mac user, you can install the Windows operating system on your Mac with the help of an emulator. Emulators help you install and run applications that you wouldn’t be able to run under normal circumstances.

Here are some examples of emulators at work

You can leverage the WINE emulator to run Windows software on Mac and Linux computers.

You can use the Dolphin application to play Wii games and Nintendo GameCube on your computer.

You can also use the Logic Pro X popular music recording application for the Mac to simulate the sounds of guitar on your PC.

These are various types of emulators that people use daily. However, let’s turn our attention to why people use emulators and the risks involved.

Why Do People Use Emulators?

Every operating system or computer has its unique signature, which means that some programs that work on one system may not work on another.

For example, windows software isn’t supposed to work on a Mac system, nor should a PlayStation 4 game work on a PC. This is where the emulators come in as the savior.

Emulators help close the gap between various divides and allow you to use any program of your choice on any device of your choosing.

For instance, if there is a windows application that you want to run on your MacBook, all you have to do is to download the Parallels emulator to make things happen.

What the Parallels emulator does is create a windows computer in your MacBook to install any windows software of your choice.

Most emulators out there can even upgrade the hardware they are simulating.

For example, an old video game made for 4:3 screens can be enhanced to work perfectly on 16:9 screen resolution.

If you’re a game lover who misses the old game classics from consoles that are no longer in vogue, you should leverage the many game emulators out there to find the game you need.

The Risks Of Using Emulators

Since emulators need to act like a different device in a host computer, it will drain the resources of the host PC.

If your system isn’t built for this type of load, it could begin to lag and process things slowly because some emulators will consume a lot of processing power.

For example, if you want to emulate the 80s-era Nintendo system perfectly, you’ll need a PC with a powerful CPU and graphics card to simulate the widely loved Nintendo Switch that was a hit in 2017.

Even after having all the requirements, it might still lag.

Another risk users face is downloading unwanted malware and viruses disguised as emulators on your computer.

Ensure you’re downloading emulators from trusted sites or sources and do your research before you install anything.

Lastly, you need to ensure that you’re not breaking the laws by using an emulator to run games that you do not own. It is legal to use emulators.

However, downloading games for free without any license to use on the emulators can be classified as copyright infringement. You need to check the regulations that guide emulated programs in your geographical location.

Is Coolroms Safe?

However, when it comes to how safe cool coolrom is, many damaging reports are flying around that the coolrom website isn’t secure.

If you try to download any of their gaming titles, you could also be downloading malware onto your system.

You’re advised to have a malware checker present on your computer before you download any file from coolroms so that the file can be scanned for malware presence.

What Happened To Coolroms?

Coolrom has shut down its operation due to a copyright infringement claim by Nintendo of America inc.

Nintendo requested that coolrom stop its illegal operation of emulating classic games and making them available to the public, which they obliged because what they were doing was unlawful.

If you visit coolrom today, you’ll find a message on their homepage that explains their present situation. They are grateful to have helped the emulation community for a long time.

Furthermore, they aimed to help game lovers relive their experience of playing classic games that they may never have thought they could play again.

Meanwhile, the site is still up and running, and you can still download any of the 23 gaming titles that are still there.

Goodbye coolrom.

Are ROMs illegal?

The simple answer is YES. It is unlawful to download Nintendo ROMs.

Many game lovers who played classic game titles like Super Mario when they were little are searching for how to play the same game on their PCs.

Most people download emulators or rip ROM files from discs and cartridges as their solution and play the games on their laptops.

Moreover, it doesn’t look like a harmful thing to do until you discover that you’re breaking the law.

It will interest you to know that both the cartridges, disc, and gaming systems are someone’s copyrighted intellectual property, so you ought not to tamper with it.

The above crime was what led to the closure of coolroms, a popular gaming website that provided game emulators, among other things.

What sites like coolroms and others do is host Nintendo ROMs while gaming enthusiasts visit their websites to download them.

Do you know that you could be committing a crime by downloading the ROMs?

Since it has been established that what the emulation sites are doing is illegal, you’re advised to stay away from hosting and downloading ROMs because the act of downloading is also a copyright infringement.

However, if the hosting party has the right (which I doubt they do) to modify Nintendo games and host them for others to download, it will be legal to download the file.

In The Absence Of Coolrom, Here’s A List Of 4 Rom Websites That Still Work In 2021

Gamulator

This is one of the widely loved ROM downloading websites in the gaming industry, with an extensive library of ROMs that you can download with ease.

Furthermore, they also have lots of emulators that you can download and play on your PC.

However, another great feature of Gamulator is its easy-to-use web interface with fewer ads, popups, and no record of viruses.

The website is compatible with smartphone and PC users. The above features are what makes Gamulator the best gaming site to get ROMs.

Rom Hustler

This is also one of the top ROM sites out there. It has the reputation of being able to produce any game that you may be searching for.

Rom hustler is one of the first websites to offer ROMs for public consumption. When you visit their site, you’ll come across a search bar that has a dropdown.

Choose your console and get your desired ROMs from the list of games in alphabetical order. Their downloads are smooth and free from malware,

Unfortunately, the administrators of the site haven’t updated it in a long time. But the site continues to receive a lot of traffic from people worldwide who want to lay their hands on their favorite ROMs.

Retrostic

This gaming platform is one of the most popular gaming platforms because it has a vast library of Retro game ROMs.

Besides that, it is also known for allowing direct downloading of ROMs without the .exe file extension to stop viruses from getting on your PC.

Retrostic is famous for housing Emulators and ROMs from consoles like N64, SNES, Atari, and GBA. The web interface is easy to use, and you can easily search for your favorite games with ease.

If you’re looking for a website that you can trust to provide you with clean games that will not infect your PC, Retrostic is right there on the list.

The Eye

This is another gaming platform with a huge library of ROMs and Consoles over 3.1 terabytes in size. You can download it for Linux and windows.

It is free from viruses and popups and has a fantastic interface. The ROMs are stored alphabetically to ensure that you find what you’re looking for with ease.

The Bottom line

Coolrom may have stopped working, but there are many other gaming platforms that you can use to find, download, and play your favorite games.