ROM Archive FAQ

Welcome to Zophar's ROM archive. We currently store 238,843 files for 65 different consoles, spanning a total of 772 GBs of games. Thanks to Zophar for letting me use his subdomain for this archive!

I downloaded a file and I can't open it! Help!
Majority of the files on this site have been compressed to save disk space and bandwidth. Some files are simple zip files, others are 7-zip. Click here to download 7-zip which will let you extract these files.

I unzipped the file, but it ends with a .ecm extension! What do I do with a file like that?
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ECM Once you have downloaded it, simply drag a .ecm file onto unecm.exe and you're done!

You can read more about ECM and how to use ECM files by clicking here

Is this illegal?
Unless you own the actual game that is being downloaded, yes, it is illegal to download a ROM image of a game. However, the overwhelming majority of the games in this archive are so old, that, well, nobody simply cares anymore.

Why don't you offer games for newer consoles, like the playstation 3, or even playstation 2?
This site is geared towards retro gaming, which includes games for consoles that are at least 2 generations behind the current one. Downloading games that are still in production takes away from the revenue of the creators, while retro games have generally used up all their revenue generating potential. Unlike their PC counterparts, console games generally get very little attention after the console they are released for goes out of fashion, or, as is case with majority of consoles, out of business.

At the current moment, there is no unified means to legally get retro games. Until such means does not exist, we will continue providing retro games for gaming fans. No, I am not going to pay $20 for a 20 year old game. No, I am not going to order from the web where shipping costs are twice the price of the game. Unlike music, games do get old, and when you pay for a game, you expect it to be of a certain standard.

Most people also do not own the consoles anymore. These are not PC games that you can somehow manage to run on new computers. If you don't have a console, you can't play the game, simple as that. Most people don't have a means to create ROMs either, so to make retro-gaming legal, I would have to buy the game, let it gather dust on a bookshelf, and then still come back to a website like this to download the ROM image and an emulator, and play it on my PC. This is not reasonable.

If there are still producers who support a game listed on this site, please contact me to have it removed.

If the authors don't support a game, doesn't that make it abandownware and therefore legal to download?
No, just because a game is not supported does not make copyright expire.

What happened to the no ads mantra?
Unfortunately, this site costs $500/mo to maintain. The donations just don't cover the running cost, and through the last few months, I've lost about $2500 to upkeep this site. So, sorry, but its a choice of either taking the site down or putting up some ads. I still say, the one with the most games when he dies wins!

Will you add compilation downloads? Can I download all files in a category in one download?
No. There are 2 reasons for this:
1. There is no point. If you download all the ROMs in a category, I guarantee you will not play 98% of them. It's best to just look through the games list and pick stuff you like, and then download it.
2. Doing this would take up too much bandwidth, and overload the server.

What are all these letters after file names for many ROMs?
Each letter means something. Lots of the ROMs come from goodxxx series, and use their system for renaming files. They are understood as follows:

  • [a] Alternate
    This is simply an alternate version of a ROM. Many games have been re-released to fix bugs or even to eliminate Game Genie codes (Yes, Nintendo hates that device).
  • [p] Pirate
  • [b] Bad Dump
    A bad dump often occurs with an older game or a faulty dumper (bad connection). Another common source of [b] ROMs is a corrupted upload to a release FTP.
  • [t] Trained
    A trainer is special code which executes before the game is begun. It allows you to access cheats from a menu.
  • [f] Fixed
    A fixed game has been altered in some way so that it will run better on a copier or emulator.
  • [T] Translation
  • [h] Hack
    Something in this ROM is not quite as it should be. Often a hacked ROM simply has a changed header or has been enabled to run in different regions. Other times it could be a release group intro, or just some kind of cheating or funny hack.
  • (-) Unknown Year
  • [o] Overdump
    An overdumped ROM image has more data than is actually in the cart. The extra information means nothing and is removed from the true image.
  • [!] Verified Good Dump
    Verified good dump. Thank God for these!
  • (M#) Multilanguage (# of Languages)
  • (###) Checksum
  • (??k) ROM Size
  • ZZZ_ Unclassified
  • (Unl) Unlicensed
Additionally, there are special codes for some of the systems out there. If a system has special codes, you can read them in the system description. Some ROMs also have country codes that are for the most part, self explanatory.



Contact

To contact me, please post in the Site Feedback and Questions forum: http://roms.zophar.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7