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🏴‍☠️ Piracy

11 min read

General Piracy

🌟 FreeMediaHeckYeah

(backups) A huge curated mega list of piracy resources. If you can’t find something elsewhere, check here.

Awesome Piracy

a maintained version of another huge list many used, which was recommended by the author of the original. Awesome lists in general are very useful to be honest.

r/Piracy Megathread

(rentry 1, 2) Another huge list of piracy etc resources. i prefer FMHY but i’d be remiss not to mention the megathread as an alternative.

🌟 Archive.org

Site used to archive a bunch of stuff. Also home of the wayback-machine. So much is on here, it’s ridiculous. If you’re in a collection, be sure to view all files on the right panel if you’re looking for a specific file. Some may require you to sign in. A favorite of mine for roms, books, in-browser emulation, and flash games. Has tons of entries on this list.

Movies and Shows: TorrentGalaxy

Movie torrenting site. I’m using it to hold me over since RARBG went defunct. Not sure what the best alternative is yet.

Anime: Piracy.moe

Previously known as the anime index. A resource to find ways to pirate/stream anime, manga, etc. Just a good resource for weeb piracy warez n’ such. Though their VPN features are heavily biased in favor of services that give them a referral code.

  • Torrenting: Nyaa.si Anime torrenting database. Probably the best out there. My first line of fire for anime piracy. sukebei.nyaa.si is their NSFW counterpart.
  • Streaming: AniCrush no ads, mobile responsive, mal/anilist sync, no account needed. You can also use animekai or hikari as backups, but they have watermarks and ads respectively.

Cartoons: WatchCartoonOnline 2 3

The state of western cartoon streaming is really depressing, especially considering the state of the industry and how it doesn’t seem to at all be concerned with preserving its legacy. The kiss/kim that exists isn’t the same team or database it was before, is mostly incomplete, and it sketches me out. WCO is unfortunately the best we have atm.

  • 🌟 YayPonies Piracy site for basically all official digital media for the My Little Pony franchise. shows, movies, comic books, bonus features, etc. They also host other shows, including Bluey, Star Vs The Forces of Evil and Wander Over Yonder (as well as Ducktales and Steven Universe, albeit deprecated and incomplete).

🌟 Books and Scientific Articles: Open SLUM

The “Shadow Library Uptime Monitor” (or SLUM). Shadow libraries are essentially book piracy sites. Given SLUM links to each of the sites they check (including mirrors), it acts as sort of a hub for them too, which is useful because some like Anna’s archive likes to rotate their domains often. Speaking of, Anna’s Archive contains all the content inside of Library Genesis, Sci-Hub, and more. If not Internet Archive, Anna’s Archive is the modern digital Library of Alexandria.

Music: Soulseek

Peer-to-Peer network for (mostly) music piracy. A lot like how Limewire worked (I think? idk I was too young for it). If you’re on Linux I recommend using Nicotine+ to access soulseek.

Pirate Bay Mirrors

Updated Aug 2023. List of mirror sites pulling from The Pirate Bay’s database. Visiting the pirate bay directly is sketchy in my opinion, but it’s database will always be invaluable. Do note however that in more recent times, their collection has become more and more unmoderated. Tread lightly. I do not recommend the subreddit’s suggested VPNs.

Videogame Piracy

If you're interested in emulation, homebrew, retro fighting games with rollback, mods, fangames, and more, check out the Videogames page! :D

Console/Retro Games

🌟 Myrient

Myrient is just better Vimm’s Lair, ran by the same guys that run hShop (below). If you’re looking for a retro game you can start here. has roms and isos :) no-intro is for cartridge games, redump is for discs. The next two entries are alternatives on archive.org

  • check curated romsets below for fan translations and more
  • someone also created a browsing guide, if you’d find something like that useful

No-Intro (romsets)

This is a database of roms available for download that match no-intro’s official set. Add / after the URLs to view the contents of compressed archives from the browser. Torrents can be problematic, and you may have an easier time if you use a download manager like jdownloader if you’re downloading in bulk. No-Intro is a group that basically makes the standard database for making sure your roms are clean, but they dont provide the roms themselves, so this (and every) romset isn’t official.

  • 🌟 PropeR 1g1r Collection the 2024 no-intro romset, but only one rom for each game., further culled from the original 1g1r set. Removes the fluff. No bios, hacks, fixed, patched, cracked, non-game, or pirate roms. No unlicensed, releases, photos, demos, or betas, either.

The Unofficial Redump Hoard

a collection of redump fullsets. Redump is a very similar organization to no-intro, just for discs instead of cartridges. For the Ctrl+F friends: PSX, PS1, Playstation, PS2, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, WiiU, PSP, Vita, Saturn, Dreamcast, 64DD. Also see the link below if you’re a ctrl+f friend

NXBrew (Switch)

Switch piracy downloads and torrents

  • Ghostland (Switch) eShop replacement for Switch using Tinfoil. use https as protocol, nx.ghostland.at as host, and / as path.)

hShop (3DS)

a piece of homebrew software for real 3DS hardware that acts as a pirate eShop. A must install since the eShop is deprecated. Has all games that were on the eShop including updates and DLC.

If you’re looking to download 3DS games for emulators, check myrient. Azahar requires decrypted files, btw. You may also have to rename .3ds files to .cci if you’re using Azahar (they’re the same). Alternatively, you could use Azahar’s built in Artic Base to stream the game’s data from real hardware, or ftp the files over after downloading them on real hardware via hShop.

Azahar compatible myrient folders include 3DS Decrypted and New 3DS Decrypted. 3DS Digital (CDN) is the only place you can get eShop exclusive games. You’ll have to do some tinkering to get them to work before myrient makes a (decrypted) folder. Use ntool to convert the game to a packaged format, then i use cia-unix (mac/linux only) to decrypt it. After, change the extension from .3ds to .cci if it isn’t already and you’re good to go.

Software Clearance Bin

Huge collection of commercial abandonware. Not my first line of fire for seeking out a specific title, but SUPER fun to meander about and see some random shovelware game you played as a kid or always wanted to play and go “omg I’m gonna pop this in like right now”.

Yeah its a fandom wiki but its still pretty neat. A list of ways you can legally acquire digital versions of plenty of retro games. You probably own a few games that are incredibly trivial to pull roms of and may not even know it. A nice option to have.

Rom sites directory

a bunch of sites to download retro games, listed on the emulation wiki, in case the above aren’t working out for you.

Curated Romsets

DOOM .wads

myrient, archive.org These are basically DOOM’s “ROMs” For the “core” experience, you’ll want to get The Ultimate Doom, Doom II Hell On Earth 1.9, and optionally Doom II No Rest For The Living BFG edition, SIGIL, and Legacy of Rust, then go from there. Doom has a complicated release history, so i recommend cross-referencing the Doom Wiki just in case to make sure you’re getting the version of the game you prefer. Later re-releases had more levels for example.

For more on DOOM, check here!

Tiny Best Set: GO!

myrient, archive.org/archive.org arcade update a curated drag-n-drop romset originally created for the Miyoo Mini by EBZero. The base set is 32GB, but there’s expansions which bring the total to ~55GB and ~95GB respectively (and an unofficial “more PS1” expansion)

”Retro Roms Best Set”

myrient, archive.org includes all of TBS:GO! plus some additional systems, and is also made by EBZero

English Translation Pre-Patches

myrient, archive.org English fan translations of various games, pre-patched and ready to go.

Others

  • HTGDB Packs “Hardware Target Games DataBase Packs” intended for use on real hardware with Flashcarts and MiSTerFPGA
  • Platform Explorer Pack another 32GB starter pack. I haven’t heard much of it, but TBS:GO! shouts it out
  • FBNEO Fullset, Non-Merged A fullset for Final Burn Neo

PC Games

🌟 Fitgirl Repacks

Repacks for modern games. (Repacks are compressed versions of games, I’ve rarely had problems with them though). As for other repackers, fitgirl endources RG Mechanics, RG Revenants, RG Catalyst, Xatab, El Amigos, Kapital Sin, and KaosKrew (rips). However I’ve never had to use them.

🌟 r/FREEMEDIAFUCKYEAH’s games section

(old reddit link) A huge curated mega list of piracy resources. If you can’t find something elsewhere, check here.

Free GOG Games

Free release for almost every game on GOG. <<<<<<< Updated upstream

cs.rin.ru/forum

Russian piracy forum with an english section. If fitgirl hasn’t repacked it and its not on gog, i check here. Unfortunately, requires an account to see any posts. As a tip, some games don’t warrant their own posts and are sometimes shared in megathreads, like most itch.io games.

🌟 JohnCena141 Search (Linux Games)

JohnCena141 is a prolific uploader. They upload a ton of linux versions of games to 1337 and then seeds them. So if you dont want to go through cs.rin.ru, check john :)

Torrminatorr Forum (Linux Games)

The only place i know of that lists linux games. Unfortunately, requires an account to see links.

Stashed changes

CreamInstaller

DLC unlocker tool based on CreamAPI and more. Lets you unlock paid DLC for legitimately owned games for free, though if the DLC is a separate download you’ll need to track that down and merge it. I use it for the PinballFX games, since all those have all their dlc packed into the game lol. Works online too! Just know developers could easily track this and ban you if they went out of their way to. Steam probably could as well, though there’s no recorded cases of valve taking any action against people that use this. Use CreamAPI or other tools directly if you’re on Linux.

Pirated Games Mega Thread

Lists resources curated by those at r/CrackWatch, as well as some anti-recommendations so you know what to watch out for. Anything on my list superseeds anything there (at least for me) obviously.

Old Games Finder

Search engine to find copies of old PC games. Some sites it may lead you to are paid, but not all. Use Archive.org as another line of fire.

r/CrackWatch

Gaming piracy subreddit. Will tell you who cracked a game and removed it’s DRM if a game has been cracked, which should give you enough information on where to find said cracked game. Also carries with it other useful info. Be sure to read the beginners guide on the sidebar.

Internet Arcade

A bunch of retro games are playable in browser on Archive.org. If you dont want to go through the trouble of setting up an emulator and downloading roms and you just need an instant way to check out an old game for some reason, this should be your first stop. Surprisingly good support since it uses a javascript port of MAME. Here’s Libble-Rabble as an example because I love that game.

Flashpoint

A project meant to be an exhaustive preservation of flash games and animations.

  • Flash on Archive.org Similarly to the Internet Arcade, Archive.org also supports playing flash games in browser using Ruffle, which Newgrounds also does for flash games that have remained on the site.

Backlinks