RT said:
Nothing stops you from emulating freeware stuff.
So now your choices are shitty freeware or emulating shitty freeware. Seems redundant.
Or owning the original cartridges of software you emulate.
downloading is still piracy and still illegal in such circumstances.
EDIT: Let's be clear here. Fair Use doctrine doesn't afford you downloading stuff or making it available for others to download. One of the major tenets of the backup clause is it's your actions and your property. Currently, nothing else actually qualifies. You may try and moralise it, but it's still illegal. The average consumer does not have the capacity to back up their games legally, either.
So, while you are technically correct in saying emulation is not piracy, emulation, for all realistic intents and purposes of this line of thinking does
require it.
You're trying for a "god of the gaps" argument, and the gaps are getting smaller.