Playing video games is one of the best pastimes that anyone can think of. It relieves stress, along with giving you immense satisfaction after you beat a difficult level or win a match. No wonder the gaming industry has become one of the biggest in the world right now, with millions of dollars being invested in it globally.
However, playing older games from older consoles can be difficult now because of the unavailability of said consoles. Therefore, emulation is currently the only way to enjoy older games. It is the only method available to relive the glory of playing older games like The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past and Super Mario Bros.
However, in order to emulate a game, you need to have its ROM first. ROMs refer to the game file that is stored inside a console game’s CD/cassette. While ROM Hustler is the best site to download ROMs for free, there are alternatives out there too that we will discuss in this article.
What Is ROM Hustler?
As the name suggests, ROM Hustler is a website from where you can download ROM files of older console and handheld console games for free. You will require its respective console emulator to run these games properly.
For example, if you download Final Fantasy 7, a PS1 game that was released way back in 1997, then you will need its ROM file (available in ROM Hustler). Alongside, you will need a computer/smartphone compatible PS1 emulator to run the ROM file and be able to play the game.
Best Alternatives To ROM Hustler
If you want to play some of the older classics like the Legend of Zelda, Contra, Mario, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Pokemon, Castlevania, and lots more, you’ll need to download its ROM files. Apart from ROM Hustler, here are some great alternative websites that you can try out right now to relive your childhood (if you were played them back in the day, that is):
FreeROMs
FreeROMs is one of the best alternatives to ROMHustler to download ROM files from the internet. This site offers the free download of all games from various older generations of consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super NES (SNES), GameBoy (GB), GB Color (GBC), GB Advanced (GBA), Nintendo Dual Screen (NDS), Nintendo 64 (N64), PlayStation 1 (PS1), PS2, and the PS Portable (PSP), and many more consoles.
DopeROMs
DopeROMs is another famous website for downloading great older console games. This site also has a large collection of classic games, ranging from the aforementioned consoles, to even other lesser-known consoles like the Sega Genesis, Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx, and the Sega Dreamcast.
Alongside making thousands of ROMs available for download, you can also download DopeROMs affiliated emulators. Alongside this, you can also download the cover art for various older video game box arts as well, if you are an avid collector of such artistic pictures.
ROMulation
ROMulation, another big name in the scene of emulation, has been around since 2004. Since then, it has been constantly hard at work, uploading ROMs of new games almost on a daily basis.
This website, unlike the other websites on this list, includes ROMs of relatively newer console games as well, ranging from the PS3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and the Nintendo GameCube.
However, unlike FreeROMs and DopeROMs, this site does not include ROMs of games from consoles like the Atari Jaguar and the Atari Lynx, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Wonderswan, and many more relatively less popular video game consoles.
EmuParadise
Another giant in the scene of emulation, Emuparadise hosts a vast collection of games. Unlike the other websites on this list, EmuParadise hosts various versions of the same game, available in different formats as it was before.
What this means is that back in the day, whenever a video game was released, it was released in various versions, each for a different geographic region. These included the NA (North America) version, alongside the PAL region, which consisted of South America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
Many players play these versions because many of them contain bonus content censored from the NA version, along with having extra voiceovers in different languages (like Spanish and Singaporean).
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ROMsMania
ROMsMania is another popular website from where you can download ROMs from. This website includes games from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and even Xbox systems.
All the video game ROMs are available for free and can be downloaded directly to your smartphone computer.
Conclusion
Downloading ROMs to relive classic video games that you used to play as a kid is guaranteed to produce some of the most nostalgia-inducing moments of your life. With a large assortment of games from older generations of games, you are guaranteed many hours of content to keep you busy. All you need to do is buy the console emulators from the web for your smartphone or computer, download the ROMs, and start playing!
