how does it work?

How long till Nintendo files.

Each game needs to have a custom profile created to render in 3D. From the linked article:

3dSen is an emulator that lets you play 2D NES games in 3D. Its programmers have to create a custom profile for it to work its magic on each game, which means there are currently 100 supported games, including Contra, Super Mario Bros, Batman, Castlevania, Bubble Bobble, and Gradius.

And from another article:

...with the addition of the 3dSenMaker tool, community members now can handcraft 3D profiles for their favorite games.

I just gave it a download. Tested Mega Man 2, and now I'm playing Super Mario Bros. It's really fucking cool

They want money for an emulator? that’s bold

I wonder if Steam would remove it from people's libraries in that instance or just the Storefront

Maybe, but it’s not just emulating the rom, I thinks there’s enough value add for their $9 asking price.

Bought it a few years ago. Super cool, though I probably only messed around with it a couple hours before forgetting about it.

Still, being able to argue they're not for profit is what typically has protected emulators from being sued to oblivion (and with Nintendo, even that's risky)...

Yeah, the archival argument won’t fly here.

Has being non-profit been a legal defense used somewhere before? At least in the US the case law is based on commercial, profit-driven emulators being explicitly ruled as legal when Sony tried suing them. I see this said constantly and I think it's genuinely just the result of propaganda from Nintendo or something.

I'm not sure they can in this instance. The reason they could sue the Switch emulator team was because they were using a proprietary encryption key.

I don't think the NES had that, and as long as you own the game, emulation is legal.

Also, this might be considered transformative use since the devs have to create the 3D profile by hand.

Nintendo was able to sue palworld using a patent that didn't exist before palworlds release. It's not right, but they can do whatever they want regardless of what the law says.

That's not the lawsuit that's being discussed. It's the Yuzu Switch emulator lawsuit.

yeah, i know. Point is that Nintendo can do whatever they want with the flimsyest excuse.

as long as you own the game, emulation is legal.

People say this, but I believe it is mostly technically untrue. It'd be a relatively easy argument to say that a downloaded ROM that isn't exactly the digital copy YOU purchased with a license would be seen as not legal.

However some people talk about literally ripping the game off the physical device themselves, hence copying their own copy of it. Now you are in grey territory of making copies of copyrighted materials, and in the case of more modern games like the last decade, they almost assuredly have language that specifies you don't actually own the code and all that.

All I'm saying is be careful and probably refrain from repeating the fallacy that owning a game makes emulation of it legal, because that implies having the ROM is legal and that's doubtful.

Copying your own game and materials for backup purposes is no grey area, and neither is development or use of emulators, and panicky, uninformed spewing of gut feelings are how public knowledge of your actual rights gets muddled into people with zero knowledge waxing poetic about how they THINK it works because they like games and think that makes their ramblings valuable.

They were able to do that because Palworld is made by Japanese devs, and they used specifically Japanese patent law. Doesn't apply here.