However, archiving is a legally protected concept in specific contexts:
If you are serious about archiving, you will encounter the term "No-Intro." This is a preservation group dedicated to collecting "clean" dumps of games. They verify that the ROM is an exact copy of the original cartridge, free from corruption or modifications. When building your archive, look for "No-Intro" tagged sets. This guarantees you have a working, authentic copy of the software.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes regarding game preservation. Downloading copyrighted ROMs for games you do not own is illegal in most jurisdictions. Always check your local laws.
The archive’s most defensible use case is —for example, analyzing NPC dialogue across all 1,800 titles would be impossible without a complete, searchable ROM set. However, no court has recognized a research exemption to the DMCA.