I am a strong proponent for piracy and homebrew in video games, music, movies and all other mediums.

The only way to properly preserve titles is via piracy, and the only way to preserve the original console experience without access to the original disc or cartridge is via homebrew, on the switch for instance.

I just recently hacked my V1 Switch and it's one of the best consoles to hack in my opinion. Let's say you're against piracy, you can just use the custom firmware in order to play backups of physical copies of switch games you legally own, that way all you need is a big boy micro sd card and you have your entire library at you fingertips at all times. Saves you from using and wearing out you cartridges, and you switches game card slot.

Knowing this I think it would be wise to not purchase games digitally on the eshop anymore, because as we wall probably know by now you don't really own a video game if you purchase it digitally.

The other pros of switch CFW have been really nice too, like the custom themes, and the apps people have made and games that have been ported to it via homebrew, (Taisei project is great on the switch) and not to mention the mods. Oh boy are they a treat. Who needs Nickelodeon All Stars when you can have Mr. Krabs, in smash bros. I haven't experimented with other games mods as of yet but there's plenty out there.

Anyways just thought's I'd leave my rambling thoughts here on the subject, Piracy is an amazing tool in this day in a age that I will protect, and homebrew is really good too.

I tried out Nick All Stars, the game felt and played like garbage, at least on the switch version. No way in hell I'd fork out 50 dollars for that rubbish.

Honestly for a while I've not been sure how to feel about piracy which I'm aware my sound ridiculous coming from an Administrator who would of never found the site if not for the Retro Game Room but I guess my thoughts on it goes something like this: If the game is playable on a current console I'll do whatever I can to support the official release if not I don't feel bad using emulation, that being said I'm not always able to follow my rules but it's not like I think less of people who have no issue with emulation or anything if you enjoy it go for it I just feel bad even if it's a company that makes tons of money regardless of what I do.

I grew up poor and will remain poor for my entire life. I simply can't afford to purchase every piece of media I use. So instead, I will consume the media for free, and if it touches me, I'll become a fan. And as fans often do, I'll usually then spend money on that IP. If not for piracy, a good deal of companies would never have received a single cent from me.

You honestly touched on the points I mainly agree with. Pennylessz also explains why piracy is supported so much. How can any average person continue to afford every single game, especially if they may end up hating the gameplay?

The main thing that I think would help piracy is that every single game that comes out should have a demo version to play. I've read that one of the main reasons people pirate is that they want to see if they like the game without having to deal with the hassle of getting a refund on a game they don't like. While this won't eliminate piracy, it will help lower it some. Ultimately, I do agree that piracy is needed when consoles are at EOL since games usually go up in price once they become rare and hard to obtain. Unfortunately, while understandable, companies do as much as possible to prevent piracy. Luckily, there are some great people in the communities that can find exploits that allow piracy, even though they suggest only using them for playing "backups" of the games they are playing. 

The main thing I would look for once a console is no longer supported, perhaps 5–10 years later, is the ability to install ROMs. This, I think, would only be possible on consoles that have access to the internet. This would never happen, but who knows?

I don't know if I'd say I'm a *proponent* for piracy specifically, but I do agree that it's justifiable in many cases. Nintendo has banned me from their online services (CFW and being a little careless with the DNS server, but I never played online so whatever) which includes the eShop so I don't exactly have much of a choice. It also doesn't include patches so I have to deal with version 1.0 of games if I buy their cartridge, and Pokemon BDSP is a shining example of why that's a bad idea. And yeah, when you're tight on money then piracy is fine to "try out" games. I am against pirating indies, but when Undertale came out I had like no money so I took my friend's copy, loved it, and then decided to buy it later when I did have some.

As for homebrew, yeah I'm 100% on board. You own the hardware when you buy it; you should be able to do whatever you want with it. The Xbox is starting to lean in this direction and is allowing you to be more free with the things you run on it. I also have a hacked Switch (as stated earlier) but I've simply been too lazy to use it and have been opting for Yuzu lol. I think the benefits of CFW are great. I even tried using it as an Android tablet and it ran a surprising amount more than I thought it would.

I do also agree on the point of game preservation when it comes to digital copies - I don't care for physical copies as I'm the type to play a game once and be satisfied for basically forever, but I know that other people want to be able to keep their games. But it's also kind of a non-issue for me anyway - if you don't allow your game to be purchased and I want to play it I'm just going to pirate it. You don't lose a sale anyway so there should be no complaints (calling Nintendo out).

It's always interesting to see peoples opinions on this subject cause it always seems to but somewhat specific to each person, just how much piracy they are ok with.

Pennylessz and pokemon x both brought up great points. I come from a poor background, if not for piracy I would have never tried games from consoles old and new that I ended up loving and supporting financial as well.

I'm supportive of piracy because I think it has been overwhelmingly a positive for gamers, and game preservation. While I do think a lot of reasons like the ones we've discussed are justified, I don't think you have to justify it. At the end of the day you are not taking something physically or material from another individual, so i don't feel bad about it whatsoever.

Minuano: It's unfortunate you got banned, just so you know however you can still update your games to the latest versions and download dlc by using tinfoil hbg shop. That way you don't have to play the un-patched versions of games. If you need help setting it up, let me know.

You make some good points there, I've done the same thing with indie games before as well. Funnily enough a good example is Doki Doki Literature Club, ironically i didn't pirate the game because it was released for free! I wanted to support Team Salvato after playing that game, so when DDLC Plus came out I bought it physically on the switch, mainly as a means to support the dev.

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Allysa8th : You make a very good point there, in hindsight this is pretty much an echo-chamber for piracy. Still, I like seeing everyones thoughts on the subject. It's honestly a awesome privilege that anyone can now access these luxuries entirely digitally, in a way that no one loses.