Quote Originally Posted by JSoup View Post
If you have access to the Homebrew Channel, you can just skip the "buy Mother 2" part like the rest of the internet has done and just use ZSNES Wii Version (or whatever the popular SNES emulator is these days).
Yes, of course. However, that's why added "clear conscience imo" at the bottom of my post. Some people hold back from playing the game via Snes9x-gx on their Wii because they believe in only playing games which they legally own.

If you buy the Mother 2 on VC you legally own a copy of the game, and you can go ahead and download Earthbound without any mental reservations about doing so.

Now, there's heavy disclaimer here:

It would still be illegal. When you buy Mother 2 on VC you have the right to play Mother 2 on VC and nothing else. You can't legally download Earthbound, you can't even download a Mother 2 ROM to play on your PC.

However, from an ethical standpoint I feel you've literally "paid your dues" to the developer by purchasing the VC version.