Brewology

If I dump my own roms is it illegal to use them on an emulator?

I'm not up to date on rom legality, but I believe you are allowed to legally have a rom as long as you own the game.

Honestly though, does it matter? The FBI isn't going to come knocking on your door because you're playing a downloaded copy of Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo clarified all this in a press release shortly before the last Wii update. Basically, it's illegal to make a copy of a game, period. Not even if you own the original and just want a "backup", no-how, no-way. But as Brent said, not like they'll be coming to your door for having some old game roms laying about. I've had SNES roms on my computers for years, ever since the first emulators popped up so I wouldn't worry about it man.