ROM & ISO sites

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Revision as of 08:39, 17 March 2019 by 71.95.119.28 (talk)
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Official Dumps

Nintendo Wii U

Nintendo used to deliver games the same way Sony does with the PlayStation Network; with a big encrypted disk image where all the data is useless without an authentication key. Unfortunately, they've changed this for 3DS and Switch, but not for Wii U (yet).

You need a titlekey database, covering base games, updates, and DLCs. Some notable ones include this for Wii U keys. Note you're still restricted to games that are on the eShop and that people bothered to upload their tickets to that titlekey site, so rare or retail-only games are excluded. You can likely still find these types of games from ROM sites above.

On real Wii U hardware, you could also download a package of all tickets ever of all regions and trick the official eShop into thinking you own the game and can redownload it, but on real hardware, it has been reported some out-of-region tickets cause problems. freeShop will just install the tickets you need for the game you chose.

If you're using Cemu with physical dumps, you'll also need the Common Wii U Key, and individual game keys for games you're emulating.

Once you have the titlekey database including your game, you can download the game off the official servers using your tool of choice.

NUS Downloaders (PC)

You can get Wii U dumps this way. First of all get the NUS Downloader, for example Wii U USB Helper or FunKii. Make sure to use the appropriate URL for the titlekey database.

Then, it's as simple as selecting the game you want to download, clicking "Get It" and then "Download Games". This will download the files for the game you chose (the same as the .tik's title). Choose your own region where possible, so the servers are closer to you.

Once the download is complete:

  • Wii U dumps: You can either install the game to your Wii U by moving it to an SD Card and using WUP Installer GX2, or if you're using the deprecated Loadiine (or Cemu), you can "Convert" it "to Loadiine/CIA". Simply right-click your newly downloaded game, and then click "Prepare for Emulation". The .rpx file will be available in the game's folder, at /code/[yourgame].rpx.

Updates and DLCs can be downloaded the same way. Right click on a game's name to choose which to download. For Wii U games for emulation on Cemu:

To install updates and DLC on Cemu:

  • Run the game at least once.
  • Check Cemu's log.txt file and look for a line that says "Mounting local storage (AOC): .\mlc01\usr\title\NUMBERS\NUMBERS\aoc\"
  • Add (create) folders with the same name as the above (substituting the "NUMBERS" bit with the actual numbers) in your "CEMUFOLDER/mlc01/usr/title" folder.
  • Add any updates (which must be added first) you want to the "CEMUFOLDER/mlc01/usr/title/NUMBERS/NUMBERS/" folder.
  • Create a folder named "aoc" and put the DLC files into there. The "code", "content", and "meta" folders of the actual game itself also go in the "aoc" folder.

Nintendo Amiibo

Amiibo are special figurines that interact with a number of 3DS, Wii U and Switch games. Depending on how hard they are to find, they can either be bought at a local retailer or on eBay for a fortune. NFC tags are dumped to binary files (.bin). Android users can use TagMo to read and write these files, provided they have the appropriate encryption keys.

Here's the most complete Amiibo set from:

Sony PlayStation Portable / PlayStation 3

Similar situation as Nintendo. As of now, you need RAP license files and the game dump proper to install your game on your CFW'd console, or on real hardware. Some people offer their own license files on some applications and websites so that everyone can get their dumps. Of course, these are limited to popular games people bothered to upload their license files for and only digital games.

The PSNdl website is a good way to get PlayStation 3 games for example, including PlayStation Classic versions of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 dumps that can be extracted and run on regular emulators. Make sure to get the RAP license as well. The pkg file can be decrypted with tools like psnpkgdecryptor-extractor (useful for ripping PlayStation Classics), through emulators like RPCS3 now offer built-in installers for those, and PlayStation 3 CFW supports those as well.

PSNStuffX is another PC downloader tool that comes with a database and covers some games that PSNdl doesn't.

For PlayStation 3 game updates, go to https://a0.ww.np.dl.playstation.net/tpl/np/{game_id}/{game_id}-ver.xml (replacing {game_id} with the game's ID) to see links to available update .pkgs for that game.

Verifying Good Dumps

Main article: File_Hashes#Determining_Good_Game_Dumps

Game Recommendations

Game recommendations are highly subjective, but big lists like these usually cover the worthwhile games for each system.

Searching for ISOs

A lot of the above sites have ISOs for disc-based games, but some of the more obscure titles can be hard to find. If you want to find these games, searching for their ID number is generally more effective than searching for their title. Both Mobygames and GameFAQs will list these under the game's release information. This number is region specific and is very useful if you want to find an ISO from a specific region.

Download Managers

Many resources we've listed will link to files called .DLCs that contain a list of urls to download. We've voluntarily listed some programs you can use in the event that you come across one and don't want to deal with the links manually.

  • JDownloader 2 (Adware-free installer) - Written in Java, and quite possibly the most recognized tool for the job.
  • pyLoad - Written in Python under AGPL3, PyLoad is a good alternative.